1. why would you go to a mastering engineer that would "crush" your mix anyway? if you are using a mastering engineer where you can hear artifacts after you are done, then he's not doing his job!Nick Franklin wrote:Yes, because tasteful and gentle leveling at each stage avoids your overly dynamic mix being crushed by the mastering engineer or the radio limiter.casey campbell wrote:compress during tracking
compress during mixing on individual tracks
compress/limit the submixes
compress the final mix, which then goes to the mastering engineer...
compress/limit during mastering
compress at the radio station
oh man....
If you haven't compressed your vocal on the way in you have to compress it a little harder in the mix. If you don't compress it in the mix you need to compress the whole mix a little harder. If you haven't compressed that the mastering engineer will have to slam it a bit more than usual to get the vocal to sit in the mix. If you convince the mastering engineer not to do it... well the limiter at the radio station will destroy it.
By the way, I presume we're all talking about making pop music here? Where even mixes dubbed as 'dynamic' have far less dynamic range than many other styles of music.
For me, the other reason to compress a vocal (or anything for that matter) on the way in is the same reason I apply EQ on the way in. It's because any decisions regarding tonality you can make early on, will make later decisions easier and ultimately better. If you've tracked your vocals completely clean, no comp, no EQ, even if you got the great singer and the great mic position, you wont know how to make other things sound to fit around the vocal until you get to the mix and start sorting it out, by which stage it is probably too late to fix it.
2. why do you have to compress it harder in the mix if not so in the tracking stage? i never had to do this... i do compress in the mix stage, but i never found that i had to do so harder just because i didn't on the way in. this is ludicrous. why not just automate?
3. no, im not talking about making pop music.
4. why in the h-e-double hockey sticks would you eq something on the way in? why not just use a different mic, or better yet...change the mic position?
5. you don't start making things fit after you've tracked it all! you should be thinking about that before you even start tracking...and choose your mics, instruments, amps, etc wisely as you are tracking.
it's called production...
i don't eq or compress on the way in, and i've never had to make things "fit" together in a radical way during mixing, because i tracked it right to begin with. knowing what way my bright elements, my darker elements, the star of the show, etc etc etc. i never found compression or eq to help in this regard. i also never said that i couldn't use a compressor effectively either...im just saying that it's not necessary on the way in.
so you tell me that you are compressing a vocal during tracking and mixing? this is so foreign to me i guess. why is this necessary?
if you can hear compression, then you are doing it wrong (unless you are going for that effect on purpose). what does a compressor emulate? what is it's function? are you just putting it on an instrument just because it's there? is it making it any better?
the other day, i had a session drummer in. he was tracking some drums for a project. we did some listening...and i said, "hey, on your fills...can you hit those toms a little harder, and perhaps on the verse back off on the snare." he goes in there and nails it.
i didn't have to compress anything on the way in. and you know what? now i have really clean/pristine drum tracks from the get go.
i guess im an alien... ha ha
