Why your mix lacks power: reason 2/9
Reason 2/9 why your mix is lacking power! You probably don't have to do this one.
Comments (8)
Hi Fanu, I'm new to your Patreon and loving your tutorials ! it's easy to understand ! Are you using two different limiters, like one for catching the peaks and an other for making the track loud (or maybe you use the same limiter for both tasks)? Is there any advantages doing that, for example printing two different colors on the master from both limiters ?
Hi and welcome! I always use two limiters to share the heavy lifting instead of one; end result is always smoother. I'm not super analytical on what each one does as long as the peak work seems somewhat similar on both. I never ever look for character from limiters: it's 100% utilitarian. Well, Elevate limiter has a nice transient emphasis that seems to work well on house hihats. But other than that, just smashing peaks / making song louder!
Hey Fanu, with the two limiters do you do something like ozone maximizer going into another limiter? why not just one limiter?
One limiter is not enough when you go -7/6. Way smoother with two, I guarantee it. Some people use a bit of clipping too (I don’t do it super often myself)
Do you have any recommendations on master limiters that are inexpensive or free? I often use the GMAudio clipper which has an optional limiter following the clipper
Hmmm, not really, sorry! My recommended limiters, none of which are super inexpensive: -Ozone Maximizer (my most used master limiter) -DMGaudio Limitless -AOM Invisible -Elevate If I had to use a free one, I might do what I did many many years ago when in one certain scenario (long story) I had to make do with a freebie, and I used the VladG Limiter no6 and its clipper module in its "digital clip" mode (the very bottom right corner of the plugin). I believe this is now also as TDR limiter. IIRC, the ISP mode smashes transients too much, sadly, but the clipper mode is decent. Maybe one instance of that in clipper mode and do most or all work with it and maybe 1 dB of actual limiting (I'll add it's been 8 years since ive touched that one but got ok results).
Nice vid! How do you typically set up the two master limiters? One doing a little and the other doing most of the work? Or do you have one earlier in the chain?
They are always the very last two plugins in the chain. I often set the last one to do 1.5-2 dB of limiting and then tweak the first one till I get the loudness I want.