Boost 11 in master Bus during mix

Normally you shouldn't have a compressor or limiter at the masterbus while mixing. It changes the tonal balance of your tracks and you will not be able to see if the master bus is clipping.

From time to time I put Boost 11 on the master bus just to check how it would sound a little maximized and sometimes, maybe, adjust the mix a little acording to that but save the premastering pugins for the premastering. Don't export the mix with a limiter or compressor if you plan to do any more premastering or adjustments because you can't undo what you have bounced out if during the premastering you discover that it don't sound to good...

Just check without it at times so the bus isn't clipping without it

Or lower the volume on the tracks? If there is premastering to do it might be a good idea to leave some headroom instead of initially start with loosing transients (and sending already squashed material at a very hot level to the mastering plugins), or just export at 32bit fp and there won't be clipping anyways.

A good limiter will not change the tonal balance when tracking a song

You're damn right But if the limiter isn't there to just limit but to turn up the volume one could as well just crank the volume nob on the speakers and not loose any transients since that could change how we percieve the song. (or maybe leave it there so one could handle already in the mix what could become a problem in the premastering otherwise and check the levels still sounding good when the song is squashed to ones liking...)

I disagree - you shouldn't need a limiter just to achieve a normal mix without clipping. I prefer to get the mix as sweet as I can first and then see if I can improve it later with dynamics processing across the master bus - generally after stereo mix down.

I aim to keep my individual tracks at around -12dB and use per-track EQ cut to control constructive interference on the stereo bus peaking certain freqs - usually midrange.

When I first started mixing I thought each track should be around 0dB if possible and wondered why I was blowing out the master. I ended up limiting almost every track as well as the master.

Reducing track levels was the best mixing tip I ever learned - now I have so much headroom and scope for nice dynamics. -12db avg level per track is a good rule of thumb - the stereo bus then usually ends up around 0dB

I'm also a fan of manual levelling of dynamics (e.g. using V-Vocal to quickly raise lower levels of certain phrases) particularly on tracks with high dynamic fluctuations like vocals. Once you've levelled off manually, your compressor is much more likely to sound sweet than if it has to work with big fluctuations.

Boost 11 works great on individual tracks too. Same principle though - use it to improve something, not to fix something that is otherwise unusable.

I disagree - you shouldn't need a limiter just to achieve a normal mix without clipping. I prefer to get the mix as sweet as I can first and then see if I can improve it later with dynamics processing across the master bus - generally after stereo mix down.

I disagree that your disagreeing.. Its genre specific and it how you record also. Remember, you always do what ever works for you in that situation. Thers no rules. Get the the end result, by using anything and any tool needed. if i wanted to put a flanger on the master bus when mixing, it would be right, if it helped me get to ware i wanted to go in the song
Cj
Edit. some people mix as they track, some people dont, some people feel like a nut, and sometimes they dont. Almond joy has nuts, LOL
do what ever you want as long as it helps you get to ware you want.
Cj

Damn you people..

Still, nothing prevents you from having it on at all times during tracking if you don't want to be interupted by lowering track volumes between each take if you get angry with the meters at the master bus bursting wildly into the red...

Thers no rules/there are no rules

Anarchists...

Absolutely - but most listeners prefer more natural dynamics in even the most full-on music. e.g. you want your cymbals to take it that wee bit higher, rather than just fizzling against a glass ceiling.

By reasonable I mean you're not overloading your master bus before you're ready to to do dynamics processing.

If you get the naked mix as sweet as possible, then when you go for your Wall of China Mastering preset for that solid oblong waveform, it'll actually be better & louder than if you try and master something that's had the dynamics squished already.

We were talking about mixing - now I realise you're talking about recording, I understand your post about tracking vocals on top of 60 backing tracks so that makes sense.

I'm talking about mixing in response to gsacks with the advice that if your mix is too hot without a limiter, you should first look at lowering the individual track levels.

ORIGINAL: LixiSoft

It's a common practice in most pro studios to "mix into" the 2 bus compressor. Many pros strap a comp on their mix bus for the sound it gives them, to "glue or gel" the mix together. I see this all the time on modern mixes. As a mixer, you want to know how your eq and FX settings change your sound when going through the comp on your "2 mix" bus.

I couldn't agree more! This is standard practice. Also, a great reason to have a nice external 2 channel or stereo compressor to run your mix thru, then record back to a stereo track.

I usually mix as I'm tracking, and I've found that sometimes the master out does get a little "hot" as I add more tracks- hence the need for a limiter. But perhaps I should try and keep the individual track outputs a little softer.

Thanks for all the advice - I should have realised with any question on music or recording there is always more than one "correct" answer!
Graeme

ORIGINAL: gsacks

I usually mix as I'm tracking, and I've found that sometimes the master out does get a little "hot" as I add more tracks- hence the need for a limiter. But perhaps I should try and keep the individual track outputs a little softer.

You can reduce the input trim on your master bus when this happens. This keeps your gain staging proper and prevents you from needing a limiter on master bus while mixing and tracking. It also feeds proper level to any subsequent plugins added to your master bus.