The L3 is not a MB Compressor, so it really isn't an apples to apples comparison.
 
Regards,
Dan

kzmaier
 

Which Multiband compressor do you use on your master bus?

i do not master in Sonar,
i master in WAVELAB.
 
 
i use the Waves LPMBC
with Q10
and  L2

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm thinking LP-64 MB Comp followed by a transparent limiter.  Although the Sonitus MB Comp has limiting features...  
 
Quick and dirty is what I'm thinking.  Don't tell my wife.  
 
Thanks, 

I don't. Not yet anyway.
 
a) I'm not smart enough to use one properly yet and b) I'm kind of under the impression that type of thing is unnecessary if whatever is feeding the master bus is already sounding good so I'm trying to focus more on what comes BEFORE the master. Then on the master I just do some VERY light compression (to kind of glue everything together) and extremely mild EQing (like a slight hi shelf boost or cut as needed and mid range cuts/boosts to get rid of/accent stuff). For that I've just been using the PC2A (just because it's easy to use and sounds cool) and Quadcurve EQ (easy to use, right on the track strip). As I said it's SOOOO light all it's really meant for is a touch of sweetening and cohesion so I don't even want to touch those big bad buggers (and every time I do I don't like the results anyway). Then at the end of the chain is the Concrete Limiter to get things a bit louder and prevent overages.
 
But I'm not mastering and really at best I could only produce a half decent "demo" quality mix. From what I understand that type of multiband stuff at the mastering stage is to fix problems so I'm trying to learn to avoid those problems in the first place.
 
I actually think once I start getting into multiband compression stuff I'm going to use the Sonitus Multiband. It's lightweight and I'm really not certain those big fancy MBC's are going to produce much better results anyway. At least not at my skill level (which is middling at best).

kzmaier
Thanks for the feedback.  I'm thinking LP-64 MB Comp followed by a transparent limiter.  Although the Sonitus MB Comp has limiting features...  
 
Quick and dirty is what I'm thinking.  Don't tell my wife.  
 
Thanks, 

The main reason to use LP64 is because it won't introduce any phase issues that regular equalizers or multiband compressors might. I'm not saying you'll always be able to tell the two apart but it's good to err on the side of caution. With its linear phase characteristics, LP64 is better suited for mastering but is more CPU intensive and will introduce some latency. So at least don't track with it on the master bus.

I'll use MB (maul the band) if the material calls for it. Usually it's a problems in the source mix itself.
Otherwise I'll leave it off, I never start off with one.
I also prefer using min phase because of pre-ringing issues with linear.

I have used the LP64 Multiband on just about ever project I've exported for a few years now. If set properly it does an excellent job of catching the odd over. And because it does this seperatly for the five bands there is never any audible damage done,,,"that I can hear" ,,, 
It also lets me know what band is too hot so I can go back and re mix or EQ at the track level. 
My goal is that it just tickles the meters every so often. If one of the bands shows steady downward your screwing up,, that will cause damage. 
I set a super fast attack and I pull them down a touch from the preset possition. The lowest one I pull right to the center line. 
Anyhow all my mixes are usually bang on fequency wise so I must be doing something right. It's not first class but it's as good as I'm going to be and it was free. 
 
I also master in wave lab but LP on the master has saved me extra work and generally no further EQ processing is required in Wave LAb, just top and tail and RMS leveling. 

I don't compress the master bus at all, myself. I have a whole lot of buses downstream that I do compress: a drum bus with some light compression, a parallel bus with drums and bass with heavy compression, maybe a bus for all guitars as a group that may or may not have compression.
 
In all of those cases, I've never used anything as fancy as a multi-band compressor.
 
 

I should add I only use the MB for some live stereo recordings, so basically having to mix and master at the same time.  The MB is perfect for this task.  My first stab at it came from a live recording that wasn't too bad - I used an Olympus LS-14, and ended up with 2 main problems. The first was some bass resonance around 110 Hz that was quite boomy, and the second was that the guitar (this was mostly instrumental ska and reggae featuring a lot of solo guitar) got lost in the mix quite a bit. There was a horn section that was the main culprit there.  I was able to fix both problems quite nicely with the MB.  The bass was very easy since it centered around a tight frequency range - set and forget basically.  The guitar took a little more effort since the volume and range changed quite a bit but I was still able to bring it forward in the mix nicely like it needed.

batsbrew

Sanderxpander
I don't think that's entirely accurate, L3 is a multiband peak limiter.

well,
the fact that it's called a 'Limiter', and not a 'compressor', is a leading fact.
 

You are right, of course, but your post could be interpreted as if it wasn't multiband, aka a traditional brickwall limiter. Or at least I read it that way and wanted to clarify.

This

http://cdn-downloads.tcel.../media/1120849/md3.jpg

and this

http://cdn-downloads.tcel.../brickwall_limiter.jpg

Perfect with jbridge and Platinum 64 Bit

Could one use the Tone2 BiFilter2 as an exciter/maximizer.  Set it up on a send bus with a bandpass filter and some saturation set completely wet?  Then add a second instance, to filter out the initial signal (after bandpass).  Allowing just the distortion harmonics.  Fine tune to taste.  Just a thought...

No multi-band, no comp at all on the master buss.  Seldom anyway.  Or if I have an SSL - the hardware not an emulation.
 
@

Ozone 6 for sure BUT only if you know what you're doing. It can do so much and very quickly wreck a mix

I use the Fab Filter Pro-L limiter as well as the Pro channel EQ on the master bus.