Is it a good idea to use"Boost11" (or a compressor) on the master out while still in the mixing process?

Or is it better to only apply afterwards before exporting the final 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...

If you need it on the master bus when mixing or even tracking, then its a good idea. I do that alot, not with boost11, but with other limiters or compressors. It wont hurt it at all.
Cj

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

your tracks and you will not be able to see if the master bus is clipping.

Thats why i or he would use it on the master for tracking, to prevent clipping. A good limiter will not change the tonal balance when tracking a song. when you get into the 20 and up track counts in my genre of music, you need a limiter on the master to avoid clipping. Atleast i do
Cj

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...)

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

you are right about that. I just use it because sometimes when you have 60 tracks and your stil tracking, usually vocals at this point, you cant lower them that much because the sound wont be sufficiant. The sum of 60 hard rocking guiytars, bass, and drums is too much for how i record. Your right, just dont abuse it
Cj

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.

Oh - you guys are too quick for me!

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