...wicked
And the two times I've sent my stuff out for mastering and gotten to sit that's exactly what they had in their toolbox. In fact I would say it's the preferred tool.

They did not have access to your mix so that is a different situation. Also, they might not be experienced enough or they could more often than not achieve the same results with regular EQ and compression.

Unfortunately some mixes do need multi-band treatment. That is not the case when you can still tweak the mix.

Multi-band compression is certainly not the preferred tool by most mastering engineers.

EQ is static, and limiters don't have the soft finesse of a multiband. What else do you use as a mastering tool, nice language?

The Weiss DS-1 is a very nice dynamic EQ. On a smaller budget you can try the Voxengo Gliss EQ. As for limiting, it serves a different purpose than a multi-band compressor.

As for "mastering tool", don't believe the marketing.

UnderTow

Ok, you can give 2 guys jack hammers. one guy knows how to use one cause hje was trained to use one and another guy was not.
Now give each guy the same with the jackhammer. 99 out of 100 times the guy trained and experienced to use the jackhammer will do a better job and not Brutalize it.. LOl
Its the same with any tool you use for mastering....LOL
There you go. LOL
CJ

I know what I am talking about. You obviously don't.

There you go again, attacking the person and not the topic...LOL
Cj

Oh boy, we've gone into that dreaded territory of "righteous knowledge".

Well hey man, if you accomplish your mastering goals with the tools you use I ain't gonna fight, use what you use. I don't make claims to be a mastering engineer.

I'll also agree that one is better off having someone else (preferably with the advanced skill set) master their work. For my personal projects that's how I do it. But in the project studio world sometimes you have to do your own mastering. Assuming that's where we started with the original post.

I'm also not gonna comment about the "your mastering guy must not know his stuff" comment because he uses a multiband (paraphrasing). Taking blind stabs in the dark about a third person's acumen is bad for both parties.

So I'll go back to saying: for my own quick and dirty mastering needs I use a multiband compressor, a linear phase EQ, and a limiter. I'm sure more skilled folk can make more with less, but it's what I use.

This has gone far enough. Please stop attacking one another. The good points in this thread have been totally obscured by this nonsense.

So far the order of signal chain has been Compressor, EQ and Limiting. What about EQ the mix first. That way you are hitting the second stage with a mix that is better and has a more even distribution of energy across the spectrum.

I have been using a slight amount of mix buss compression during the mixdown before mastering. Very low ratio eg 1.3:1 and high threshold so only about 3 db of gain reduction is ocurring. This mix buss compressor does not have to be multiband either. A full range compressor works well here too.

Then for me the signal chain is EQ, Multiband and Limiting. Dont try and get a lot of gain from any of these processes, justa few db from each stage. The Sonar 64 Bit EQ and Multiband are great tools. Mastering engineers use Multiband compressors all the time. They are harder to use initially but better in the end as they are smarter than a normal compressor. They can really level out a more amateur mix and make it sound better and more polished. I use the Waves limiter in the end because it seems to do a fine job without pulling the mix apart.

But a great mix is important to start with first. And remember to leave time between mixing and mastering and also we need to calibrate what we are doing when mastering eg calibrated monitor gain. How loud is loud? Katz K System calibration of monitor gain and reference levels.

Remember to always switch over to professionally mastered CD's in the same style as you are mastering yourself. (These need to lowered in volume so all things are of equal loudness) That will keep you honest with your adjustments. Always compare completely un mastered material at higher volume to mastered material at equal volume to really hear what you are doing to the signal. Making it worse in most cases!

The end result is to find a balance between making a CD that is loud and also retains lots of power, dynamics and transients in the end. It can be done (K System reference of -12db FS
and turn monitor gain down by -6db)

For anyone interested, below is the Waves C4 multi-band compressor with one band active:



As you see the range is set to -1 dB. Nothing drastic. Now here is the phase plot of what this does to the phase of a signal sent through it:




As you see it affects the phase of the entire mix. It is all over the place. This might not always be audible if your monitors already considerably skew the phase.

This is just an example. Many multi-band compressors have similar phase plots. It is unavoidable unless using a linear phase design. This in turn has other compromises.

So my personal advice when "mastering" your own mixes would be to try and fix things in the mix. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do that. If for whatever reason that is not possible, only use a multi-band compressor if other solutions don't work. It shouldn't be the first thing your grab for. More often than not an EQ is what you need.

UnderTow