I really want to know why, after I mix and master and I throw the finished mixdown track back into the daw and throw a limiter on it, there is always a few db of gain reduction occurring on transients still. Though, on all of my reference tracks, there is only .1 or.2 db of gain reduction when putting a limiter on them. I'm thinking has got something to do with the distortion that occurs at louder levels in my mixes. If anyone can help, please do and thanks.

 

compression settings are catching faster transients on their mix and forcing them downward, with almost nothing hitting the limiter for compression. or clipping. generally, the result of better compression results. shorter attack, higher ratio, lower threshold. all of it. better saturation to get a higher waveform density prior to compressing it, more than you. They are using every trick in the book.

The impact your limiter has after the signal has crossed it's threshold, is whatever you have it set to do. the issue is that some portion of your waveform is passing it's threshold. because you mention distortion, that is relative to your waveform being digitally clipped, not compressed.
I would not assume this means there are no spikes fast transients which do not cross your limiters threshold and trigger it to do whatever you set it to do. how it acts in that "grey area" is what is referrered to as the knee setting. above and below do the same (on/off switch), but the small overlap can be different settings. etc.

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2022

First, we don't know what you actually did. A screenshot of your master bus with a limiter open and a screenshot of the second limiter would be helpful.
Second, it's probably inter-sample peaks, if you didn't catch them the first time.

 

Compression in Mastering: A Beginner's Guide
https://emastered.com/blog/mastering-compression

Spoiler: How to set your compressor correctly every time

How to set your compressor correctly every time

Transients: understanding the energetic moments

To understand compression, you first need to know what transients are.
Transients are the original, high-energy moments of a particular sound in your waveform. These bursts provide our brains with a lot of information regarding the quality of a sound.
Since transients are often louder than the rest of your waveform, they are elements on which compression has a particularly strong effect.
For example: imagine a crunchy snare. When the snare starts, there is an original peak in your waveform that then slowly decreases. This original peak is your transient.

A waveform with good dynamics has many transients, as certain sounds within your composition start and then slowly fade away. Transients, as well as their eventual decay, are responsible for making a waveform look like a fishbone.
However, there are some tracks that are too dynamic. If your song consists only of transients and has no actual sound body, then your sound is not really appealing to our ears.
And the same is true in reverse, lack of dynamics can make your sound sound lifeless and fatiguing and make your waveform look like a big brick.
Compression helps find the perfect balance for a track so that it has a good dynamic range with a nice full body of sound.

The optimal compressor settings for your mix

First of all, a good rule of thumb when it comes to compression is 'do no harm'.
Remember those transients we just had it from? Your compression should preserve their character, not destroy it. Good mixes need some variation in energy to sound appealing to the listener's ears.
Even if you use a very versatile compressor or intense compression as an effect, your goal should be to enhance - not destroy - the natural and musical dynamics of your signal.

When you are looking for the right settings, you should actively listen for changes in dynamics rather than changes in sound.

When trying out different settings, ask yourself the following questions:

- What do I want to achieve with compression? Am I using it for corrective or aesthetic purposes?
- What parts of my signal are obviously getting louder?
- What happens to my transients and dynamic range?
- Is it clear where the gain reduction is happening?
- Am I possibly overdoing it?
To answer these questions and more, below we'll look at the parameters that almost every compressor has, and explain what you need to know to set them correctly.

Threshold
The Threshold sets the signal level at which your compressor kicks in. Threshold is measured in dB, so any signal above the threshold dB will be compressed.
When you set your threshold, you determine what part of your signal you want to reduce.
If you set your threshold low, the gain reduction of the compressor will be applied to a larger portion of your signal. If you set it higher, only the most aggressive signal peaks are affected and the rest remains untouched.

To set the threshold perfectly, you should be clear about what you want to achieve when you compress your signal, and which parts of the signal are most problematic.
Are the loud transients distracting from the rest of the mix? Or maybe the decaying decay is imperceptible in the mix?

Set your threshold so that your compressor works on the part of the signal that needs work, not lower.
The perfect threshold setting depends on your needs. Listen to your track and adjust everything to find the perfect amount of compression.

Ratio
The ratio determines how much gain reduction your compressor applies when the signal exceeds the threshold. This setting is called Ratio because it is expressed in relation to the unprocessed signal.
The higher the first number of the Ratio, the higher the value by which the gain is reduced.
For example, we can say that an uncompressed signal has a ratio of 1:1 and a brickwall limiter (which ensures that no signal exceeds the threshold) has a ratio of ∞:1.

The most common settings are between 1.5:1 and 10:1.
A lower first value of your ratio provides gentle compression that can be applied to an entire mix, for example, whereas a higher first value produces intense squashing.
Once you've set the threshold to suit your needs, you should listen to how it sounds as an increasing ratio affects your source material to find the optimal ratio.
When you are about to increase the ratio, listen carefully to determine when the gain reduction becomes noticeable. Stop before it becomes obvious and negatively affects the sound.

Attack and Release
Attack and release are two elements of the same type of setting - the point at which the compressor starts reducing gain (attack), and the point at which it stops (release).
You already know that the compressor will start reducing gain according to your ratio when the signal exceeds the threshold.
But how much your signal is reduced is determined by the Release and Attack settings.

Attack and Release determine whether the compressor reaches its full range of gain reduction immediately, or proceeds gradually.
Together they are the crucial settings if you want to get natural and musical sounding compression. If you set your attack too fast, your transients will be squashed. If you set the release too fast, it can quickly lead to an unnatural pumping effect.
You should have a clear idea of what elements of your sound you want to remain dynamic, and set everything up to make them happen. Good compression starts with a plan of what sounds need what kind of processing.

Hot tip: Keep an eye on your compressor's VU meter hands. Do they move with the music? If so, you're probably close to the right attack and release setting.
There are other compressor settings that I won't go into here. But if you get these four settings right, you're all set for healthy compression.

Common mistakes in compression

One of the most obvious signs that a track has been mixed by an inexperienced person is the incorrect application of compression.
Here are a few mistakes to avoid when trying out your compressor settings:

1. attack for drums/percussion is set too fast.

You may well be tempted to let the percussion elements in your mix pop in a really stylish way. However, too much of a good thing is also too much.
If the attack time is set too fast, you're simply reducing the "thud" of the individual drum hits by squashing the initial momentum of the sounds too much.

People like to assume that a faster attack sounds better when drums are soloed, but in the context of the track, the drums disappear if they've been limited too much.
Percussion hits are supposed to be dynamic, so keep them that way!

2. certain attack and release times cause low frequencies to sound distorted.

While this is more of a factor with hardware compressors, plug-ins - especially those modeled after analog equipment - can be affected as well.
For example, say you're trying to tame the unruly attacks of a bass guitar played with a pick. You want to set the attack of your compressor as fast as possible to get your transients under control, but then you notice that unsightly distortion occurs in the process.
This happens because the period of the waveform of a low frequency is quite long. If the attack time of the compressor is set fast enough, the gain reduction can start within one cycle of the sound wave. This will cut off the waveform and cause audible distortion.

There are two ways around this problem:

You can put a high-pass filter in the sidechain of the compressor so that the detector hears only the high frequencies.
If you are using a compressor plugin, the second option is to use the lookahead function.
This function sets the compressor to react a few milliseconds before the transient, giving the long-delayed low-frequency waves enough time to flow through without distortion.
Pro tip: You can also do the whole thing with hardware by duplicating the track in your DAW, placing it a little earlier on the timeline, and then sending it to the compressor's sidechain while sending the track to the normal input.

3. you assume that all compressors are the same.

This is more my personal view, but it's important to keep in mind that compressors don't all work the same way.
The 1176 FET Compressor, for example, is one of the most essential compressors in the industry and I was super happy to finally get my hands on a good software emulation.

I used it right away, but it took me a whopping six months to realize that the attack and release controls are reversed (counterclockwise for slow times, clockwise for fast times) due to the design of the analog hardware.
If you're using a new plugin, make sure you read up on exactly how it works so you can use it with confidence.

The perfect squeeze

If you want your mixes to sound refined and professional, it's immensely important that you understand how exactly your tools work. Compression is probably the most important tool, so make sure you're using it correctly.
Once you get used to keeping your ears open for what compressors do to your recordings, you can start trying out other compressors and see what they can add to your sessions.
Now that you know every knob on your compressor inside and out, you can sit down at your mix and squeeze everything to perfection!

Source / German: https://blog.landr.com/de/wie-du-einen-kompressor-benutzt/

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2022

If you use a limiter on your Mix with inter-sample peak (ISP) detection and its ceiling is to -1 dB on the output and bounce it as a a wav file (not a compressed audio format like mp3/4), then there shouldn't be any peak reduction occuring if you put another limiter on this bounce if the threshold is set to 0 dB.

 

And the solution was...?

 

So the solution was something weird to do with my DAW I guess. When I dropped my track into the DAW, since its BPM is written into the properties, for some reason if the DAW isn't set to that BPM, it shows that 1 - 4 dB gain reduction. When set to the BPM of the track it reacts like every other track. I guess since the BPM isn't written into the properties of the other tracks and they set automatically to the bpm of that track, but if stretched faster/slower they act the way my track was acting with the gain reduction. Simple and easy fix, but was frustrating not being able to figure out at first.

 

If you're using Studio One, you need to uncheck "strech audio files to Song tempo" when creating new song. Otherwise, you'll have to go to every single audio track in the song and change the "Tempo" setting away from "Timestretch" in every single one of them.

 

Ahhh, that makes sense. Thanks.