Up/Down everything.

Wich one do you use and what are you trying to achieve with it ?
Wich one do you think is the best and why ?
In what scenario would you choose one over the other ?

 

I mostly use multiband (Fabfilter-style) for a certain frequency spectrum, not shitton of bands all over the screen,
often sidechaining one track into other, or even mid-side thingy when handy,
upward/downward expansion/compression is kinda artifical sorting, just whatever works for the result,
ducking kick drum in snare track,
ducking snare drum in kick track,
ducking snare drum in cymbals track,
ducking cymbals in snare track,
pushing kick drum through bass track,
ducking guitars through vocal track,
ducking instruments submix from vocal bus,
ducking synths in bass track or vice versa,
pushing spacey instruments while keeping rhythm (kick+snare+bass) tight in the middle...

actual 4-6-band multiband is the magic ingredient for "radio-like" sound, but imo it's an obsolete thingy nowadays, it was mostly relevant back in the day when radio broadcasters needed certain electrical signal strength to meet criteria for analog distribution antenna transmitters

 

TDR Nova cuz its awesome - not really a MB compressor, but an eq with a powerful dynamics section. Use this for mastering, critical busses, adding punch or life to drums, synths, guitars, whatever.

TDR ARBITER - this plugin is swiftly becoming one of my favorite plugins of all time. Just an awesome plug

Devious Machines MultibandX6 for classic OTT compression. Its basically OTT on steroids with more tweakability. Raw and dirty, for processing Neuro basses, slamming breakbeats etc. Rarely, depending on genre, ill slap a bit of it on the master

Ableton's OTT / XFER - rarely use, but sometimes will use for old times sake

Vinai - I dont like WA prod plugins

ProMB / ProQ - will sometimes use, if i want a plastic sound

Dynone - great plugin, but i rarely use it for expansion

There's more, but im too lazy to write them all up

 

@shinyzen I wouldn't have guessed you could get OTT tonalities with Devious Machines Multiband X6 since it doesn't do upward comp, might give it a try then !

@tzzsmk may I interest you in Devious Machines Duck ? Seems like you be doin' a lot of ducking
The tip about 4-6 bands is interresting.

 

You know what, i mixed things up. I meant Fuser from minimal audio. Although Devious Machines M6 is still a great tool. It can get pretty extreme too!

 

Thanks for clarifying !

For those wondering Multiband X6 (multiband downward comp) and Fuse (multiband up/down comp)

 

bitwig native dynamics device. its not multi band but with help of another device, it can be...
i made a preset something like ott
for dubstep and dnb bass design

 

Not really multiband but I use Pro-Q 3 for most of my mixing needs, honestly if you can't fix the most common mix problems with something like TDR Nova or Pro-Q 3... you're doing something wrong.

Now, for color I really like Fuse Compressor for it's ease of use and convenient settings (like the Tilt parameter).

 

Pro-mb for some times i need the highs "jump" in certain tracks of EDM.
ott rarely when i want something agressive...

 

Leapwing DynOne or Pro-MB for multi-band. OTT on individual channels, and not usually this either. I never use upward compression on an entire mix. You have much better tricks available to you. W.A. win the race to the trash can.

 

Ducking Guitars through Vocals is extremely useful for metal production.
Especially modern metal has strongly saturated guitars which tend to compete with vocals.

I use MB-Compression on Metal Guitars often (80-200Hz) to get better control of palm mutes.
They tend to make your mix muddy and often compete with the Bass

 

and on modern metal, guitars are often cut/dampened even higher (up to around 500Hz) and "supported" by synths underneath, it's a stealthy trick to thicken guitars in dense parts

 

The ML4000 is functionally complete. There are phase issues with cross points, but finding and applying the sweet spot with compensation and matches sounds fantastic.

 

It's cute how the ML4000 "mastering limiter" is $20 more expensive than the "advanced limiter". Really? That is such an 80's,90's software practice. One being more expensive implies it is "better than the other", when if they were equally priced some people would buy both.
The cheaper one will do everything but the one thing you bought it to do.

 

Honestly, I bought and use both. I had to.
and i like waves and fabfilter too but mcdsp is a different game

 

Sure, but you are sort of straddling a few different plugins by using them, in lieu of a dedicated multiband compressor and expander. The reason why people mention Pro-MB and not Pro-L are because it is a dedicated multiband processor, not a limiter. Nor is Pro-L really a Mastering Limiter. Not really the context of the thread. You can turn a Phillips screw with a flat screwdriver.

 

Witty and true !

@clone have you ever tried Ursa DSP Boost which is described as a "upward limiter" but can also do parallel compression and mid side/stereo amongst others tricks, you can push it hard without it ever distorting (almost) or folding back to mono (can be overkill tho). I think it's pretty forward thinking and I'm trying to learn it at the moment.

Do you have any opinion on this and if so, would you consider it more of a Mastering Limiter than Pro-L 2 ?
(Review by Dan Worral below)

Cheers

 

DMG Multiplicity

 

A lot of people like that plugin, but Dan Worrall comments about this also. He says it reminds him of how "radio people" use heavy-duty multiband compressors, and this is a single wide band limiter. Cool plugin or not, it's just a different tool than my flat screwdriver. Sometimes you can repurpose things to great effect, like how a spark plug with the electrode broken off is the fastest way to enter a locked car. It will definitely do the job, but you might just lose something you wanted to keep. (like the window you hit with it).

In one book I read by this guy Björgvin Benediktsson, he even comments about how many people (including him previously) think of multi-band compressors like Fabfilter Pro-MB as mainly a mastering tool. It certainly will work for that application, but it's not the only place for multi-band compression. Note the above comment from @Karate Grownup about DMG Multiplicity. At the end of that chain is probably going to be DMG Limitless on the 2 bus, if it is installed. If uploading to streaming, you could call that a wrap. But a Mastering Engineer you send it to would say to remove the limiter, because a dedicated Mastering Limiter is likely going to take it's place. That is a great Limiter, maybe even better than Pro-L sometimes, if adjusted nicely. I only mentioned the differences because lots of people also use multiband compression, upwards compression, and expansion on their individual tracks. They are more Swiss Army Knif than a Ginsu. I use BlueCats MB-7 Mixer all the time, but I'd never put it on my 2bus.