On a mix that I did today with one acoustic guitar and three very short vocal tracks of like 8 seconds I used I think 9 compressors and a limiter. 'Fuck do I know, AND I'm pretty dang deaf.

Get the hell off my lawn.

 

Well, if you've got an acoustic, and three separate vocal parts, I'd think you'd still need two more compressors... three, if you were counting the limiter as a compressor. Now let's talk about how many enhancers we can sandwich inbetween each of those compressors, ya'know, to drag everything up again before slamming it back into the ground, cuz that's when the fun really starts. We'll get this thing squashed good before it's louden-er-ized. They'll stand in awe at the revealing of its final form.

 

I read it, for the sake of curiosity, but (me) not being so interested in mixing/mastering I only retained the he likes DMG plugins, and of course he's still a reference guru for pro mixer/master engineers.

I naively ask, is it ironic? Or is it really needed to use many fxs of the same type in chain for the same track?
I mean, there was a time when hardware fxs were not too abused, mostly because of cumulative noise added (and cost).
So, again, if not ironic, it's just a paradigm of modern vsts? And why?

 

Good question. If you ask 100 mix engineers about their audio chains you'll get get 100 different answers. In this case there were two analog comps, a 1176 on the guitar not so much for dB reduction but for the lift to the sound from the transformers and transient control of the attack, though in this instance there wasn't much of a vocal to get out if the way of. Habit I guess. The other was an opto compressor, a great LA2A clone that maybe knocked off 2 to 3 dB off of a very relaxed three part harmony consisting of but two words...Love me. So far we have 4 tracks of analog compression. On each of those tracks I threw on the free and wonderful Klanghelm DC1A with slow attacks, and then after those each a
Jon V Audio FirComp 2 to just catch the peaks. Now we're up to 7. I bussed the three tracks together and put on a TDR Kotelnikov to tie it all together. Now up to 8. The guitar also got a TDR Kotelnikov...9.

The 2 Buss had a Klanghelm DC8C 3 to snip the peak and after that I tried the BX True Peak for the first time (and liked it) to finish it all of by reducing the transients for a final -6 dB ceiling.

In total 10 compressors (I was off by one) and 1 limiter. It was a good electrical day and so it was a quiet recording. The slew of compressors didn't make it noisier significantly and I liked the final outcome which in this instance you can hear when I release what has become a multiple part song for the competition thread and is called Strange Reflection.

Ironic, maybe, maybe not. To my ear hardware imparts a niceness that I haven't yet found using plugins. On the other hand, vst compressors can be dead silent if you wish, and if used judiciously won't raise the noise level too much.

It's much more art than science, after grokking the basics of compression after a while one can find a flow that works using the tools that help express your ideas. Not every song calls for the same way of mixing. Flexibility is a nice trait to have.

 

yes, of course, but if "you only do what is neccessary" is the right answer to "how do i use processors for mixing and mastering", and someone simply does not hear what is neccessary, any other advice will also not help.

so how do you teach someone how to hear in under 1 minute?

we do not need to quote katz here (and he is not right because he is famous, he is right because he has serious interest in these things himself), but mixing and mastering is done like that. there are two main issues you have to look for: eventually certain technical specs - and of course taste.

but what is in most people´s mind is "do i need to install the upgrade for my KI compressor or not and how do i need to turn the knobs on it to do it right?" and that is the wrong question, as he/she/they basically wants you to make decisions for him. it is right if it sounds good, not when the knob is at 7/10.

destroying wrong assumptions and harmful beliefs is always step one in various forms of coaching.

that´s what katz also did in his first papers and if people do not even want to listen to you for 30 seconds when you make the very first statement, why recommend them a book?

many people prefer to know it better anyway if you explain them things, that´s wh katz has left his own facebook group. but that´s another story.
i mostly teach students, and they do want to know what the asked for, in public forums there is just too much noise.
the precondition for learning is always that those who ask actually want to learn it.

 

Last edited: Jun 16, 2024

the point is that there is is no right and wrong. each other individual can only tell you about his personal experience, nobody can tell you the one and only truth or mix your music for you.