who uses the renaissance compressor in mastering?...and some other mastering stuff...

[djc8902]

I did a mix yesterday using the ren comp and L1 in my mastering session and thought it sounded huge!!! Is this common practice? Anyone else subscribe to this ideology? I also used the ren EQ 6 band to boost some upper mid (3-5K) and a add a little at 8K or so...and then the inevitable cut of around 4.5 DB at around 400 as it seems no matter how I EQ individual tracks, anything I do with 001 and the presonus teamed up seem to be super rich in low mids, very boxy.

As far as EQ in mastering, I read some threads about do's and dont's on the subject. Many people had said not to boost beyond 1 or 2 DB when tweaking master EQ???!! What!? You tweak until it sounds right in my opinion, and if something needs a major boost, mastering or not you slap it down. I dont necessarily agree with the idea that you need to make further adjustments in mixing if your EQ is drastic in mastering, if it sounds good do it! Any thoughts?

[Mark Reis]

I think using the Ren Compress with L1 is a little overkill. From the manual for the Ren compressor:

"It combines technologies from the C1-compressor/gate and the famed L1 Ultramaximizer..."

"The Renaissance Compressor has an L1-style limiter at the output stage..."

I usually just set all my bits to "1" manually ;-)

[Pete Weaver]

djc8902,

I always use Ren Compressor during my mastering
stage every time. I set it to Mastering opto and
adjust the threshold to taste.
I then set the output gain so that when I hit bypass,
there's no volume change.
I haven't needed to adjust EQ hardly at all during
mastering.

Read Charles Dye's HDL series on mixing in the Digizine.

He always uses a ren Comp on the mix.
Now granted, he's not actually "mastering" but in
my case I record local artists who can't afford to
get their cd's professionally mastered so I have
to master for them.

You should always trust your ears and don't worry
so much about the numbers.

[djc8902]

Amen Pete. I just wonder about why you dont try to get a little volume boost out of the ren compressor as well, why the need to make sure theres no volume change? Also...do you use the ren followed by a limiter? L1 maybe? Thats where I want to make sure im not doing too much squashing....I need to go back and check the ren comp limter meter but im thinking that I had it set so that the limiter wasnt even being triggered...maybe 3 db reduction at the most on my reduction meter. Very slight, but I got a noticable volume and "punch" increase with just the ren compressor alone, with the settings on "arc", "electro" and "smooth" to make sure the compressor wasnt holding on too long. Then the L1 just really helped the mix explode.

What im more concerned with is EQ in the mastering stage...I dont want to overdo it but sometimes i do find that Im boosting or sucking out 3 or or more DB at a time, which it seems that a lot of people are opposed too. I havent been doing this long enough to feel completely confident in every action I take, despite how good I THINK it sounds. And like I said, I always feel like sucking out around 400-500 hz really improves the overall sound of my mixes no matter what e qing I do during tracking and the mix. Can anyone offer some thoughts? Thanks.

[ISedlacek]

What about to use C4 or C5 instead of RC on master fader ? Will it not bring more colourful compressing possibilities ?

[blah]

Be sure not to over-compress.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally posted by ISedlacek:
What about to use C4 or C5 instead of RC on master fader ? Will it not bring more colourful compressing possibilities ?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Exactly!

I have mastered four songs today (you know, DIY "mastering"), and just before I finished, I read this post.
I thought I’d try using rencomp and see what it could do, compared to what I had been using.

Now, these were mixes that I was very pleased with, and the only goal was to achieve high levels without loosing quality and too much dynamics.

I had a smooth C4 working within a 2-3 dbs range, after that just a hint of sweetening of the highs with a BF Pultec, a Q4 with 25 Hz high pass, and the L1 cutting up to 3-4 dbs occationally.

I disabled them all, and fiddled around with the rencompressor instead, still using the L1 last. No chance. I could not achieve the same levels as the original setup without bad pumping and loss of dynamics.

One compressor alone can never do the job that a multiband comp can do.

[guitates]

I think that well placed EQ's on the individual tracks allow me Not to ever EQ the master fader...

I ALWAYS use the RenComp followed by the L2 (L1 before I got the Fabulous L2 with 24 bit dither).

I only select the Mastering Opto, and put the thresh on 2 or 3 for a very slight commpresion of 1 to 2 (check the number under the Yellow meter). 3 sounds OK, but with the L1 or 2, I only use the RenComp to control the Input of the Mix in to the Master fader, and add the character of the RC.

Also, If you keep the Output of the RCmp below 0.0, the Limiter on the RC will Not have been used. Look at the numbers under the Stereo out of the RenComp and lower the fader until you can pay the entire song without any RC limiting. If you see a 0.0, then the limiter has kicked in...pull the fader down until you get a reading of .2 or less... [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[Morningstar]

Hell, I've used a R-Comp>C4>and L1 all in the same chain when finalizing a project. Depends on how you are using them, there are many ways to use a single device. Actually read the manuals with the waves stuff, there's a tip. Those waves manuals are the best..

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally posted by Morningstar:
Actually read the manuals with the waves stuff, there's a tip.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Are you being sarcastic?
[img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]