Help trying to use 2 limiters

[KEVIN COLLINS]

I'm new at this post production and have been reading everything i can get my eyes on ,not to mention my ears. What i was tring to experiment with was the idea of using to limiters on master session as opposed to using one. I'm not tring to get in to the how much can i squeeze war , i'm tring to see if it is cleaner this way.my question is the threshold on limiter # 1 and then on limiter #2 so each limiter is doing half the job. I'ts whippy me ,any insight i would be grateful. This is a cool site .thanks for reply

[Aaron Troughton]

Well... First of all what is it that you're trying to acheive? Are you limiting to controll the dynamics or for an effect?

Second are you limiting the stereo mix out or just a single track/instrument?

[KEVIN COLLINS]

I'm tring to bring up the average rms level to -14 dbs and i want it not squashed, thanks for reply . I'm currently runing a bounced file to a new session to try? To do some mastering knowledge gaining experiments. 1st waves eq . Then opto compression fast attack ,medium release time,very lil gain reduction, to waves lin mb, slowly doin gain staging, to a waves ren set up as parallel compression to l2 limiter to l316 , thanks

[Aaron Troughton]

Ok no problem.

Really, as frustrating as it sounds, there arnt really any hard and fast rules when it comes to using compression. There are guidelines you can follow to get started but its all really down to taste and experimentation.

The only real reason i could think that i would use two compressors is to blend the tones that each make sepertely to get the overall result im after. Im pretty sure using two compressors just to split the work would be the same as using one (but i could be wrong its not something ive tried)

The main reason you might be getting the really compressed sound your describing will be down to the settings. I tend to start with 3/4:1 ratio, the attack all the way slow, start playback and bring the attack gradually shorter to taste. Do the same with the release (start all the way fast and gradually turn slower to taste) then when your happy turn the up the gain and see what happens. You will have to ajust the parameters as you go so if it starts getting 'too compressed' then lower the ratio or the release and just expirement.

One last thing is that if you are using the 'parallel compression' trick then you are going to hear quite a lot of compression. The main reason for p. compression is as an effect to make a track sound big and punchy. If this isnt what your after then i wouldnt bother with parallel compression.

This is just one way around compression and im sure there are other (possiblly better) ways but this is how i learned and i hope it helps

[waltz mastering]

Originally Posted by KEVIN COLLINS

I'm tring to bring up the average rms level to -14 dbs and i want it not squashed, thanks for reply . I'm currently runing a bounced file to a new session to try? To do some mastering knowledge gaining experiments. 1st waves eq . Then opto compression fast attack ,medium release time,very lil gain reduction, to waves lin mb, slowly doin gain staging, to a waves ren set up as parallel compression to l2 limiter to l316 , thanks

Give the L2007 a try (free 30 day) it's a bit more transparent than the waves stuff imo.
http://www.masseyplugins.com/plugins/l2007

[albee1952]

FWIW, today I mastered a song(I didn't record or mix it) that took 4 limiters to make me happy(1 softube CL-1B and 3 instances of Waves L2). The result put a smile on the client's face. If you master in a Pro Tools session, you could duplicate the playlist so you have several copies of the un-mastered file, and treat each playlist with the AudioSuite version of L2007 or Waves L2(or whatever you have) in varying degrees. Like find a fairly gentle setting and AS process one playlist once, do the next playlist twice, 3 times on the third and so on. Then it would be easy to compare the results by soloing each playlist. Just food for thought

[Aaron Troughton]

Originally Posted by albee1952

If you master in a Pro Tools session, you could duplicate the playlist so you have several copies of the un-mastered file, and treat each playlist with the AudioSuite version of L2007 or Waves L2(or whatever you have) in varying degrees. Like find a fairly gentle setting and AS process one playlist once, do the next playlist twice, 3 times on the third and so on. Then it would be easy to compare the results by soloing each playlist. Just food for thought

Good Idea!