Subject: some suggestions

Hey ktb - after recording for awhile now, I've kinda gotten to the point where I think it's a bad idea to record individual tracks too hot. One of the big problems is that then you don't have much headroom when it comes to mixing - you might need to give a boost to a certain track, but since you're right to the red, when you boost it, you get distortion or clipping. This seems to be most problematic on vocal tracks.

What I've read that the pros do is record to like -3 db. They worry about the overall volume at the end when they are mastering. If you have a good limiter, you can really boost things up while also improving clarity and punch at a later stage.

In ProTools, make a master track, then add the limiter as an RTAS plug-in on the master. Play around with how much gain you can add without getting clipping or distortion. When I was using ProTools, I used to use the Maxim plug-in as my limiter. It was pretty good (not great), but did the job. I demoed the Waves L1 ultramaximizer - that baby is AWESOME, but costs $300 separately or $375 as part of the Native power pack. So, bummer, I don't have it.

I don't use ProTools anymore and do my recording in Tracktion now. Tracktion doesn't have a limiter that I like, but it has a nice "polishing" plug-in called "Mackie Final Mix" which really helps with clarity and final EQ of your track. From there, I take the stereo output and bring it into Logic for mastering: Waves Ren. Compressor, followed by a little bit of Logic Limiter makes for a huge increase in overall volume without really effecting the mix. My latest song on the site is pretty low in level because I uploaded the un-mastered version. My new mastered version is much louder and smokes the one here on MacJams.

Anyway, the main thing I'd do is work on the master track - try some compression followed by limiting. If you have any of the Bomb Factory leveling amplifier plug-ins in your ProTools set up (LN-1176 for example), you should also be able to use that to boost the volume without upsetting the overall mix. Good luck and let me know how it turns out!

Mason

Mason, excellent feedback. Thank you. I have PT LE, so I need to explore what plug in are available to me. But based on this and other advice, it looks like I need to educate myself on some basic post production plug ins. This is probably a great idea, since I haven't yet scratched the surface here.

I always record soft (-3 to -6), unless background hiss is a problem, for the very reason sited. Plus, if you ever accidentally record distortion, it is there forever and you need to do a new take, which is sometimes very tragic. If a track distorts while bouncing or mixing, sometimes you don't hear it until you are well into mastering and it is a pain in the neck to go back and fix it.

I almost always use both a bass and a high enhancing compression and bring up the volume using limiters during mastering. Often I will tweak overall EQ using a 32-band EQ, and it is much easier to pull up a frequency than pull down 30 others, so leaving headroom is important at the end of the process. Good tip.

Not me. I tend to run as near to red as possible. Of course I don't do nearly as much musical type stuff as other people. It's easy for me to do a second take, or to play with what I am doing until I am comfortable with the reading and levels.

I agree when doing live tracks though.

Erm, a frequency enhancing compression? Do you mean a multi-band compressor? Or what?

I don't master very sophisticatedly. There is a multiband compressor, the Firium EQ, and a limiter on my master out, but I don't spend much time setting them carefully. I spend more time compressing and (much) EQ'ing of the individual tracks. Cutting away irrelevant frequencies makes a track sit much easier in the mix.

Victor.