mixing loud, or mastering loud?

Tim_Foll

New member
which is the best, mixing loud, or mastering loud...?
in the mastering process, which better between single band compressor or multiband compressor?

help me please..! i'm beginner...
 
agreed - Tim start by learning how to balance your mix then how to pan, then how to add fx effectively then how to eq if needed at all

mastering and compression and limiters and maximisers are a long way down your learning curve
 
If you want your mix to sound really loud, you have to mix it that way. NOT in terms of level.... I often have 6 to 9dB of headroom on my mixes. I mean mixing for a loud SOUND. If you don't and they try and crank it in mastering, it will start falling apart faster.

That said, this is CRAZY ADVANCED stuff. Just focus on making a mix that sounds good.

Stick to single band compressors and limiters. If you are resorting to multiband to get your volume louder, that's a sign that your mix isn't balanced very well.
 
Agreed with everything said above. As a beginner, I think concentrating only on improving the quality of your mixing is better than worrying about loudness.

As to your question about single band vs multi band comps, they're both great. Multi band comps are basically just single comps that work in user defined frequency bands. In that sense, the only benefit is that multiband compressors are more surgical.
 
Just never peak the signal (go above 0db on each track). I usually stay under -3db to play it safe.

When you mix well, you'll give loudness on the mastering stage.

Focus on the sound quality and the dynamics of the song first and then you can give loudness at no time.

But make it worth first :)
 
Just never peak the signal (go above 0db on each track). I usually stay under -3db to play it safe.

When you mix well, you'll give loudness on the mastering stage.

Focus on the sound quality and the dynamics of the song first and then you can give loudness at no time.

But make it worth first :)

a small quibble but what units of dB are you using here?

dBfs? dBspl? dBm? dBu? dBv? dBV? dBVU? dBRMS? each are different and have a different concept of of what "0" means
 
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