Home Mastering Headstart – Lesson #4

Why mastering compression isn’t all about ‘loudness’

Using compression in mastering is a huge subject – far bigger than can be covered in this single post. Luckily I’ve written a lot on the subject elsewhere ! So this will be an overview with links to more detailed discussion.

First, let’s cover an important point:

Mastering compression isn’t all about ‘loudness’

It can be used as a way to achieve loudness (more on that later) but at it’s heart mastering compression should be about control. Managing dynamics, not removing them. If you boost the input gain to a limiter as I talked about in the previous lesson, and can get the overall level up to where you need it without more than a few dBs of limiting, you may not need compression at all !

On the other hand, if your mix is hitting -10 LUFS at the loudest points, but it’s tricky to hear the quieter sections, you might want to use compression. If something is leaping out at certain points, you might want to use compression. If everything sounds great in the verses but gets out of control in the chorus, or you just want more density – you might want to use compression.

What IS compression ?

Here’s an introductory post to compression:

Using compression to add punch, warmth and power to your mix

And here’s a post about the way that I think about using compression – what my goals are.

Compression – The Punchbag Analogy

Finally, compressors aren’t always used just to control dynamics – although that’s usually how I use them in mastering. They can be used creatively though, and one way you might choose to use on is as a “mix buss compressor” – after the fact. Here’s a post that discusses this:

When over-compression sounds great – take your compressor to it’s knee

Multiband compression

tc-multiband

Sometimes there are problems that a single-band compressor can’t handle. Maybe you’re getting pumping or distortion, or the mix is losing “life” or “air”. To get around these issues and achieve loud, professional-sounding results 
without losing punch, warmth or clarity, multiband compression can be an invaluable tool in mastering.

There’s too much to the subject for a single post, but I recently did a free 50-minute webinar introduction to multiband compression – you can see it here:

Mastering with Multiband Compression

(It’s an old video, the quality isn’t great and I need to update it, but I still think there’s plenty of valuable content in there.)

A word of warning – I haven’t always been able to get the results I want from many of the multiband compression plugins I’ve tried. But Ozone, MeldaProduction and FabFilter all offer good options.

Compression in mastering

If you’ve read all those links and the last two lessons, you’ll be in great shape to put everything together and start using compression in mastering

  • Set the overall level of your song, and listen
  • If the limiter is working too hard, try some compression
  • If some aspect of the internal dynamics isn’t working (things sticking out or getting lost), try some compression
  • Always remember you can use automated gain-changes instead of compression to control the internal dynamics of a song, often with better results !
  • Remember, less is more – make sure you don’t overdo it by checking with the Loudness Meter

If your goal is “loudness”, using compression and limiting together will get better results than either on their own – but there’s more to it than that.

How to master a song loud – and the price you pay

Always remember though, that finding the dynamic “sweet spot” for your music is far more important than the actual level in the file.

Loudness means NOTHING on the radio – the proof

Starting settings

Compression is a much more complicated processor to set up than limiting, so the settings need to be customised for every song. But for what it’s worth, here are the settings I usually use as a starting-point:

Ratio:   2:1
Attack:   100 ms
Release:   100 ms
Threshold:   -12dB    (This is nominal, since it depends entirely on the input gain)

For more discussion of these parameters plus an explanation of my choices and how they affect the sound, check out the “Using compression” link I mentioned earlier, and the multiband compression webinar.

Always balance the EQ first

I mentioned this in the “how to make your music loud” post, but it’s crucially important in mastering. You need your tracks to have a balanced, natural EQ before going into your mastering compression – or you may end up struggling to make the compression work.

And that’s what we’ll be talking about in the next lesson – see you then !

P.S.

Did you get here via a link from a friend, or Twitter? This lesson is part four of a 7-part free email course to give you a head start with home mastering. I give you quick, useful guidelines from a professional perspective to help you get started today, without damaging all the hard work you’ve already done. Learn more about it and sign up here.