Finalizers (For Listening / Web Showcasing Purposes)

[ketamine]

I'm ing all over the net and this site, but can't find anything:

I'm into HipHop right now: My mixdowns are fine, and crisp, and sound nice, but because I keep everything (including the peaks) -3, they're always quiet. I know that's fine, because once vocals are added, volume will be fixed at mastering.

But for showcasing my beats / sending people stuff to listen to, I need a good, out of the box (presets are fine) plugin to crank up my volume.

I've heard about PSP Vintage Warmer, downloaded the demo. I used Finalizer 1 but it made my mix sound flat. I'm used to my dynamics now--and how good they sound, but I know ordinary people (dummies) will go "This too low!11!" So help!!

What preset / settings have you found the best?

Recommend some other Brands?? I'll just wind up buying the best one...

[Basic A]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

[upstateface]

http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html Free Waves L1 clone.

[ketamine]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

Logic. What should I use in that?

[legend4ry]

Logic comes with pretty decent plugins, as a lot of people say.. Can't you just use a little compression/limiting?

[Basic A]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

Logic. What should I use in that?

Not really sure... Im a *nix PC ....

But, if you guys have a multiband compressor, I bet it has some presets for you... Load your mixdown .wav up, link it too a mixer track, route that mixer track to master... Put compressor preset on master, lower mixdown volume until the compressor is just barely reaching its peak... should do you quite nicely.

[Wrigzilla]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

Logic. What should I use in that?

Use either the Limiter or the adaptive limiter, when I bring the volume up to send to other people I usually just set the limiter so that it's only just catching the odd peak.

[decree]

http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html Free Waves L1 clone.

[ketamine]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

Logic. What should I use in that?

Not really sure... Im a *nix PC ....

But, if you guys have a multiband compressor, I bet it has some presets for you... Load your mixdown .wav up, link it too a mixer track, route that mixer track to master... Put compressor preset on master, lower mixdown volume until the compressor is just barely reaching its peak... should do you quite nicely.

Ok. I'm literally working on this as I type... Should I use Peak or RMS?

[deadly_habit]

the gain control
or some subtle limiting that doesn't squash the fuck out of the dynamics

[Basic A]

What daw do you use?

Usually a nice compressor/limiter preset on 'em somewhere, granted they'll always need adjusting, but, youd be surprised...

Logic. What should I use in that?

Not really sure... Im a *nix PC ....

But, if you guys have a multiband compressor, I bet it has some presets for you... Load your mixdown .wav up, link it too a mixer track, route that mixer track to master... Put compressor preset on master, lower mixdown volume until the compressor is just barely reaching its peak... should do you quite nicely.

Ok. I'm literally working on this as I type... Should I use Peak or RMS?

open a compressor, set ratio to 3:1 (roughly) slowish attack (say, 10ms-15ms) subtle release (50ms? idk fiddle with it) hen lower the threshold just a lil bit, turn the gain up just a lil bit. normalize to zero using a gin knob or 'normalize' ting ...

[alex_l]

For finalizing you will have better results using rms compression but only aiming for a couple of dB gain reduction, then topping off with a limiter to catch the peaks and allowing you to push the gain a bit. I would probably use slower and gentler settings than Basic A suggested but use a slightly lower threshold to thicken the sound (and soft knee on the compression)

have a look online for the ssl presets for the logic compressor, someone took the trouble of cloning them a while back and it may give you a good start point if you aren't sure how to use any mastering compression

the w1 limiter as mentioned above is a good tool and can be more transparent than the logic plugins at more aggressive settings

edit: have a look at the ozone demo. I also got an email from brainworx about their new mastering limiter which apparently lets you push the sound up to commercial levels without too much artefact (and it is on public beta)

[ketamine]

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm seriously going over these suggestions and trying them out...