Mar 25, 2005 09:29 am most commercial music released to day is maximized too much. However, don't confuse limiting with maximizing. Two different processes with two different sounds. I almost never limit, but always maximize.
Am I maximising to much?
Posted on Mar 25, 2005 09:20 am
Topman
Member Since: Oct 25, 2004
Im trying to find out if the limiting to much to finalise my songs through izotope..I dont know what to use as a guide line ?
izotope says to bring it up to the crest?
But where abouts on the crest
I want to get as much volume without damaging the sound
Also what si teh best setting to use on teh character slider, should I increase this as I increase the limiting?
My songs are on my website
www.gazevans.co.uk/musicmain.html
Sorry but this is doing my nut!
Gareth
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Mar 25, 2005 09:29 am most commercial music released to day is maximized too much. However, don't confuse limiting with maximizing. Two different processes with two different sounds. I almost never limit, but always maximize.
Mar 25, 2005 02:18 pm The way I do it Topman is to set the ceiling (margin in Ozone) to -.3 and then adjust the threshold down until there is some activity on the meter but not to point where there is solid heavy limiting going on. If your wav form looks like a 2X4 when your done, you probably overdid it. ;)
Dan
Mar 26, 2005 03:53 pm cheers i, i think im doing it right,, ill just have to use my ears alot more
Mar 26, 2005 07:34 pm so, whast the difference between doing master limiting and maximizing?
When i master i used bit of EQ, waves MultiBand and a Waves L2... is that not good?
Waves L2 is a limiter, but calls itself a maximiser right, i'm abit confused....?
Mar 26, 2005 07:39 pm limiters are a concrete ceiling. maximizers are a concrete ceiling and a flooring with springs under it.
Mar 26, 2005 07:47 pm so it's like a peak limiter, and an rms compressor?
Mar 26, 2005 08:01 pm still abit confused...
erm, so what is a good maximiser plugin if the L2 is a limiter?
what audible advantages would a maximiser have over a limiter then?
Mar 26, 2005 09:38 pm I think what dB's saying is ...
A maximizer is essentially a limiter that automatically makes up the gain (hence dB's reference to a floor with springs under it) when the threshold is lowered yet never allowing the signal to go past 0dB (or -.3dB, or however you set it).
Basically, the advantages are more convenience rather than quality except with something like the Waves L2, I'm sure it does it in a much more transparent and musical way than some cheap, generic brickwall limiter/maximizer.
Hopefully this makes a bit more sense now.
Mar 26, 2005 11:20 pm To add to the confusion, maximizers don't simply chop the signal off if it trys to go above the ceiling. Ozone's description of it is "intelligent" limiting, though it does have a brick wall mode if you want that. Basically it will allow small overs (but never above 0dB). A maximizer also takes care of all the things like attack, release, makeup gain etc., automatically.
Using a compressor plugin and limiter in combination you could probably approach the same effect as a maximizer, but you'd have a lot more settings to get just right.
Dan
Mar 27, 2005 11:59 am aaaaaaaaaah! I getcha!
Yeah, the L2 does that, if u turn the threshold down, it automaticly boosts the quiet bits by the difference between the threshold and 0db aswell as having the ceiling at the top.
i know what i'm talking about anyway :)
Mar 28, 2005 11:16 am I think there are some symantics here as well as application issues.
I'm sure some maximizers will loosely use the term limiter intermitently. A limiter and non-maximizing compresser will 'cap' the volume to an upper limit making sounds that come in louder than that limit sound no louder than the ceiling. A maximizer will will 'pack' the waveform with sounds over limit and increase density of the waveform as well as add 'loudness distortion' to create LOUD. The 'loudness distortion' is what we psychologicaly equate to speakers playing loud. And yes it can be over-done. As dB mentions most commercialy produced music is over-done, but that has become expected and is considered by most consumers a 'good' sound.
I usually watch the reduction meter in Ozone. I find if I keep it under about 2.5 or so for most pieces I get a pretty clean sound. Obviously it depends on the piece. And obviously, that is my preference per my ears.
I've noticed that Ozone's maximizer also alters the eq curve some. Even know the maximizer is the last piece in the chain, I will set it first and then go back to the eq and multiband compresser and 'tune' the piece so it comes out of the maximizer with a frequency balance I want. There's a quite a bit of 'back and forth' sometimes between the maximizer and other sections.
Mar 30, 2005 12:25 pm Also, the L1 or L2 maximizers actually remove inaudible noise from your mix, then fill that space with audible noise (the good stuff...your mix). The inaudible noise is taking up headroom, so L1/L2 removes it to make more space for the sounds you can hear...VERY COOL.
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