free forum make a forum for free message boards free forum hosting free phpbb forum phpbb create free forum

tionchek · Site Admin Joined: 08 Apr 2011 Posts: 2

I found this interesting post on UAD forums:

by Plec » Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:25 am

Loudness is something that you have to work a lot on to actually grasp fully. Since every project is unique, it is very hard to compare loudness to something else since even very very small differences in production and mixing can make a big difference on how loud you can make something.

All that comes with a lot of experience though.

If you really want to get in the loudness race, there are some basic rules you have to remember to be musical and loud.

1. Sparse arrangements make louder masters.
2. Slower tempos make louder masters.
3. Good frequency separation make louder masters.

Basically it means that you have to write and engineer the music to be loud from the very beginning. In dance, since the kick is your main concern you can start out a project by mixing and maximizing only the kick until it is at the same or a bit louder in volume compared to other great mastered tracks. With this loudness frame set from the very start, you will instantly hear when production ideas and arrangements make the mix sound bad, and then you do what you have to do to make it sound good. You can then save this as a template for all your following songs.

A good starting point for master bus processing might be a compressor set up like the Sonalksis... for dance... use releasetimes between 200-400ms depending on the tempo. Do not use fast release time... under 150ms is usually too fast and above 400 is too slow. Compress maybe 3-5db when the kick hits it alone and the use a limiter like the Waves L2 (or UAD Precision Limiter) to take maybe 3db off.. but that depends on your compression and the tempo and everything else... but use that as a starting point and see where you end up.

Free Forum