Mastering Input of Slate Compressors

1

Hey guys,

im currently in the middle of the mastering course which is super awesome but because im in the middle of it i don’t know all the tricks yet :D. Im mastering a track for a friend so i have a question right now (can’t wait for the Open Office hours).

When you use the musical compressors of Slate you have to come in with -18dB as far as i know. But how do i adjust the gain after that? Do i just turn up the Output again after the compressor or do i continue in normal order with technical compression etc. and at the end i push up the Limiter to get back the gain?

Cheers,
Frieder

2

You could do either, if you are using a few Slate plug-ins, or analogue emulations, I would recommend increasing the volume at the limiter stage.

That is what I would do in any event, I use a lot of UAD, so I like my master fader to be hitting around the -12LUs and bring it up at the limiter stage.

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Thanks Paul for the advice. But since my first limiter is already pushed to the Maximum i need to apply i second limiter i guess ?!

In case of that i turn on Dithering only on the last Limiter of those two then?

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What limiter are you using, you should be able to push up the input of a limiter more than that, you are attenuating the signal to -18 dB RMS and not peak?

Yes, only dither once and that is the very last process in the chain.

5

Okay no you’re right… One Limiter was enough to bring back the gain. I think i somehow was overwhelmed with the Mastering Chain since im new to that workflow :smiley:

I’ll finish the Master today. I can upload it so you can take a listen if you’re interested. :+1:
Thanks for your advice Paul!

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I am glad you got it sorted and understanding the workflow more, it is very different from mixing but it will become second nature soon enough.

Sure :smiley:

7

Hey Paul and everybody interested, little update on my workflow. Tell me what you think and if it makes sense:

Since you have to come in with -18dB in Slates VBC you have to turn down the Output in the PlugIn before the VBC. Somehow i always loose focus then when turning my limiter up to compensate the loudness since i already adjusted the Limiter before i even put in the VBC (MMW workflow).

So now i do it as following: Console, EQ, Tape, then adjusting Limiter, then Inflator, then i turn down the Output of the Inflator and watch at my meter right after the Inflator to come out with -18db, then i look how many dB i turned down the Output of the Inflator and turn the same amount of dB up on the Output of ProC2 or ProMB which i also enable but without any further processing for now. Then i turn on the VBC and can compress how i like it. After that i continue with ProC2 etc. and so on…

The benefit is that come in perfectly in the VBC and don’t have to adjust the volume of the song again and have to add even more limiting character to the track. And adjusting the Output of ProC2 or ProMB is just clean loudness without limiting character. Hope it is understandable :smiley:

Does this make sense and is this legit? :smiley:
@Danny @Paul