Competing in the loudness war

Play · January 22, 2013

Hi. I am a producing dance music and just have 3 releases in the stores so far. I feel I have been getting pretty well in tune to the subtle important differences made with EQing and compressing. I always A/B the effect enabled/bypassed and make sure I am only using makeup gain when needed and only as much as needed to retain the perceived loudness while mixing. I am grouping drums, grouping, synths, grouping bass, etc and using the Waves SSL compressor to gently glue my busses. I also use the Waves SSL compressor on my master with gentle settings achieving only a peak of about -3db to -4db of reduction. When mixing my levels, I generally set my kick at about -7db and then mix everything to taste around that in order of priority. This way I usually end up with about -4db to -6db of headroom on my master before applying the limiter. When applying the limiter I try to achieve about -10db RMS. I push till I hear distortion than back off to remove the distortion. All of these tips I have gathered from the culmination of many tutorials and articles I have read. I am pretty happy with the sound of my final mix (tho always improving) and my mixes have been translating well. HOWEVER, on my last remix the label told me my mix wasn't as loud as others on the release and to try to get it louder. I pushed it more on the limiter (tho I really didnt want to squash it that heavily) and they accepted the results. When I look at my wave form it looks pretty solid with apparent limiting. However, when view my tracks on beatport and compare it to the other remixes on the releases. My track is definitely perceived quieter by a few db and my wave form in the preview is about half the size of the others in the preview. Personally I know that a DJ can just gain the mixer and my track will sound fine, however I also know this leads to the impression of an under-produced track to many in the industry. I am wondering if anyone can offer any tips on what I need to do to match everyone else and compete in the market. I feel I am just a couple small tips away. I wonder if I need to normalize my WAV file AFTER bouncing my master file but everything I find says you should not need to normalize it. Please help out if you have any tips.

THANKS A LOT 8)

alex_l · January 22, 2013

Unfortunately dance music has always had less dynamic range than other music and as a result the loudness war has left very little option for any dynamic range at all. Many commercial releases are limited to the point of clipping and rms is often only -3 to -6dB for large sections of the track.

In more aggressive genres, eg drum & bass and dubstep, clipping and massive amounts of distortion are chucked around all over the place during the mix and then again at the end.

Sometimes you can squeeze a bit more apparent loudness by using some saturation as you go and a bit more at the end before you limit, and another way to squeeze a bit of headroom is to high pass at 30Hz or even a bit higher (brainworx do a nice free hi/lo pass filter that is transparent) but obviously this comes with a tradeoff of reducing the low end energy for the club.

When you are mixing, how hard do you cut the low end from the non-kick or bass elements of the track? It's suprising how much more headroom you can get by constraining things to quite narrow frequency bands (I mainly mean layers of percussion, pads, reverbs etc here).

Blue Monkey · January 22, 2013

I am wondering if anyone can offer any tips on what I need to do to match everyone else and compete in the market. I feel I am just a couple small tips away. I wonder if I need to normalize my WAV file AFTER bouncing my master file but everything I find says you should not need to normalize it.

Do not Normalize.

Have you considered having your mixes professionally mastered?

There is a mastering engineer who is a member of this forum. He does very good work for a very reasonable fee. I would recommend you try one mix with him and see if you get the results that you are looking for. If so, his fee is a small investment towards the overall quality of your mixes.

Here's a link to the services page of his site:

http://www.onlinemastering.dk/services.html

And here is a link to his rates page:

http://www.onlinemastering.dk/rates.html

Play · January 22, 2013

@alex_I thank you much for the tips. I have tried a bit of saturation on my master but not much elsewhere in the mix. I will explore that more. Sounds like I am definitely coming low on RMS levels compared to todays squashed standards. I always cut the mud out of all elements but may need to try a bit more aggressively. I always cut below at least 200 if is is not part of my bassline. Sometimes I cut more if it isn't changing the sound too much. I usually cut below 600 on my FX. I haven't cut below 30 on my master yet as Ive been afraid to, as you said, lose that low energy. I have heard brainworx is good stuff so I will definitely try that free plug! I think I should try to be more aggressive with distortion and clipping on other parts.

Couple questions.. Is the creative clipping usually applied via limiters on the busses? I have PSP vintage warmer and thought maybe after my SSL compressor on the group buss, I could apply the PSP and set the ceiling and drive to get a bit of crunch. Any details on practical practice to do this?

Also, to be able to limit to -3 to -6db RMS, does my level feeding the limiter matter much? Is there a sweet spot I should try to be feeding the limiter?

@BlueMonkey I definitely would be interested in comparing someone else's mastering job. However, I am trying to compete in a market where I understand all the heavy hitters are doing it themselves and I feel I will benefit in the long run by being able to compete with theirs in the market and doing it myself too. However I do believe 100% that fresh experienced ears on my track would be best and I definitely would want to do it if I ever do an artist album or something. I may try it out if I can afford it tho because it could help me by showing me the potential of my tracks if mastered better and reveal how I can improve even more. Thanks for the links, I will explore!

Play · January 23, 2013

@BlueMonkey Checked out the site. Looks to be a valuable resource. May try it on my current project as it is for a large label and I want to make the release! Thanks again

Blue Monkey · January 23, 2013

I may try it out if I can afford it tho because it could help me by showing me the potential of my tracks if mastered better and reveal how I can improve even more.

Exactly!

@BlueMonkey Checked out the site. Looks to be a valuable resource. May try it on my current project as it is for a large label and I want to make the release! Thanks again

You're welcome.

tristancalvaire · January 23, 2013

However, I am trying to compete in a market where I understand all the heavy hitters are doing it themselves

*running their music into the iZotope Maximizer.

At least, initially, with a certain famous grammy winner slash 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' producer.

Even deadmau5, king of pretension in regards to not only making creative dance music but also doing all of the engineering yourself [he says he'll only sign artists who can mix their own music], has said that he doesn't expect his label signees to master their own stuff.

Simon Morrison · January 23, 2013

I use the following technique to compete in the loudness war:

1. Insert a limiter as the last insert on all busses

2. Set the output ceiling to -0.5 dB on all bus limiters

3. Adjust the output faders on all busses until the summed signal hitting the master bus is peaking at 0.0 dB (use a good loudness meter as the first insert on the master bus)

4. Make sure any plug-ins used on the master bus can handle 0.0 dB (or greater)

5. Insert a limiter as the last insert on the master bus

6. Set the output ceiling to -0.1 dB

7. Adjust the limiter gain (if necessary) to bring up the RMS level

When using a compressor on the master bus (using the above technique), target a maximum gain reduction of -1 dB to -3 dB. Use make-up gain to push the limiter.

A good limiter can handle very high input levels (well above 0.0 dB).

I get good results with the following limiters:

• iZotope Ozone

• Waves L2

• Voxengo Elephant

• PSP Xenon

• FabFilter Pro-L

• ToneBoosters Barricade

This technique will produce very loud, dynamically limited music - use sparingly

Eriksimon · January 23, 2013

Small tip on writing: use more line breaks! This looks like you cranked an adaptive limiter too much on your text...

I have not read any of the other replies, but I'd say: hire Lagerfeldt. Until then, you can at least study Loudness using the tools mentioned below.

Tip: use Audioleak (standalone application, free) to analyze long term equivalent loudness, both of your own and of the "enemy'" tracks.

(edited:) Alas the TT dynamic range meter (old free 32 bit plugin) is not available anymore, it seems, now there's a $ 99 plugin by Brainworx. That's quite a steep price for a metering plugin based on a freebee that they didn't develop themselves...