![]() 60070B and has a faster, more “squashed” attack of the two. The Waves plugin version offers two distinct flavors: Studio, which models RS124 serial no. Never commercially available, these units originated as 1959-era Altec 436B tube compressors and were heavily modified by Abbey Road engineers. Engineer Ken Scott liked the RS124 on Beatles guitar tracks. Another Beatles engineer, Norman Smith, liked using the RS124 for providing glue on the rhythm bus, and the mastering engineers who worked in Abbey Road’s cutting rooms regularly used it as well. Geoff Emerick famously used the RS124 to add a smooth and silky sheen to Paul McCartney’s bass tracks. You can hear the smooth sound of the RS124 on every Beatles record, not to mention on tracks by many other artists who recorded at Abbey Road. The Abbey Road RS124 plugin is a meticulous emulation of a classic tube compressor found only at Abbey Road Studios and is considered a “secret weapon” by the engineers who worked there. We’ve included sound examples, so you can hear the compressors in action. In this article, we compare six of them to see how their features vary and what their relative strengths are. Waves makes a range of compressors highly effective for mix bus use, each emulating different vintage hardware units. There’s no “best” compressor to use for this application, it’s more a matter of finding one that offers the sound and tonal attributes that will give you the results you want for a specific song. Each engineer or recording musician has a slightly different approach. Mix bus compression is an art, not a science. If you wish to listen to higher-quality wav files, please download them here: The audio examples in this article are high-quality mp3’s. In this old-school shootout, we compare 6 different compression flavors for your mix bus. ![]() If you neglect it you can create problems that have an effect on your sound.īut if you’ve made it through this article you’ll have a great place to start for treating your master bus correctly.There’s nothing quite like the glue, punch and excitement that a lightly hit mix bus compressor can add to a song. Your master bus is an important part of your signal flow in a DAW session. The different sounds don’t gel together? Try 1-3 dB of subtle compression.Ī safe way to think of mix processing is like a tiny sweetening effect that you might not even notice until you take it away. Master bus processing is much more about gentle tweaks that help enhance the overall feel of the mix.ĭoes everything in your track sound a bit dull? In some cases a nice gentle shelving boost on the entire track sounds better than boosting each sound individually. Mastering engineers use highly sophisticated techniques to turn headroom into the raw level your tracks need to sound loud and punchy on streaming services. It’s important to know where to draw the line. Master bus processing is not the same as mastering. That said, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with effects on your 2-bus if it helps you get closer to the finished sound you want for your mix.Ī good rule of thumb is to focus on processing that affects the tonal balance and character of the mix and stay away from anything that changes the headroom and dynamics too much. If you’re just getting started with compression and EQ or you don’t have a clear idea of what you’re trying to do, consider leaving master bus processing out unless you’re using a dedicated AI mastering plugin. In fact, many engineers don’t bother using effects on the stereo bus and prefer to leave all the 2-bus processing to the mastering engineer. You can easily go too far and suck the life out of a perfectly good mix if you get too aggressive with your mix bus processing. If you start with plenty of space, there will be much more room for the tracks to sum together before you have to start dragging all your faders down. That means keeping your levels in check at every stage of your process-from tracking to mastering. The real trick comes from good gain staging. This can help in a pinch, but it’s not the best solution for managing levels at the master bus. One solution is to just pull down your master fader until the volume is at a healthy level. If the output level of the master bus is too high, it will cause harsh clipping when you export your mix. If you’re just getting started with music production you might not realize how quickly tracks can pile up when summed together at the mix bus. Levels are the main technical issue that beginner and intermediate producers face with their master bus. Discover LANDR Mastering Plugin with LANDR Studio Pro subscriptions. Dial in your sound with easy-to-understand controls and find your sound. Finished with your mix? Put LANDR Mastering Plugin on your master bus and create a professional master of your track.
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