Quick question...

[Young Scene]

Okay so I have posted a recording in the R&B/Hip-Hop subforum and currently I have it mastered using the L2/Waves plugin, I'm pretty much just using the CD Mastering preset that is on there and to me it sounds decent... But after listening to my mixes mastered with this plug-in in my car, it seems like the midrange and high end is really loud. Compared to other songs on commercial CD's, the midrange sounds seem like they are killing my speakers in my car even at a lower volume... It may be because I have to cut some frequencies on my vocals itself but here is my question... Should I lower the main volume of the entire mix before I apply this L2 plugin? To my understanding this is what is called "headroom"?

Thanks for the help fellow RecordingReview members!

-Young Scene

[Audio~Geek]

If there's a frequency imbalance reach for an eq or multiband compressor.

There's more to mastering than just applying an L2.

[grooveboxmusicTony]

Originally Posted by Audio~Geek

If there's a frequency imbalance reach for an eq or multiband compressor.

There's more to mastering than just applying an L2.

What he said.
Also, generally mastering isn't to fix the mix. You should have your mix good before and slightly better after mastering. But if it sounds straight before you mastered, you might be hitting the L2 a little too hard.
Mastering combines tweaking of eq, frequency dependent compression, some limiting (more or less)...but usually not a ton of one or all.

remember, your putting the finishing touches on your mix. If you have to use anything to heavily in the mastering process, you should revisit your mixdown.

[Young Scene]

Yea my mixes sound fine without L2... I just put L2 on so all my songs sound at the same level for the whole CD... I think I might be just putting too much on the L2 how much Attentuation should be showing up? I mean that seems like a very general open ended question i think but just wondering... my threshold is set at -4.4 and out ceiling at -0.2 ... idk

[grooveboxmusicTony]

May seem obvious, but have you tried not hitting the L2 so hard and seeing if your mix sounds better?

[garageband]

my threshold is set at -4.4 and out ceiling at -0.2

This is too aggressive. You should be about half that, less if you can get away with it. If you are not loud enough shaving of 2.2 dB, you need to go back to the mix and fix the bumpy spots or the limiter will "take care of it" in a quasi-Mafioso fashion for you. The results could get messy. BTW, you can set the Output of your limiter to -0.1 if you'd like.

Perceived loudness is complicated, but has more to do with RMS power than peak level.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by garageband

This is too aggressive. You should be about half that, less if you can get away with it. If you are not loud enough shaving of 2.2 dB, you need to go back to the mix and fix the bumpy spots or the limiter will "take care of it" in a quasi-Mafioso fashion for you. The results could get messy. BTW, you can set the Output of your limiter to -0.1 if you'd like.

Perceived loudness is complicated, but has more to do with RMS power than peak level.

Very true. And getting that RMS power up for a fuller-sounding mix (note I didn't say "loud"), needs to be done at the tracking and mixing stages first.

[Young Scene]

hm, alright. thanks for the tips, I have about 5 or 6 songs to mix down today for a friend that recorded here last week.