Audio mastering question.

[dlevanchuk]

I asked one of my friends to help me to master audio tracks, and noticed in his set up that all of his tracks are bussed into MasterComp track, that runs compresors. But then MasterComp track is bussed into Bounce track as well. Why is that?

I would ask him, but he is gone for next couple of days and I'm just dying from curiosity lol

 

[Blade_Jones]

Adding compression after you've recorded something that clipped above 0 db doesn't help. I don't care about who has what award. That says nothing about recording distortion. Once you've recorded distortion you've screwed up a take.

 

[MetalRenard]

No, you missed the part where he said you have to record low enough to avoid distortion.
Before you say "but 100db is too damn low!", maybe it isn't for that one shout that is really damn loud, then you can turn it back up again.

 

[Blade_Jones]

No, you missed the part where he said you have to record low enough to avoid distortion.

Who? I noted that recording at lower levels just adds noise. Signal to noise ratio. Audio 101.

 

[MetalRenard]

Wow you're a lost cause, I give up with trying to be diplomatic. I'm not an idiot so don't insult my intelligence by acting as if I am one.
Use your brain, you were born with one:
"Who said anything about recording at -100dB? If you cannot set your mic-pre appropriately to capture every nuance of ADR with a 100dB or so of dynamic range to play with"
ADAPT input levels to what's about to be recorded. For one line that's shouted you have to turn it down.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

You're wasting your time Metal, Blade read the first line of audio 101, stopped there and decided he knows more about audio than those who do it for a living. If he'd actually have carried on reading he would have learned what a compressor does, that it's designed to reduce dynamic range and therefore results in a poorer SNR! He might even have eventually learned, if he'd carried on beyond audio 101, that recording hot even without compression can also reduce SNR.

Blade, somewhere on your professional audio recording setup you will find a knob which says something like "input gain", have a play with it, it's amazing! Think of it like a sort of magical "no compression when recording" knob.

G

 

[PaulGriffith]

I do compression on dialogue for a lot of talking-head informational stuff because it plays back better and helps cut through the music in large venues, but I can't remember ever using it in a narrative piece and much less recording through it.

I've had several people get loud and clip for a shout or something, you just turn the gain down and/or walk the mic away a hair and do another take! Just like with video you want the most-editable (or changeable, RAW, flat, etc) piece of raw material you can work with so you can go in any direction once you're in post. Even when you're 100% sure of the direction you want to go, you keep it raw just for that one time a flag is thrown last second and you have to tweak for whatever reason.

As someone who started in video and has been learning more and more about audio as I keep having to do my own mixes, I really appreciate the sound advice from the pros here. Keep it coming!

 

[MetalRenard]

Blade, sorry I lost my temper with you, it's not like me, I just wish you'd kept your sarcasm to yourself as sarcasm gets on my nerves.
I think you need to learn a little more about something before you argue about it, do some research with google and all that. It will really benefit you in the long run as you'll be able to contribute meaningful ideas and experience to these kinds of conversations. In the long run, the more you learn the more confident you are and the better you can feel about yourself. You really don't want to have arguments on a forum like this, we're all as petty as each other for even getting into one.

At the end of the day, it is best practice to record without compression because, as the previous poster said, it allows you to have the raw file that you have the most room to edit later. If you choose to record with compression on your own stuff, go ahead, it really is your choice, but when someone asks, make sure you give them the best advice you can rather than saying what your truth is as if it's a general truth.

 

[Blade_Jones]

You're wasting your time Metal, Blade read the first line of audio 101, stopped there and decided he knows more about audio than those who do it for a living. If he'd actually have carried on reading he would have learned what a compressor does, that it's designed to reduce dynamic range and therefore results in a poorer SNR! He might even have eventually learned, if he'd carried on beyond audio 101, that recording hot even without compression can also reduce SNR.

Blade, somewhere on your professional audio recording setup you will find a knob which says something like "input gain", have a play with it, it's amazing! Think of it like a sort of magical "no compression when recording" knob.

G

You must be impossible to work with. No wonder you're trolling the forums....

 

[Alcove Audio]

For anyone who wants to try and record ADR without some compression GOOD LUCK!

I record ADR without compression, been doing so for 11 years, and I've had very good luck, thank you. And all of the Foley and 95+% of sound effects I record are also recorded without compression, and they also come out very nicely. None of the studios at which I freelance use compression when doing ADR either. Most of them don't even use compression when tracking VO, and in the case of the one studio that does occasionally (lightly) compress while tracking VO they are intimately familiar with the VO artist (who has phenomenal mic technique) and are working under extremely tight deadlines.

When you have someone in for ADR you may only get one chance to record...

If that's the case then whoever is managing the ADR sessions is clueless; you do takes until you get it right. If you have to adjust your gain structure for certain lines, then that's what you do. I can only think of only three times I've used even a limiter during ADR tracking; in all three cases the actor was a complete moron with no talent and zero mic technique.

Adding compression after you've recorded something that clipped above 0 db doesn't help.

Actually, in certain cases, using a compressor on a clipped sound byte does help a little; not often, but it does sometimes happen.

I noted that recording at lower levels just adds noise.

If the quality of the mic and the preamps are not at issue (say a CMIT5U and an SD 702), then the lower levels do not have much bearing on noise levels; it all comes down to mic technique. If you are using cheap gear (AT875 and H4n), then yes, improper gain-staging can add noise to the signal; how much self-noise you get from budget gear depends upon how carefully (or sloppily) you do the gain-staging.