3 Tricks for LOUDER Mixes Without Pumping

[@MatthewBagar]

I had a "click" moment recently. I was always afraid to push my master bus compressor above 2-3db of gain reduction. But a few days ago I had this "wait... whaaaaat?!" moment. I actually used Waves SSL Bus Comp for this and I'm commenting this because you included Waves SSL in "plugins to avoid" section so I decided to share my little story. I was mastering a song and one specific thought came to my mind which I heard almost 3 years ago. I really don't remember who said it. Maybe it was Nolly (but I'm not completely sure). He saw Chris Lord-Alge (or Andy Wallace... also not sure about second name) pushing his SSL Bus Comp to 8dB of gain reduction. I didn't believe that it will work but maaaan... It worked like a charm. I set ratio to 4:1, attack to 30, auto release and pushed it to hit 6-8dB gain reduction. It was night and day difference. I could not believe that it actually worked. I rendered the song, rushed to my car to double-check it, tried good and bad headphones, checked on my phone speaker... It sounded great and balanced on every device. And the pumping effect did not occur. My point here is (and everyone should know it): Don't be afraid to push plugins. Don't follow any specific guidelines for no reason. Try and do different things and if it sounds good, it's good!

[@RaytownProductions]

always trust your ears. If it sounds right, it probably is 🤘

[@necroticpoison]

Great video

[@KingFyyah]

Thanks iYah, u drop some real gemz. I was using the SSL and it's too way pumpy bout to try some of your tech 💯👑🔥

[@wojtekkrol544]

Master! :) Greeting from Poland :)

[@thanoseolios8281]

What a great video! Many thanks!

[@DThompson55]

This is a really excellent explanation.

[@MelomanTheNerd]

I like the S/C features on stereo bus compressors. However, as of late, I’ve been enjoying not using that feature and going for the lowest ratio/slow attack/fast release and just getting 1dB of gain reduction - but hitting the unit or plug-in hard.

[@EricSauerets]

I wish I could hit like 100 more times. This solved a problem I've had in my mix for the past two sessions!

[@weedeeeter]

I'm impressed. I learned so much in this video

[@charlesduquette8724]

Great video again, never stop your amazing job, it helps really!

[@RaytownProductions]

Thanks so much for the kind words 🙂 glad you got something out of it! Cheers.

[@Livert79]

Thanx, great tips here.

[@cjmllvv]

I gotta say I go out of my way to avoid compressing the entire mix because the volume swells in drum dynamics (ghost hits) really depend on volume dynamics not just articulation differences. It does look like your still reducing dynamics range here in order to glue the song together though no? So other than pumping im not sure specifically what problem you're looking to solve. Thanks Raytown

[@cjmllvv]

Volume swells on synth parts are really important too

[@garyshore489]

Hey Bobby!! Great video man-much thx for making it available-wonder if you saw what I posted on the FB thread about it...??

[@descendinguniverse]

"I wanna pump it better" (from Eskimo Callboy recent song 😃)

[@acousticwaves8860]

Wow so informative..👌👌👌

[@Chizzey89]

I would have used a multiband compressor. Would you say multiband and sidechaining your compressor have different results? I’d be interested to hear it.

[@RaytownProductions]

Yeah it certainly can sound different than what I showed in this video. You can "hide" the compression more in select bands making it less noticable. Thanks for the suggestion/comment!

[@riza120db]

Very cool.

[@zackkorth2410]

these mix videos always have the worlds worst music as their sample.