Unf*ck Your Master (Limiters Are KILLING Your Low End)

We're about to solve your LOW-END problems!
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🤔 Are you making a genre of electronic music that requires your kick and bass to be loud, heavy, fat, etc?
🤔 Do you try and push your mix and master into a limiter, only to be left with a squashed kick and bass?
In this video, Zack is going to show you how to get the best possible low-end response from your master limiter.
These two-steps are going to be ideal for any bedroom producer who might be unsure about their low end during the mastering process.
*A special shoutout to ‪@panorama_mastering‬ (as mentioned in the video) for the inspiration here. I can't say enough good things about you and the channel 👊
🔥Stuck with your music? Need PERSONALIZED help and development?
🚀Submit your application to work with us: www.cosmicacademy.com/
===============================
⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:00 How To Stop Master Limiters From Killing Your Low End
1:29 Use These Limiter Modes & Styles To Fix Your Low End
2:38 Adjusting Low End Details In The Master Limiter
5:43 The Final Tweaks To Perfect Low-End
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‪@TheCosmicAcademy‬
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[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Stuck with your music career? Need PERSONALIZED help and development? Apply to our program… www.cosmicacademy.com

[@panorama_mastering]

Thanks for the shout-out! Power to the delta!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

👊

[@Madkay]

Hello Sensei!

[@la24seven]

you both are ggreat

[@ilikeflxwers]

GOATS

[@adrianthomas4927]

Indispensable channel. This channel helped me clear up long standing questions I've had and help me fix holes in my production game.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

♥️👊 makes me extremely happy to hear this! Appreciate you always watching too!

[@Lance_G]

Big facts 🙌✨

[@wale.a]

Wow, this explains so much of what was happening in my final master.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Really happy this can help!! 👊❤️

[@levy_music_ofc]

solid material, cant wait to put this to use!

[@djlokho]

great advice thanks!

[@trayden6352]

man!, your content is sooooooooo helpful!

[@hillsnectar4927]

This is pure gold... thanks for this ❤❤❤

[@northsidermusic]

This is some crucial advice for both experienced and new producers. It gets so frustrating when the limiter squashes a perfectly good low end. Thanks for this!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Glad it was helpful!👊♥️

[@Lance_G]

This channel is saving my life right now ❤️🙏

[@brattfjell09]

wow!! this channel is getting better and better for every video i watch

[@ThomasMune]

Sick video

[@mikelavish]

Bro just confirmed my suspicions about my mixes thank you 🙏

[@Gedagnors]

Wow, thank you so much!!!!!

[@DavronMananov]

Sick tip. Had a master finished today and I went back and applied this and it's much cleaner. Appreciate you!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Glad it helped! 👊♥️

[@JaKunaMusic]

The absolute goat! Also one thing that has helped me is trying different limiters from different brands! All of them adds a different character to your track!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

👊❤️ 100%!! That's the best thing about A/B testing...you can hear how each limiter impacts the mix in different ways. I do love the ozone maximizer though 🥲 so good

[@sha3439]

Thank u man, ive been struggling too mich with thia issue.

[@martinlarrivee5081]

Very interesting, thank you for this

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

You’re welcome!! 👊

[@lucjanchrustek7774]

this is a game changer for me. I struggled with that for years !!!

[@Mike-vr7mb]

Goodman the production quality is top notch!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thank you!!! 👊♥️

[@frodrrr]

Thank you! These videos and this channel has clearly explained a lot of mysteries I have been puzzled and troubled with for years! Keep up the great work! You have surely helped make my journey a whole lot more fun and with more confidence! 🙏

[@saricubra2867]

It helps the transient clarity as well, that mixing engineer is brillant.

[@paulrucker1889]

Great tip, I instantly subscribed to your channel. I'm a composer that often mixes/masters out of necessity, and tips like these help save a lot of time. Thanks!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thank you!! Happy to have you part of our fam here ♥️👊

[@DonClassico]

You my friend are a genius

[@Liminal-Mystic]

I thought I was going to be disappointed. One channel says you need this, the next the very opposite...🙄 But you explained it pretty well. Makes more sense than before I watched. 👍

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Glad you liked it! 👊♥️

[@Millerboy]

Clipping almost always sounds best from a delta perspective, since it’s usually chopping off the least information as possible.

[@anteupbeats]

🧢

[@Skanoh]

This is an amazing trick! Thank you for sharing it :)

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

♥️👊 Hope it can make an immediate impact in your mix…no pun intended 😏

[@washierlosalter]

Yeah, I often use the "Hard Rock transient" (or similar) setting in Pro-L on HipHop. And it works pretty well

[@MR_Cellarpop]

Thanks. Best/Mathias

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

👊♥️

[@HeyItsUSM4N]

Ok you got me curious!

[@078sven1]

3:09 what headphones are those, and are they your go-to headphones for mixing/mastering? :)

[@cheapshotfishing9239]

Are there reliable configurations that almost any drum/synth/bass/etc will fit into? Or do most producers kinda go through this process tuning and selecting plugins for each individual instrument as they go? Ive been doing the latter for a long while, looking to streamline the process by finding a reliable initial configuration in which i can get straight to making music a little quicker

[@ov3rdrive966]

Thank you so much for the tips! Please do blink though, had to rewind a couple times because I was captivated by you staring into my soul 😂❤

[@maxmackenzie3357]

Do soft clippers crush the low end that way the limiter does?

[@IcemanTheDj]

Great video. I use IRC 3 clipping with fastest setting since it came out. I find it to be the best for 99%.

[@campar1043]

I use standard clip on hard clip setting just a touch before I go into the fab filter pro L2

[@dylanlundgren]

Yeah I use it on soft clip and just turn it up until I see some hints of red happening

[@TracingFlares]

Man... this is worse than the 24 series.. you are a truly master in keeping viewer engaged. Best Channel😊

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

😂😂 that’s the ultimate compliment! Thank you 👊

[@M.V.I.D]

Pro Tips!!

[@cashmasters99]

I'm confused at 4:57 I get that those were the better responses for the low end for your track, but how are those higher LUFS values? IRC 4 had the higher value than any of them. Wouldn't the goal then be lower values?

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

I misspoke in the video!! I said it backwards. The audio was correct but my mouth was wrong haha

[@diegosarraf6590]

thanks for the tip! wow! could you pleaseeee do a video about phase shifitng in EQ !!!!?!!

[@rynabuns]

Dan Worrall has a wonderful video about that if you can't wait :)

[@cydbass1]

What???? This is mind blowing!!!

[@LohPro]

I come here for Moose & stay for the mix tips LOL jokes aside, the LPF trick is kinda similar to LPF'ing the kick & bass momentarily to see how well they are balanced in the mix (level & EQ wise). so much in a mix it seems, revolves around whether the low-end is setup properly... its so delicate. lots of work to get it good, but so easy to destroy it. this tip should prevent that. appreciate it sir!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Hahahaha one day this channel will just be 100% moose doin things...no music production. We're slowly getting there 🫎 Yeah you're spot on! This is a great addition to that workflow. Thats what I love about this...its a nice final check for all the low end balance work that goes into the mix!!

[@YogevMontekyo]

get your mix right before sending into master bus

[@onetwo8music]

Did anyone find the right setting for modern edm or pop on Pro L?

[@DaveChips]

5:10 threw me off guard... As -20 LUFS is actually louder then -30 LUFS... And that extra 10LUFS comes from distortion of IRC4, as our ears perceive higher spectrum frequencies as louder. So in short IRC4 was both louder to the ear md had higher measurement. But it squashed the signal more (to the point of distortion) ...Nevermind, was just quick on the trigger, someone pointed it out already in prev comments 😅

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Yup hahaha 😂 slip up on my part!! You think I would’ve realized after the hours of editting this too!!

[@DaveChips]

@@TheCosmicAcademy It's tottaly cool it happens, I was also quick on the trigger, noticed that someone mentioned it a bit too late 😅 I blame late midnight hours for that xD

[@arnoldwatkins7655]

was the lowpass put before the limiter or after the limiter

[@smoodpm]

does anyone know how to do this in fl Studios maximus?

[@Thermolizer]

What are you listening for when playing the delta?

[@zackorr421]

Mooooooose!!!!❤❤❤

[@8notes_]

Best title in the world!😂😂😂😂

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Hahahaha 👊

[@dougr5187]

Excellent tutorial and tips, thank you. Quick question: around 4:50 (when talking about different limiter settings and LUFS values), are you correct to say that those IRC 3 Balanced, Crisp and Clear algorithms had "higher LUFS values" than that IRC 4 Modern algorithm (which "had a lower LUFS measurement")? At the risk of making myself look foolish here, is the reverse not true: they all showed negative LUFS values and so did the IRC 4 Modern, which was closest to zero, not have the higher LUFS value (as it had the least negative value)? Cheers.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

you're welcome! yes, I did say it backwards in terms of the "higher and lower" part because we're talking negatives. A recording f*ck up haha. However, the info in regards to the different modes and which handled the low end better/worse...that's still correct. The modern one for example was audibly louder and had a HIGHER 😛 lufs level. You'd ideally want to pursue the algorithms that are resulting in quieter low end rumble in the delta

[@dougr5187]

@@TheCosmicAcademy Cheers - everything else in your video made perfect sense and was very useful. Thanks :)

[@Retro-zn2jt]

so the more bass and kick we hear in the delta, the more they're crushed and the worse they are managed by the limiter? but if the lufs level is low, maybe that's what we want, if we want our track to sound loud ?

[@GizzyDillespee]

I never thought about listening to the delta of just the low end (with heavy low end music), and keeping track of lufs. While trying different limiter options. Also, I think I need a Limiter that has more options🤣

[@kingaya.3124]

This Help[ed a Lot, thank you very much

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

You're welcome! 👊♥️

[@blvkqmusicgroup]

Interesting video… 5:09, did you mean higher?

[@aaronedmunds5685]

Is that izotope maximizer ozone 11?

[@eliaszerano3510]

what about a multiband limiter ?

[@crippleETG]

Am I missing something here? How is -19 LUFs lower than -30 LUFs? They are negative numbers... -30 is producing less "loudness". Is that desirable for the limiter?

[@TraxtasyMedia]

I never put a limitier on the master, I use a compressor just to have more headroom. Attack n Release times are attenuated to balanced times.

[@VIIOmusic]

What 😂 even saturators works better than compressors does. I hardly ever compress my master since it just messes everything up 😅

[@TraxtasyMedia]

@@VIIOmusic you can use saturators, but here's the thing: if you dial in too much, it messes with your tonal balance. Saturation on a master is pretty difficult, because Saturation shall normally be applied to one element at a time not your whole song, that's why there are busses ;) That's like adding more unnecessary gear cogs to your car engine, that already has got a working cog mechanism

[@rachidow2125]

@@VIIOmusic I use a saturator, but also 2 glue compressors (on the beginning and on the end of the chain) and I couldnt even imagine mastering withouth them lol. Off course, to much `Wet` percentage on your compressors, will messes things up.

[@PaulFisherMedia]

Something I’m about to try : hooking my MacBook up to my car stereo via HDMI and mixing in my car Lol!

[@HollerAtcherBoi]

HDMI? How?

[@PaulFisherMedia]

@@HollerAtcherBoi my car system has HDMI input , I can do audio out of my MacBook into my car system

[@lalocura1828]

Typically I click the Delta button or the headphones button on the fab pro l and I wanna hear the whole mix and when I do I know I got it right

[@bobbyb6412]

but isn't this why a pro would compression (with a sidechain) instead of a limiter on the master and why you should only really clip 1or 2db max after you have a balanced master?

[@appuser]

The thing that I don't like about these limiter plugins is they are a black box. I'd rather know exactly what they are doing (and be able to tweak it). I prefer to visually see this stuff in an oscilloscope or similar over A-B testing, and many limiting/masterbench type suites don't even have a way to solo the clipped part of the audio anyway. So what is it that's _actually_ killing the low end? Is it that the limiter is overworking and we need to do some more aggressive waveshaping/clipping to smooth out the transients without losing punch?

[@JorgenTiigisoon]

Doesn't having low end in the delta signal just mean that it is being compressed, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, isn't it? Id even say that if the low end is very dynamic it can sound thin, compared to the rest of the mix. Still a good thing to keep this effect on low end in mind when mastering though so good video

[@sha3439]

I think allround algorithm in pro l2 does the same thing

[@user-tw5si4tr3q]

why do these videos always have car commercial music in the background? lol

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Because who doesnttttt love a good ol car commercial?!? Pay homage to the greatness

[@prodbyskogs4435]

Only Fruity soft clipper on the master >>

[@lavatr8322]

I use waves ultramaximizer

[@VissionBass]

Simply use a clipper and then you can put a limiter.

[@anteupbeats]

when I have more low end energy with a limiter than a soft clipper.

[@erkamau9629]

Sidechain filter and clipper before limiter should be enough

[@rumarey2]

How did they use to mix Donna Summer songs with amazing dynamic range

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

It’s 2024…lol things have changed. You don’t have to like it haha but it is what it is

[@eccentricworx]

That's why modern Limiters have an adjustable Adaptive Feature. Newfangled Elevate (26 Bands!!) , Sonible Smart Limit, Slate FGX2 are the best on the Market right now imo. Forget Izotope & FF L2. They are not that bad, but also not very good. 😉

[@DeathWishBoi666]

Limiters aint killing your lowend if u know how to use ur shit. I tend to get a denser more punchy lowend by utilizing some saturation Eqing and limiting the lowend itself and compressing it with the rest (depending on the incoming signal and the allaround style anyway) and I usually have a more bass heavy mix.. Well also depends on the limiter anyway

[@d.m.ebeats9013]

Mixing is all about learning how frequencies sum up,how to tame dynamic range to gain more RMS or Lufs,with proper techniques like eq,saturation,compression,clipping,even limiting,once this is things are mastered you will never have a particular frequency issue.Something I learned from Baphometrix KZbin channel,he teaches mixing like no other.🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@yepyepmusic]

Use soft clipper instead of limiter.

[@PeterBedel-iq9dh]

Can I send my tracks to moose for reference?

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

I just asked him...he said "I'll do it for 8,000 treats and an hour of butt-scratches. Final offer, take it or leave it." I know the ask is a lot. He'll be awaiting your decision...

[@papahuge]

Try AA Lace

[@Brutuscomedy]

Or maybe just clip a real AD converter (or at least incorporate that stage to minimize limiting)

[@filipmonsun]

-20 is higher than -30 :)

[@brixtonbassmafia8595]

Gain stage, balance and use clipping and saturation on each channel and buss while mixing. 3db limiting is way too much for a single limiter, that’s why you’re loosing the life of the mix.

[@Durkhead]

Why not limit the higher freq only like from 500hz and up?

[@DarkTrapStudio]

Just try putting 50 watts in a 10inch driver and 50 watts in a 1inch driver youll understand

[@Durkhead]

@@DarkTrapStudio dafuq?

[@Durkhead]

@@DarkTrapStudio you dont understand how this works at all

[@SlyceCaik]

​@@DarkTrapStudio not everyones an electrician bro

[@DarkTrapStudio]

@@SlyceCaik Im not, this is simple : The lowest the frequency, the more power it need, Its the same in a limiter, clipper, compression or anything.

[@miksumasterjbl8899]

Sub frequency? JBL Partybox 310: Not a problem. No subwoofer needed.

[@mttlsa686]

I just developed a careful and almost maniacal way of mixing that I don't even need mastering many times (which is more a "finalization" and a loudness increase than an actual mastering, which is the process to uniform the various tracks of an album or a compilation). I put an utility device (Ableton live user here) setting the gain at + 6 on the master bus first, then I mix peaking even at +3dbf on the master bus, mainly paying attention to not get distortion on the low frequencies when it peaks at +3 (so carefully sculpting kick and bass and making them perfectly balanced and unmasked). When the mix is done, before the utility gain at +6, I put 1 eq with some subtle cuts where its needed + 2 Pro C2 in series both with 4x oversampling but with different behaviors, to tame all the exceeding peaks and bring them under 0 dbfs + another eq to rebalance everything if something get out of place after compression and/or to give some color accordingly with my tastes. At the end, after the +6 gain, I put a Pro L2 with transparent algorithm, attack 0, release by ear, no channel linking, no true peak, 16x oversampling and ceiling at -0.2. If needed, I use to slightly clip the utility gain to go into the limiter instead of using the input gain of the limiter (I don't know why, but the result is different and it keeps the transients more intact than increasing the input of the limiter). At this point, I have a final mix which sounds like it was already finalized and exactly how it should sound in my mind, and it happened that when I asked someone else to do the mastering they just ruined everything (for my perception of how it should sound). So I get to the conclusion that not every song necessarily needs to be "mastered" if it sounds already as it should sound to you (and depending on the genre obviously). Even if it's -10LUFS it sounds full and DYNAMIC, not squashed to death, like you can't even listen to it at full volume because everything becomes TOTAL CRAP. If, eventually, for whatever reason, i decide to let someone else to do the "mastering" process, I just delete everything on the master bus and bounce the mix as it is (so it will peaks around -4dbfs more or less) but working this way I already know the real loudness potential of the track so I know how much the mastering engineer can push it without losing the carefully crafted balance of the mix that. If I just want to add "analog flavor" to the processed "finalized" mix, I just bounce it at - 3db and I just let the mastering engineer do his job, tastefully "coloring" the sound.

[@Shkodo]

Multiband anyone?😂TDR Kolesnikof compressor does the job nicely. fab mb also. But the most important is the mix is bad you should not be doing this on the master. Do it in arrangment gain staging or mixing stage . Compress clip and saturate individualy. Ofc beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so u can do whatever with your mixes, but in my experience its easier to have stuff fixed there rather then going thru presets on a single limiter thats reducting 3-4 db. Unless ofcourse the limiter artifacts is what your going for might be pleasent to your ear so who cares😂❤im drunk sorry

[@carptackula7536]

You forgot to add the formula to calculate the minimum allowable Attack and Release times to avoid introducing additional distortion, based on the Track's lowest fundamental frequency... (Nick Delorenzo aka Panorama Mixing who was mentioned in the vid, covers this in several videos BTW)

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Absolutely!! But thats talking about compression. This was focusing on the limiter portion of the chain. There are countless other decisions that will factor into low end. Cant talk about em all in one video haha ♥️👊

[@carptackula7536]

@@TheCosmicAcademy The artefacts (and calculations) apply to the limiter also (!). He covers it (!)

[@patientboi]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@cheapshotfishing9239]

Bro isolated the delta sigma

[@MexManny]

You get a like and sub my friend

[@ov3rdrive966]

Thank you so much for the tips! Please do blink though, had to rewind a couple times because I was captivated by you staring into my soul 😂❤