What they don't tell about MIX BUS COMPRESSION...

[@HertzDrums]

⬇COMPRESSOR REVEAL BELOW ⬇ Compressor 1 - Thrillseeker VBL by Variety Of Sound Compressor 2 - API 2500 Bus Compressor by Universal Audio Compressor 3 - SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 by Solid State Logic Compressor 4 - Novatron by Kush Audio All compressors were set to slow attack, fast release, aiming to get 2-3 dB of gain reduction. Thank you all for the comments! It's interesting to see how everyone is hearing things differently.

[@officialWWM]

This is very interesting. Could you do something on using clippers please?

[@RooftopKoreansMusic]

Here's what I've started to think about recently. In mastering, you need another kind of compression that is not the glue, and not the limiting that boosts the signal... but rather something that does what the limiting does but with more control... people master to -8 LUFS as a fast way to achieve a mix that translates for the most part because everything is flat and smashed together. The more advanced people get, they want to achieve a similar result without having to smash the dynamics to -8... thus if you try to master at -12 LUFS, you will likely run into a problem where the mix doesn't translate between speakers because it isn't compressed enough. Thus, the newest realization I've come to... doing mastering compression for the purpose of pushing frequency ranges closer together while trying to keep the effect transparent. With some mixes I've been doing lately they sound pretty good in the studio... in a car or in ear buds they sound hollow; another type of compression to further control the dynamics of the frequencies is missing in those mixes where the target LUFS is -10 that would be achieved if mastered to -8 and all the peaks were already reduced and the quieter frequencies were being boosted closer to what is being attenuated

[@blacksaonamusic]

What you are talking about is mostly frequency masking. Even if you dont notice that, there will be energy buildup en some frequencie range. That excess energy will make your music "louder" in energy, but not transparent, and it will not translate because thats already a problem in the mix. Neither a bus compression ,or a limiter or any magic thing will fix it. Loudness doesnt mean transparency or anything, it is just a number that tells the average energy of a song, it will not tell if is well balanced or not. Try to focus more on the mixing side of things, like making the instruments work better between them. When you achieve that, your mixes will be automatically louder, wider, clearer, and will have better translation.

[@RooftopKoreansMusic]

@@blacksaonamusic You couldn't be more wrong, read my comment and try to learn that I'm right and you just want to hear yourself talk

[@Sarvastivada]

I know exactly what you're saying, and still the best solution for me is smashing it to -8 lufs 😀 seems like it's the only way to make the client happy with the final result. Well, for rock/metal stuff at least

[@RooftopKoreansMusic]

@@Sarvastivada yep.... I've been there. Wanting to do the mature thing and aiming for -12 LUFS... then SLOWLY the master ends up being -9 because it never seems right until it's as loud of everything else. It sucks thought, the more I mix the more that crappy flattened squashed sound annoys me. I can't stand how all you hear from people on youtube teaching mixing and mastering is "how to get your mix louder!" As if it's hard to get your mix loud!!!! It takes zero effort or still to get a mix loud... getting it polished and professional sounding is the hard task.

[@HertzDrums]

​@@RooftopKoreansMusic Don't get me wrong, but this is just my personal opinion. When I compare my mix/master with other masters, I always match the loudness to understand better what’s going on. You’re right that making it louder creates a better first impression, but I can still hear those imperfections in the mix, even when it’s loud. There isn’t a single solution to make a mix/master at -12 LUFS better than at -8 LUFS. For me, it’s about a lot of small steps that help achieve that clarity and dynamic. In fact, even changing the loudness by just 1 or 2 LUFS often requires a new balance. What I do at the beginning is adjust the loudness depending on the source, and then I focus on all those small steps: cutting some frequencies here, adding in another area, or working on specific instruments or groups of instruments, and then rebalancing again. It’s all about the small steps. A great mix is always in the details (when we’re talking about clear, technical engineering) rather than just the song or arrangement itself. For me, it’s about practice, practice, and more practice-comparing my productions to others and asking myself, "Why, and what did I do wrong? You wrote that when using earbuds or listening in the car, you hear that something is wrong. The fact that you can hear and identify the problem is already half the success-most people wouldn’t even notice it. Could it be that there’s something wrong with your monitoring system in the studio? Thank you Wojtek Wieslawski

[@LukaPanik]

Great video guys, as always 😊

[@VincentVegardSvart]

The teacher we all wish we had

[@yusa6046]

Guys, this is gold! Thank you for this lesson)

[@HertzDrums]

Thank you so much!

[@adambulewski165]

Very good.

[@woodward_alan]

Very helpful!

[@HertzDrums]

Thank you, hope it helps you in the future.

[@TravisTennies]

Just listening 2 time, the last one sounds like there is a little more bass. Like it has hipass compression and the others don't, or not as much. Am i right?

[@Большегуляйте]

Yeah, it definitely seems like number 4 is not messing with the low end as much as the other ones. Sounds clean and subtle.

[@guillaumetiger-isothesis5791]

Great video ! 3 sounds very good, curious to know what it is.

[@Большегуляйте]

It's interesting how everyone is hearing it differently. To me number 2 and 3 are hardly doing anything at all, number 1 is too heavy-handed, so my pick would be number 4.

[@guillaumetiger-isothesis5791]

@ you’re right, I find 2 and 3 very clean, maintaining everything together while making the sound more « open ». To my ears, 4 is a bit more pronounced, at least for my taste. Yeah, 1 is heavy, I feel like if a mix with 1 has to go through clipping and limiting it will end up lifeless !

[@HertzDrums]

@@guillaumetiger-isothesis5791 Thank you for your interest! We've just revealed the plugin names in the pinned comment.

[@HertzDrums]

Do you hear the difference between the four compressors tested in the video? Let us know which one you prefer! We'll soon reveal which one is which.

[@PauloARod]

After figuring out at which point you switch compressors in the audio segment, I started again from the first one with my eyes closed and have to say, the differences are small but in my opinion, the first one sounds the worse (a bit lifeless to my ears) and the fourth one sound the best, made the mix a little more open but it's really subtle

[@t3seractoband]

Greetings friends, thanks for the tips, grateful for the update, everything working perfectly💥💥💯✌👍

[@HertzDrums]

You welcome:) Thanks for supporting us

[@BrainDeadTX]

Great video, thank you!

[@HertzDrums]

Thank you:) 🙏

[@ronallen2458]

The more I watch your channel, the more I like it. This one especially. I don't really hear much difference in the four compressors. #4 seemed to bring out the highs in the overheads just a little more. But I could be imagining that as I listened more critically as the test progressed.

[@HertzDrums]

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts! :)

[@dougleydorite]

I liked 2 the best, the rest sounded similar.. but 4 would be 2nd best

[@managainstsound4122]

I wasn't sure if number 2 was doing anything at all, honestly 😀 but I agree, number 4 is sounding pretty good

[@escapegulag4317]

eh I dont know. I have done mixes in the past that went from mediocre to pretty good just by the mixbus, which had multiple compressors and clippers on as well dynamic eq and even one instance of slight waveshaping saturation. is it better to get close to the goal before the mixbus? probably but I cant deny what I have seen and heard in my own work or other people's work. Some mixes live or die in the mixbus. I am not talking about mastering btw.

[@ВиталийЯковлев-в1ы]

I get what you're saying, but for me, the opposite approach have been working out better lately. Like if I get to the point where I feel like I have to use a dozen different plugins on the mix bus to make my mix sound good, then it's either ear fatigue, or I'm just not happy with the way my individual tracks sound. So I take a break and then go back to my tracks and try to identify what is causing those problems that I was trying to fix by mix bus processing. 9 times out of 10 I end up using fewer plugins on the mix bus, and the result actually sounds better and more organic.

[@HertzDrums]

I did the same thing :). Mostly, my mix wasn’t good, so I looked into how to improve it using the mastering chain :). I added a lot of different EQ and compression to try to find what was missing (even though I didn’t know exactly what it was). It got better, but it still wasn’t close to my expectations.

[@PurpleMusicProductions]

I like compressor 2 the most followed by 4. Although I am sure those sonic enhancements could possibly be achieved with bus EQ.

[@Что-топошлонетак-й6д]

I was also thinking Number 4, but for me number 1 could also work if it wasn't pushed that hard

[@Sarvastivada-ps1sh]

idk, to me number 1 sounds like it's already pumping a little bit, while 3 and 4 seem pretty transparent. Maybe I'm just hearing stuff that isn't there 😀

[@the-dark-atom]

For me , it's the fourth compressor that I like the most ! great video guys !

[@managainstsound4122]

Couldn't agree more! Seems like number 4 is just doing the right thing

[@michakaszkowiak1804]

Cześć Panowie, z tych próbek które słyszę to 2 najbardziej przypadła mi do gustu. Czekam na odpowiedzi i pozdrawiam

[@HertzDrums]

Cześć. Dziękujemy za komentarz! Nazwy wtyczek już są w przypiętym komentarzu.

[@sparella]

I prefer #3 because it is punchy without being overhyped. #4 seems too much and #1 not enough.

[@asgardaomusic]

It's been 5 days. Maybe time to reveal which one is which?

[@HertzDrums]

Hey. Just posted the plugin names in the pinned comment! Thank you for watching!

[@silentalliance3269]

Compressor 1 & 3 settings were good … The others were other a bit too smashed or hyped especially compressor 4

[@Sarvastivada]

Hmm.. for me it's vice versa. Number 1 seemed like it was squashing everything a bit too hard, especially the low end, while number 4 was adding just the right amount of glue to the mix.

[@tomverswyvel6370]

Logic has a simple pre meter ..

[@gecharo]

3

[@dansonward]

The only thing that Bus comp realy do it is gives you an impression than your mix now is become better. BUT! If you have this kind of inpression its just means than you have to step back, turn off a bus comp, throw it in trash and get back to your tracks for better mixing. 😅 Especialy for that kind of music stuff

[@Sarvastivada-ps1sh]

Yeah, I think compression and limiting can actually help you find issues in your mix. These days I set up initial balance, then add some compression and limiting on the master bus, and then always go back to the mix and fix some minor balance issues

[@JohnWuMastermind]

Prefer the 2nd Compressor

[@Ra_Sharpness]

Yet I use it on the drum buss everyday and it glues so nicely. The trick works every single time too. Im exhausted listening to videos like this. Causing drama when there is none. Get a Job

[@Chiefmonks]

Your comparison with the attack around 4 minutes is quite useless. The main effect that you can hear is the release times being changed from slow to fast... facepalm.