Sort-of-quick question...

I've been recording some mixtape cuts for a local rap group...
And basically they take instrumentals off of vinyl, or from mp3 format, and they freestyle over top of it.

I know its not easy to get a great sound off of this since i have no control of the instruments seperately... the instrumental is just in stereo L-R form.

But.. my question is, when i want to do a quick self-mastering job, would it be smart to run the bounced stereo mix file through a compressor and limiter when the commercially done instrumental has probably already been mastered previously in the first place? Wouldnt this cause some distortion and make it sound harsh?

Whats my best bet to make it sound nice, loud, and clear when it goes onto CD? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Rozzy