I wanted to hear how my mix might sound after mastering, so I listened to it with a mastering plug in. I liked the sound. It was quite different than if I just turn the levels up.

I am curious, do mix engineers do any temporary pre mastering, to get a feel of how the song might sound after mastering?

Just got wind of this from UAD. Modeled from an actual Studer A800. They don't mention what tape they are using but it sounds easily as good as HEAT IMHO. No calibration. No need for biasing. Hmmm is it too good to be true?

Obviously most of this depends on the style, individual compressor, and using one's ears is always the best. If software, I can also load up some presets and explore. But. (dramatic music) I want to begin a discussion on why certain settings work or do not.

I have to confess that I often have difficulty telling whether my compressor plugins are actually functioning. I do not hear them the same way as I hear an outboard compressor in a guitar rig. Is this typical? Are plugin compressors more subtle? Does anyone else have difficulty hearing their plugin compressors at times?

Background:

I am puzzled about where I should be applying my effects, and whether there is any detrimental effect to summing effects in serial. Let's say I have guitar, bass, and drum tracks, and that they benefit from some processing. Should I be treating them individually, say by soloing the track and adding effects there, or should I be adding reverb and compression to all of them in the stereo bus?

Ive been experimenting with gain automation for my mix, its sort of a necessity for the music Im mixing - not because of major recording problems, but simply to get as much dynamic range out of the music and have it as natural as possible. Ive read a couple times andy wallace does this, along with a few other engineers, but think he does it after compression..

This is a representation of the amount of compression that is applied to a signal that has passed the unit's threshold and triggered the compression circuits.

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hey guys, I am not a recording engineer, am familiar with making demos at home, but have always flirted with home recording vs studios.

I was watching a special about Sun Studios and how they had no eq, and that everything had to sound good when tracking. If you wanted to a different eq, change your amp settings/move the mic.