Final Master Compression on a commercial?

K

Kyle McConaghy

Well-known member
Hello! I am finishing a commercial. I have a heavily compressed VO I recorded at a studio and a compressed background music track. Once it is mixed, should I do another final round of comp on the final stereo track? If so, what should my max dB be?

Thanks!
Kyle
 
Honestly, I do all my compression in the mastering process. I may do a slight compression on the voice before that, but never anything that would really kill the dynamic range and open sound of a recording.

For mastering, my only goal is to meet the delivery specs in terms of measurable loudness and measurable dynamic range.

Listeners prefer cleaner and a more open sound, to that of a loud and compressed sound.
 
Kyle McConaghy said:
Hello! I am finishing a commercial. I have a heavily compressed VO I recorded at a studio and a compressed background music track. Once it is mixed, should I do another final round of comp on the final stereo track? If so, what should my max dB be?

Thanks!
Kyle
Click to expand...
Compression can be subjective. Does it NEED it. I prefer manually riding gain or volume envelopes. I will usually employ a limiter to avoid exceeding a set peak level, usually not for the sake of making it ... LOUDER.
"what should my max dB be?" -- Normally, the network/broadcaster will have submission specifications. If you do not heed these spec.s, the spot or program may be rejected .. Read up on the CALM act and ATSC audio levels if you're in the US. (though the final responsibility falls on the broadcaster)
 
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I usually do a final pass, but that's just part of my work flow since I don't do it so much before that. That's not standard practice, and even I don't do it all the time. Like with the above, it depends on what your commercial sounds like.
 
Never compress the music track. That just won't help.

Normally (and this is my PT workflow), I'll start with compression on the VO... usually just a light touch for sudden peaks and if there are irregular hot spots, but this is also a good place to bring up the gain if the voice was recorded too low. After compression, I'll add EQ. Putting EQ after compression allows you to correct for any artifacts the compression may have. Once that's done, I may add a little limiting, but not always.

It can also be helpful to put a little EQ on the music... nothing terribly complex, and even a 4-band will do it. Its purpose is to carve out a slight curve in the mids to make room for the VO, depending on how much the two are fighting. If I can do it in the mix, I will, but the EQ can help if volume automation won't.

After that, I'll do several mix passes to get the volume automation where I want it. At the end, I'll stack some plug-ins on the master. I may start with compression, again just a light touch. Then a touch of EQ to smooth everything out. Last, I'll use the Waves limiter+Ultramaximizer. The brick-wall limit is set to the network specs. How much I squeeze the dynamic range depends on the client (I have some who prefer that extra perceived loudness).
 
Alex H. said:
Never compress the music track. That just won't help.

Normally (and this is my PT workflow), I'll start with compression on the VO... usually just a light touch for sudden peaks and if there are irregular hot spots, but this is also a good place to bring up the gain if the voice was recorded too low. After compression, I'll add EQ. Putting EQ after compression allows you to correct for any artifacts the compression may have. Once that's done, I may add a little limiting, but not always.

It can also be helpful to put a little EQ on the music... nothing terribly complex, and even a 4-band will do it. Its purpose is to carve out a slight curve in the mids to make room for the VO, depending on how much the two are fighting. If I can do it in the mix, I will, but the EQ can help if volume automation won't.

After that, I'll do several mix passes to get the volume automation where I want it. At the end, I'll stack some plug-ins on the master. I may start with compression, again just a light touch. Then a touch of EQ to smooth everything out. Last, I'll use the Waves limiter+Ultramaximizer. The brick-wall limit is set to the network specs. How much I squeeze the dynamic range depends on the client (I have some who prefer that extra perceived loudness).
Click to expand...

To add, I typically always put a hi-shelf post compressor. A lot of times, the compressor will dull the high frequencies, i.e. the 1176 though I would never use the 1176 on voices. The release is too too slow for voices.
 
Mitch.Kear said:
No side chaining comp?
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If, as gpforet suggests, you're talking about ducking the music using the VO... no. I typically do not like to put any compression on the music track. Commercial music is usually already processed for peaks and loudness, and doesn't need any more compression of its own. As for the sidechain/ducking, I find it to be much smoother and much more pleasing to my ear to take care of that with mix automation.
 
Fair enough. I personally like the use of "ducking" with a comp. If you make it nice and subtle it does a really good job of making the VO come across clearly and bring the music back to a good place. Though it would be good to maybe take Alex's advice as compression in the wrong hands is disasterous. Also I've seen buttons that auto duck other tracks, these are no good either.
 
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Joe Calabrese said:
Honestly, I do all my compression in the mastering process. I may do a slight compression on the voice before that, but never anything that would really kill the dynamic range and open sound of a recording. For mastering, my only goal is to meet the delivery specs in terms of measurable loudness and measurable dynamic range.Listeners prefer cleaner and a more open sound, to that of a loud and compressed sound.
Click to expand...
You'd like to think this were true but especially in most commercials the dynamics are crushed. As far as listeners prefering cleaner dynamic sound, I really don't think so here either. Its really terrible how most songs that are made even the good ones, are completely destroyed in mastering. Many being horribly distorted to fit right in with the loudness war.
 
I too always leave the music alone. That's already been processed by it's maker. I usually just start the music up, then duck the vol down after 1 sec, then leave it until the end, and MAYBE bring it up at the ens a bit, not not necessarily. I EQ and compress the VO. If there are some visibly louder words (visible in the waveform) I might automate a gain reduction. So then I have a reasonable mix. At that point I use Ozone 4 to master using multiband compression, EQ, & maximizer. I get good results. For me, ducking the misic by using the voice makes the misic bob up/down too much. I don't need to hear more music whenever the VO takes a breath, so just lowering the volume is enough. You can still hear the music when it's rolling at say, -13db from the original mastered music track, so there's no need to worry it will dissappear.

This one has me on VO:

My Niece doing the VO here, and both starring in...

Client doing the VO here:
 
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