Audio-Technica Demo: 'Loud And Clear'

[The_Metallurgist]

I don't think many people mix to -14,most will be just that level like radio stations etc a low master like mibe here.
I don't thing my mix is that over processed myself Dave.

i'd agree with both your points.

i think if there's any over-processing, it's the vocal tending to push the limiter harder than the other instruments and i'd guess it's this that's causing the loss in the LUFS reading in the main. working this mix, the vocals really poke out a lot and it can be difficult taming them, especially if one is to try and retain transparency. homing in closely on the actual samples supplied of the vocals, it's quite obvious the signal chain has been working pretty hard and there's clear evidence of audible distortion. when they are tamed, they sound lost in the mix so perhaps this might be supporting my obs on that front... it's something i've been battling with in my mix, that's for sure.

one point for interest....24 bit doesn't require madly hot feeds during tracking because of the generous dynamic range that exists when working with this bit depth, nevertheless it feels to me like this is what they've done. anything that's cranked up sounds good, even though it might not be.

something this recent LUFS exercise has exposed my end, is the tremendous damage tape emulations have on dynamic range on the LUFS meter, so you guys who are employing such to achieve saturation characteristics, do take care.....because in getting the saturation, you're also losing a LOT of dynamics. for example, if the tracking already contains a generous amount of compression, a tape emu applied during the mix will have implications.

imagine the scenario...recording engineer adds compression, mixing engineer adds compression to the track and/or some tape saturation, then perhaps a compressor on the group buss for glue. the mastering engineer gets hold of it and adds yet more compression. the accumulation of all this stuff? it's so easy to forget about dynamics..