FytaKyte_TooMuch

[Tambo Man]

Cool. I do some similar work on my 2 buss, but I do subtle work and a little more of it.

For my 2 buss, I first put on a comp with slow attack fast release (1.5db reduction at the most), then it's mostly EQ work. I do some critical work on an FFQ3 EQ (no more than 1db changes), then multi-band trickery to clean up my bass frequencies (1db at the most). Then I go into an elysia museq to shape the low-mids, then into a klanghelm MJUCjr (free comp) to warm up the signal a bit (no gain reduction - just a pass through). Then I go into an SPL passive EQ to do a final boost of the low lows and the high highs. Then a DeEsser to catch the high-transients in the sum-channel (1.5bd). Then into an L2 to nip the transients (1.5db at the most). By the time I get to the L2, I find that I can easily get the level to -8 LUFS, without the need for a clipper.

I used to use a clipper before the limiter, and still do for some circumstances (like I have drum-focussed mix), but I don't like clipping if I can avoid it, because it can sometimes turn my kicks and bass into farts.

So, this sounds like a lot, but it's all so subtle that only when everything is put together do you get a really nice mastered sound that doesn't take away from the tone or vibe of the mix. It also doesn't do so much that it tries to "fix the mix"

Ah I don’t think that’s a lot. As the saying goes “ if it sounds good it is good” or something to that effect. 

When I changed to 96k it forced me to do less. I changed because for some reason the bx 9000 sounds much better ( more open and smother highs.) It’s also been a blessing too. I haven’t needed to do as much on the two buss now. It’s been crave eq doing a hipass with a few small cuts into the kive distressor ( clean, no distortions added and mix knob to 95% ish for cleaner attack sound) to the free AA pultec ( pre amp bypassed) then another crave eq, then the clipper. After that it goes a efx send with another compressor mixed in a little. On the master buss is the limiter followed by an airwindows dither ( in Presonus there’s the option to turn off the DAWs dithering). I don’t usually mix into these, they get turned on as the mix progresses. 


I’ll have to try the MJUC on the master. It always lands on ld vox and bass. 
the clipper thing is touchy for sure, for lots of reasons. I try to keep it dialed down but ear fatigue can hamper the situation. However, what it really means is my mixing chops aren’t quite up to par lol. 
Going to give the deesser a shot too. My mixes have been a bit sharp lately.