Mixing radio promos using WAVES

[Melbguy]

Hi there,
I have been using waves plugs on the master in this order:
Rcomp
Linear Ph Multi
L2

Does this seem to be ok, or is there a better solution, alternative.
This is for radio promos etc.

Other opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
MG

[Audioholic]

Well,

It looks like you are using at least 2 compressors/limiters on your master, which may be fine, but depending on your settings, it may start to sound squashed or over use of compression, hard to say without hearing how you are using them

[jkranz]

Thats a pretty good choice of signal path/plugins. I'd try and strike a balance between the amount of limiting done by the RComp and the L2, but be generous with the compression, as radio broadcast requires a fair amount to be heard in various situations (car radios, crappy boomboxes etc.) and is usually compressed more than other broadcast formats.

-Jonathan

[Melbguy]

Yeah l would have the compression on Rcomp working quite well. But with the attack and release times not so quick. Then Lin multi PH. But by the time it hits L2. I use it only just to bring it up a little. Maybe a threshold at -5 and an output at -0.5. To give it an RMS value of around -13dBrms

I guess l was wondering in your opinions whether l was using to much compression in the path?

[Audioholic]

It really hard to tell without hearing your material. I personally wouldn't bother with using both a compressor and limiter on the same master, but just rely on the L2 to do your limiting and get your program material even and as loud as you want. having both a compressor and a limiter on the same master seems like you are just making slightly more work for yourself. Dont foget that a multiband compressor is also acting like a compressor as well.

[dpd]

just remember that the radio station has the last word in the process - everything passes through a multi-band compressor/limiter/phase shifter to make the sound as absolutely dense as possible.

so, you may bang your volume really hard and it could get trashed even worse. On the other hand, you could master it to K-20 and it will still end up getting trashed (been there, done that)

[Joseph Hanna]

so, you may bang your volume really hard and it could get trashed even worse. On the other hand, you could master it to K-20 and it will still end up getting trashed (been there, done that)


Exactly.

This discussion comes up once a month or so at work. Mixing for radio and or television is ALWAYS a guess. Who knows what the networks and or affiliates will do with a mix.

Fairly easy to second guess yourself into being polarized. Within spec mix to what sounds and works for you, the client and the project itself.

Can't do anything about the rest anyway..

[Audioholic]

Well, Even though the radio stations mutiliate audio after the fact aparently, I seldom notice anything super horrible upon hearing what I did in the studio, and what I hear on the radio, so I wouldn't worry too much about what happens afterward, and over time you will learn what little tweaks you can make to make things pop out (which you want to pop out). The thing that is most noticable to me is Siblance once a spot hits the radio, too much will make the VO sound like crap.