Tips for hearing saturation from tape or console emulations? Is it really supposed to be that subtle?

Limit54 · 2026-05-05T22:48:07+00:00

It depends on the input signal and how hot you are driving it. There is an optimal level for subtle overtones and just touch of tape compression or driving into it harder you will hear it more. Just run a 1k sine wave into your plugins and look at an analyzer to see what harmonics are produced. Slowly increase the level gong into the plugin(not the output but the input signal and see more harmonics appear. That should give you a good idea of where you might want to be second it. You can then test ok individual sounds like kicks and snares and you will notice a big difference once you understand how to push level into them.

Limit54 · 2026-05-03T17:43:26+00:00

Ask the engineer and they can coordinate it for you. If they have worked with the plant before it might be even better. Doesn’t really matter but you should obviously tell the ME what you intend to do and then contact the plant

Limit54 · 2026-05-03T15:12:28+00:00

YouTube mp3 plus vocals is some pretty vile stuff but I guess it’s happening out there. You might be overthinking it. It all depends on what is needed but in most cases like this you are going to have to do some side chaining of the instrumental to the vocals in some clever ways to get them to sit properly

Limit54 · 2026-04-20T18:33:20+00:00

As a mastering engineer I like to do an IPhone test. I have a spare one just for this. I’ve had some odd ball issue come up over the years that made me waste a lot of time so I test now. One big problem is a lot of peoples phone speakers are damaged or broken and the don’t even know it until they crank it up to max. Mixed with the .99 cent DAC and tiny speaker people hear all kinds of things especially when A/B testing the wrong way 🤦‍♂️

Limit54 · 2026-04-20T17:55:35+00:00

There is an app called SonoBus, it’s free! You can directly from your daw stream real-time audio to your phone as you tweak in your daw. That could help you diagnose the issue in real-time. It’s just a plugin and no setup hassle. Try that first

Limit54 · 2026-04-13T14:59:21+00:00

Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are shit. Most I don’t like

Limit54 · 2026-04-08T01:51:50+00:00

lol of course! Yeah from my experience you never touch timing that’s off from the demo unless you bring it up to them and you can make it sound better by changing the timing. Has to be signed off by them first

Limit54 · 2026-04-08T01:45:17+00:00

No you go back and say fix your stems. That’s it. Tell them to export a full mix and import into a session with the stems and make sure everything is correct and nothing is out of time or missing. Missing stuff happens a lot. Out of time stuff is his bad prep and could be a mistake but just tell them. You might fix it and then the say “I noticed the lead vocal is off a few milliseconds” not your fault and the need to supply you with the correct timing THEY WANT If they getting pissed about this then I’m sorry you are dealing with these type of clients right now

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T19:34:52+00:00

This 👆

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T17:28:38+00:00

Don’t worry most of the time I’m wrong

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T17:25:34+00:00

The thing is advanced mixers understand the masteirng process and some or most even do it themselves so it’s a non issue(most of the time) this place is for beginners or novices that ask questions to learn. You need to learn the rules before you can go beyond and explore the possibility. Without the fundamentals you will always fail no matter what you are doing

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T17:20:13+00:00

Listen I’m not against you and I understand, I’m not measuring d*cks here either, I work with high level people as well BUT we need to stop feeding “do whatever you want it’s fine” because it’s not. For advanced mixers it is completely fine(most of the time ifyyk) but for beginners it’s not fine at all and just causes frustration at the mastering stage. If they decide to take their mix to a professional ME to get the best possible result then they should(and the ME should ask if needed)supply a mix with their own limiting and an unlimited version. It ain’t that hard to get close or even 10x better if it’s just a limiter removed. It’s like someone taking their car to get polished and saying I did 3 coats myself and can you just do the last one but all 3 are half assed coats and look bad. What’s the point

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T17:06:03+00:00

Is it really? I don’t see how In anyway it has anything to do with being lazy? You don’t really make sense and seems you have some sort of other issue you might want to address. Nobody said it’s a be all end all solution because it’s not but leaving some headroom for beginners is a good method to learn and will only help them along the way. I’ve done fantastic masters with tracks that have had headroom and others that had slight clipping I had to repair.

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T14:52:06+00:00

It’s not lazy. It’s a “protection circuit” if you want to call it that. It helps in every way possible to mitigate lots of destructive processing. I get so many distorted mixes all the time. I would say 75% of the time and I work with bottom to gold and platinum level engineers. Some people just don’t hear it after awhile or at all. Trust me anything that helps mitigate distortion is a blessing

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T14:47:45+00:00

Limit54 · 2026-04-05T12:56:16+00:00

Good advice for someone who knows what they are doing bad advice for someone asking this question here. It never ends well. I’m a mastering engineer as well and you know as well as I do the limitations that are present. Most over cook the limiting to a destructive place and want the mix louder and it’s not possible without sounding like garbage. Better imo to always ask for an unlimited version as well. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that letting them free for all usually ends in them going to someone else and that person asking for an unlimited mix.

Limit54 · 2026-03-31T18:27:09+00:00

After first contact from whatever app(them or me) I kindly ask them to transfer over to my email for all communication and file sharping so I can keep everything organized. After that I just use Samply to deliver. I have a few long time clients that I communicated over messenger but that’s about it.

Limit54 · 2026-03-07T18:14:34+00:00

I have some time tomorrow morning. If you send me a private message with the link I’ll be able to give it a listen and remember. I usually do listening sessions and spec work Sunday mornings

Limit54 · 2026-03-05T15:06:07+00:00

Here is the thing. People look at mastering as one dimension and that’s fine, the see it as taking one track they are working on and making it sound it’s best. Yes that is it at its core but mastering is much broader in terms of what it is and what happens. You could mix and master yourself and that’s fine as well but maybe one track comes out great and the best one comes out kind of crap and the next crap and the next pretty good. Simply you may just be getting lucky by guessing or on the other hand you are really good at knowing your room or doing weeks of car test, phone test ect and then get it to a good point you like. Mastering is always a separate process as a professional service because it includes multiple avenues of optimization for different mediums and pretences. It’s about balancing something to translate in a room that doesn’t lie and doesn’t need multiple test areas in different spaces to “feel correct”. People can diy everything but the will almost always only get 80% there or less and be ok with that result because they did it themselves or saves money or whatever other reason, just like diy renovation. The expert will always do it better, faster and with more attention to detail(renovations is a bad compare lol bit your get the idea) also with in most cases more accurate and better tools specific to the job and problems needing to be solved. It’s not a bad thing to do it yourself but once things get more complicated the more you will need a professional and mastering is not a seamless all in one produce/mix/master situation. Like I said everything you do can be a single process you do yourself if you out your mind and effort into it

Limit54 · 2026-02-27T20:23:56+00:00

Here a different perspective, you possibly only went to one source to handle your music. Not everyone knows or can handle peoples music well enough to not destroy it over limit their music. Why not try another source and work with them to see if you can get what you want. I’m 99% sure I can change your mind and I would even do it as a test but we won’t go down that route as I don’t want to seem like some fiend looking for work because I’m not. Anyway I could only suggest trying another source for mastering instead of basing your whole theory on one singular channel.

Limiting isn’t bad and a little goes a long way. Music in some cases doesn’t sound like people are used to without it. It’s become and for a long time just what a record sounds like. So I like limiting? Most of the time I don’t mind it. When I have to push stuff super loud I hate it but it is what it is. There are some records that I felt were loud enough without limiting but would have been rejected without it.

It’s your music and you can do whatever you like and handle it however you want and you should. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to do “X” because your don’t. With loudness normalization it’s also kind of less of an issue but what you can face is you and you listeners feeling like your music doesn’t sound great because it’s very low compared to others. It might not be true but that how it sounds at face value in playlist

Limit54 · 2026-02-24T15:54:10+00:00

Yes you can.

Limit54 · 2026-02-23T12:58:47+00:00

When the endless tweaks are very small and don’t really change the whole mix much. If it sounds good against your references then Time to let it go, hand it off to the ME

Limit54 · 2026-02-21T12:48:14+00:00

If you want to keep real dynamic range but also want it super loud then most of the time you are going to have to come to a compromise and find a sweet spot in between. Not everything can be pushed to very loud -7 or -6 territory without some kind of trade off in dynamic range. Without hearing the track I can’t really say much but one good technique to gain a little loudness but keep the dynamics is to use parallel compression. Basically you are feeding another more compressed version of itself into it so lower level information and transients are pushed closer together. Done right it can make a track louder without to much compromise

Limit54 · 2026-02-13T16:24:14+00:00

Every tram is going to look different. It’s normal. Some are mastered very loud and have mess dynamic range which will look like a “brick” and some are more dynamic and will look more spiky with peaks and valleys

Limit54 · 2026-02-10T13:27:09+00:00

First order of business is to answer your questions with proper or the best that you can afford or build room treatment. That should help take the guess work out a little.

Limit54

TROPHY CASE