audio post-production

To understand what is meant by the terms 2-pole filter and 4-pole filter, you first need to know that the word "pole" in the context of filters refers to a 6 dB per octave roll-off. Well, a 2-pole filter = 12 dB/octave slope, and that's because 6 dB x 2 = 12 dB. Furthermore, a 4-pole filter =...

For the most part, there's no difference between audio software plug-ins referred to as maximizers and those marketed as brickwall mastering plug-ins. The contrast is that some developers simply decide to name their digital audio processors as maximizers whilst some may settle for the term...

Digital audio software linear-phase equalizers do not alter the phase of the input signal. And in contrast to linear-phase equalizers you've minimum-phase parametric EQs that act by introducing phase shift whilst processing. What's important to remember here is that if you need an ultra-clean...

In audio mastering, brickwall limiting is the final signal processing before releasing a song. Every brickwall limiter or maximizer will in most cases basic controls such as threshold, ceiling, and release time. It's not uncommon for some brickwall limiters to have extra controls such as attack...

The simplest way to fade out your beat (an instrumental) or a song in Image-Line's FL Studio DAW is to automate the master fader's volume level. However, for the most part, it's not a good idea to create automation clips using the master channel's slider knob because this can result in hard...

The term "lookahead" in the context of dynamic signal processor effects refers to how an audio software plugin will delay the signal e.g., 0.1 to 1 ms or more, for the sake of implementing the process of analyzing the incoming audio material. And once a brickwall limiter analyzes the input...

Audio aliasing is a digital signal processing term that refers to how high frequencies (or harmonics) above the Nyquist limit are thrown back into your human hearing audible range (i.e., 20 to 20 kilohertz), particularly when using some of your favorite non-linear audio software plugins such as...

Oversampling is a technique of digital signal processing that helps audio software plug-ins to minimize the level of artifacts often caused by aliasing distortion. The oversampling process involves sampling audio material greater than its Nyquist rate. For example, if you want to capture (or...

The process of normalizing audio isn't the same as using a brickwall limiter on the master bus. In fact, when you normalize audio this will make the loudest part of the audio material as loud as it can be without going over 0 dBFS. And as for the quieter parts of the same audio file, they will...

If you want to normalize audio in Image-Line's FL Studio music production software, you need to use the Edison audio editor VST plug-in or you can use the sampler's precomputed normalization effect to accomplish this. However, for this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to do it using Edison...

The simple answer is no. This is because one of the rules of thumb in audio mastering is you should do no harm since reverberation has an overwhelming potential to make your music muddy and ruin a sound engineer's mix. Best believe they won't ever work with you again. Experimenting with reverb...

The Fairchild 670 compressor is a well-known vintage stereo limiter that was released way back in the 1950s by Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation. This audio compressor's attack and release times are controlled by the switch labeled "time-constant" and the settings are as follows...

The average RMS level for mastered commercial Hip Hop/Rap songs varies around the range of -7 dB and -9 dB RMS. However, it may be much better to reference loudness using LUFS instead of RMS. Either way, it's not uncommon for some tracks to have an average RMS reading of -6 dB RMS or sometimes...

Given that a mastering limiter is an audio compressor with a very high compression ratio. The main purpose of using one is more often to make things louder whilst avoiding nasty audible distortion (unless if that's the desired sound). All mastering limiters manipulate dynamic range and some are...

Almost any digital or analog audio compressor has a parameter labeled ratio and this allows a beatmaker, a mixing or an audio mastering engineer to set the amount of compression that takes place when an audio signal goes past the "threshold level" of the compressor. For example, a compression...

In music production, an audio compressor is a sound effect (i.e., either an analog hardware unit or a digital audio software plugin) designed to reduce the dynamic range (DR) of the source material or entire mix as a means to either smoothly or aggressively control volume fluctuations...

A brickwall limiter is an audio signal processing effect either found in a physical hardware form or as a digital audio software plug-in extension (i.e., VST, AAX, AU plug-ins, etc) and is for the most part used in audio post-production (or audio mastering) to make music (or the program...

What's the appropriate amount of dB gain reduction you should do with Waves L2 Ultramaximizer mastering limiter?

Some hardware and plug-in dynamic processors (i.e., audio compressors and brickwall limiters) have a function that allows you to activate "auto-release" (or auto-recovery) which in turn adjusts the release time automatically with the input signal instead of a fixed setting e.g. 100 milliseconds...

RMS (i.e., short for Root Mean Square) is a measurement of the average perceived loudness in music. It doesn't take into account fast transients (or peaks) in the audio material in question, but rather the average level of sustained input audio signal for a given duration (e.g., 400 ms.) Now as...