I've stepped up my mastering recently, and I am constantly looking for the best ways to get better.
I have been placing the Sonnox Oxford Inflator after my final limiter, to add harmonic enhancement; and adjust the gain so that the peaks hit the same ceiling that was set in the limiter. I find that the Inflator sounds better (to my ears) that Ozone 7 Exciter (perhaps I haven't played around with the exciter enough, but the difference in quality was clear to my ears).
However, I have started using Ozone 7 Insight, and I found that it is reading peaks that are hitting above my ceiling, perhaps of "overs," (excuse me if I chose the wrong term). I am guessing that, even with a hard clipper (Kazrog KClip) placed before my limiter, some transients pass through and go above my set ceiling (which is typically -1.01 for songs to be released on soundcloud).
Therefore, I am considering placing the Inflator before Kazrog KClip and Ozone 7 Maximizer. Is this a good idea? I read on a few forums that having the Inflator after the final limiter is the best scenario...
Even with the inflator off, sometimes Insight reads peaks that are above my limiter's ceiling (I am using ozone 7 maximizer on IRC IV mode). I am guessing that if I set the "character" to a faster setting, that this will not happen as often.
The maximizer will read the peaks at hitting -1 dB. Bluecat's DP Meter Pro also reads the max peaks at hitting -1.01 dB.
Is there some reason why Insight will read some peaks hitting as high as -0.7 dB, with the Inflator off and the maximizer as my last plugin in the chain? Is Insight reading the peaks more accurately? Or, can I assume that if the maximizer and bluecat's DP Meter Pro read the max peaks at -1.01 but Insight is seeing some peaks hitting -0.7, that I am safe in assuming that my ceiling is in fact -1.01 dB?
Are there other plugins that are good at reading the loudness levels? Which one is the best?
The reason I want to be sure, is because a ceiling of -1 dB is necessary for publishing tracks online (because soundcloud and other sites stream music at 128 kb/s).
Any insight into this issue would be welcomed and greatly appreciated (no pun intended, lol).
Submitted December 27, 2016 at 01:09AM by theMuzzl3 https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5khqct/mastering_insight_vs_others_inflator_before_or/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Monday, December 26, 2016