Mastering Two Songs Live!

 Firstly I mastered the song Game Boy by AnneAnne, a synthpop-ish piece that is an astoundingly impressive display of composing, lyric-writing, instrumental performance, singing, arranging, production, and mixing… that all coalesces into a bangin’ track filled with clever and hilarious 80s and 90s nostalgia tech puns.

 Next up was Dimenensional Drift by Human Synthetics, an amazing atmospheric d&b piece, replete with crushing breakbeats and enveloping bass that continually shifts and evolves as it progresses, evoking a dark and moody vibe that is enticing and addictive to listen to and get lost in.

 For both pieces i used my newly-developed Finalization effects pack and template for Ableton Live Suite 12, demonstrating how it allows you to get as deep as you need to with professional mastering and high-quality results with no need for external VST plugins.

 It was a great joy to work on finalization of both of these songs on-the-fly at the Music Production Club meeting! Thanks to both of the artists for contributing their songs and to Brian Funk for hosting the meeting plus recording and producing the video.

 If you want to hit me up for audio mastering, feel free to use the contact form or check in over at the Animus Invidious Discord.


 And no i don’t use generative ai for any aspect of writing this blog because that would be lame, unimaginative, boring, below my standards of quality and veracity, and personally unfulfilling.

Limitization – 3 free Limiter Devices for Ableton Live 9

Francis Preve ( http://www.francispreve.com/ ) posted something which inspired me to make Glue Compressor- and Saturator- based limiter device presets using their clipper functions. I went ahead and made them as one-knob fx as there weren’t too many parameters to deal with. I also decided to make a device similar to the performodule “hybrid” compressors which can be used to compare between the 3 limiter possibilities (calibrated with matching settings) in one device rack, which is a real time-saver. That one also has control over fine-tuning parameters for fully robust usage.

How to use: place one of these devices as the final device on a master track for a final master. Turn up the “push” knob to the desired setting (maximum is +9db). Try to boost it while avoiding any unpleasant distortion. The final output will not exceed 0db.
I would describe the GluLimiter as rich, the SatuLimiter as meaty, and Ableton’s Limiter as straightforward.
For the Try Limiter: Set the push knob as above. Try the 3 limiter choices and decide which one fits the piece most appropriately. Try different settings for attack and release (including auto-release if desired), and you can set the final output from -.5 to -.2 db. One workflow method is to turn push all the way up so the effect is extreme, set attack and release where they feel the most natural and dynamic, and then turn push back down to the ideal value. Then choose the limiter type that has the favorite character at those settings.
(turning the “chooz” knob during playback can cause an unwanted temporary peak. If that happens hit “shift-spacebar” twice to reset your peak meters)

Get the single-knob GluLimiter:
CLICK HERE

Get the single-knob SatuLimiter:
CLICK HERE

Get the triple-auditioning Try Limiter:
CLICK HERE

Performodule Fx

~`~