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Yoooo!!! Thanks man! SUUUUPER helpful!!!
This question was in reference to my track w/ the vibes, which I actually already had used the “slippery fader” trick on in my mix bus! haha
As I was mastering it I STILL felt that the really quiet ambient parts needed to come up in volume, just to limit the dynamic range a bit more. It’s so interesting — all of the psychological and sonic magic involved in mixing to get things to feel good on speakers or headphones. When I was in the woods playing live all of those super dynamic parts felt so good, but then when translating that very same performance to speakers the really quiet sections feel like they need some extra support/volume to make them feel more like the energy of actually playing live. It’s all just so fascinating!
I’m really glad to hear you confirm that this is is OK, and that it’s something that you do.
As a sidenote — I’ve noticed with the vibraphone, particularly in the low midrange — when they cross the threshold of the limiter (im using fabfilter L2) they cause much more distortion than my guitar transients do. If I had to guess I think it’s because the attack of the vibraphone with the mallets lasts longer than the pick hitting the guitar string. And in such an intimate setting, I really have to be careful not to let the vibes hit the limiter (whereas with drum beats, etc. I think they might mask the distortion better)
Thanks for your quick and very informative response!
Love,
JLew