Anyone ever mix a snare or vocal extra hot knowing that the limiting that will occur during mastering will clamp down on it?

Been trying to mix a song with an acoustic snare (from a NI Kontakt kit) and I want it to really 'pop/crack'. I've found I really have to exaggerate the snare level during the mix, as well as vocal level in order to achieve a respectable, perceived volume when I am all done 'mastering' while keeping the snare cracking and the vocals from getting submerged - keep in mind, the final perceived gain isn't that loud compared to what I am hearing today out in the world, so I am not 'killing it' (not too frickin' slammed) - even so, still finding that I am making level adjustments during mixing that I otherwise wouldn't based on how the mastering stage is clamping down on things.
Last edited by sadkin on Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

I would suggest finding a way to make your snare pop without actually bringing up it's peaks too much because that would make the mastering limiter work harder and bring your snare's attack down. A touch of distortion or clipping on the snare channel will probably help.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious but it's not always a good idea to master your own music either; a fresh set of ears can give you a new perspective on things. I see your problem though - often when I'm mastering a track I have the finished product in mind but I know something like the vocal level is going to be affected negatively because the mix is lacking in upper mids, for instance, and so changes have to be made to keep everything sounding in check (either on my end, or in the mix). But, if you're mastering your own mixes you may be looking too closely at one problem and overlooking another. Rework the mix and let the master limiter do less work, for sure.

It sounds to me like you are leaving too much for the mastering stage - and that you feel bound to do certain things and screw up what you did mixing.

- Now it's time to make this bastard louder than hell

If you are doing a lot of EQ and limiting - more than 2 dB - put this work into mixing instead.

Try multiband compression if ordinary fails.