when i was doing the final mixdown on a track i seen that the track was clipping on the master, so i turned ot down to something like -5 but i have seen the likes of D Ramirez and Chris Lake put limiters on the master to stop it peaking and boost the sound… should i do that instead? and put the volume back to 0?
I think the issue with putting a pure and simple limiter on your master is that clipping will be stopped but the result will be distortion. To an extent this is desired but if the clipping is 5db’s worth then the issue there will be a LOT of distortion.
The Limiters people like D Ramirez or Chris Lake are using are probably more along the lines of Brick Wall Limiters/Maximizers. There job isnt really to actually limit but to bring the volume of the whole track up to a certain point. It will still result in distortion but again its only a small amount that is desirable…
Either way I personally like to put a Limiter at the end of my project, not during my project. If the master is clipping by a bit leave it alone, if the clipping is significant its a Mixing Issue not a Mastering Issue and you should be trying to avoid the problem using faders and possibly compressors and EQ’s not Limiters as the issue will only bite you in the *** later down the line…
BTW I am not entirely certain by what you mean by Final Mixdown, some people put the Final Mixdown in the same context as their Mastering stage, other people I have met put the Final Mixdown as an actually “mixing” phase just before Mastering…
I saw your Facebook page I like it. You should make a group related to this.