Mixing “Into” a Compressor on the Master Buss

One technique used when mixing music is to put a compressor on the master buss at the beginning/middle of the mixing process, and then mix “into” that compressor. Meaning, that compressor is constantly active and affecting your entire mix WHILE you’re processing and mixing the individual tracks together – instead of waiting until the mix is done and THEN adding a master buss compressor.

The effect of the master buss compressor will influence how you process each individual track in the mix. As you EQ and compress individual voices, they will simultaneously be compressed a bit more and “colored” by the master buss compressor.

This technique actually makes it a bit easier to balance the levels of all the voices in the episode so that they are all around the same volume.

FYI, currently I’m mixing “into” my Aquamarine 4 plugin suite from Acustica, which I really like a lot. A real lot. Like, a lot a lot.

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