ProAudioDSP has a "DSM V3 Prismatic Compressor" product that makes multi-band compression easy for me. This plugin was made by the same guy who made all the really great Sonnox plugins, so I kind of knew it was going to be good, but did not realize it would be such a game-changer for me.
I put this on the end of my mix bus before going into my master chain, so I can get the compression to a good spot overall for the track before doing some final work on it in the master chain. I read supporting information about this approach in the book by Bob Katz, Mastering Audio The Art and the Science, third edition, so I know I am on the right track. He says to get the compression "right" in the mix using a multi-band compressor to do the "heavy lifting" before going to the master.
I have the FabFilter multi-band compressor and it is a good one but with only three bands. I also have the Leapwing one that has five bands. Both are hard for me to understand and use with a lot of tweaking and time-consuming processes.
This DSM Prismatic Compressor is a multi-band of a different sort in that it has a continuous number of bands and you get your compression amount right from your own track and it is so easy. You can also compare to other tracks and load those waveforms into it, but right now I've just been using it as a multi-band on my mix and using my own waveform for it. I can get it right in about a minute or less sometimes, so this is saving me a lot of time.
I put this on the end of my mix bus before going into my master chain, so I can get the compression to a good spot overall for the track before doing some final work on it in the master chain. I read supporting information about this approach in the book by Bob Katz, Mastering Audio The Art and the Science, third edition, so I know I am on the right track. He says to get the compression "right" in the mix using a multi-band compressor to do the "heavy lifting" before going to the master.
I have the FabFilter multi-band compressor and it is a good one but with only three bands. I also have the Leapwing one that has five bands. Both are hard for me to understand and use with a lot of tweaking and time-consuming processes.
This DSM Prismatic Compressor is a multi-band of a different sort in that it has a continuous number of bands and you get your compression amount right from your own track and it is so easy. You can also compare to other tracks and load those waveforms into it, but right now I've just been using it as a multi-band on my mix and using my own waveform for it. I can get it right in about a minute or less sometimes, so this is saving me a lot of time.