How Howie Weinberg Controlled Dynamics Without Touching a Compressor
“With EQ alone, he controlled the dynamics and balanced the vocals without relying on any compression. As a result, the beat remained powerful and punchy but was better controlled.”
About twelve years ago, a friend sent me a record that Howie Weinberg had mastered. It sounded great, and he was ecstatic with what Weinberg had achieved. I was excited to have access to this and learn from it.
The record was an R&B track with sparse instrumentation. It sounded great overall but was quite dark, with a very dynamic kick drum. This combination could be a problem: if a listener cranked up the track, it might overload and distort on some playback systems. The bottom end needed more control.
My initial thought was multi-band compression, which I believe many engineers would opt for. The bottom end is too dynamic? Okay, let's compress it.
So I made my initial master before listening to Weinberg's. I always do this to compare my initial instincts with the other engineer's approach. Afterward, I switched over to Weinberg's master.
Yikes. Mine was a mess in comparison. His was punchier and cleaner. His kick drum and vocals had a presence that mine lacked.
Back then, while I did learn from this, I lacked the knowledge and ears I have now. So I thought it would be good to take another look and see what more I could learn.
When I gave it a deeper look, it appeared that Weinberg hadn't used multi-band compression. In fact, there was no compression at all—only some peak limiting (or ADC clipping, which seems more likely based on Weinberg's interviews).
Instead, he had drastically cut the bottom end. To match his master, I used a high-pass filter at 42Hz and a bell cut of 3dB at 35Hz.
This adjustment to the low end was significant. Yet the kick and bass still felt both big and punchy. When I checked the master on my VU meters, the dynamics were much tighter.
In addition, the top end was lifted with a high shelf boost of 2dB at 10kHz, which brought the vocals forward and helped further balance the track.
With EQ alone, he controlled the dynamics and balanced the vocals without relying on any compression. As a result, the beat remained powerful and punchy but was better controlled. This meant a listener could crank the volume on their system without worrying about overloading the woofers.
Compression can be a powerful tool when used correctly, but it's important to remember that it's not the only way to control dynamics. EQ can be just as effective, or, as in this instance, superior.
