ChocolateChicken wrote:Attack and release times, according to HMage, should be very slow. However, others would argue that an attack time of about 20ms to 80ms would help make your mix more "punchy." I've read that release times can be quicker than 15ms to reduce audible pumping, while most others, including HMage, say that the release time should be a lot slower reduce the pumping itself.
You're confusing microdynamics and macrodynamics.
Microdynamics is for stuff around 15ms attack that change the shape of every sound — this changes how the kicks sound, how agressive the guitar passage is, etc.
Macrodynamics is basically a bird's eye view to the song — don't change the sections themselves, but change volume relationships between sections. And with proper compression and makeup you can make loud passages stay at same level, while bringing up quiet passages as much as 12dB if you really want that.
Both are treated separatedly, and I honestly believe that microdynamics should be preserved as much as possible during mastering because they were shaped by mixing engineer and the client approved that sound.
And it's a limiter's job to compress peaks properly — if it doesn't do that well you probably need to tune it. I spend hours fiddling with the limiter.