Maximus on Master Channel? FL Studio 12

I see alot of producers put a maximus with certain settings on their master when they’re creating a track. What gives? What happens if I kept it on and rendered it and gave it to a master engineer? Will it fuck it up with that maximus on? I always do my best to keep my levels low and mix the best that I can but I notice that my mixes sound way more better with maximus on granted I’m not actually clipping or making serious mixing errors. Is this still okay to do?

If you want a rough and ready ‘mastered’ copy to play out, then Maximus on the master channel will deliver that. It won’t be pretty, but it will get the track up to a certain level where it can stand against professionally mastered tracks and not seem out of place.

If you’re sending something to a mastering engineer, however, then ideally your master channel should be free of everything. Sending something that is already heavily compressed/limited to a mastering engineer will mean they are limited in what they can do with it.

Ideally, (and this is IMO), you should be staying clear of Maximus wherever possible. Think of it as a blunt hammer vs. a surgical incision.

when you really feel like your MIX sounds way better with a plugin on the master, you need to learn how to mix properly. mixes are the key, not the master. if your mix is nonplusultra, theoretically the mastering engineer wouldnt need to do anything except bringing the levels up. also, keeping your levels low becomes irrelevant as soon as you put that plugin on the master when talking about sending it to an enigneer

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@Travis_James_Manitop when you say the mix sounds better with Maximus do you mean it sounds louder?

I feel my mixdowns are actually pretty good, I just lack at making more 3 dimensional atmospheres in my drums and such but I’ve found an interesting way I suppose is rending a sick drum loop with maximus on and try to replicate how it sounds in clarity and punch without maximus on. Thanks guys