Atmosphere & Loudness Maximisation is an Anathema

To make an atmospheric recording requires a sense of atmosphere, which is provided by reverberation. The application of volume maximisation prior to applying reverberation results in reverberation masking. Applying reverb prior to volume maximisation will result in un-natural reverb modulation by the music volume level. In this video I demonstrate how volume maximisation results it reverb masking and given an explanation for why this is so.
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:47 Demonstration Candidate Tracks Overview
5:55 Cubase Demonstration Setup
8:13 Added Reverb Audibility Demonstration - "Take a Look Through My Eyes"
9:46 Added Reverb Audibility Demonstration - "I Cannot Believe It's True"
10:59 Discussion on Reverb Masking

[@peterkearnsmusic]

Good advice, Paavo.. Harbal customer here since 2006.

[@beatskool101]

If you took the clip from YT it might be 128k & dithered & maybe maximised twice?, The first Phil Collins track was very busy so impossible to hear anything good, I cannot believe it's true is more sparse so the clarity comes through. I've wrestled with gain staging, master limiting & compression, & my Limiter telling me "Increase the Volume & it's Too Dynamic" I don't want loud, I do want Dynamics. Not sure How I would add reverb after the Master limiter, the Reverbs & stuff are on the FX Sends. I'd like you to take a listen to my Electronic Permutations, & tell me what you hear & if i'm on the right track.

[@beatskool101]

One thing I will be trying in the future will be not throwing everything into the same reverbs, not having multiple reverbs on the same thing.

[@paavojumppanen914]

Yes, good points. I recognise that both the clip quality is lower given the streaming, and that the track in question has a more dense arrangement. Ideally, the same track treated differently would be the most ideal comparison but I don't have access to suitable material so this was my compromise choice. It's just a thing to be aware of and something that initially confused me when playing a range of tracks through my reverb and noting how the audibility of that reverb changed considerably across tracks but not understanding why.
And yes, if you add bus reverb post bos compression and limiting you will need and extra limiting stage to catch overs. As you said, you'll typically use channel sends to seperate reverb bus but you will typically have channel compression before the send so the possibility of over compressing everything can give rise to the same effect. If you don't and then rely on mastering compression and limiting to minimise volume you'll hear the reverb but it will not longer sound natural as it's level will be modulated by the track level.
By the way, in my mixing of TSA I no longer use a reverb bus as I don't see a need or benefit for it because I use spatial panning. The spatial panning gives me the contextual early reflections and appropriate levels so I have no need for reverb sends.
Finally, if you'd like to get my options on stuff you are working on then feel free to get in touch. You can use the Har-Bal website to initially contact me via email, or the Har-Bal Facebook page.