Mastering Techniques

[AlexWadeWC]

I'd like to pick everyones brain about Mastering. It's just something I have recently gotten really interested in. Before I'd just throw Ozone 4 on the Master bus and click the "CD Master" preset and be done with it, which still does ALOT but i've just recently gotten into compressing, eqing, etc. along with Ozone.

So I ask, what are some techniques you use? Tips? How to get that "CD" level of volume and punch with out losing dynamics or over compressing.

Another thing I would like to know is is it better to mix your track, bounce it as a .wav and THEN reimport that .wav back into your DAW for mastering, or is mastering on top of your mix "acceptable" as well, just more CPU heavy? Right now I just master on top of my mixes because I haven't had any CPU problems yet and it just makes it easier to adjust the mix to your master on the fly rather than doing a mix, bouncing, importing, mastering, levels be too high or too low in the mix for the master, go back into the mix, readjust levels, etc. etc.

 

[The Reverend]

I'd like to pick everyones brain about Mastering. It's just something I have recently gotten really interested in.

No shit? If the clips you've been posting weren't so good, I'd accuse you of spamming!

I can't help you with your specific question, as I do it like you do it, but there are some great stickies in this section that you should check out (if you already haven't).

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/recording-studio/221-know-lots-about-compression.html

Slipperman's Recording Distorted Guitars From Hell

8 Music Mastering Techniques to Make Your CDs Sound Better - Mastering Media Blog

Edit: I know some of these talk about methods you don't use, but hey, knowledge is power, right? There's good tips in here, nonetheless.

 

[Taylor2]

Hey Alex,


My mastering technique is quite a bit more intricate.

You have to treat mastering in the same sense as you treat mixing.
It's just as difficult, and requires the same amount of detail and attention.

What I do, is bounce the normal track dry into a .wav.
Then I create a new project, and import the track to it.

I then do all the mastering I need to, and bounce it to a high-quality .MP3.


In my mastering chain I use Ozone as well. However, I go about it differently then you do.

Start off like so :


Loudness Maximizer : Set the Threshold to -0.1, change the mode to Intelligent II and the character to 'fast and loud'.

Then move over to the 'Multiband Dynamics'. Make it so there is only one band that it's dealing with. Then set the band gain to 5.0. That's all I do.

Then, play with the 'Input and Output' on the right hand side until you get it as close as 0.0 as you would like.
Too much and you will have zero dynamics.
Too little and it wont be brickwalled. Which isn't a bad thing.

This is pretty general, so experiment.
Play with the EQ as desired.
I rarely touch the Exciter or the Reverb.

 

[TreWatson]

monarch was a bad example because i actually had someone else master my mixes and he squashed it and drowned it in reverb.

i suppose that's the price of "Free" right?

in my actual mastering work, i use a volume maximizer (i never push anything above + or -1) and gently push the volume a little harder. i usually mix dull to accomodate cymbal shimmer so in mastering i'll raise the 3-5 Khz area and slope off everything below 30 Hz

I use a very weak reverb (at about 11 or so) i usually solo the signal just to kind of pick up the cymbals and the mid and high-end of the guitars, the low end generally sounds better tight and without extra boom going on.

stereo imaging, i tend to put the high end up by 2 and the highmids up at 0.1 to kind of give the guitars their own breathing room.

i tend to avoid exciters altogether.

for the multiband, i ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make it a gentle compression. i'll push the low end SLIGHTLY harder than everything else, just enough to get my mix to sound and feel a little more "together" than before.

in the end i pull out an outside stereo expander and push it to about 1.33 just enough to give it some room without hollowing the middle.

that's just my process.

if i can help any more, let me know.

EDIT: this is all ozone 4 as well.

 

[Razzy]

I'm posting in this thread so I can find it later.

 

[AlexWadeWC]

Awesome info guys, thanks!

Right now my master bus in Logic is as follows:

-Channel EQ (slight dips in low mids to tighten things up, 5k shelf boost for presence)
-Multipress (2 db gain make up on the 5-20k shelf)
-Ozone 4 (CD Master setting)
-EZ Mix (Master 1 setting, which includes an EQ, Transient, Tape Simulator, Compressor, and Limiter all in one setting. I feel like the EZ Mix stuff is like the "mixing for dummies" presets hahaha but that mastering setting really does make everything sound fucking massive, i suggest trying it.)
-Then finally a Compressor with a final limiter set it -1.0 db

It's alot of stuff going on but when I compare my mixes/masters to commercial CDs it still isn't loud enough, I don't know how to get it any louder without clipping or adding distortion and I think my shit is already ready REALLY fucking loud haha.

 

[AlexWadeWC]

Sweet bot post dewd.

 

[Taylor2]

That's a whole lotta compression going on.

Seriously Alex, give my example a shot and see how it goes.
It got recommended to me when I was doing the same thing you were, with multiple compressors and EQ's.
Then I tried it and loved it.

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

Thanks a lot for all the information on this thread. I've always sucked on mastering and these tips sure gave me a good start to get helluva better!

I'm also gonna throw my own contribution in the thread. If my authority ever matters.

I've noticed that you can get a hell of a nice punch to your master with one awesome (and rather costy if you're not using reaper) VST plugin. It's the Bombardier by Stillwell. (Bombardier | Stillwell Audio - It's About The Sound) Try out the demo and see if you like it. For immediate results I'd suggest you to try out the Peak Control presets, but with further tweaking you'll get even more balanced results.

 

[Frozmoh]

My chain is as follows
Limiter
EQ
Multicomp
Nomad factory "magnetic"
Ozone 4 but just EQ

A clip with that mastering.
But as usual i differs from what genre i mix.

Burnrate - Vibrator by frozmoh on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

//F

 

[MakewayforMan]

It's alot of stuff going on but when I compare my mixes/masters to commercial CDs it still isn't loud enough, I don't know how to get it any louder without clipping or adding distortion and I think my shit is already ready REALLY fucking loud haha.

Alex,

I was having the same problem. Your mixes sound far superior to mine, but in regards to the actual loudness, I would suggest playing around with this little technique as it has gotten my mixes louder. It's not so much a mastering technique but just makes the mix you have actually louder in volume.

Take the track you have mixed to your liking, then export it to a .wav file. Now open a new project in the DAW and import the file. Now duplicate the track, so you actually have two of the file tracks in the DAW. Throw a limiter on the master channel and set it to -.1 to avoid the inevitable clipping that would occur. Take a listen, and that thing will be much louder! It will compare to the loudness of commercial cds when you listen in the car.
Also, you don't get any noticeable loss to the original mix.

Hope this helps!

 

[Chri]

I'm a little surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but how much headroom do you leave, or think should be left, before you mix down the .wav to be mastered? I typically leave between 6-12 dB, though I'm a noob so that could be bad

 

[ChuckLee]

you should try the ozone 4 plug-in, it literally changed my life in mastering

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I've read somewhere (oh this is a trustworthy source) that -3dB would be around the most effective in the terms of reducing noise. (I guess?)

 

[Mattayus]

• Good mixing requires less mastering. I think people who throw on a thousand and one processes on a master chain are doing it out of a sense of duty and/or habit rather than necessity, and probably aren't aware of what half of it is doing to their music.
  
• Don't ever use presets unless it's just to get a ball-park feel. There is no one-size-fits-all master process that will work effectively.
  
• Less is more: Ask yourself what your mix needs, would benefit from, and could do without.
  
• Always audition processes within a mix. Throw a compressor on the master bus and see how it effects your snare transients, the guitar/bass relationship, the click in the kick and so on, and adjust your mix accordingly.
  
• You don't need to crush the fuck out of anything to get it louder. Mix it loud, but mix it dynamic.
  
• A good mix should never need a great deal of EQ. Think of it like polishing a car off a production line. It shouldn't need any extra work as you should have got it balanced in the first place. A little high end sparkle and a very low hi-pass will do the track justice in the majority of cases.
  
• Always always always always always CLIP your mix. It's a limiting process that won't kill transients. Use more than one clipper of necessary, maybe one at the start of the chain and another later in the chain. It also enables you to gradually get it louder without any of that horrific frequency separation most loud mixes fall victim to.
  
• Don't over-think it, and most importantly DON'T RELY ON IT. Mixing is where the magic happens, mastering is just polishing it for presentation.

 

[AlexWadeWC]

• Good mixing requires less mastering. I think people who throw on a thousand and one processes on a master chain are doing it out of a sense of duty and/or habit rather than necessity, and probably aren't aware of what half of it is doing to their music.
  
• Don't ever use presets unless it's just to get a ball-park feel. There is no one-size-fits-all master process that will work effectively.
  
• Less is more: Ask yourself what your mix needs, would benefit from, and could do without.
  
• Always audition processes within a mix. Throw a compressor on the master bus and see how it effects your snare transients, the guitar/bass relationship, the click in the kick and so on, and adjust your mix accordingly.
  
• You don't need to crush the fuck out of anything to get it louder. Mix it loud, but mix it dynamic.
  
• A good mix should never need a great deal of EQ. Think of it like polishing a car off a production line. It shouldn't need any extra work as you should have got it balanced in the first place. A little high end sparkle and a very low hi-pass will do the track justice in the majority of cases.
  
• Always always always always always CLIP your mix. It's a limiting process that won't kill transients. Use more than one clipper of necessary, maybe one at the start of the chain and another later in the chain. It also enables you to gradually get it louder without any of that horrific frequency separation most loud mixes fall victim to.
  
• Don't over-think it, and most importantly DON'T RELY ON IT. Mixing is where the magic happens, mastering is just polishing it for presentation.

Thanks for the tips man, I was reading around on the andy sneap forums last night and learn about clippers, I'm trying to find a good download for the t-racks classic clipper (broke musician haha )

 

[AlexWadeWC]

Alex,

I was having the same problem. Your mixes sound far superior to mine, but in regards to the actual loudness, I would suggest playing around with this little technique as it has gotten my mixes louder. It's not so much a mastering technique but just makes the mix you have actually louder in volume.

Take the track you have mixed to your liking, then export it to a .wav file. Now open a new project in the DAW and import the file. Now duplicate the track, so you actually have two of the file tracks in the DAW. Throw a limiter on the master channel and set it to -.1 to avoid the inevitable clipping that would occur. Take a listen, and that thing will be much louder! It will compare to the loudness of commercial cds when you listen in the car.
Also, you don't get any noticeable loss to the original mix.

Hope this helps!

Wow never though of that, will have to try it, thanks man!

 

[Scar Symmetry]

I love this thread.

 

[DVRP]

I love this thread.

Agreed

 

[keshav]

The biggest problem with brickwall limiters is that, as opposed to a clipper which gently tames your transients, a limiter will punch a hole in your mix at that point, pushing the transient and everything else down - including all the crucial mix elements under it. Needless to say, it sounds ugly.

As mentioned, less is more. Get your source right. If you want to play it safe, track and mix your instruments a tad on the dull side. Adding tops from your master EQ to a dull track sounds far, far better than reducing tops from an overly bright mix. Why? When you capture any instrument with a microphone, you're not just capturing the instrument but also how it reacts to your room, or "air". Adding tops to a dull track livens up that air as well, leading to a nice vibrant sound. Cutting highs from a bright track just sounds like you've put a blanket over your mix.