Guide to Mastering

[Plec]

Yes, you can do it like that. I would just listen to the song for 10 seconds and then turn it off and level match the bass pretty quickly. It doesn't need to be an exact thing, it's just to get you in the ballpark of what you're trying to achieve.

 

[Zombietakeover]

Ahhh i see.....but your basically just mixing with the Limiter on right correct..always thought that was a NO NO..im always mixing at around -20 and -16 rms and then when i go to rasie it 8-9dbs yeh your right i got to re-adjust a few things to make it work

 

[koalamo]

Plankis do you usually set the threshold of the limiter or do you just leave it at zero??

 

[Plankis]

Plankis do you usually set the threshold of the limiter or do you just leave it at zero??

Was this really directed at me? I'll act like it was. I was just adding to what William was saying. If you have a nice reference song you like to listen to, just import it to that track. That way you save some VERY important seconds, because you don't have to turn on/off your master plugs. Since your reference song is already mastered you probably won't need a limiter on that output.

 

[koalamo]

Was this really directed at me? I'll act like it was. I was just adding to what William was saying. If you have a nice reference song you like to listen to, just import it to that track. That way you save some VERY important seconds, because you don't have to turn on/off your master plugs. Since your reference song is already mastered you probably won't need a limiter on that output.

No I mean you said you mix with your mastering chain right so are you actually pulling any gr on the limiter or are you just keeping it at zero as a ceiling so you don't clip?


Haha sorry I just got what you meant I posted that when I had just woken up plec and plankis look kind of similar at 7 am

 

[Plec]

Ahhh i see.....but your basically just mixing with the Limiter on right correct..always thought that was a NO NO..im always mixing at around -20 and -16 rms and then when i go to rasie it 8-9dbs yeh your right i got to re-adjust a few things to make it work

Limiter or whatever chain you prefer on your mix bus to get loudness and achieve the desired result. It can be EQ, maximizers, compressors etc...

Plankis do you usually set the threshold of the limiter or do you just leave it at zero??

It depends on how you like to gain stage. I like to set up my mixes so that I have around 0VU (-18dBFS RMS) at my mix bus when everything is playing, which also usually translates to peak values at around -6dBFS. This is to give me headroom to back off later on so let's say if I was using Ozone on the mix bus I'd set the threshold of the maximizer to about -10db if I was shooting for roughly a -8dBFS RMS mix and have that set like that right from the start of the mix, mixing into it like that.

This is only a workflow thing. Find out what works best for you... but the whole point is to NOT wait making it loud until the mastering process because you WILL be mixing it entirely different if you do that. Now you can always remove your loudness processing before you send it out to mastering, but be prepared that your whole mix will sound wacko like that and you must inform your mastering engineer about what loudness tools you were using and how much you used them so he can replicate this in the studio to achieve the same musical result since the loudness process is now part of the sound. If it's not possible to have a communication like that with your ME you have two choices. One is to send the mix out without your loudness tools on and take a gamble, or you just send it out with everything on but ease up on the limiting/clipping part of the chain as much as you can without changing the musical impact of the mix.

 

[koalamo]

Ahh I see what you mean now that's exactly what I thought I average about - 6 on my peaks as well I remember ermz saying he liked to mix into his limiter as well it basically is the same concept as mixing into a compressor if your going to put it on anyway might as well just start with it on

Definite will try this my mixes always seem to fall apart when I try and raise them around -9 rms or so


When you say whole mastering chain you mean things like g clip as well ?

 

[Mendel]

Some basic stuff from my mastering engineer teacher at my academy:

1. If the track has some peaks put a little bit but just a little bit compression on it <- only if needed. Rather make your mix - 0db before mastering.
2. EQ, don't boost more then 3db, if needed go mix. Hi pass 30hz.
3. To add more fullness put the maxxbass on the chain and slide it up until the maxxbass adds enough bass harmonic wise.
4: Now put on a slight compression
5: Now you can put on a limiter, like L2. out ceiling -0.2, and pull down the thrash hold. watch the atten on the L2 not going over 3.


Don't know if it helps you, but it did for me.

 

[Zombietakeover]

Plec one last question about this matter.....When i mix with a limiter on(FG-X or Ozone) to hear how my mix will react to higher volumes.... How do i know i'm not hitting the 2 buss to hard...Cause when the limiter is enabled the meter on the 2 bus goes all the way up to .02 or .01 wherever i set the ceiling. So it makes it hard to know how hard im hitting the 2 bus and i should be keeping my peaks at -6 or -3 for proper headroom......just a little confused by this.

 

[Zombietakeover]

NEvermind im an idiot there is an input meter right on Ozone

I checked the Fg-x and I see no input meter on that? Am i over looking something?

 

[Plec]

When you say "hitting the 2-bus" I guess you mean how much signal you have going into your 2-bus before any processing takes places?
If this is the case, don't worry. You can't "hit" your 2-bus with too much level when you're ITB unless that big ol' calculator called your DAW is broken.

 

[Vaggelis_Revolted]

Buy this book, it should help you learn what the hell you're doing and how to master instead of just using ozone presets. lol

Mastering Audio - by Bob Katz

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Aud...8371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300378628&sr=8-1

+1

This can trully help you not only improve on Mastering, but also UNDERSTAND the whole procedure. Can't emphasize enough how helpful it was for me. Of course there are guides all over the net (including this site i believe) that can help you avoid overcomressing and overEQing your unmastered mix.

Try not compressing your mix from the very beginning, but doing it gently (eg gentle compressor->harder compressor->limiter), i believe it is already mentioned.
Stay away from overusing stereo widening Vsts that can cause phase problems even if it seems better at first. The same applies for the various enhancers that promise to spice up your high/low end, too much and you ruin the balance you struggled to achieve when mixing your songs (based on the yin yang frequency rule).

Overally, when in doubt, less tweaking is usually better than overdoing it.

Cheers

 

[Erratic]

The more I use Ozone, the more I dislike it.
I started off without using Ozone. then I got it. now I'm starting to go back to some of my older plugins & searching for new ones.
for some reason, when I use Ozone, I get too confident and ruin my masters.

Same was happening to me last year, the thing for me was that I just had to use the stereo imager every times, and stereo imager to the limits = phased out mix and mushy low end, so I stopped using it, I only use it's dither (Mbit+) since it's the best Dither on the market, I then switch to T-Racks (which honestly imho is the best thing ever made) and I sometimes will use Ozone's stereo imager for centering everything below 100-140 hz, for a much punchier mix.

 

[Zombietakeover]

When you say "hitting the 2-bus" I guess you mean how much signal you have going into your 2-bus before any processing takes places?
If this is the case, don't worry. You can't "hit" your 2-bus with too much level when you're ITB unless that big ol' calculator called your DAW is broken.

yeh thats exactly what i mean.... Really ? i thought i was suppose to avoid at all cost clipping the stereo out and to always maintain that -6dbfs to -3dbfs headroom

 

[Backe]

Just some mild compression (4:1, .03 attack, auto release, about 4-5 db gain reduction), some saturation and 2 limiters will get you far.

 

[SirKnucklesmd]

I just recently did my first master with Ozone 4 on my own metalcore project that I also mixed and while coming from next to no real experience I can already say I learned ALOT about how the mastering process and the Ozone tools will effect your sound. With loud music such as this you will be constantly slamming into the limiter or the "loudness maximizer" thing on Ozone. Many recomend the "intelligent" settings with a "transparent" release but i find that to flatten out the sound TOO much. I much rather prefer the release between 2-3 for fast and loud. Even still, you may have what you think is the best mix in the world, but as sure as time will keep moving forward you are going to lose your drums. It is IMPERATIVE to mix your snare and kick louder than normal if you are going into mastering with a single 2-track signal path. Also, it is critical... CRITICAL to master on a different system, with different monitors, in a different room, on a different day. Hell, give it a week! I found Ozone to work great for me, It's like mastering made easy, all in one handy tool which is GREAT for the less experienced M.E. such as me and the OP. As for guidlines.... I guess you got all the help you could really ask for buried somewhere within these posts. Cut your inaudible sub frequencies, try to keep an RMS value between 10-6, expand your highs, use the harmonix maximizer VERY SPARINGLY if at all, if you need mastering reverb you're mix is terrible, and although the memory eq tool is great and all your mix is unique to your own sound so trying to emulate or copy another persons final mastered eq and applying it to your own is not often a good idea. My $.02 have at it, we all get better with practice!

 

[Plec]

yeh thats exactly what i mean.... Really ? i thought i was suppose to avoid at all cost clipping the stereo out and to always maintain that -6dbfs to -3dbfs headroom

Yes, but there's a huge difference between hitting your input vs. hitting your output. If you have something like +12dbFS going at your 2-bus INPUT you obviously need to do something about it but you will not have any distortion going into your 2-bus unless your DAW is broken so to speak. You can simply lower your master fader until you're not clipping at the OUTPUT and everything will be fine.

 

[dickhoover]

Hey! Just recognized that i´m killing my mixes with overcompression during the mastering process!

Does anyone have a quick guide for mastering or different step by step suggestions??

What to start with when the mix is finished! And what to be carefull with?

Not asking to learn mastering real fast because that´s impossible!

just some ideas and suggestions please.

im currently using Ozone 4

thx

Are you mastering from stems or a 2-track stereo print?

 

[ashgallows]

damn, no one is going to mention steven slate's clipping post?