How close is your Mix to the final Mastered product??

[irrumator]

Just curious. Ive heard alot of people say you should get your mix sounding like the final product, then when it gets mastered it just gets a volume boost. but when ever i master my mixes they sound way different from the final mix.

has anyone ever heard any unmastered final mixes of famous albums and A / B'd them??

 

[Masticore]

My mixes usually sound decent, and I throw an Izotope on the master time to time to check how it sounds when its a little bit polished. When I go back, the raw mix starts to sound a little worse, from a/b with izotope, so I spend a little time working on it till it sounds better. By the time eq, comp, and what not is up on the tracks the sound is pretty good.

If you want to hear how dramatic GREAT mastering can be, you should check the websites of some decently big studios. They often have media sections where you can hear before and afters. It might suprise you that they dont always have a big difference at first, but the devil is in the details.

I believe you can find metallica stem files if you google enough.

 

[barricade]

If you want to hear how dramatic GREAT mastering can be, you should check the websites of some decently big studios. They often have media sections where you can hear before and afters. It might suprise you that they dont always have a big difference at first, but the devil is in the details.

Do you have any direct links to such mastering pages? tnx

 

[irrumator]

Id love to check out those metallica stems!!

Im working on an album at the moment, im pretty happy with the way it sounds right now, but i feel like it needs a bit more compression in the low end to make it tighter?

if anyone has any tips please let me know. Im trying to get that super big bottom but trying to avoid the mud

this is the way it sounds so far (excuse the myspace quality mp3)

www.myspace.com/sorrows

 

[irrumator]

also, Masticore...

whats settings generally would you throw on Ozitope?
I tend to start with the cd master preset and take it from there, but I dont really know what im doing!

 

[professorlamp]

If you don't know what you're doing, I'd leave it till a bit later on where you have more of an idea. Otherwise you're gonna do more harm than good.

 

[Jaymz]

All my previous mixes have relied on heavy mastering for the overall sound but on my latest EP, the mix didn't sound much different from the master, a touch of EQ then it was mainly all just bringing the level up a little.

 

[guitarguru777]

also, Masticore...

whats settings generally would you throw on Ozitope?
I tend to start with the cd master preset and take it from there, but I dont really know what im doing!

This is what I do. I also found some presets on the Izotope site called "Gregs Mastering presets" that I start with now. They seem to have a great overall result right off the bat, and then I do some fine tuning from there.

 

[irrumator]

ah sweet, ill see if i can hunt them down. thanks !

 

[guitarguru777]

ok I said Graig and it was Craig ... lol

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/more_presets.html

 

[pattonfreak1]

ok I said Graig and it was Craig ... lol

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/more_presets.html

Sorry if i sound oblivious but all I see are one guy named Craig with presets for Bass, guitar, vocal, and drum. No "mastering" one's. Are you using one of these? if so, which?

 

[waltz mastering]

Just curious. Ive heard alot of people say you should get your mix sounding like the final product, then when it gets mastered it just gets a volume boost. but when ever i master my mixes they sound way different from the final mix.

has anyone ever heard any unmastered final mixes of famous albums and A / B'd them??

Generally I think it's always best to get the mix to sound the best you possibly can...how you hear the tonal balance in your head.

The final level of the mix, I wouldn't worry about so much. You can address level and continuity in mastering stage,whether you do it yourself or send it out.

Some mixes need very little corrective eq work. Some need a bit more. It comes down to the skill of the mixer and what they have to work with.

 

[Masticore]

Ive heard that many mastering guys will supprise you with how little they actually do to finish the product. Sometimes as small as throwing something to maximize the sound and then a simple 3 band EQ, wth the proper knowledge.

As far as sites, I dont have the time to go through and link , so do some homework

Metallica stem files are available through torrents, or rapidshare, I dont host them so I cant help any further.

Izotope- a touchy subject. I do not use this to try to master my sounds. It is very powerful when you use certain functions to a certain limit. It tends to make everything overly sparkly and whoomphy for me. I only use like the limiter, EQ, maybe compression, in small doses. Like I said before, I only use it to add some "jazz" to my mixes while mixingdown. I remove that when I go to try and master, which I am no master at mastering Still learning the ropes with my waves bundle. L3 still on my want list.

 

[muckypup1]

also, Masticore...

whats settings generally would you throw on Ozitope?
I tend to start with the cd master preset and take it from there, but I dont really know what im doing!

Haven't seen you posting on here for ages man! I fucking love your music. if you really are Mick Kenney

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Pretty damn close, mastering usually changes almost nothing on my mixes except for loudness and some difference characteristics due to compression options used by the ME, sometimes a slight change in the overall frequency of the mix aswell but ever so slightly, so yeah, damn close and it's something everyone should strive for.

 

[pipaguapique]

in my case...pretty darn close.

the mastered version usually has tighter bass and more detailed highs

 

[deathofadeadday]

tighter bass, do u normally do this with a multiband comp? if so where shud you start

 

[pipaguapique]

it depends on your content. you can benefit a hole lot with multiband compression, but i usually roll off about 30hz and that helps too. a little boost around 80hz and your limiting will do the rest. <----but that's where the hard part is.

 

[deathofadeadday]

thanks man, but yeah limiting is a hard thing to get right little too much and it all gets in a mess

 

[mephisto_loh]

I make in mastering a little bit of image wider, delay correction (gives the effect of clearness), add some bass and high harmonics to the mix and finally a little bit of limit trying not to bury the snare. That's all, personally never use the EQ, unless i want to give more presence to the mids.

The mastering process also depends on which type of audience you will have.
i.e. you are going to master in a very different way if your audience the 90% of the times listen the music through small speakers or if its TV shows music. The main issue in mastering is to nail the Balance where your mix sounds great on a Hi-Fi sound system or a cheap PC speakers.