How does it go ?
do you export everything as a .Wav seperatly and then importi and then check everything ?
do you export everything as a .Wav seperatly and then importi and then check everything ?
How Mastering Goes.
- Thread starter Mendel
- Start date
wishtheend
clip the apex
Now, you should be saving the stereo 2-track file of the whole song, without any plugins on the master buss, and making sure you aren't clipping. Then you import the single stereo file, and applied any EQ, multi-band compression, imaging etc
kev
Im guybrush threepwood
if you stick anything on the master bus, thats effectively the beginning of mastering anyway though really, right? Dont You just export the whole thing as a wav mendel , then re import it?
chadsxe
Super Rad Member
- Dec 13, 2005
- 1,136
- 0
- 36
Yes, the whole project gets exported out as one wav file. Make sure you are exporting at the same sample rates and bit depth you recorded with. As far as the whole process goes it is really subjective. Every song dictates diffrent tools and there is no one way to master.
you export THE WHOLE SONG as just 1 WAV !!!?
how would that actually help ?
wouldnt it jutbe better to exert all tracks seperetly as wavs ?
how would that actually help ?
wouldnt it jutbe better to exert all tracks seperetly as wavs ?
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
chadsxe said:
How about, for example, applying stereo expander/similar to guitar tracks? Won't that affect everything if it's just one single .wav?
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Mendel said:
Yes.
In recent times however, mastering has started getting a bit more blurred with mixing. What some are doing is sending stems of guitar, bass, vocals, drums so the MA can do the levels for them. To me that defeats the point of being a good mixing engineer, but whatever works I guess.
In general though, yes, mastering is performed on a stem of the entire mix. One sound file. If there are issues with individual elements that you want fixed, mastering is generally not the place to do them. Get it right in the mix.
Excellent point, Moonlapse.
If one expects the mastering dude to do double-duty and clean up some mixing issues, then, yeah, individual stems (or stem composites - eg: the "mixed guits") are what he's looking for.
Personally, I show up to the mastering session & bring everything - all my tracking & mixing paperwork/notes - so he can see exactly what I did track-by-track, song-by-song (signal chain, track levels, plugs (with settings), pans (with times), gain envelopes (with times), any X-fades, bus info, outboard fx used (with settings), yadda yadda).
I bring saves of individual stems, composite stems, and track mixes - all that shit.
Typically, he'll just gloss over the info for a minute or so, and nod in approval.
Since he's the mastering guy, he assumes I've already made my decisions on the mixing, fx, plugs & shit for the individual tracks and the song as a whole, so he isn't going to focus on that aspect ....he's just doing the final ...ummm....mastering part to the final mixed version ...good or bad heheh
However, the last thing I need is for the guy to notice something obvious I overlooked & I sit there with a fucking dumb look and say ...Soooo can you fix it?
..and he says: Yeah, if I had the source.
That's never happened yet (knock wood), but at least I can say: Yeah, what do you want.
If one expects the mastering dude to do double-duty and clean up some mixing issues, then, yeah, individual stems (or stem composites - eg: the "mixed guits") are what he's looking for.
Personally, I show up to the mastering session & bring everything - all my tracking & mixing paperwork/notes - so he can see exactly what I did track-by-track, song-by-song (signal chain, track levels, plugs (with settings), pans (with times), gain envelopes (with times), any X-fades, bus info, outboard fx used (with settings), yadda yadda).
I bring saves of individual stems, composite stems, and track mixes - all that shit.
Typically, he'll just gloss over the info for a minute or so, and nod in approval.
Since he's the mastering guy, he assumes I've already made my decisions on the mixing, fx, plugs & shit for the individual tracks and the song as a whole, so he isn't going to focus on that aspect ....he's just doing the final ...ummm....mastering part to the final mixed version ...good or bad heheh
However, the last thing I need is for the guy to notice something obvious I overlooked & I sit there with a fucking dumb look and say ...Soooo can you fix it?
..and he says: Yeah, if I had the source.
That's never happened yet (knock wood), but at least I can say: Yeah, what do you want.
Gnash
Lefty
I thought you sent your mix to someone who has a "Hoity Toity", Massenberg EQ, and a $50,000 compressor? Just Kidding! Get a Waves bundle and YOU are mastering! 
TheStoryteller
Member
Torniojaws said:
Yes it will. But mastering is not mixing, as chadsxe pointed out to you... what you describe above, should be done during mixing, not mastering.
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
TheStoryteller said:Yes it will. But mastering is not mixing, as chadsxe pointed out to you... what you describe above, should be done during mixing, not mastering.
Heh, I always thought those things were done during mastering (expansion etc).
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Isn't stereo expansion just a salvage tool for when something hasn't been mixed well? I've certainly heard of it being used in mastering, but I don't see why it would be a necessity.
TheStoryteller
Member
Yeah, you're absolutely right there. A stereo imager effect, such as the Waves S1, is most often used during mastering if the mix feels and sounds too narrow. But ONLY to correct a bad mix... you can achieve the same results (only better) if you do it with volume and pan changes in the mixing process.
Actualy in your songs the guitars sound really wide.
Are you using some kind of Mid/Side technics or widening or just pan?
during mixing i mean
Are you using some kind of Mid/Side technics or widening or just pan?
during mixing i mean
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
TheStoryteller said:
It seems they use that method a lot in Swedish albums, most notably The Haunted's album rEVOLVEr. I don't think they did that to salvage anything
Edit:
Oh and also on Evergrey's album The Inner Circle
The guitars sound ridiculously wide on both albums, more than you could get simply by panning hard
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
I don't understand. How can you make them sound further out than the speakers are positioned? Is it about psychoacoustics and fooling our brains into thinking that they're wider than they actually are?
