Now I'm brand new to recording so excuse me for all of you who are facepalming right now. But I've never done anything in the master until recently but I put a multi-band compressor (Reapers stock xComp) and a two band EQ to raise the low's and high mids. Now that really pulled everything together and made everything sound a lot better but how am I supposed to know when everything is fully mixed before I do anything to the master? That's the point of confusion for me :/
How should mixes sound before mastering!?
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mburton21
Member
- Oct 7, 2009
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If you're brand new to recording then this is something that will take you a while to grasp, it did for me. There is no "this is what it should sound like at this point," it all depends on what you want it to sound like. I recently started mixing with a bit of compression (SSL) on the masterbus and it had made things so much easier and in my opinion, it increased the quality. When things start to sound pretty balanced and decent, I add Ozone (usually a varient of the preset I created for my band if it's for us or similar metal. Keep in mind presets are not things you want to use just because they're there, get creative) and then mix while I have most of my mastering chain loaded.
Some people bounce their mixes down first before doing any sort of masterbus tweaking, I've found the process mentioned above much easier.
Also, and this is more of a personal thing, but I never boost frequencies during the mastering process with the exception of a small high shelf if things sound a bit too dull.
The thing to remember is that there are no set-in-stone rules. Trust your ears.
EDIT: For teh grammarz.
Some people bounce their mixes down first before doing any sort of masterbus tweaking, I've found the process mentioned above much easier.
Also, and this is more of a personal thing, but I never boost frequencies during the mastering process with the exception of a small high shelf if things sound a bit too dull.
The thing to remember is that there are no set-in-stone rules. Trust your ears.
EDIT: For teh grammarz.
Trevoire520
Member
You should get your mix as close to the finished sound as you can before mastering.
You shouldn't mix thinking "I'll fix it in mastering" just as much as you shouldn't record thinking "I'll fix it in the mix"
If you're finding that you need to do large eq boosts (more than about 2db) in mastering then you should go back to the mix and try to get the same result at that stage.
For example, by boosting the low's in mastering you might end up getting the weight from the kick and bass sounding better. But this is at the expense of bringing up low end mud from the guitars along with it. Whereas if you went back to the mix and fixed the kick and bass sounds you could achieve the same effect without that extra mud.
I would also suggest that you should be very careful in using multi-band compression in mastering. If you get it wrong you can really fuck up the frequency balance of your mix. I still find MB compression hard to get right and generally stick full band compression unless there's a specific problem I'm looking to correct (though again, it's better to go back to the mix and sort it there)
You shouldn't mix thinking "I'll fix it in mastering" just as much as you shouldn't record thinking "I'll fix it in the mix"
If you're finding that you need to do large eq boosts (more than about 2db) in mastering then you should go back to the mix and try to get the same result at that stage.
For example, by boosting the low's in mastering you might end up getting the weight from the kick and bass sounding better. But this is at the expense of bringing up low end mud from the guitars along with it. Whereas if you went back to the mix and fixed the kick and bass sounds you could achieve the same effect without that extra mud.
I would also suggest that you should be very careful in using multi-band compression in mastering. If you get it wrong you can really fuck up the frequency balance of your mix. I still find MB compression hard to get right and generally stick full band compression unless there's a specific problem I'm looking to correct (though again, it's better to go back to the mix and sort it there)
Okay Burton that sounds like a great idea I'm gonna start doing that and see how it goes! Honestly I play "djent" I've been playing guitar for about 2 years now and really the genre inspired me to pick up a guitar! I've tried Ozone and didn't like it at all to be quite honest, same with TRacks that thing hogs CPU like crazy!
@Trevoire I did notice with boosting the lows and mid highs it effected my kick and then made my toms sound like shyt :/ and about the multi-band comp I honestly find it easier to achieve what sound I want with the multi-band over the norm compressor but I also see what your saying! I use the multi-band comp not knowing what I'm actually doing but just trusting my ear I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing!!
This is my first full recording, I'm re-doing my kit since I just purchased S2.0's TMF and I did noticed that the lead was piercing so I gotta redo that and I can't seem to dial in a bass tone for the life of me
it's insanely hard but I can dial in guitar tones like no other!!!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9875484/Song 2 Demos/.Song 2 Attempt 4.3.mp3
@Trevoire I did notice with boosting the lows and mid highs it effected my kick and then made my toms sound like shyt :/ and about the multi-band comp I honestly find it easier to achieve what sound I want with the multi-band over the norm compressor but I also see what your saying! I use the multi-band comp not knowing what I'm actually doing but just trusting my ear I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing!!
This is my first full recording, I'm re-doing my kit since I just purchased S2.0's TMF and I did noticed that the lead was piercing so I gotta redo that and I can't seem to dial in a bass tone for the life of me
it's insanely hard but I can dial in guitar tones like no other!!! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9875484/Song 2 Demos/.Song 2 Attempt 4.3.mp3
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
To me, mastering is like clearcoat over a paint job. If you clearcoat a shit paint job, it will still be shit.
crillemannen
Member
The mixes I've done that have been sent to proffessionel mastering ended up a little bit brighter, especially at the in-your-face frequency's (around 3khz) and some cut in the bass area. It made about 5% difference in improvement. For someone less experienced it can be as much as 15% difference to the better. But as people has written, you should always aim to get your mix as good as possible.
nezvers
Beast
Sorry for interrupting, but maybe my question is in place.
Why is needed eq on audio players if in mixing and mastering is supposed to be like it is? Or I'm misunderstanding something about mastering and mixing.
Why is needed eq on audio players if in mixing and mastering is supposed to be like it is? Or I'm misunderstanding something about mastering and mixing.
Omega_Void
Your Eventual Destroyer
1) to compensate somewhat for inaccurate frequency response of loudspeakers/room, so the actual sound heard is more like the recorded wave.
and/or
2) so the listener can change the sound to suit their personal taste better.
KBMoser
Audiophile
to be honest, my mastering consists of 1 plug.
i clip my mixes to a standard volume. there are however limitations. your mix has to be balanced. for instance theres a good amount of bass you can have and generally the more bass you have, the less loud your masters will be, this goes for any frequency though, just more so bass. So, if your hoping that a plugin like ozone or whatever is going to give you a sonic masterpiece, think again. multi band compression is not a speical tool, its just another tool. I have never used one in my own mixes because its not necessary, IF you have nice flat sounds to work with. Listen to your mix and decide what needs to be done. i generally do very little processing. i cut mud, and boost fundamental frequencies, and im talking few db at both. though i might boost with a q of 6 by 8 db (extreme) the perceived loudness isnt 8 db. that said,
theres a lot of tricks out there, so take them all in and use a steady hand.
i clip my mixes to a standard volume. there are however limitations. your mix has to be balanced. for instance theres a good amount of bass you can have and generally the more bass you have, the less loud your masters will be, this goes for any frequency though, just more so bass. So, if your hoping that a plugin like ozone or whatever is going to give you a sonic masterpiece, think again. multi band compression is not a speical tool, its just another tool. I have never used one in my own mixes because its not necessary, IF you have nice flat sounds to work with. Listen to your mix and decide what needs to be done. i generally do very little processing. i cut mud, and boost fundamental frequencies, and im talking few db at both. though i might boost with a q of 6 by 8 db (extreme) the perceived loudness isnt 8 db. that said,
theres a lot of tricks out there, so take them all in and use a steady hand.
RedDog
Humanoid typhoon
Balance, young grasshopper.
Just think, your iPod probably has a scooped EQ on it right now, eh? Your Car does too, maybe not your monitors, but likely your home stereo. That flat setting on your monitors is there so you don't mix into a scooped EQ and have it scooped again. That just sounds like shit. Balance thy EQ, let not on frequency overpower another, lest thy mix doth sound like shit.
Just think, your iPod probably has a scooped EQ on it right now, eh? Your Car does too, maybe not your monitors, but likely your home stereo. That flat setting on your monitors is there so you don't mix into a scooped EQ and have it scooped again. That just sounds like shit. Balance thy EQ, let not on frequency overpower another, lest thy mix doth sound like shit.
AudioGeekZine
arsehole know-it-all
The mix should sound the same but not as loud or possibly as wide as the master. When its multiple songs for an album the mastering also evens out the differences between them.
Thanks a lot for all the responses guys, I really appreciate it! I can't wait to go back and revisit this tomorrow with my new kit.
RedDog
Humanoid typhoon
BlackwingGabriel
feels so good.
IMHO, to get good sounding mixes are:
01. Get the mids right. You do the mids right, the lows & highs will fall to its own place. The NS10s are famous because of their mid frequency response, and that's because the meat (hence the money) is in the mids. As a general consequence, your mixes will sound either bassy or lacking of bass and/or lacking off highs.
02. Don't clip/limit your master bus. Compression to some extent is okay. But don't try to compete loudness with your mastered references. (eg: .wav ripped from commercial CD). Hence your mixes will sound not as loud as commercial tracks.
You get those two things right, and let the mastering engineer do their job to make your mixes louder, wider & exciting. (Well, if you're doing your own master, do it in different session with stereo tracks only).
01. Get the mids right. You do the mids right, the lows & highs will fall to its own place. The NS10s are famous because of their mid frequency response, and that's because the meat (hence the money) is in the mids. As a general consequence, your mixes will sound either bassy or lacking of bass and/or lacking off highs.
02. Don't clip/limit your master bus. Compression to some extent is okay. But don't try to compete loudness with your mastered references. (eg: .wav ripped from commercial CD). Hence your mixes will sound not as loud as commercial tracks.
You get those two things right, and let the mastering engineer do their job to make your mixes louder, wider & exciting. (Well, if you're doing your own master, do it in different session with stereo tracks only).
OneDaySky
Clint
