Mastering in Pro Tools 8

[theNeologist]

So at some point i am planning on mastering some songs and I was wondering the best way to go about it. I'm still rather new to mixing/mastering, but I was wondering the best way to go about it in Pro Tools.

Would applying the mastering plugins and such to the master fader in the song session be the same as taking the final mixdown and mastering that seperately? Or is there an advantage to bouncing the final session to a single track, then having just a mastering session with that single track?

Assuming the latter is the best way to go, do you Pro Tools users just master a single audio track, or do you send the track to a master fader and master that.

Prior to me using Pro Tools I used Adobe Audition 3, and I know there you could just load the final mixdown .wav into the Edit view and master that....but Pro Tools is set up a little differently.

All advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[greyskull]

im a pro tools guy and i master in waveburner

 

[theNeologist]

Ok cool....so you recommend bypassing Pro Tools altogether for mastering?? I was looking at Izotope Izone mastering software before....but again...due to my ignorance with mastering wasn't sure if it was necessary...effective....etc.

Any other recommendations for mastering software? I'll have to look into waveburner

 

[greyskull]

i only do it because i dont have to render in real time for mastering this way.. kinda handy when you need to do touch ups.

If i did it in tools, id bounce, then open a new session and import the mixdown and master in a new session

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

I master in Pro Tools. Depending on my mood ill either bounce the track down and open a new session OR I just do it in the current session. A good way to reference as your mastering is bus your track to an AUX and create a master fader to monitor the level. You put all the mastering plug ins on the AUX track. That way you can bring in stuff you want to reference it to and just mute the AUX. The reason for this is because if you do it on the master fader and bring in something else then all your mastering plug ins will fuck with the reference material. AND the master fader is POST fader....which sometimes can be weird.

 

[theNeologist]

Ahhh that makes sense. Now another question.....let's say you bounce down the song session and open the track up in a new session and create the aux for mastering plugins....how do you pan your AUX track. I would assume pan hard left/hard right to maintain the stereo spread....but would you guys consider this the best way to do it?

Also, I know there are much better plugins out there, but do you guys consider any of the plugins accompanied with Pro Tools worthwhile for mastering??

 

[Trevoire520]

Would applying the mastering plugins and such to the master fader in the song session be the same as taking the final mixdown and mastering that seperately? Or is there an advantage to bouncing the final session to a single track, then having just a mastering session with that single track?

Assuming the latter is the best way to go, do you Pro Tools users just master a single audio track, or do you send the track to a master fader and master that.

Soundwise there's no difference. The only advantage to doing mastering in another session is that you'll have less CPU load.

Personally I like to master within my mix session, because if you find that your mastering chain is doing something weird to the mix (e.g. your limiter destroying your snare) you can just tweak the mix there and then with your mastering plugins still running.

Ok cool....so you recommend bypassing Pro Tools altogether for mastering?? I was looking at Izotope Izone mastering software before....but again...due to my ignorance with mastering wasn't sure if it was necessary...effective....etc.

Any other recommendations for mastering software? I'll have to look into waveburner

Apparently the latest version of Ozone is actually quite good. I've not used it though.

I quite like the T-racks stuff for mastering to be honest, got a good deal on the group buy a while back and have been finding the clipper and opto compressor on my master bus since then.

Ahhh that makes sense. Now another question.....let's say you bounce down the song session and open the track up in a new session and create the aux for mastering plugins....how do you pan your AUX track. I would assume pan hard left/hard right to maintain the stereo spread....but would you guys consider this the best way to do it?

Also, I know there are much better plugins out there, but do you guys consider any of the plugins accompanied with Pro Tools worthwhile for mastering??

Pan the aux hard L/R, unless you want to be fucking around with your stereo image? I would expect that you'd have that sorted in mixing tbh.

As far as PT plugs for mastering goes I think Joemeek compressor is ok, the digicomp is fine, and maxim is a pretty decent limiter. Some of those are with the factory bundle though.

My mastering chain tends to go:

Comp - T-racks Opto Comp (3db GR max)
Limiter - Massey L2007 or Digidesign Maxim
Clipper - T-racks Clipper
EQ - Digi Eq
Dither

 

[StudioSamurai]

what do you guys use for metering when you mix and how loud do you mix before you master? I was told a lot of people tend to get the mix peaking at -10db before printing and sending to master. I generally peak higher, like around -6 to -3db in my mix, but I find my snare transients get crushed when I stick a limiter on the master fader... I presume I need to clip the transients, but I'm not sure what I need to accomplish this?

 

[Josh M.]

what do you guys use for metering when you mix and how loud do you mix before you master? I was told a lot of people tend to get the mix peaking at -10db before printing and sending to master. I generally peak higher, like around -6 to -3db in my mix, but I find my snare transients get crushed when I stick a limiter on the master fader... I presume I need to clip the transients, but I'm not sure what I need to accomplish this?

Wouldn't you just turn down the master fader?

 

[Aaron Smith]

If i did it in tools, id bounce, then open a new session and import the mixdown and master in a new session

Exactly what I do. I bought Bias Peak Pro last year and really just use it for compiling and burning. I'm sure I could figure out the Bias I/O routing and whatnot if I wanted to, but I'm used to the Pro Tools way and it works out just fine, so I haven't bothered!

 

[theNeologist]

Well I looked at T-Racks....looks like another viable option. What are your comparisons for mastering plugins like Ozone, T-Racks, Pro Tools supplied plugins, or other ones out there?

 

[greyskull]

i use ozone ITB

 

[joeymusicguy]

i plan to do what i've always done

master chain on the master fader, in the same mix session

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Hey Joey, Your shit always sounds sick as fuck. What you puttin on that master fader?

 

[joeymusicguy]

Hey Joey, Your shit always sounds sick as fuck. What you puttin on that master fader?

magic diarrhea

just makes that shit slaughter!

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

magic diarrhea

Haha So who makes this magic diarrehea? Waves perhaps?

 

[greyskull]

ozone innit joey?

 

[Line Level Recordings]

my money is on ozone that makes the magic diarrhea..

 

[darthjujuu]

magic diarrhea

just makes that shit slaughter!

six Gclip's and four L2's in sequence. jot that down, kiddies.

 

[darthjujuu]

no but srsly. I had a phase with T-racks, and ozone. I tend to end up getting way too excited with either of them, and playing with knobs and adding sparkle and harmonic excitement and this and that and then when i take the mix out to my car my ears get shredded and it's terrifying. ozone is especially deadly, before you're used to it. powerful, but...easy to make a mix sound breath-taking in your monitors (when it isn't really supposed to) and in reality you're just mangling your mix. lately for me it's just C4 and elephant. totally been the winning combo as of late.