Mastering

  • 25 Replies
  • 11444 Views

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

adamfarr

  • *
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 3166
    • SongEspresso
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2016, 06:57:26 AM »
Hi Martyn - can't quite believe I'm thinking I can contribute here but I have had this before, and it all started when I started to make my mixes louder by using more compression / limiting on the master. (Makes sense actually - if you compress hard then in the louder parts where there are more tracks they all get more squashed).

There are various things you can do but getting the compression right on each track and/or bus before going to the master bus seems key. (Again I can't quite believe I am saying this) I like using parallel compression for upfront tracks with lots of "character" so if the drums are an important element then Boydie's suggestion seems perfect. On the master, compressing in stages seems to work better (e.g. one compressor shaving just the peaks and then another going a bit harder to level things out and then maybe a bit of limiting if you want).

Not overdoing it and being tempted to compress everything until you get a perfect black sausage when rendering is usually better!  ;)

Boydie

  • *
  • Administrator
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 3975
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2016, 07:51:44 AM »
Great advice from ADAMFARR there

Another option for you is to have a play with "multi-band compression"

You do need to proceed with caution as it can easily wreck a mix but it might be a good option if you want to compress things "around" your vocals - eg firming and smoothing the bass and taming any spikes in the higher frequencies whilst leaving the key vocal frequencies untouched

This is not ideal and you should fix these things "in the mix" rather than at the mastering stage but would be another potential tool in your arsenal
To check out my music please visit:

http://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BoydieMusic

MartynRich

  • *
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 1110
    • Personal website
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2016, 12:29:17 PM »
The last two suggestions are really good ones...I do have a multi band compressor on the mix at the moment, which I think is the problem. My experience (or lack of) means I cannot fix it properly so maybe I will have a go at what our man in Granada said...

Tom S. Ray AudioMastering

  • *
  • Busker
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Professional Audio Mastering
    • Audio Mastering And Audio Quality Service
« Reply #18 on: July 23, 2016, 04:25:31 PM »
Hi guys, just a quick suggestion re mastering.

As you all said - mastering is pretty hard to get right without having in depth audio knowledge..

Mastering is even harder to get right if your room in not acoustically treated for mastering purposes( recording room, mixing room, mastering room - all have different specifications and treatments)..

To actually hear what you processing you need far field monitors for the full range spectrum not near field ones..

To get the best sounding audio, rich in transients, with great dynamic range,  mastering should be done by mastering engineer who does it on the daily basis, who can correct whats needed, enhance whats good. It is very very difficult to get good sounding master by someone who compose, record and mix the track simply because at this stage our brain won't perform much of active listening, the decision making is affected by this person 'feelings' towards the song. I know and understand that not everyone can afford to pay for mastering service and thats fair enough, but its worth to remember - mastering is a form of investing in yourself, your career, hobby, passion...

As a full time mastering engineer I would give 1 strong advice - instead of focusing on 'own mastering' get your mix at the top level and use Mix Buss Compressor on your master channel to get everything 'glued' together.  Forget about limiters, eq's, other compressors. Use only designated mix buss compressor. It's less possible you going to squash your music that way, less possible something goes wrong along the lines.
I would recommend 3 different mix buss compressors :

Slate Digital FG X

SSL Mix Buss

PSP Vintage Warmer.

Each of them works differently so you have to find your way to achieve desired sound.
I'm more than happy to answer your questions guys if any problems.

Thanks

Tom   


AdamHarkus

  • *
  • Open Mic
  • **
  • Posts: 108
    • The Blogging Musician
« Reply #19 on: July 28, 2016, 02:25:33 PM »
Two simple pieces of advice for you.

1) Bring down all the levels on your individual tracks so that he master fader is just below 0dB on the loudest passages. This is important otherwise you'll get too much compression when you apply mastering. Doing this will give you room breath as it were.

2) Get a mastering plug-in (I'm presuming you use a DAW). I've used Ozone for years. Drag it onto the master track and flick through a few presets.

Job done.

Of course you could also spend years getting into the intricacies of mastering, but for me I'd rather focus on songwriting :)



The Blogging Musician @ https://adamharkus.com

MartynRich

  • *
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 1110
    • Personal website
« Reply #20 on: August 27, 2016, 02:48:24 PM »
Just had a rubbish Saturday shock...I put my latest up on a Logic Pro forum for production feedback and I was told about correlation issues...Result, I listened to the song in Mono and it sounds terrible. Is there any way of converting/bouncing to mono from stereo in Logic Pro X?

Boydie

  • *
  • Administrator
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 3975
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2016, 04:41:24 PM »
I most DAWs there is a single button you can press on a track/buss to hear it in mono

It looks like in Logic you are best off doing this:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6494868?start=0&tstart=0

This is really a MIXING thing (panning of instruments) rather than a MASTERING thing - although mastering can achieve multi-band widening/narrowing you are MUCH better considering how your mix will translate to a mono source when mixing

As people list to music on phones (often with single speakers) it is still important to consider MONO when mixing - this is especially important with "phase" issues as it can cause all sorts of issues
To check out my music please visit:

http://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BoydieMusic

AndyV

  • *
  • Busker
  • *
  • Posts: 23
« Reply #22 on: August 30, 2016, 08:38:25 AM »
I have one rule: if it sounds good in my car, it sound good everywhere :) And believe it or not, this is how the professional producers also do it (I know a couple personally).

Mostly you can "fix" the sound by playing with compression, but it's one of the more difficult things to master in a studio.

DorGolan

  • *
  • Busker
  • *
  • Posts: 5
« Reply #23 on: September 23, 2016, 09:30:26 PM »
I'd be happy to master your track with in my studio. I have been mastering tracks for over 3 years and have nice gear that will probably blow your mind. need to hear the Mix though since a master can't fix a bad mix.

Johnnyuk

  • *
  • Guest
« Reply #24 on: February 23, 2018, 07:33:37 PM »
Hi,
When mixing i used to use the most expensive speaker setup and just like you when i played my mixes on a normal set of speakers it always sounded different. I now no longer mix just on my high end speakers. I have a pair of crappy £30 speakers that i also mix on. If you can get it to sound great on a pair of shitty little speakers then i promise you it will sound wonderful when you turn on your expensive speakers.
Johnny :)
« Last Edit: February 23, 2018, 07:39:12 PM by Johnnyuk »

cowparsleyman

  • *
  • Stadium Tour
  • *****
  • Posts: 2700
  • What would you rather be or a wasp?
« Reply #25 on: February 23, 2018, 07:55:24 PM »
Hi guys, just a quick suggestion re mastering.

As you all said - mastering is pretty hard to get right without having in depth audio knowledge..

Mastering is even harder to get right if your room in not acoustically treated for mastering purposes( recording room, mixing room, mastering room - all have different specifications and treatments)..

To actually hear what you processing you need far field monitors for the full range spectrum not near field ones..

To get the best sounding audio, rich in transients, with great dynamic range,  mastering should be done by mastering engineer who does it on the daily basis, who can correct whats needed, enhance whats good. It is very very difficult to get good sounding master by someone who compose, record and mix the track simply because at this stage our brain won't perform much of active listening, the decision making is affected by this person 'feelings' towards the song. I know and understand that not everyone can afford to pay for mastering service and thats fair enough, but its worth to remember - mastering is a form of investing in yourself, your career, hobby, passion...

As a full time mastering engineer I would give 1 strong advice - instead of focusing on 'own mastering' get your mix at the top level and use Mix Buss Compressor on your master channel to get everything 'glued' together.  Forget about limiters, eq's, other compressors. Use only designated mix buss compressor. It's less possible you going to squash your music that way, less possible something goes wrong along the lines.
I would recommend 3 different mix buss compressors :

Slate Digital FG X

SSL Mix Buss

PSP Vintage Warmer.

Each of them works differently so you have to find your way to achieve desired sound.
I'm more than happy to answer your questions guys if any problems.

Thanks

Tom

Thanks for your advice Tom, that's why I'm here to get better. consistantly and to know why I'm doing what I'm doing

cpm