Post You Mastering Techniques

Sup guys.

I know mastering has been discussed in other threads but they seem to be about a specific problem.

I wanted to start a thread where anyone could post their knowledge or methods for mastering tracks and post production. This has always been one of my week points, and I'm sure some other heads around here could use some tips also.

Personally:

I use reason to program my tracks. I try to get the different instruments/noises sounding as good as possible, then I export each track separately (Track1=drums; Track2=bass; Track3=lead synth etc, etc). Next I import my tracks into cool edit and do my finishing touches, which are all by ear. I use a fairly good pair of headphones when mastering. I'm rather poor at the moment and have no extra money for a nice set of monitors.

I really don't know much about which frequencies are good for bass, or how to set my levels correctly so that the track will sound good really loud on a nice system, its all by ear.

So ya, If you have a link to a tutorial that you think is worthwhile, or any advice of your own, or you just wanna share your method post it here

usually general rules i go by are, from piecing together random advice from blogs, subtractive EQ is usually better than additive. like better to take away something there's an excess of instead of boosting what's not there.

subtractive EQ is usually less noticable than additive it seems

exporting all your tracks seperate like that is good, nice to keep everthing seperate until you've done all the surgery

with EQ think about what ranges each instrument needs and which it doesn't

like a hihat probably doesn't very much below 200hz, so use a lowshelf around there, i usually chop it off at 100hz by default and slide it up if i see it doesn't hurt.

a snare probably doesn't need much below 100hz, so lop that off too (if it doesn't change the sound you were going for)

bottom cuts like 200-300hz and below are pretty easy decisions

and the same can be said of the high end cuts, like chopping off 10khz noise from a kick or something

though generally, i like to leave most high end noise i happen to get, as it's usually what's lacking in my sterile digital environment.

the hardest for me is usually that 300hz - 1khz range

that's where muddiness dwells, fullness reigns, and the "ouchies" come on the horizon

in that range i'll play a bit, if something sounds weird then i'll do a 6db boost or 9db cut or something and just slide it up and down the range and see if i'm glad if any of the ranges suddenly disappear or come to life.

1khz - 10khz is sort of the pain and clarity zone

tweak your snares around 1khz - 4khz and they'll change pretty dramatically, and they can be tweaked a little at 10khz

sibilance "S" and "Shhh" is around 8khz, you can give people lisps i think in that zone

10khz is generally air, hiss, room ambience

i don't really tweak that region much, unless there's something super annoying

cause, especially in digital music, that's an area that's difficult to mess with pleasantly and artificially

so, i'm usually pleased if i get something pleasant up there

since you're mixing in headphones, i think probably keep a good eye on your bass

it'll get way out of hand without a sub kicking you in the chest

after you've done some little touchups with EQ then smash it through a limiter

look for a multi-band limiter, which hopefully will also come with a makeup gain sort of thing, or maximizer at the end, to keep the signal loud after the peaks are chopped off.

if your track looks like a square wave after you've limited it, maybe ease off that threshold.

i like this little plug, RMS Buddy, to see what the "loudness" is of the track.

shoot for a range of -12db loud! -> -16db less loud (unless you're making epic ambient, where the dynamics would probably cover a larger range)

render at 24 bit if you can

sampling rate, i'm less sure about, just obviously not less than 44.1khz

if you're going higher, then remember to resample next to last, and dither to 16 bit last last

and don't touch the wav after dithering, no volume adjustments or crossfading with other tracks, but cropping is fine i guess.

and lastly, ignore everything i said and

read these:

http://www.em411.com/show/blog/79

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php

http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar...ng_excerpt1.htm

and then practice x3

take breaks, let your ears rest, finish a mix and then wait to grade the next morning after a night's rest away from it. burn it, play it on every cd player you can find and take notes.

then go back to your computer a miserable failure, drink a little, and try again

If I've read your first post correctly, you're referring to 'mix down' rather tham 'mastering'. It's a common mistake.

all you need is to mix your levels correctly, so each different element stands out and is definable. then mix that down to a wav file and run the fucker through T-Racks24 Pro. Sorted.

Honestly, just listen carefully to your "unmastered" track and get everything sounding nice, so you can hear it all. Put it in T-Racks and choose a preset "Suite" or fuck about with it yourself and you'll have perfectly crisp, well mastered tunage.

GET T-RACKS 24 PRO.

  organizedn015e said:

Sup guys.

 

I know mastering has been discussed in other threads but they seem to be about a specific problem.

 

I wanted to start a thread where anyone could post their knowledge or methods for mastering tracks and post production. This has always been one of my week points, and I'm sure some other heads around here could use some tips also.

 

Personally:

I use reason to program my tracks. I try to get the different instruments/noises sounding as good as possible, then I export each track separately (Track1=drums; Track2=bass; Track3=lead synth etc, etc). Next I import my tracks into cool edit and do my finishing touches, which are all by ear. I use a fairly good pair of headphones when mastering. I'm rather poor at the moment and have no extra money for a nice set of monitors.

 

I really don't know much about which frequencies are good for bass, or how to set my levels correctly so that the track will sound good really loud on a nice system, its all by ear.

 

 

So ya, If you have a link to a tutorial that you think is worthwhile, or any advice of your own, or you just wanna share your method post it here

plus, don't do any of this. fuck all that saving each track seperately shit. what's the point of that? the only point in doing that is if you're bouncing the tracks to a seperate (and I mean, not part of your computer) piece of kit. if you're using Reason, the Combinator also has a good mastering suite in it that is perfectly OK.

Anyway, just fucking make sure you can hear all the seperate elements and save the whole song as one file. Don't bother with that seperate tracks bollocks - you'll just end up making your tracks sound all muddy - everything's taking place inside one computer that will colour the sound to it's own liking anyway, so no point in messing about exporting seperate tracks etc....

Main points are: Listening to your song - can you hear the hit hats? Is the main synth muddying the kick drums etc etc... listen and adjust levels as necessary.

Listen a lot.

Save at a nice high bit rate and resolution.

Run the saved wav through a mastering suite - like I said - I recommend T-Racks.

Over and out.

  Lady kakapo said:

If I've read your first post correctly, you're referring to 'mix down' rather tham 'mastering'. It's a common mistake.

agreed, mastering is the final FINAL stage, and deserves a book in its own right.

adjective said some good stuff, as have others.

if you are planning on tackling mastering yourself, or sending it away to be mastered, i would not recommend putting any kind of limiter or multiband compressor on the master bus. to master something you generally need the clearest, most unaffected mix ( i mean the whole thing, not the individual tracks) you can get, so you can best decide how to process it at the mastering stage.

also, do not mix with a limiter on your master bus, by all means have it there and turn it on from time to time to see how it might sound once mastered, but you cannot mix properly if your whole track is going through a heavy compressor before it hits your ears!

as for the mixing process, its massive. and if you really want to get good at it i'd recommend buying a good book, as this thread could reach 100 pages and it still wouldnt give the whole story! but its very good to hear other peoples tips and tricks, i still use techniques ive read on here and www.dogsonacid.com today (doa is a great site for mixing and producing, as long as you can see through all the crap and endless silly questions :) )

eq and compression is the crux of mixing, so heres a brief article on the basics, its just a starter guide, but it gets you thinking in the right kind of way..

you'll need to change the extension to .wps

o

Copy_of_eq__thinking_inside_the_box.txtFetching info...

i dont even mix/master my tracks!

DROP A COMPRESSOR ON EVERY CHANNEL, INCLUDING THE MASTER

SOMETIMES TWO!

i hardly ever use eq because i'm a fucking wanker, if a sound requires EQ i just usually throw it away completely and add something else instead.

thanks for the replys so far, I just got home so I'm gonna take a good look.

do some reading.

seriously.

lol.

just lol.

not that the threads in EKT aren't entertaining when people poke fun at one another

but how come tip threads for bedroom musicians can't just be generic tip threads

it's not like we don't already have a behemoth general forum in which to blow semen and feces in each other's hair from the WATMM superhighway

we get a lot of give up and don't bother replies

as if we lonely forum dwellers didn't already have that inner voice

i do mastering and mixdown for a living.

lol.

this thread is awesome.

lol.

then give me a room and let me squire around you

  Adjective said:

then give me a room and let me squire around you

yeh cool.

25 quid an hour.

Route signals appropriately into PCM recording device, check levels, test loudest noises, record. :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: :an angel

I usually try to limit my use of dynamic plugins (unless i intentionally want everything to sound loud and compress) and put much more emphasis on mixing.

  mrx said:

I usually try to limit my use of dynamic plugins (unless i intentionally want everything to sound loud and compress) and put much more emphasis on mixing.

well, the use of dynamics processing is a fundamental and vital part of mixing. only in using the both of them, dynamics and eq, can you mold the sound properly so they become properly intertwined. and if using dynamics plugins is always making your sounds loud and compressed then your probably using the parameters too aggresively.

making things loud is only one of the many uses for a compressor, you also use them to bring out elements in a sound that you want to highlight, balancing uneven sounds so you can always hear them even when the hit a weak note, shaping the transients so drums (among others) hit you in the chest rather than just the ears, squeezing crazy sounds do they dont fly all over your mix out of control, and injecting life into dull parts.

there certainly not just to make things loud and compressed-sounding! they are a fundamental part of getting a good mix.

think about it, once your track is finished and you are happy with all of the actual sounds within it, there are only really two things to be considered (fundamentaly). the volume of each split second of audio for each track, and the frequency range its occupying, if you are not controlling both of these your mixes your only allowing yourself half the tools you need.

To expand on Ourbsarobot's point, there's a mastering engineer who posts prominently on the Somethingawful Musician's Longue forums. He feels that the purchase of an $800 6 foot long XLR cable is justified because his ears say its warmer. This could be the person you are paying alot of money to "warm up" your tracks. Just food for thought.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

To expand on Ourbsarobot's point, there's a mastering engineer who posts prominently on the Somethingawful Musician's Longue forums. He feels that the purchase of an $800 6 foot long XLR cable is justified because his ears say its warmer. This could be the person you are paying alot of money to "warm up" your tracks. Just food for thought.

i have no plan of doing this. i cant even afford nice speakers :tongue2:

a multi compressor on the mixer and lots of side chaining on every other layer. i use the ultra maximizer for the final touch.

lol the ultramaximizer is like the most lazy greatest tool known to man.

"Yah, I'll just pull this slider down here.. oops too much, ok there. Ah, loud as it could possibly be. Thanks technology!".

  ten fingers ten toes said:

lol the ultramaximizer is like the most lazy greatest tool known to man.

 

"Yah, I'll just pull this slider down here.. oops too much, ok there. Ah, loud as it could possibly be. Thanks technology!".

indeed, but it's also very dangerous. use it with care.

  BCM said:

  organizedn015e said:

Sup guys.

 

I know mastering has been discussed in other threads but they seem to be about a specific problem.

 

I wanted to start a thread where anyone could post their knowledge or methods for mastering tracks and post production. This has always been one of my week points, and I'm sure some other heads around here could use some tips also.

 

Personally:

I use reason to program my tracks. I try to get the different instruments/noises sounding as good as possible, then I export each track separately (Track1=drums; Track2=bass; Track3=lead synth etc, etc). Next I import my tracks into cool edit and do my finishing touches, which are all by ear. I use a fairly good pair of headphones when mastering. I'm rather poor at the moment and have no extra money for a nice set of monitors.

 

I really don't know much about which frequencies are good for bass, or how to set my levels correctly so that the track will sound good really loud on a nice system, its all by ear.

 

 

So ya, If you have a link to a tutorial that you think is worthwhile, or any advice of your own, or you just wanna share your method post it here

 

plus, don't do any of this. fuck all that saving each track seperately shit. what's the point of that? the only point in doing that is if you're bouncing the tracks to a seperate (and I mean, not part of your computer) piece of kit. if you're using Reason, the Combinator also has a good mastering suite in it that is perfectly OK.

 

Anyway, just fucking make sure you can hear all the seperate elements and save the whole song as one file. Don't bother with that seperate tracks bollocks - you'll just end up making your tracks sound all muddy - everything's taking place inside one computer that will colour the sound to it's own liking anyway, so no point in messing about exporting seperate tracks etc....

 

Main points are: Listening to your song - can you hear the hit hats? Is the main synth muddying the kick drums etc etc... listen and adjust levels as necessary.

 

Listen a lot.

 

Save at a nice high bit rate and resolution.

 

Run the saved wav through a mastering suite - like I said - I recommend T-Racks.

 

Over and out.

Thanks for the advice.

The reason I separate out the tracks like that is because reason is fairly limited when it comes to effects. Even tho cool edit doesn't have VSTs I do have some other stuff I use in there. I also like to double up some sounds sometimes and reason seems to be a resource hog. I'm not sure cool edit is the right program for what I'm doing but it was what I had, someone else told me to look into cubase.