Mastering to various systems/formats

A few months back I bought a pair of proper studio monitors, and this of course radically changed the way I were to master and create my music, and the pieces I've created using primarily (cheap) headphones before were sounding very, very flat and dull in comparison.

I'm not all that good with mastering, so this stuff doesn't really come easily, but if I do something that sounds proper on monitors, it'll probably sound completely flat on headphones and alike. And I do know that the bass reproduction is quite poor on cheap headphones, but still.

Is there some golden middle path so that it'll sound proper on most formats?

heh I have it exactly the other way around, my headphones are quite bassy in comparison to my speakers. I trust my speakers more though, even though I'm accustomed to the difference now...

there is no middle ground I would say. just get a quality system going, and make it sound as flat and/or good as possible and produce on that, to the best of your effort.. then if it sounds bad on someone elses speakers you can blame their setup!

of course you can also check on cheap hifi's and earplugs while you're busy doing a mix, to see what would happen.. not a bad idea.. the paradox is that if it still sounds good on shitty gear it's probably a good mix - but you can't mix very well on cheap gear.

Hey Hasselbalch,

I just took a mixing and mastering class last semester and I would like to share a few new distinctions I've learned.

1. By far, the most important part of the frequency spectrum to which attention should be paid is the middle range (let's say 200hz - 1khz). Enhancing the bass and brilliance of a track will make it sound great, but too much of these can obscure the balance and intelligibility of the middle range. The middle is so easy to neglect! Most systems, especially cheaper systems such as a car's stock radio or ipod earbuds, are optimized to reproduce the middle range. Since all playback systems have the middle range in common, the best bet is to make this part of the mix as clear and high quality as possible.

1b. Low-range frequency content often has middle-range timbre. Good middle-range intelligibility will support the presence of its corresponding low-range content. The best example of this is the relationship between a kick drum's attack (the grainy pow) and that low-frequency thud that gives the kick so much power.

2. Keep your low end frequencies as few and simple as possible. When you use bass, let it stand in contrast to its absence. Many instruments have hidden low-frequency content that adds no value to a mix, but will destroy the perception of other bass if present. In short, consider rolling off the low end frequencies with high pass filters, even if it doesn't seem necessary at first impression.

3. Use your metering to give you appropriate loudness. Take full advantage of all of the headroom at the mastering stage.

3. After high quality monitors, I'd say the next two most important tools are high quality DA Converters and a room that is well treated acoustically.

4. I assume that you being on WATMM means that you make electronic music. This is a personal observation, but I sincerely notice a profound difference in some software versus other software's capacity to consistently produce high quality, highly intelligible music. And this is true with some hardware varieties as well. For example, even a dinky little Roland MC-303, which costs $100-$200, will give you great intelligibility and reproduce impressively on a variety of systems, cheap and expensive. The MC303 suffers from a high noise-floor typically and somehow accomplishes this feat! I challenge you to produce so casually on software like Reason and expect results within the same ballpark. I know this Hardware VS Software argument upsets a lot of fellows, but I mean it earnestly.

I sincerely hope this helps!

tl;dr

focus on mixing the middle range because all playback systems have it in common

sound advice that is sound advice!

I try to focus on the format I'm expecting my music to be played on most occasions. For instance, if I'm doing something that I think will predominantly heard on earbuds and cheap computer speakers, I tend to cut off almost everything under 50Hz (sometimes even 70Hz) to save headroom for the mids, and not fret too much about whether it sounds awesome through a big PA. I went through a phase where I tried multiband compression to get a more even frequency balance and dynamics at the mastering stage, but I felt I wasn't getting that much of a significant improvement over my usual EQ+comp+limiting chain.

make it sound good on low volume

  On 1/16/2012 at 2:17 PM, chimera slot mom said:

make it sound good on low volume

Yeah! Plus, I always try out my music on my monitors, my headphones, and my laptop.

I dond't agree with the D/A converter statement, and when the MC 303 was mentioned I was scratching my head. The first couple of bulletpoints are sound advice though.

Firstly the key thing about getting a well balanced mix at the production stage is to keep your levels low as that leaves more headroom for new channels/sounds etc.

I've noticed a lot folks tend to put tracks together that have lots of bright sounds. This can muddy the mix. I've learnt that lo passing/eqing pads/synths to between 300hz-1khz will leave a lot of room for the drums and percussion to sit. For this I tend to use a multiband eq as you can do lo passing and hi passing precisely and effectively at the same time.

Panning is also your friend as panning sounds which sit in the same frequency roughly 15-25% left or right allows them to be heard distinctly.

As for kick drums make sure the kick peaks arounds 80-100hz and has a sensible amount of attack so it can cut through the bass.

Percussion you want to try and get it as high as possible above 1khz and peaking around 12khz. I have to say I don't know the exact frequencies but be careful of percussion stumbling over the frequencies of others sounds. Hi passing can be effective in removing the part of the frequency spectrum that is competing with other sounds. Alternatively it can be good to just transpose percussion by about 4-6 notes.

Sub you want to get as low and deep as possible as possible to boost the bottom end of any bass synths you're using. Often you'll get a clash around 80kz-150kz between your main bass and the sub so it can be good to cut everything below that. Now your sub will sit nicely under your bass without peaking loudly at undesirable frequencies and ultimately causing distortion in the final mix.

For the sub I tend to use compression to ensure the level of each note hits the same volume.

After I'm happy with the initial mix and rendered it to a wav I will then boost the signal using say Ultramaximiser or Mutimaximiser in Soundforge. This is important to do because once you boost the signal to roughly -11db RMS you'll hear what sounds might need adjusting pre master.

Anyways this is probably not the most technical of responses but hope that all helps.

Remember to listen to some well produced albums you like on these same speakers, so you have a reference to aim for.

  On 1/16/2012 at 3:40 PM, ZoeB said:

Remember to listen to some well produced albums you like on these same speakers, so you have a reference to aim for.

Yeah definitely agree with that.

  On 1/16/2012 at 2:26 PM, Gocab said:

I dond't agree with the D/A converter statement, and when the MC 303 was mentioned I was scratching my head. The first couple of bulletpoints are sound advice though.

Haha... I know I am probably making unpopular and unfashionable statements, but I stand by them. :)

  On 1/16/2012 at 3:33 PM, Promo said:

Firstly the key thing about getting a well balanced mix at the production stage is to keep your levels low as that leaves more headroom for new channels/sounds etc.

 

I've noticed a lot folks tend to put tracks together that have lots of bright sounds. This can muddy the mix. I've learnt that lo passing/eqing pads/synths to between 300hz-1khz will leave a lot of room for the drums and percussion to sit. For this I tend to use a multiband eq as you can do lo passing and hi passing precisely and effectively at the same time.

 

Panning is also your friend as panning sounds which sit in the same frequency roughly 15-25% left or right allows them to be heard distinctly.

 

As for kick drums make sure the kick peaks arounds 80-100hz and has a sensible amount of attack so it can cut through the bass.

 

Percussion you want to try and get it as high as possible above 1khz and peaking around 12khz. I have to say I don't know the exact frequencies but be careful of percussion stumbling over the frequencies of others sounds. Hi passing can be effective in removing the part of the frequency spectrum that is competing with other sounds. Alternatively it can be good to just transpose percussion by about 4-6 notes.

 

Sub you want to get as low and deep as possible as possible to boost the bottom end of any bass synths you're using. Often you'll get a clash around 80kz-150kz between your main bass and the sub so it can be good to cut everything below that. Now your sub will sit nicely under your bass without peaking loudly at undesirable frequencies and ultimately causing distortion in the final mix.

 

For the sub I tend to use compression to ensure the level of each note hits the same volume.

 

After I'm happy with the initial mix and rendered it to a wav I will then boost the signal using say Ultramaximiser or Mutimaximiser in Soundforge. This is important to do because once you boost the signal to roughly -11db RMS you'll hear what sounds might need adjusting pre master.

 

Anyways this is probably not the most technical of responses but hope that all helps.

This is a great post. As for most specialized subjects, pay attention to the lexicon (it signifies expertise) and gobble that shit up.