Mastering Help?

[djOdyssey]

Hey, I've only been producing Electronic music for about 7 months now, and started producing Dubstep about 2 months ago; And i know little to nothing about Mastering...

-I know that you're suppose to put each sound on it's own frequency spot or whatever, so it all lays on top of each other nicely, but I keep trying to do this with Parametric EQ's by rolling off the low's and highs on each sound. However i can never get it to actually sound good. It just sounds like i'm subtracting from the sound, and reducing the quality by alot.

So basically any information that could help in anyway past this point would be awesome, cuz i have been searching the internet non-stop for the past couple months watching countless mastering videos, and still at the same exact spot i was before, if not: i'm at an even worse spot, seeing as when i try and master the entire mix just sounds muddy and gross. Any help what so ever would be GREATLY appreciated, seeing as i'm planning on releasing my 2nd Dubstep EP in the next month or so, and i just can't get the sound i'm looking for.

For an idea of what i'm trying to master at the moment, check out my sound cloud page: http://soundcloud.com/djodyssey-1/tracks
Or check out the song below for a track off my last EP which i made no real attempt at mastering.

[B-Frank]

As Reso once said (and its a fucking good saying)... Think of the frequency spectrum like a chest of draws, you can only fit so much of the same thing in one place. So thats half the battle right there.

On the subject of having to EQ and roll everything off at certain frequencies and things sound like they are being subtracted from. Sounds like the noises you are trying to combine at the same time are too similar in frequency. Either try different sounds or a pretty decent tip is to shift one of your sounds up an octave. In the case of your lead synth drowning out your snares and when cutting back the frequncies used by the Lead synth it sounds hollow. The key ingredient there is the relationship it holds with the sub bass. If you have an agressive highly processed synth it will 100 percent clash with your snare and make your snare sound weaker than a punch from a 5 year old girl. You have no choice but to subtract from the synth. Just make sure you Sub and Lead Synth gel really neatly and it will give the premise of a much thicker, harder Synth then there actually is.

[Towany]

From what i read there I don't think your thinking of mastering, learn to get a better mixdown of your track. Mastering is totally different. It doesn't focus on one thing. Your sounds have to be good and fit together first. Mastering is not going to fix and really shit mix...so yeah, work on mixing first.

[B-Frank]

From what i read there I don't think your thinking of mastering, learn to get a better mixdown of your track. Mastering is totally different. It doesn't focus on one thing. Your sounds have to be good and fit together first. Mastering is not going to fix and really shit mix...so yeah, work on mixing first.

Think he is just using the wrong word for mixing down in fairness.

[Towany]

From what i read there I don't think your thinking of mastering, learn to get a better mixdown of your track. Mastering is totally different. It doesn't focus on one thing. Your sounds have to be good and fit together first. Mastering is not going to fix and really shit mix...so yeah, work on mixing first.

Think he is just using the wrong word for mixing down in fairness.

s'all good. Thats why i left the comment to say learn about mixing and mastering. getting the 2 mixed up isn't goin to help in the long run.

[djOdyssey]

Thanks. And no, when i mix it all down, it sounds fine. Like how i would like it to sound overrall. It's just once i hear it through other speakers, the bass doesnt seem to hit as hard as any other dubstep bass would. And the only way i've heard to do that was to master it, and it just doesn't work out.

Do either of you guys happen to know of any good mastering plug-ins? I have Izotope Ozone, but i don't really understand the difference between that and a normal equalizer, except for the effects at the bottom, which i don't really understand.

[123kidd]

If you are talking about the sub-bass try saturating it a bit.
You mention other speakers and i think here is where cross referencing on various systems come into play.
Try to get the mixdown good on a variety of systems, headphones etc.

Tutorials on ozone 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z2mMJT4Iqo
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuYjo_UC ... ure=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgxAGwVa ... ure=relmfu

I see you're from Michigan bro. Greetings from across the river( Windsor bigup!!)

[jrisreal]

Heres a few mixing tips that may help you out:

1) Take your lead synth and bandpass it with a small width. Move that around until you find sweet spots. Boost those sweet spots. Now do the same thing but try to find unnecessary and/or bad sounding spots...reduce those.
2) Do the same for all the other elements, except make sure none of them are occupying the same space unless its minimal bg atmosphere or somthing.
3) Find where your kick drum hits on the spectrum. Obviously, in the 100-300 range, but also find the punchiest part of the click. Boost those areas and reduce all other areas. This step, essentially, is the same thing as step 1, except specifically directed towards drums and percussive sounds.
4) Route all your instruments to a bus where you put an eq that cuts all the frequencies occupied by the kick drum. Sidechain that eq instance with the kick drum so that it is only applied when the kick hits. This will make sure the kick is clear, but will not weaken all your instruments. Tweak until it's transparent.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the snare and hats and other percussion.
6) Hi-pass everything (drums included) except for sub bass. Set the cutoff at around 70 Hz. This makes sure that the bass is not muddied out by the higher-register instruments, allowing a clean, hard-hitting sub bass to be heard.

PS: What you were talking about in your post is mixing, not mastering. Leave mastering up to the professionals, dude. Plus, with a perfect mixdown, there is no need for mastering.

[CE9958]

Plus, with a perfect mixdown, there is no need for mastering.

Truth.

Except for volume.

[jrisreal]

Except for volume.

Actually, no. If you get your mixdown perfect, the volume aspect of mastering will also be unnecessary. But that includes a crap ton of precise automation and sidechaining crap all over.

[CE9958]

Except for volume.

Actually, no. If you get your mixdown perfect, the volume aspect of mastering will also be unnecessary. But that includes a crap ton of precise automation and sidechaining crap all over.

I like to keep my master track under -3dB the entire time. Gives it the appropriate amount of headroom. Then when its done I slap the waves L3 Multimaximizer on it and bring the volume up in a different project to avoid losing headroom. Sounds best to me this way.

[123kidd]

So get a tight mixdown, slap compressor/limiter and call it a day?
I feel that mastering should only be done for commercial releases

[jrisreal]

Except for volume.

Actually, no. If you get your mixdown perfect, the volume aspect of mastering will also be unnecessary. But that includes a crap ton of precise automation and sidechaining crap all over.

I like to keep my master track under -3dB the entire time. Gives it the appropriate amount of headroom. Then when its done I slap the waves L3 Multimaximizer on it and bring the volume up in a different project to avoid losing headroom. Sounds best to me this way.

I'm not contradicting that. I like to mix at a low level, too. Just sayin, though. If you mix down perfectly, you don't need a mastering job. I've noticed that lately, my unmastered mixdowns are sounding louder than my old self-masters.

[djOdyssey]

Thanks alot for the tips, they will definately come in handy.
But Jrisreal, i have a few questions..

Heres a few mixing tips that may help you out:

1) Take your lead synth and bandpass it with a small width. Move that around until you find sweet spots. Boost those sweet spots. Now do the same thing but try to find unnecessary and/or bad sounding spots...reduce those.
2) Do the same for all the other elements, except make sure none of them are occupying the same space unless its minimal bg atmosphere or somthing.

I feel like i'm normally doing this for everything, but after i'm done it just sounds like all my sounds have been subtracted from, and sound alot worse. is there anyway way to clearly tell what to cut off with the filter? Most of my sounds look like they play on the majority of the spectrum.(however, of course there are sweeter spots than others, i can just never really find the bad spots)

4) Route all your instruments to a bus where you put an eq that cuts all the frequencies occupied by the kick drum. Sidechain that eq instance with the kick drum so that it is only applied when the kick hits. This will make sure the kick is clear, but will not weaken all your instruments. Tweak until it's transparent.

Also, if i cut off all the frequencies that the kick hits on, and then put that eq on the kick, wouldn't that just cut off the kick?

PS: What you were talking about in your post is mixing, not mastering. Leave mastering up to the professionals, dude. Plus, with a perfect mixdown, there is no need for mastering.

ah, thanks for the clear up a little. and mastering is basically balancing all the frequencies right? And yeah that was my original intention, but I realized i'd much rather learn how to do it like a professional then pay someone to do it. i'm all for taking all the time in the world to learn it, i just don't really know where to start lol.

So get a tight mixdown, slap compressor/limiter and call it a day?
I feel that mastering should only be done for commercial releases

That's kinda what i have been doing already, and i don't feel happy with the overall sound. it doesn't hit hard enough, and the bass kinda sounds flat or something. For example, in my track Night wander(Below). It sounds weird once the wobble comes in

[jrisreal]

Heres a few mixing tips that may help you out:

1) Take your lead synth and bandpass it with a small width. Move that around until you find sweet spots. Boost those sweet spots. Now do the same thing but try to find unnecessary and/or bad sounding spots...reduce those.
2) Do the same for all the other elements, except make sure none of them are occupying the same space unless its minimal bg atmosphere or somthing.

I feel like i'm normally doing this for everything, but after i'm done it just sounds like all my sounds have been subtracted from, and sound alot worse. is there anyway way to clearly tell what to cut off with the filter? Most of my sounds look like they play on the majority of the spectrum.(however, of course there are sweeter spots than others, i can just never really find the bad spots)

The bad spots are just spots that are unnecessary. Listen with the bandpass filter for areas that don't provide much to the sound. Like if its just a muddy spot or if its really quiet or something. If it sounds like your sounds are being subtracted from, you're doing it wrong, man. This should make your sounds sound more clear and whatnot.

4) Route all your instruments to a bus where you put an eq that cuts all the frequencies occupied by the kick drum. Sidechain that eq instance with the kick drum so that it is only applied when the kick hits. This will make sure the kick is clear, but will not weaken all your instruments. Tweak until it's transparent.

Also, if i cut off all the frequencies that the kick hits on, and then put that eq on the kick, wouldn't that just cut off the kick?

No, I meant route all instruments except for percussion to the bus. Sorry for not being clear on that.

PS: What you were talking about in your post is mixing, not mastering. Leave mastering up to the professionals, dude. Plus, with a perfect mixdown, there is no need for mastering.

ah, thanks for the clear up a little. and mastering is basically balancing all the frequencies right? And yeah that was my original intention, but I realized i'd much rather learn how to do it like a professional then pay someone to do it. i'm all for taking all the time in the world to learn it, i just don't really know where to start lol.

Mastering is the last step in the song making process. You send it off to somebody who may mess with the track a bit to get it sounding a bit punchier and also boost the overall volume level on it. You want your track sounding perfect before getting it mastered.

[djOdyssey]

Alright that's starting to make more sense, i'm gonna go through all the steps and see what i can do. Thanks allot, I truly appreciate it.

If you are talking about the sub-bass try saturating it a bit.
You mention other speakers and i think here is where cross referencing on various systems come into play.
Try to get the mixdown good on a variety of systems, headphones etc.

I see you're from Michigan bro. Greetings from across the river( Windsor bigup!!)

I'm mainly talking about the main bassline; Like the wobbles, growls, and bass sounds. But that does sound like a good idea for the sub-bass would there be a plugin for saturating, or would it be done some way inside the synth?

That's what i was trying to do, becuase i have a 1400 watt surround sound system, and i tried to master through my skull candies instead, but when i put it through the system it sounded kinda awful, but not as bad through computer speakers, so i'm not sure how to make it sound good and the same through all 3...

and also, i'm from detroit, bahaha. that's pretty close to windsor. Small world lol

[Refuzed]

That's what i was trying to do, becuase i have a 1400 watt surround sound system, and i tried to master through my skull candies instead, but when i put it through the system it sounded kinda awful, but not as bad through computer speakers, so i'm not sure how to make it sound good and the same through all 3...

thers your problem, you're producing on a surround sonud system and skull candy headphones. get yourself some decent monitors and decent reference headphones, will make such a big different. both the SS system and skullcandys realyl are not made for monitoring.

[djOdyssey]

thers your problem, you're producing on a surround sonud system and skull candy headphones. get yourself some decent monitors and decent reference headphones, will make such a big different. both the SS system and skullcandys realyl are not made for monitoring.

Ah, this would make sense. Do you know of any good and cheap headphones, or monitors to use? Cuz i was thinking about purchasing some Audio Technicas (<-- Probably mispelled) around the $70/$80 range cuz i'm working with kind of a small budget, and i heard those were perfect, but then again i've never actually heard them yet..

[Refuzed]

i'd advise getting monitors, then headphones. i'm not really sure on which are 'the best' or worst tbh, i use some cheap kurzweil monitors and they do the job for me, but krk monitors are good as well. as for headphones, audio techincas should be alright, but at that price range they are gonna be consumer grade so prob better off saving some money and getting decent ones

[jrisreal]

Shure srh440 is in your range. Not the best but they're alright I guess