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We have our mix down done and it sounds really good, we tried it on lots of systems, loud and low and all the elements sit really nicely.

However I don't have money for mastering, I am a capable enough engineer although mastering is something completely new to me, particularly as we are looking purely for loudness without comprising the dynamics (as much as we can, although its always a trade off)

Anyone Master their own stuff? Just curious to see if people have attempted it themselves and what the results were like.

Mastering is a tricky subject, (That I don't know much about so not trying to be smug)

ask yourself this, what do you want mastering to do to your mix that hasn't already been done?

Lowpass wrote:Mastering is a tricky subject, (That I don't know much about so not trying to be smug)

ask yourself this, what do you want mastering to do to your mix that hasn't already been done?

..we are looking purely for loudness..

I am aware of the pitfalls, as a crap mastering job would just undo the work we put into the mix down, we gave the track acres of dB headroom for this stage but the person I had down to master it pulled out (he was a a mate and doing it for free)

I am just wondering if anyone has actually tried it.

Sorry mate skipped over it quite quick, I've just had to do a quick "mastering" job on a track I was mixing for a band. just to present it to the person who recorded it and see how they found it.

After I had bounced the mix, I used a little compression and limiting (till I could hear it working) then backed it off.

Biggest thing I found that helped though was going back to the mixing and sorting the levels, bringing down the parts that got way too loud, using automation to even it out.

If it's not getting a release and you're happy that you aren't gonna fuck it up with too much compression, then go for it,

If you want to take it further e.g release/play out then maybe get some free samples done from ME's and see what they can do for you,

peace

personally i would say if you're confident that the mixdown is good then i'd just get the best limiter you can, wop 5 or 6 dB off the top and have done with it. no clever multiband compressors, no ultramaximisers, just limit it.

remember to pull down the output gain on your limiter so you can A/B it, bypass it and stuff and hear exactly what it's doing, so you won't overcook it (ie lose all the dynamics)...

Thanks for the replies!

It is possible with skill, just make sure you give it a while after the mixdown stage. If you can wait a week before mastering this would be ideal, your perspective will be much clearer and hearing fresh.

If possible do it on an accurate system that is not your mixing system.