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Today, so many producers rant on about how mastering will make their track better, or how mastering will fix things in their track.

For example, some guy sent me a demo yesterday, the core sounds were there, notes were fine, but the general mixdown wasn't up to scratch. (By Mixdown I am referring to the way sounds mix together, and their levels.)

Mastering does NOT fix any sounds that aren't fitting well in the mix, all it does is further enhances the sounds that are already there.

If I had one tip for any producers it is: get every sound as CLEAR as you can. This really helped me when I was improving my tracks. If there is anything sticking out at you, EQ it out, high pass any sound that the lower frequencies aren't necessary in.

You should have your track sounding sick before mastering, and if you even choose to get it mastered, you can do so. All I'm trying to stress here is, if you work on each sound individually while making them, you will get much better results, rather than saying "I'll leave it until mastering". There is no mastering "secret", the song sounds almost as great before a master, it is just slightly enhanced.

Here is a clip of a song I am working on (Although I do still have to bring a few sounds up to scratch, you should get the idea). It has absolutely NO mastering processes on it, yet it sounds loud and clear. All from processing each instrument at a time! Soundcloud

Don't believe anyone who makes mastering out to be some mystical art that drastically changes your track, as it doesn't. Just focus on getting your song as good as you can!

yup solid advice, cant polish a turd but you can always turn up the gain on a mixdown if its to quiet. Even sonny says its all about the mixdown lol.

Wow man that was a sick track, good job.

Nice one dude, I'm a real fan of your stuff Out of interest do you have a particular way of getting your track as loud as that before mastering? Usually I mix to -4db before mastering and obviously yours is nearly peaking; are you just putting your stuff under a limiter or are you actually mixing to a higher db? I've heard some producers just mix under a brickwall limiter

Earjax wrote:Nice one dude, I'm a real fan of your stuff Out of interest do you have a particular way of getting your track as loud as that before mastering? Usually I mix to -4db before mastering and obviously yours is nearly peaking; are you just putting your stuff under a limiter or are you actually mixing to a higher db? I've heard some producers just mix under a brickwall limiter

I actually do mix at a quite high volume, then at the final stages, bring the levels down. It's a weird way of doing things, but it works for me.

ChadDub wrote:Wow man that was a sick track, good job.

Thank you!

Noisestorm wrote:

Earjax wrote:Nice one dude, I'm a real fan of your stuff Out of interest do you have a particular way of getting your track as loud as that before mastering? Usually I mix to -4db before mastering and obviously yours is nearly peaking; are you just putting your stuff under a limiter or are you actually mixing to a higher db? I've heard some producers just mix under a brickwall limiter

I actually do mix at a quite high volume, then at the final stages, bring the levels down. It's a weird way of doing things, but it works for me.

Thats exactly how I do it. Probably shouldn't do it that way because if I mixed as I went a long I wouldn't see mixing down as much of a chore as it is now.

B-Frank wrote:

Noisestorm wrote:

Earjax wrote:Nice one dude, I'm a real fan of your stuff Out of interest do you have a particular way of getting your track as loud as that before mastering? Usually I mix to -4db before mastering and obviously yours is nearly peaking; are you just putting your stuff under a limiter or are you actually mixing to a higher db? I've heard some producers just mix under a brickwall limiter

I actually do mix at a quite high volume, then at the final stages, bring the levels down. It's a weird way of doing things, but it works for me.

Thats exactly how I do it. Probably shouldn't do it that way because if I mixed as I went a long I wouldn't see mixing down as much of a chore as it is now.

Yeah, but I always pump things up wayy too much in the process, so everything is loud. I don't really like guarding my levels, I just make it, and make it sound good without clipping and near the end sort things out.

Ahhh man I literally find it so fucking hard to get a decent mix at a high db without fkn clipping (and not using a limiter), I just find that my drums especially always lack punch and presence without being a lot louder than the other elements in my mix, its not that I don't EQ the fuck out of everything, but I find it hard enough to design good sounds without having to remove frequencies which removes phatness just so my mix is good Thought I was getting good at this whole music production thing until mixes came along and limiters disappeared

Agreed! Huge track!

Noisestorm wrote:

Earjax wrote:Nice one dude, I'm a real fan of your stuff Out of interest do you have a particular way of getting your track as loud as that before mastering? Usually I mix to -4db before mastering and obviously yours is nearly peaking; are you just putting your stuff under a limiter or are you actually mixing to a higher db? I've heard some producers just mix under a brickwall limiter

I actually do mix at a quite high volume, then at the final stages, bring the levels down. It's a weird way of doing things, but it works for me.

Ya thats exactly how I do it as well, try not to use as little compressors and limiters as I can, then bring the master down before mastering. I always tell people their track should sound as good as they want it to be before mastering, then the final will be louder and crisper

great post!

I concur that a good mix is vital.

The difficulty for many creating dubstep will be bass/sub balance within the track.
There are a lot of obstacles to getting this right in a home studio, small monitors, no acoustic treatment.

On this page I have listed one of my Top Tips so it's worth a quick visit, it's 2/3rd's of the way down for speed:

mastering dance music

The other issue which arises numerous times and causes some challenge for mastering engineers is some tracks having a sound without correct separation between elements. What I am speaking about is almost as if the tracks master bus has a very short tailed reverb (early reflections) washing over the entire mix down creating an unpleasant pseudo stereo image. Now I have mixed tracks ITB and I have also produced tracks in the box which have not had this "sound". I am not sure whether it is the summing in some DAW's, the over use (unskilled use?) of stereo width processing attempting to /replicate get the dubstep wide stuttery sound on mid range synths, or even simply using the same synth presets numerous times with exactly the same effects settings but I have noticed some mixes have this trait. Do try and be aware of every element sounding "samey" and try and build some separation / uniqueness into the synth sounds. Of course everyone is producing at different levels but if you are not getting the sound you want, go back to the mix drawing board is my advice. Or single out a sound and work hard to achieve the sound you want from your synth, which is really a re-iteration of the O.P.

cheers

Earjax wrote:Ahhh man I literally find it so fucking hard to get a decent mix at a high db without fkn clipping (and not using a limiter), I just find that my drums especially always lack punch and presence without being a lot louder than the other elements in my mix, its not that I don't EQ the fuck out of everything, but I find it hard enough to design good sounds without having to remove frequencies which removes phatness just so my mix is good Thought I was getting good at this whole music production thing until mixes came along and limiters disappeared

To be quite honest, I use limiters if my drums are peaking, I see nothing wrong with them as long as they don't change the dynamics noticeably. For instance, if you spend hours trying to get your kick loud, but you can't get it loud without clipping, or you have to bring everything else really low, I usually just put a limiter on the kick. It could be a frowned upon method, but it works for me, saves time, and essentially does the job. Then, when the track is finished, you can sort out everything. Limiters are your friends, if you use them correctly, and don't overuse them with tracks.

Good mixdowns just takes TIME. There is no way of just learning them, you just have to continually make tracks, and keep making them, and you will find that you will just get better at them over time. When I look back at my old tracks, I wince as I hear the badly crafted sounds, but at that stage, I was yearning to learn about mixdowns. I didn't read a book or get a protip from someone that allowed me to learn it. 4 years have past since then, and now I can see the difference. Just have fun with tracks, enjoy making them, and don't think about labels/selling music, until you know it is good enough. Too many people these days are focused on money and fame in music, although that is a perk, just have fun with it, and actually enjoy it instead of wanting money from it.

Noisestorm wrote:

Earjax wrote:Ahhh man I literally find it so fucking hard to get a decent mix at a high db without fkn clipping (and not using a limiter), I just find that my drums especially always lack punch and presence without being a lot louder than the other elements in my mix, its not that I don't EQ the fuck out of everything, but I find it hard enough to design good sounds without having to remove frequencies which removes phatness just so my mix is good Thought I was getting good at this whole music production thing until mixes came along and limiters disappeared

To be quite honest, I use limiters if my drums are peaking, I see nothing wrong with them as long as they don't change the dynamics noticeably. For instance, if you spend hours trying to get your kick loud, but you can't get it loud without clipping, or you have to bring everything else really low, I usually just put a limiter on the kick. It could be a frowned upon method, but it works for me, saves time, and essentially does the job. Then, when the track is finished, you can sort out everything. Limiters are your friends, if you use them correctly, and don't overuse them with tracks.

Good mixdowns just takes TIME. There is no way of just learning them, you just have to continually make tracks, and keep making them, and you will find that you will just get better at them over time. When I look back at my old tracks, I wince as I hear the badly crafted sounds, but at that stage, I was yearning to learn about mixdowns. I didn't read a book or get a protip from someone that allowed me to learn it. 4 years have past since then, and now I can see the difference. Just have fun with tracks, enjoy making them, and don't think about labels/selling music, until you know it is good enough. Too many people these days are focused on money and fame in music, although that is a perk, just have fun with it, and actually enjoy it instead of wanting money from it.

Cheers man, best advice I've had on mixing

here's the thing, i think the only people who think mastering is some magic is some magic fix all, are the people who have never had their tracks properly mastered. a proper ME will tell you if your levels are out of wack in the mixdown rather than just try to take your money and deliver a substandard product without consulting the client. then again when you shop for bargain basement people who claim to be MEs who's prices can't be beat with loads of plugins etc...

i self master atm, mainly because im a poor, secondly because its not necessarily a difficult process to learn with practice.

Cheeky wrote:i self master atm, mainly because im a poor, secondly because its not necessarily a difficult process to learn with practice.

even if you're a fully qualified mastering engineer, someone else should really master your own tunes. the idea is that they will look at it objectively, which you can't do as you've been working on it for ages and it means something to you. always good to get a fresh pair of ears on it.

great post dude. I'd also like to add that if your mixdowns are phenomenal - you don't need to master them.

Big up Ireland! we should collab sometime!