Tips and Mastering

[aeor]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum but not to music production

I'm here to help people (because i'm kind like that) and also offer my mastering services !

[charles1]

free mastering services?

[fragments]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum but not to music production

I'm here to help people (because i'm kind like that) and also offer my mastering services !

You the same aeor from IDMf?

[aeor]

You the same aeor from IDMf?

indeed

free mastering services?

not quite free but almost, but I usually help people on other technical stuff, you know

[Today]

hi, welcome. Do you have any insight for those of us who self master, on mixing into our mastering chain and what that chain might be comprised of?
I typically mix without mastering chain , but i mix pretty loud and then use a compressor followed by EQ then Limiter. Usually i have to choose between having great punchy transients or a loud rms.. when i try to get the mix louder my drums sound smushed down way too flat.

I use a Waves digital limiter like the L1 or L2. I always use this with no threshhold, and instead ride the compressor's output into the limiter. Any advice?

[aeor]

well first don't mix with your mastering chain

if you are going with mad loudness in mind, you could check once in a while (while mixing) your master bus with a hard limiter on it, some things might come up differently, and thus preventing the need for corrective work on the mastering

my mastering chain is not always the same, but usually I will EQ/filter first, compress, saturate, band split, M/S process, limit .. i can interchange stuff slightly

a limiter will kill the transient, but you can work the mix so it sounds like the percs are still punching, even though technically they are not really, as far as the speaker response goes

[PillowFight]

well first don't mix with your mastering chain

if you are going with mad loudness in mind, you could check once in a while (while mixing) your master bus with a hard limiter on it, some things might come up differently, and thus preventing the need for corrective work on the mastering

my mastering chain is not always the same, but usually I will EQ/filter first, compress, saturate, band split, M/S process, limit .. i can interchange stuff slightly

a limiter will kill the transient, but you can work the mix so it sounds like the percs are still punching, even though technically they are not really, as far as the speaker response goes

How do you go about your band splitting? I've tried using sends on a no output channel strip and having a multi-band compressor on each send with portions solo'd out, but that seems to lose SO much audio quality

[Audio Animals]

What are your favorite mastering compressors? Big fan of Shadow Hills and Maselec were used a lot on the coldplay stuff and always sounded amazing

[aeor]

What are your favorite mastering compressors? Big fan of Shadow Hills and Maselec were used a lot on the coldplay stuff and always sounded amazing

Elysia

How do you go about your band splitting? I've tried using sends on a no output channel strip and having a multi-band compressor on each send with portions solo'd out, but that seems to lose SO much audio quality

I split bands manually on different channels, I prefer that, gives me more control

[fragments]

relic from IDMf here ;p

do you use any kind of tape emulation like Slate's VTM or the UAD stuff when mastering? I fool around with self mastering a bit and I mix using VTM and Virtual Console Collection

[SMOR3S]

relic from IDMf here ;p

do you use any kind of tape emulation like Slate's VTM or the UAD stuff when mastering? I fool around with self mastering a bit and I mix using VTM and Virtual Console Collection

I am interested in what tape emulations he uses also...

What saturation plugins do u use on the master? Like exciters, and color distortion?

[charles1]

do you take project files or just audio?

[Benji]

hi, welcome. Do you have any insight for those of us who self master, on mixing into our mastering chain and what that chain might be comprised of?
I typically mix without mastering chain , but i mix pretty loud and then use a compressor followed by EQ then Limiter. Usually i have to choose between having great punchy transients or a loud rms.. when i try to get the mix louder my drums sound smushed down way too flat.

I use a Waves digital limiter like the L1 or L2. I always use this with no threshhold, and instead ride the compressor's output into the limiter. Any advice?

Did you compress the low end too much in order to get the loudness? I end up doing this at some point every time I master tracks and it always takes the life out of the kick and snare

[aeor]

relic from IDMf here ;p

do you use any kind of tape emulation like Slate's VTM or the UAD stuff when mastering?

It's a 5$ mastering I'm proposing not a 40$ one, so it's being done on high level plugins (digitally) only.

What saturation plugins do u use on the master? Like exciters, and color distortion?

Depends, I have multiple choices. Sonnox, Waves, URS, or DAW's natives.

do you take project files or just audio?

Only audio, and I do not offer mixing services yet. Eventually, for extra charges.
Also because I don't have much spare time to do so right now.

[LilWUB]

Hell of a deal you got going on! Might have to swing you a track soon!

[aeor]

Surely the best mastering for the best price around. Although right now the studio is being revised so, no work done until this weekend.

[outbound]

relic from IDMf here ;p

do you use any kind of tape emulation like Slate's VTM or the UAD stuff when mastering?

It's a 5$ mastering I'm proposing not a 40$ one, so it's being done on high level plugins (digitally) only.

Just to clarify, both of those he mentioned are plugins.

The UAD stuff is great, used to use it a whole lot when I just did digital, although I offer both analogue and digital mastering now I would say that if you're sticking to digital then it's worth checking out. The AMPEX ATR-102 is what I use if I'm after some decent tape emulation, doesn't get used on a great deal of masters but when it does it sounds great

[laurend]

Mastering isn't about hardware or software. It's all about skills and monitoring.

[SunkLo]

Mastering isn't about hardware...

monitoring.

Uhhh...

I mean your gear definitely plays a part, but it's only a supplement to your skills, not a substitute for them.

[LilWUB]

He probably meant monitoring = analytical listening.