I'm preparing my mix for mastering and I'm really happy with it. I have plugins in the master bus, such as a limiter, some eq, just to give myself a sort of rough "mastered" sounding preview. One of the plugins I like is the UAD ATR-102 tape emulation thrown on the master bus for some saturation.
Would it be a good idea to leave this plugin on the master bus before mastering? The track is mixed to around -4 dB with it on.
I'm not sure, as this is a sort of "character" plugin that I like the sound of on my mix, mastering is not going to add this character back in, so I feel like I should leave it there...
I hope this makes sense, but I’m mixing a track that has a lot of compression and limiting on the master bus, where it’s (purposefully) distorting, akin to some of Ghostmanes stuff. I don’t usually produce this kind of music, and so previously I’d always send very clean mixes (e.g. very little distortion unless some slight use on a drum bus) to a mastering engineer who would then do his thing, where he would normally add a slight amount of distortion when maximising loudness. I guess my question is, how do I send this to my ME and communicate what I want? For example, do I bring the master distortion/compression down and then ask him to add it? Do I do it all myself and then just let him worry about the rest?
I'm a bit precious about my 2-buss compression so I often send tracks to master with it applied. However, I know a lot of mastering engineers ask for a clear mix buss. Is this becaus there are things that compression does that get in the way of other mastering processes they may want to apply?
Edit: just to clarify, (and not that the discussion isn’t great) but I am thinking about more technical aspects than philosophical ones! For example, are there any instances where mid side processing, imaging or successful and transparent limiting are frustrated by having a mix that’s already had its full dose of compression applied?
So I am a musician and I am mixing and mastering my own stuff too. Genre is pop, rock and stuff like that.
I was just wondering how many of you mix with some sort of effects on the master bus? Like, to get an idea of how the finish product will sound and maybe even print the song with those effects on.
Also, do you put reverb on your master bus?
I'm trying out Izotope Imager 2 yesterday to try to add some stereo width to my orchestra music that I'm working on and here's a question I have on this. Is it wise to only use Imager 2 when you're mastering or do some people use it in multiple busses during the mixing process like strings and percussions? Some of the examples I've seen on this has been for vocals, which I don't have in my music at the moment.
Usually I will make maybe a 1-2 minute track and then I'll throw a few plugins and an outboard bus compressor on the master so I can export a decent master to send to some singers and rappers for feedback and to see if its something they want to use. When I go back to actually complete the track, I usually keep those plugins enabled on the master track and produce/mix through them. I'll usually do a lot of tweaking before I get the final mix finished though. Is this a good habit or should I disable them while I'm still working on the production part?
For reference, my master chain usually goes something like this:
TK Audio BC501(outboard bus compressor similar to an SSL G comp) > Soundtheory Gullfoss(kinda hard to explain, it's an algorithmic EQ that just makes everything sound nice and clear) > Slate Fresh Air(mid and high exciter for air) > Submission Audio Flatline(emulates clipping fancy converters) > Waves L1+ Ultramaximizer(used mostly as a peak limiter and to squeeze out a few extra LUFS)
I usually mix from about -8dbtp to -5dbtp and master to -1.5dbtp anywhere from -18 to -12 LUFS. Most of the gain in the master stage comes from Flatline. I only got that plugin this week so I'm still figuring out how to use it, so I always use L1+ after it in true peak mode just to make sure I'm not clipping. Also, I use the free Youlean Loudness Meter 2 plugin for LUFS, dynamic range, and true peak, followed by Sonarworks Reference 4(room/speaker calibration) which is always on my master no matter what.
Also, I mostly produce vinyl sample based hip hop instrumentals, kind of similar to the style of beats used by Griselda. I also do basic trap beats from time to time, but I've been finding them kind of boring to produce recently so I've kinda moved on from them.
What are your thoughts on this? Cheers
All that matters is that its -6-10db or what have you, right?
I’ve been watching some videos of Dave Pensado auditioning some clipping plugins on his stereo bus of his mix and it’s a concept I hadn’t touched upon. Been trying it out myself and I like it plenty.
Upon delving further on the subject I’ve found you can clip after your limiter in MASTERING, which also makes perfect sense.
Is it okay / common to do both? Say I use a clipping plug in on my stereo bus for a little extra grit or “oomph”, is it common to bounce my mix like this and send it off to mastering?
Or, say I’m “mastering” my own mixes, is it common to use a clipper on the stereo bus of my mix AND after my limiter when mastering?
Whatsup music makers? :)
Here are 2 technique's to try at the mastering stage to quickly add Dynamic and Energy to your music. When used appropriately, these can be a bit of a game-changer!
I've used Fabfilter's Pro Q3 & Pro MB in this demo, though there are other plugs out there that will work.
Hit me up if you have questions or want me to elaborate on these techniques :)
Cheers!
I like to mix with a compressor (usually UAD SSL G) on my master bus. I like the coherency and glue it adds to my mixes, and they usually translate a little better when I work in this way. I'm not talking anything major, usually 2-3dB gain reduction. I'm careful with my gain staging and make sure I'm not hitting it too hard. Occasionally I'll allow some of the dry signal through and squash it a bit harder for some parallel compression to add weight to the mix.
Now, obviously I could just turn this plugin off before I render my mix and send it off to be mastered but I'm considering investing in a hardware bus compressor (something like the Warm Audio bus comp). It's probably not worth it if I'm just going to turn it off before sending my mixes off and nobody will ever hear it!
So... How much of an issue is a few dB compression on the overall mix before you receive it?
Thanks in advance.
Is there anything you should leave on your mixbus when sending a mix off to mastering?
Obviously if you have a limiter/maximizer or any monitoring plugins (ex: Waves NX), those need to go. But should I just remove everything?
My mixbus always has these things: SSL Comp, VEQ, J37 Tape
And those are usually there from the beginning and I mix into them.
Sometimes I have..
Neutron 3 Sculptor, ReaEQ, Greg Wells Mixcentric, Ozone 9
So I'm a mix engineer, I've been mixing for money for about 6 years now, but it's sort of a weird situation. I never worked in a pro studio, just built up to a nice home studio, and I'm able to make a living from it by having a high volume of work and a low overhead. But I work almost exclusively with pretty low budget artists who can't afford to hire a seperate mastering engineer.
Now, I'm working with a few artists who do have that budget, but it's left me realizing I have a serious gap in knowledge that I need some advice about. I know this is a controversial practice, but I've always mixed into master bus limiting and compression. I started doing it a long time ago because I would get frustrated that I'd finish mixing and go to put on a limiter and it suddenly sounded very different. So now I just mix into it the whole time, and it's worked well for me so far.
My issue now is, as dumb as this sounds, I've realized I have no idea what a good mix is supposed to sound like without any limiting. I'm now a bit less confident in my mix when I send it off to mastering because it obviously sounds very different than how I mixed it.
Any advice? Let's assume for the sake of discussion that I am decently skilled and my mixes sound good with the method that I use, how safe am I just taking off the limiter and calling it good?
In the other words, do you do the final mixdown of your songs while listening to it with compression etc on the master bus?
When you listen to a render of your track in the car, on shitty headphones, on your iPad, are you using the dry render or the master mock-up?
My computer has an i7 with 64gb ram. I can do a big full mix with a ton of plugins and everything runs pretty great. Until I start throwing stuff on my master. My shit bogs down hard. Does anyone else have this problem when you get to this point. I run Ozone 7, linmb, and A.O.M. invisible limiter for mastering. Doesn't seem too demanding, but my computer just ain't having it. I end up having to render drums, guitars, bass, and vocals into their own thing and even then if I leave one instrument unrendered to work on it, it still it gets a little sketchy.
hey nerds
i am wondering whether the veteran mix engineers in the group would recommend using a limiter on the master bus? At the moment I mix into a bus compressor and use a few other processes (multiband, eq, saturation) etc. to work on the dynamic range, tonal balance, width etc, and usually my track is peaking between -6 and -3. considering that the mastering engineer will be using a/some limiters to bring up overall loudness of the track, to me it makes sense to leave this headroom and let the mastering engineer do the limiting. but is this good practise in peoples opinion?
i know the limiter will change the sound somewhat so it could be useful to anticipate this?
any thoughts or suggestions would be great
thanks
I really like the sound of the saturation plugin on the master bus, but the last time I got a song professionally mastered the engineer was very specific to have no master bus compression. I guess I'm not entirely clear if distortion strictly equals compression...
I'm new to protools but like it a lot - I'm at the point in my project (acoutsic americana with bass and drums) where I'm ready to do the mixes which I will send out for mastering. I've noticed that with a submix you can put mastering effects on the mix which make it sound better - but I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't do that at this stage - I should save that for mastering. I was interested to see if there are any rules or opinions about that?
Thanks in advance!
I'm just curious as to if there is any sonic difference between these two processes. I could use my mastering chain on the master bus in my project, or I could take the usual method of bouncing out a waveform and applying my mastering on that.
Is there anything happening to the audio once its bounced into a single file? I think I can hear a difference between listening on my DAW and listening to a bounced wav file, but that just might be my tired ears
This is what I have on the final bus/channel right now as I'm finishing a master of a song, I'm curious as to what other people use for mastering, what is the last thing you usually use to check if things are going well or if you have to make global changes?
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I'm posting this hoping to learn something or to help someone, if you could contribute screenshots like I did, that would be awesome! If you can, also, please explain your reasoning for doing things the way you do, I'm really curious!
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I use an EQ right before the final limiting to fix any problem frequencies that I might have missed. Limiting is usually easy to do, but I may change the amount if I make a big EQ change, usually I don't go over the top with it, just bringing it to Pro standards without any saturation or distortion, I usually let -0.10DB overall to avoid clipping. An environment simulator is useful, if, like me, you're using a headphone to mix, also useful to figure out if some frequency will have a problem on other devices, don't exclude testing on those devices if you can tho, no simulation beats the real thing, then an EQ (FL Parametric EQ) that has a spectral monitor into it, I don't EQ anything with it I just use it to see if there is a problem, sometimes you just can't hear a problem and being able to actually see what frequencies are in use helps a lot, then 3 limiters at 30%, 50% and 70%, I'm not really limiting anything here (to be clear) I'm just turning the volume (gain) down, without any changes to the dynamics so I can hear problem frequencies at different audio levels, if I can clearly distinguish every instruments and the vocals at 30% without anything jumping on me, that is usually a sign that things are going well!
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To be absolutely clear, this is not the full FX chain, this is just what I have on the final bus/channel, for the final tweaks and limiting, other things like multi-band compressors, stereo imaging, harmonic exciter... etc will go before this
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So I showed you mine, now show me yours :D
Logic user here fyi.
So, I've read and digested tons of info about mastering ones own tunes over the last several months. I've read tutorials, interviews with producers, watched videos, etc, etc. Some are in the camp that mastering should be done by another set of ears after a quality mix has been achieved (mastering should accentuate an already solid mix...it should not change the tune drastically.) Others master as they go, applying the their effects chain on the master bus from the beginning...they slap on the Waves L2, or their PSP Vintage Warmer, various other tube saturators, multi presses, limiters, etc, etc.
The effects chain I've been using looks like this:
- Compressor
- Gain utility (more on this in a second)
- Multi Press
- Adaptive Limiter
- Meter
My friend actually developed this chain, but I'm leary about what's actually going on. He sets the gain on the gain utility to -16dbs.
His multi press is a 4 band...seems to be a tweaked preset for a fairly hard compressor.
The adaptive limiter's Input scale is turned up +9.8db and the Gain is raised here about 11db.
Any thoughts on this chain? I would really like to know why he chose to turn the gain down at the start of the chain, only to crank it back up at the limiter stage...anyone else do something similar? It seems to achieve loudness, but I'm worried that things are simply being squashed.
**Note: I'm primarily interested in electronic/dance music...I understand mastering/mixing in different genres maybe require different tools or techniques to achieve your sound.
***Example: Link - - Sound too squashed???
I feel like if I don't put a glue compressor on my master, it lacks coherence. Initially, I wanted to add glue compressor on all of my mix busses (intro, drop, drums, atmosphere, fx, voxals, etc.), which does work beautifuly for the current bus, but not for the overall result when all combined together. Is it ok to put glue compressor on the master? How common is that?
Also, I'm not too sure if I should put it before applying any effect chain on my mix busses, or after. If I have an EQ, a saturator, and a limiter, should I place it before or after the EQ and saturator?
Finally, I'm also wondering if I should use the glue compressor as I'm mixing or before or only after I'm done with writing, balancing, EQing etc. ?
Thanks.
So I hear that people sometimes like to use 2 limiters in their mastering stage - one for keeping the dynamics stable, and the other for maximising...but what about using a Soft Clipper before the maximiser to level dynamics rather than the first limiter? Is this common? This is in the context of a trap/drill mix by the way, so the first limiter can tend to take away kick's low end.
I've read that release times should correlate/sync with the tempo of the song. For example, slower songs should have longer release times on the master bus. So if i have a song that goes from a ballad to an up-tempo (80bpm -> 180bpm), do i need to go in and automate these release time settings?
So, some of the drum samples I'm working with sound kinda blah. So, I was sending the kick, snare and bass to a drum bus. Then compressing. Then duplicating and doing different compression and saturation and blending. I don't want the original kick, snare and bass tracks going into the Master track. But I do want the hi hats and Toms to. How can I have just the drum bus stuff going into the Master, yet not having those original elements I didn't want going in. I watched a video Kenny did awhile back about it. But I either am forgetting a step, or just remembered wrong. Any help?
Sorry if this is a beginner question, I've never seen any posts about it before. And I know the answer is probably "do what sounds best", but for now, I'm just asking whether this is common practice or not.
I was thinking about how to achieve fullness of sound and getting tracks (specifically live instrument tracks, in my case, the only synths I use regularly are drum VSTs) to sound together and cohesive instead of sounding far apart. I know people credit compressors as being the tool to use for mix glue, but I was thinking: back in the day (as far as I understand, I wouldn't know from experience lol), bands used to go record songs all mic'd up in the same room, and I wonder if the bleed over of sound into other mics (for instance, the drums bleeding over into the guitarist's mic), I wonder if that helped with the togetherness of the tracks.
To emulate that with digital software, I was thinking that maybe if I put reverb on a bus instead of individual tracks, or even on the master bus, if that would help make it sound like all the instruments are in the same room, instead of sounding like individual tracks just being played at the same time.
Or, similar to compression, is it better to put a little bit of reverb on the tracks, then the bus, then the master bus, and spread out the effect?
I fully intend to play around with it myself and see if I like the sound or not, but I'm just wondering for now if this is normal, does anyone have any experience with this, will it actually ruin my track for some reason, etc? Like, are there problems I'm not foreseeing that other people already know about, or am I late to the party on this one, or whatever?
I hope I've formed a coherent question lol. Thanks in advance!
