Mastering Tips

[JFreak]

And by the way, for the fast loudness mastering type beginners, take a look at Eventide's Elevate plugin. It has so many tools for the loudness wars that until you really master that plugin you shouldn't even be looking for anything else

[Raphie]

ofcourse if the customer wants it louder you go louder, but the benchmark should be genre specific. i.e. With dubstep or trap, you’ll end up at -5 -6RMS dBFS or around +14LUFS on country it will be a lot lower.
You’re not taking country to -5 :)

[JFreak]

No :)

But the problem is, if the "country" song is mixed at lower volume to 14dB loudness and it sounds awesome, then when mastering and taking it to as loud as it can be while maintaining the dynamics (as in not limiting at all), the customer comes in and says hi that's great but let's have it louder :P

Every.Single.Time.

[Raphie]

Then you suck at gainstaging and mastering :)
The loudness should already be there before hitting the limiter.
High end outboard helps too

[JFreak]

It is either my ears sucking at it or the customer's. Guess who holds the money..?

Just sayin'

[Raphie]

True, who pays decides, simple as that.

[simon.a.billington]

The concern isn't really how high your peaks are hitting, provided they don't go past 0dBFS. it's easy enough to to trim it to get the headroom you need want, the main thing is there is no damage done by hard clipping. By extension of that, you should also be careful of ruining too much of the peaks with brickwall limiting either. Smashing a track into a limiter isn't the best way to increase your level and that's the mistake many make too. Going by the current loudness standard, between -14 to -16dBFS is where you should be targeting the overall energy with peaks hitting -1dbFS at max.

When it comes to processing, less is more. Use a reference track or two to compare it against and just make small moves. If you need to do a lot to it the trouble really is in the mix and in the ideal situation it's best to get it fixed there. Don't feel you have to reach for popular solutions like a tape emulation or an SSL compressor. Don't even feel you have to use Ozone or T-RackS. As long as you have plugins up to the task they can be used.

With it's eq some times you want transparent, sometimes a bit gritty. Generally when it comes to cleaning it up though an eq that allows you to make changes less than 1dB is more ideal.

With compression it helps that they have ratios of at least 1.5:1, though it's not essential and a mix knob can really help if you want to try parallel compression instead.

Anything that does harmonic saturation could potentially be used, so tape isn't always the solution. Waves Vitamin does a nice job, so does Saphira, but then there is the VSM-2 from Vertigo or the SPL Vitalizer. There's lots of choices there, really.

The limiter can be transparent or it can have character. An ISP limiter can really help, but may not be ultra important if you are mixing your peaks to -1dBFS.

What is important with the choice of processing is that it compliments the mix you are trying to master. Even SSL compressors have their limits and shouldn't be used for everything. So I'd say audition a few of each plugin for the job and go with the one you think compliments the mix more.

[Bookerv12]

Originally Posted by Raphie

Yes, I agree. Mastering is not about makings stuff “phat” and “loud” but making it outside world compatible and when talking albums, making them a homogenious experience. Stem mastering is done to adress specific areas that can not be adressed (as thouroughly) in the stereo mix, but again from an agnostic perspective. Mastering is about enhancing the listening experience not about completely overhauling the mixdown.

Now for most independent artists and hobbyist these services are blurring into mixing services making things “phat” but this not traditional mastering. Mastering is about the room and 2nd ear and getting something back that makes the track the best it can be from a technical / genre perspective. Reaching maximum impact on any system

Uuuuugh...
Who said anything about "overhauling a mix down", or "polishing a turd"?
I'm hoping I just read all this wrong, and if I did, I'll buy you a beer...
I just went through a stem project from a really good guy who has sold about 40 million records....You may hate him, but "turd"?
Thanks for everyone's great posts on this subject.
I have to go back to my weird planet where there are no real rules anymore and you can't afford to try to be some kind of silly purist.

Wowza!

[Raphie]

I never used the word “turd” i merely explained, the different ways people interpred “mastering” also no one is withholding you from doing what you want to do. It’s a free world. There is no “audio conduct police” :)

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by simon.a.billington

What is important with the choice of processing is that it compliments the mix you are trying to master. Even SSL compressors have their limits and shouldn't be used for everything. So I'd say audition a few of each plugin for the job and go with the one you think compliments the mix more.

This! And don't forget the bypass button, the answer is usually there