Help please with mastering for newcomers

GearShift

New member
Would someone with a freeware VST mastering plugin please master one of my rock tracks, send it back and tell me which plugin it was and what settings? An export of the settings would be easiest.
 
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Trying to ..estimate' the point here.

A 'Here's where we took it, and how' lesson/example perhaps?
I'm wondering if when you say 'master the track you might be thinking more than just limiter functions?
 
You'd get back the plug in settings for that particular track. Just like in mixing, every track needs different settings. Not sure it would help.
Just as an aside, I've been mastering for years and in my experience, those plug ins which claim to do it all don't.
Most people who master have a chain of plug ins they use.
 
I understand but I would at least know the chain of plugins.

You're telling me that you don't think anyone on this site helps anyone else.
 
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There's a few members that offer training, and other small studios online that also offering one on one training. I think you would benefit from that more than trying to copy someone's homework.

[there's also a shit ton of mastering tutorials on youtube and other places, which would give you the more important how-to knowledge]

As I've slowly come to learn over the years, mastering requires proper equipment as much as it is a skill for how to 'hear' the mix and using the tools to get the mix to realize the potential you hear in your head. You haven't mentioned what type of playback equipment you have. This is a critical component in the process.
 
No............what he's trying to tell you is that every track is going to be mastered differently..............sometimes VERY differently. Lots of people on this site will help you FOR SURE..............but they're not going to help you go off in the wrong direction..................that's for sure. There are lots of MIXING threads and posts here. Take a look at them and you'll start to get an idea as to how to proceed. Stick with it.........and you'll get there.
 
These guys are telling you that a list of decisions is no use unless you know why those decisions were made.

You're way more likely to learn by posting a track and asking for opinions on how to proceed, then trying some of the suggestions yourself.
 
I went into a shop that sold soft furnishings and asked for help finding some curtains. The staff told me that no curtains would fit every window. I asked what curtains they had, saying that I can cut them to fit. The staff told me that no curtains would fit every window. I asked if they wanted to sell me curtains. They said that they did, but that no curtains would fit every window. They told me that lots of shops sold curtains and that I could find books on how to make my own curtains. One of them told me to start at the tablecloths and see where it took me. I told the manager that the staff were unhelpful. She said that they were, as I now knew that no curtains would fit every window and that I would need a different size for each window. I told her what size I needed, but she told me that no curtains would fit every window.
 
I would post the song as you say, but after what I've seen happens, no way. If I wanted a thread full of arguments and half-relevance, I would say so.
 
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The whole analogy is flawed because you didn't go into the shop and ask how to make curtains for your specific window.
If you did, and they handed you details on how they did it, you'd be able to make curtains for that specific window without learning anything about the process, or how to arrive at these conclusions.

Man, don't be this guy. We already had one this week.
 
There is a lot of mystique surrounding mastering, but it does not do anything that is essentially different to the things you do when mixing. While there are some mechanical things about mastering (such as fixing the beginnings and endings of tracks), the most critical thing about mastering is to be able to listen to something, identify what is needed to refine it, and then to know what tool you need to use to achieve it.

The main elements are:
* dealing with artefacts (i.e. trimming the material and fixing things that shouldn't be there, e.g. a click or a pop)
* dealing with the acoustic balance (i.e. dealing with frequencies that are too dominant, or not dominant enough)
* dealing with the dynamics (i.e. working with compression and limiting to draw consistency between a set of tracks, or to increase the presence of an individual track).

Knowing what settings someone has used on a plug-in for a particular track does not tell you anything about the generality of the process. It tells you what specific thing was done to that track, but not the rationale for it.
 
Meh. I won't bother checking this thread any more.

That's very sad. Everyone here is willing to help, indeed, everybody posting on this thread has tried.
You seem to think that knowing settings on a chain of plugs will lead you to be able to master songs other than the specific track.
It won't.
The plug-in settings depend on the track, not on the process.
The plug-in chain depends on the track not the process.

Send someone your song, - send it to me - I'll happily spend a little time mastering it the way I would (and that's another variable) and send it back with the settings and chain.

But it won't show you how to master anything else at all.

PS. Enjoyed your trip to the curtain shop.
 
Teach a man to fish and he'll whack you upside the head with the fishing pole.

Wait, that isn't how it goes...
 
I don't know about you guys, but I loved the curtain story! I don't necessarily see the relevance, but a good story is a good story!
 
I don't know about you guys, but I loved the curtain story! I don't necessarily see the relevance, but a good story is a good story!

Sadly it was intended to be an analogy. At best it was a poorly constructed parable.
 
...and the moral of the story is?

...I told her what size I needed, but she told me that no curtains would fit every window.

But did you wait long enough for anybody to go out of business so they could give you the best looking curtains for free?

I think you may have the wrong forum.

Staff & manager? I'm not sure who that is. It's not me! I've got no time for such..

Perhaps the moral of the story is -- no curtains would fit every window.

p.s. Now I'm curious. How BIG is your window?

I mean, where is this "rock" track??

I need to find out if I have a frame to fit the window before we hang the curtains.
 
I just have someone come in and install new windows to fit the curtains I buy off the shelf. First of all, I don't know anything about window installation and not inclined to learn, and it seems easier because I'm sure not going to learn how to run a sewing a machine. That's women's work!
 
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