Mastering Software

dsealer

New member
I'd be interested in how you master your song and what equipment or software you use. I'm not real good with a lot of this stuff so if you'd let me know how easy or detailed it is to use that would be great. I'm guessing this question has been asked many times so if there is a file or folder that will provide some answers I'll use I.

Thanks,
Don.....
 
I use Samplitude Pro. But that's the easy part of the question. Gear-wise is on the website (linked below, in theory).

Otherwise, it's literally a decades-long journey.

Other-otherwise, I'm not sure I even understand what you're looking for.
 
The answer to this question in large part depends on what the mixes need. Mastering other people's mixes is a different procedure for me than working on my own material. My own mixes come out of the DAW nearly done, mastering is just a polishing stage at most. Other mixes can vary from great to requiring serious work, especially regarding needing numerous EQ adjustments. Ideally those changes would be done back at the mixing level but we don't always have that option.

Other-other otherwise, as John says, there's quite a bit to cover in this topic. Have you watched any Youtube videos on mastering or read any of the numerous online tutorials?

My particular mastering chain involves only a few elements but I can add many more, like channel/stereo image control, etc as needed. In order from beginning to end of chain what I almost always apply:

EQ (30 band graphic) --> [insert random stereo manipulation tool here] --> mild compression (soft knee)* --> limiter (hard, fast attack)**

* I vary which compressor I use here depending on how much warmth I want to add.

** I like to use the L3 multiband compression from Waves for my very final step, as this allows me to get the overall levels where I want without disrupting the sound of the mix, as well as optional prioritization of bands I might want to have precedence in the compressor's algorithm. If it's a heavier track I may prioritize the frequencies below 100hz to preserve the bass/drum thump. I've been using this tool for years and it's almost enough by itself.

The most important things to consider that take time and money: training your ears, quality of the playback equipment/environment, and lots of practice. I used to think "mastering" was snake oil until I purchased equipment capable of hearing the fine details I was missing or hyping without realizing it.
 
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Us home-recording types that do what I call "pseudo-mastering" probably use software like Izotope's Ozone or IK Multimedia's T-RackS, to name a couple. I use Ozone (old version 5) and have found it's useful for what I do, and I've learned a lot by spending time understanding how the different pieces (multi-pressor, limiter, dither, exciter, et al) work, and creating my own presets for the stuff I do most often.

But, as others have said, mastering is something else, and for "polishing" up your home stuff, I honestly think you can probably get by with a few stock plugins on the master bus these days, to make things sound a bit more finished. (Success or failure depends on how well your room works, TBH.)

Doing a professional job on a bunch of disparate tracks, perhaps recorded with different equipment at different times and places, like what I've heard a friend do, can be a pretty massive (;)) undertaking, and his "room" probably cost half what my house did, so I don't pretend what I do is anything like that.

I'll suggest spending time watching videos, maybe anything specific to "mastering in [insert your DAW]" and see if you see some common thread there before buying software. Good luck.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I understand that tracks need to be mixed correctly, and I'm satisfied with the individual tracks. When I listen to them in my studio they sound good. Each instrument and vocal was recorded well, no distortion or clipping and plenty of headroom. However when I listen to them in my car or on my stereo system they don't sound as good. First they aren't near as loud as commercially produced songs and they don't have the "brightness" that those tracks do. So I was hoping to find something I could use to get my music to a more professional equivalency. I know that I don't have the equipment or expertise that others have but there should be some plugin or component that could get me there.
Thanks again,
Don.....
 
I echo most of what's been said above. But my first point would be that I don't use "mastering" sopftware as such.
I use ordinary plug ins in a specific chain, similar to Pinky's.
Mine goes Gain - EQ (cuts only) - Stereo effects (seldom use this) - Compression - EQ (boosts only) - Gain (to compensate/accentuate changes made) - Limiting.
I Eq boosts after the compression because I don't want the compressor reacting to eq changes which can change the character of the compression.
I actually just rrealised that usually my chain is all Fab filter. ProQ2 for EQ, a compressor, usually Pro MB, and Pro L2 for limiting.
Oh, and one last thought. I HATE home mastering. Why? Cos it ain't easy.
 
I just used a compressor in Cubase 7, EQ, and a free plug called Loudmax, like a limiter. The secret to using these cheap tools is in knowing how to use them. Secondly if they aren't transparent I don't use them. For example Loudmax is surprisingly unobtrusive. But the key for me is I do not use anything at the master output as an audible effect. The listener should not be able to tell. Also I never apply a standard program across the board. I master each song to its need.
 
I pretty much use EQ (for small adjustments of the mix) and a limiter to get the sound pushed up. Since I have the tracks, larger adjustments are made at the track level.

But I must be honest, my stuff still doesn't get as nice a sound as what many on the board seem to get. Since I created the song, mixed, etc. by the time I get to finalizing (I won't call it mastering), I am too close to really do the job correctly. But I do it for fun and so I don't get too obsessed with it.
 
Interestiung. When I talk about mastering, I'm not talking about what I place on the master bus of a mix. I'm talking about howe I treat the mix AFTER it has been rednered down to a stereo track.
 
Interestiung. When I talk about mastering, I'm not talking about what I place on the master bus of a mix. I'm talking about howe I treat the mix AFTER it has been rednered down to a stereo track.
Generally that's what a "mastering engineer" does, but if I'm (i.e., the home recording mix guy) doing it, I just create an Alternative of the project and add Ozone. I have done a bounce-in-place and worked with that, or even bounced out to a non-lossy format and worked with the stereo file, but as I'm really just making a mix sound more finished, it's a lot quicker to do it all in the same project. Invariably I'll go back and tinker with the mix, since I can, so it's really part simplicity and part laziness I suppose.

As I said, I have no delusions about the difference between what I do and what a Mastering Engineer/House would do, so I don't think there's a whole lot of value, save perhaps getting a bit more disciplined in the mix stage, in going the bounce -> new project route. I'm not in training to be a mastering engineer, after all :).
 
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Interestiung. When I talk about mastering, I'm not talking about what I place on the master bus of a mix. I'm talking about howe I treat the mix AFTER it has been rednered down to a stereo track.

I understand the question, I just don't do that.
 
if I'm (i.e., the home recording mix guy) doing it, I just create an Alternative of the project and add Ozone. I have done a bounce-in-place and worked with that, or even bounced out to a non-lossy format and worked with the stereo file, but as I'm really just making a mix sound more finished, it's a lot quicker to do it all in the same project. Invariably I'll go back and tinker with the mix, since I can, so it's really part simplicity and part laziness I suppose.

Ha. As the the home mixing guy, I had NEVER thought of keeping a seperate mix and working within that (in case, down the process, I need to tweak the mix. NICE ONE. My MO from here on in.

---------- Update ----------

I understand the question, I just don't do that.

OK. Fine. Sorry if I made you feel defensive. :)
 
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I downmix and bring that into a new session (template) for mastering. I like having the raw stereo mixes from the DAW, in a few cases I've gone back to older mixes for 'remastering' and that's all they really needed. Better tools + fresh ears = better end result.

But that's not to say using plugins on the master bus won't work, and if you're fine with that final export being the only mix you have of the song then there's no reason to not do that. Alternately, you could export one mix of just the raw stereo with no mastering plugins applied, and one with. Being able to revisit mixes years later is a huge plus, and when I mix/master for others they get both versions so they can have a (true) professional master it later if they want, or if they need to remaster to match levels for an album release.
 
Ha. As the the home mixing guy, I had NEVER thought of keeping a seperate mix and working within that (in case, down the process, I need to tweak the mix. NICE ONE. My MO from here on in.

---------- Update ----------



OK. Fine. Sorry if I made you feel defensive. :)

No, I wasn't offended. I was just explaining that I understood your question and didn't do it that way. I just didn't require a lot of words. :)
 
My favorite tool for getting solid mastering is a download solution on the web and PayPal to pay a competent ME to do it right. :-)
 
[snip]First they aren't near as loud as commercially produced songs and they don't have the "brightness" that those tracks do. So I was hoping to find something I could use to get my music to a more professional equivalency. I know that I don't have the equipment or expertise that others have but there should be some plugin or component that could get me there.

I'm still new to a lot of this, although I've been a musician for over 50 years, so take what follows with a few grains of salt -- one thing I've found which really changes the final product on recordings I've made is to use a program like SoungForge or Audacity, select the entire track and use the built-in "normalize" function set to -16db (I use SoundForge most of the time and they've got a preset called "Music" which uses that setting) and it really improves my recordings (so far mostly live on-site recordings of the community band I direct) where I have purposely kept the recordings levels fairly low since I don't have a recording engineer to constantly monitor them and I don't want clipping in the louder sections. And using the same normalize setting for each resulting song makes the finished group of songs play back at a constant overall level (the quiet sections still sound quiet and the loud sections still sound loud but they are more consistent from song to song).

Normalizing has proven to be a good, quick, easy "mastering" step (mastering is in quotes because I know it's not really mastering in the real world sense) to instantly improve recordings.
 
I'd be interested in how you master your song and what equipment or software you use. I'm not real good with a lot of this stuff so if you'd let me know how easy or detailed it is to use that would be great. I'm guessing this question has been asked many times so if there is a file or folder that will provide some answers I'll use I.

Thanks,
Don.....

I use Steinberg's Wavelab as my main mastering platform... I use some of the plugins included in it, and also various 3rd party plugins... I like the stuff by Izotope, DMG audio, Waves, etc. I also still use hardware for some things - it is by no means outdated - both software and hardware can do amazing things - especially in combination with each other. Great compression, great limiting, and great EQ are a MUST. Other than that, there are various tools and tricks you can use to accomplish things you may need to do. Saturation/distortion can be helpful on occasion... also, multi-band processing, or mid-side techniques can be helpful as well.

If you're going to master, make 100% sure your room and speakers are AWESOME. It's really easy to make the wrong choices if you're not hearing things the right way...
 
Thanks everyone. I've got more questions on this subject. But first I think it's important to detail how I get to the Mastering/Finalizing step.
I record using Reaper, everything dry at this step. Everything about -18db. I then mix the song adjusting volumes and adding effects to the individual tracks as I feel they are necessary. This may include eq, compression, etc. Once individual tracks are mixed I start adjusting the Master Track. This includes eq, compression, limiters, etc. Rarely do I use any kind of reverb or delay etc on the master bus. I then Render/Bounce to a stereo track. This has been how I've done it so far.
Problem:
My tracks after Rendering don't always sound the same, especially Volume/Loudness.
Questions:
Is my recording, mixing and rendering process, as described above, ok?
Would it be better if my Master Track was mixed without any effects or processing, then Rendered/Bounced "dry" to a final stereo track?

I'm sure I'll have other questions but for now this will suffice. I've got 13 songs I want to put on a CD. About 8 of them I consider finished. 4 are almost finished and one is in the early recording stages. I'd like to get them all through the final process, whatever we decide to call that.
Thanks,
Don.....
 
Problem: My tracks after Rendering don't always sound the same, especially Volume/Loudness.
Totally typical. A relatively small percentage of projects that come in here really sound cohesive from the start. It happens - But it's not every day... Kind of at the core of creative part of the mastering process.
Is my recording, mixing and rendering process, as described above, ok?
Would it be better if my Master Track was mixed without any effects or processing, then Rendered/Bounced "dry" to a final stereo track?
I would highly recommend keeping the master track clear except for mild buss compression *if* necessary and *if* it actually serves the mix.

When mixing, do what serves the mix. Later on, when compiling for the album, line 'em all up and do what serves the project as a whole.
 
When I setup my Master Track, I do it dry, with maybe little compression "if" needed correct ? What would the volume level look like on the Master Track?
Thank,
Don.....
 
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