Mastering Newbie Question

D

drbabbers

New member
All,

I am new to the world of mastering and have a very basic question.

My question is, when I apply the mastering plugin of my choice, should I only apply this to the MASTER track. This seems like a silly question, but I don't know the answer! :)

The point is to master the whole track, so I presume I am right?!

Thanks for the help!
D
 
Technically, it depends on your workflow... You're obviously working on the complete object but where you apply processing is dependent on what you're trying to accomplish.

I don't have anything engaged on my master buss - Even when I'm working ITB.
 
I think he's asking do you apply mastering processes to individual tracks or the finished stereo mix.
Granted, if you have the raw mix to work with, you're going to tweak the tracks before you tweak the whole stereo mix...but generally speaking, most mastering happens to finished mixes....at least that's what I was agreeing to.
 
Probably easier to explain this in steps.

I have recorded my tracks into my DAW
I have mixed down and am happy to proceed
I apply the desired mastering VST to the MASTER track within my DAW
I render the song to WAV format

Or do I render the track to WAV format and THEN apply mastering?

Thanks.
D
 
drbabbers said:
Probably easier to explain this in steps.

I have recorded my tracks into my DAW
I have mixed down and am happy to proceed
I apply the desired mastering VST to the MASTER track within my DAW
I render the song to WAV format

Or do I render the track to WAV format and THEN apply mastering?

Thanks.
D
Click to expand...

Try rendering to WAV, then apply any mastering.
 
gecko zzed said:
Try rendering to WAV, then apply any mastering.
Click to expand...

Yes. Technically, it's probably the same thing whether you render to WAV first or add whatever mastering plug-ins then render to WAV.

But the advantage to rendering to WAV before mastering is that, this way, you'll always have an un-mastered final mix that you can re-master if you want to.
 
I bounce my finished unprocessed stereo wav out and bring it back in to an entirely new project all by itself for "mastering".
 
RAMI said:
Yes. Technically, it's probably the same thing whether you render to WAV first or add whatever mastering plug-ins then render to WAV.

But the advantage to rendering to WAV before mastering is that, this way, you'll always have an un-mastered final mix that you can re-master if you want to.
Click to expand...

Thanks, was gonna ask that question.
 
mastering is not only about processing
that's first thing,
fresh pair of ears and quality control will be first and crucial - which as you 'master' it yourself - doesn't exist
give it to your mate, and let him listen to it critically - listen his opinion,
maybe mix is great and all it need is 1dB reduction on brickwall limiter plus dither
take your mix somewhere else - good hifi shop with big monitors - go and listen on them - make notes
 
drbabbers said:
All,

I am new to the world of mastering and have a very basic question.

My question is, when I apply the mastering plugin of my choice, should I only apply this to the MASTER track. This seems like a silly question, but I don't know the answer! :)

The point is to master the whole track, so I presume I am right?!

Thanks for the help!
D
Click to expand...
If you are using plug-ins then you can add your plug-ins to either the stereo track or the stereo output.

G
 
Greg_L said:
I bounce my finished unprocessed stereo wav out and bring it back in to an entirely new project all by itself for "mastering".
Click to expand...

That's the way Greg. I do this also. Keeping Mastering separate from Mixing is a good idea.
 
Red Mastering said:
take your mix somewhere else - good hifi shop with big monitors - go and listen on them - make notes
Click to expand...
I always think it is a good idea to listen to your Mixes on a number of systems you are familiar with rather than new systems youa re not familiar with. This means you know what the low end should do, you know how the high end should sound.
Also playing commercial Mixes through systems you are familiar with can make you even more familiar with your systems.

G
 
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