How do you master a CD?

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Newbie dude

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Do you take all your songs, put them on one really long track, and give it all the same EQ?
 
Newbie dude said:
Do you take all your songs, put them on one really long track, and give it all the same EQ?
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You send them to an experienced mastering service like Massive Mastering or a host of others that are on this board.

;)
 
Newbie dude said:
So it's not possible to master your own music?
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Not if you are asking this question.

What you would be trying to do is make all the songs sound like they belong together. Most of the time, you would have to apply different EQ to each song so they would all end up with the same type of sound.
 
How do you master a CD?

You beat it and beat it and humiliate it until it's spirit is crushed and it submits to your will!
 
How do you master a CD?
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1) You listen to the mixes.

2) You mentally "visualize" what the mix's potential is one by one.

3) You set up a chain to realize the mental visualization.

4) You tweak it until it's done.

5) Then, you bring the collection of mixes into their final form - Usually a RedBook compliant compact disc.

"5" being the step that can't be compromised, all the rest, steps that are basically more difficult to perform with material you're mentally invested in.
 
While John's post may seem a bit vague or general, it's really the process.

I realize though that it may be difficult to get a handle on if starting out e.g. "visualize the potential of a mix?".

Here are a few things that I might suggest start out.

1. Find a song that is a good reference for what you are trying to master
2. Load that into the workstation that you are mastering your song from in order to compare apples to apples (same converter, same connections, etc.)
3. You will most likely need to lower the volume of the commercial ref at first since it's going to be louder than yours, but start with EQ first and compare the two. It doesn't mean that yours should be EQed the same as the ref, but only as a guide to see if there are elements missing in your master versus a commercially finished product. Once you feel that you are close try dynamic processing.
4. Start with a compressor and try to get a bit more fullness and density to the mix if you fee that it needs it. Go with a low ratio first, low threshold. Listen to the effect of the attack and release settings. Are they dulling the sound of the transients? If so, back off the attack time, is it pumping or not having that much effect on the mix? Try work with the release time. Then adjust the threshold and ratio according to what you feel the mix needs.
5. Once you have the compressor setup, try adding a limiter to help gain overall volume. Usually a threshold of about -2 dbFS should be enough, but it will depend on how consistent the transients are (and usually how good the drummer was during recording).
6. Compare the result with the ref again at the original level, and repeat steps 2-5 as needed.

This is just a basic procedure, there can be much more involved. As nearly everyone recommends read the book from Bob Katz, along with other posts here and on the 'net. Just like playing an instrument, mastering takes practice, keep working at it.
 
On a different level, when you are mastering an entire album, do you guys master each track individually, then lay them next to one another and tweak?

I'm thinking that setting them up as stereo tracks with separate eq/compression on each track would help the continuity...
 
Yareek said:
On a different level, when you are mastering an entire album, do you guys master each track individually, then lay them next to one another and tweak?

I'm thinking that setting them up as stereo tracks with separate eq/compression on each track would help the continuity...
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Absolutely EQ and compress each individually.

They can be setup as one continuous track in the order of the CD or as multiple stereo tracks (that's my approach). Using multiple stereo tracks I can jump from one track to any other other by muting and automate/process them separately as needed. Once I'm done processing I order and edit the tracks.
 
masteringhouse said:
Absolutely EQ and compress each individually.

They can be setup as one continuous track in the order of the CD or as multiple stereo tracks (that's my approach). Using multiple stereo tracks I can jump from one track to any other other by muting and automate/process them separately as needed. Once I'm done processing I order and edit the tracks.
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Cool...that's exactly how I envisioned it in my head.

What about final limiting/dithering? If you were to do this all ITB (I have not outboard gear), would you EQ/Compress/etc each track on its own inserts and put the final limiter and dither on the master buss? I can't see a problem with that so long as the levels are consistent from track to track (i.e. using the limiter actually as a limiter instead of volume maximizing).

Haven't mastered a CD since my old band's project (not that it was a pro job or anything). Actually mastering is what got me out of the stupid Roland VS recorders and into PC DAW work. When I realized my computer was way more powerful and flexible, I sold the VS and started on the PC work. I've been learning a lot more lately, so hopefully my next projects will sound much better!
 
Yareek said:
Cool...that's exactly how I envisioned it in my head.

What about final limiting/dithering? If you were to do this all ITB (I have not outboard gear), would you EQ/Compress/etc each track on its own inserts and put the final limiter and dither on the master buss? I can't see a problem with that so long as the levels are consistent from track to track (i.e. using the limiter actually as a limiter instead of volume maximizing).
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Limiting is another process that should be done on a per song basis. Dithering should be fine on the master buss, unless you plan on editing/fading later. In which case it should be done after the edits/fades.

Personally I bounce to 24 bit, pull these into my CD editing software and dither within that. That way if edits or fades need to be changed I can do it more quickly and easily.
 
masteringhouse said:
Limiting is another process that should be done on a per song basis. Dithering should be fine on the master buss, unless you plan on editing/fading later. In which case it should be done after the edits/fades.

Personally I bounce to 24 bit, pull these into my CD editing software and dither within that. That way if edits or fades need to be changed I can do it more quickly and easily.
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Ah...that makes sense.

So for instance if I'm working in SONAR, I'd do all of my sound editing track to track, include EQ, compression, limiting, fades, etc, then I'd export to a 24 bit stereo track, and dither within a mastering program (I'm looking at CD architect).

Thanks!
 
Yareek said:
Ah...that makes sense.

So for instance if I'm working in SONAR, I'd do all of my sound editing track to track, include EQ, compression, limiting, fades, etc, then I'd export to a 24 bit stereo track, and dither within a mastering program (I'm looking at CD architect).

Thanks!
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I would save the fades and any potential editing for CD Architect. You can then add a dither plugin in CDA.
 
masteringhouse said:
I would save the fades and any potential editing for CD Architect. You can then add a dither plugin in CDA.
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Ah...although I suppose on what kind of fade you're talking about....I generally fade out my tracks during mixdown to avoid noise. Then any reverb tails smooth it out. Crossfades too would have to be done during the track mastering, but final fades could be done at the last level.

One more semi-stupid questions, do you fade in/out all of the tracks, even if they don't have musical content? i.e. there's "silence" between tracks, but you still fade that silence in and out to ensure silence?
 
interestingly enough, Bob Katz in his book recommends not going to total silence since it can make the transition sound strange. presumably you could do this so your fades and cross fades keep a little bit of noise/sound/music/etc... so you have a "perceptual" connection between songs without dropping to complete silence.

I think he called this "ambience recovery" to keep things consistent between tracks - kinda like an audience in a live record, only quieter... :-)
 
speaking of Bob katz's book "Mastering Audio" i HIGHLY recommend it. Great all around book for mastering,tho it does get very complicated in some parts, a very good book i would have to say. P.S. Mastering is WAY more than compressing and raising the volume haha
 
punkorama said:
speaking of Bob katz's book "Mastering Audio" i HIGHLY recommend it. Great all around book for mastering,tho it does get very complicated in some parts, a very good book i would have to say. P.S. Mastering is WAY more than compressing and raising the volume haha
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Yeah it's also about limiting and clipping the hell out of the music :D

You know it's gotten bad when my mom starts hearing the distortion of over-compressed music. Granted it was on my monitors, but hey.

I need to pick up that book...maybe I'll make a run to the local stores and see if it's available.
 
Yareek said:
One more semi-stupid questions, do you fade in/out all of the tracks, even if they don't have musical content? i.e. there's "silence" between tracks, but you still fade that silence in and out to ensure silence?
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Yes, and this is one of the reasons I dither during CD creation. Until you have have the fades "finalized" it doesn't make sense to me to go from 24bit to 16 or dither.
 
gullfo said:
interestingly enough, Bob Katz in his book recommends not going to total silence since it can make the transition sound strange. presumably you could do this so your fades and cross fades keep a little bit of noise/sound/music/etc... so you have a "perceptual" connection between songs without dropping to complete silence.

I think he called this "ambience recovery" to keep things consistent between tracks - kinda like an audience in a live record, only quieter... :-)
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I think you may be confusing some things.
 
masteringhouse said:
Yes, and this is one of the reasons I dither during CD creation. Until you have have the fades "finalized" it doesn't make sense to me to go from 24bit to 16 or dither.
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AAAAHHHHHHHHH....

See I still haven't done anything in 24 bit. But I guess the effects are usually 32 bit or higher, so I really should give that a go.

Mental note: don't mix from 24 bit to 16, upsample back to 24 for mastering, dither back to 16, upsample back to 24 for final cd editing, and dither back to 16.
 
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