how do you master a track?

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SCI

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i was just wondering how you master a track any info would be appreciated. what softaware, hardware etc.. do i need guides.. blah blah blah.

thanx... help me da fuck out.

1........
SCI..........
 
In it's most basic form mastering is just preparing a 2track stereo mixdown file for burning on a CD and just about any 2track editor will work for that (wavelab, soundforge, CoolEditPro, etc).

It usually includes some compresson or limiting, Fade in/out, dithering and EQ if needed.
 
wavelab is good...though it seems that although wavelabe will say the peak level of the song is 0db...it actually is a couple decibels less. After wavelab...i'll load up the wav in t-racks and bring the level up to 0db.
 
After you have your stereo mix recorded to a 1/2" half-track tape, walk in to any mastering house carrying that under your arm and watch the engineers fall to their knees.
 
I just thought of something that i'd never really thought of before... Probably cause im not at the mastering stage on any of my tracks yet.. but.
Compression used on a final mix.
Ive been thinking that i'd use the waves C1 compressor, very lightly, with maybe a ratio of 1.5/1, maybe 2/1, and a threshold of maybe -2dba. I was planning on using the c1 instead of the c4, because i figured the c4 is much more complicated, and to get a good sound out of it you really need a trained ear and to know what your doing, so i figured it would do more bad than good.
I think a little c1, just straight compression on my mix will bring it together a bit and make it sound nicer, its hard to do that incorrectly (oh by the way, attack release for over a whole track? ive just been using the standard in the plugin), but with the C4 it would be easy to mess up my track.

And then with limiting, if i use a limiter, does that mean i should avoid the c1 all together? I know that the limiter is to bring the level of the track up, which i maybe boost 3dba, but then after that would i put a c1 on it?

And i do this in logic audio. So would i bounce to a stereo file from my mix, then load my mix as one file into logic, then on the master buss put the limiter, then bounce it, then reload it again in logic, then put the C1 on the master buss, then bounce AGAIN?
Or can i do both on the master buss at the same time and just bounce once?

Oh and if i put a but of reverb on the whole track would i put it on the buss with the compression and limiter? or seperate? And would you recomend using timeworks reverb, or the trueverb in the waves bundle?

Sorry thats a lot of questions, asked in a sloppy and unorganized manner. I suppose some may say its not worth responding to but i really need your guys's advice. Im sure you all know more than me so any help is help!
thanks!
 
ambi:

you can use a compressor and a limiter at the same time - no need to do two passes - but the limiter should always be last in the chain.

If I was adding reverb to the whole mix, I would put the reverb after the compressor and before the limiter. But that's just the way i like to work - not a law of audio.

Trueverb is primarily used for accurate simulation of real physical spaces (that's it's strength). It's not as "pretty" or musical as Reverb One, Renaissance Reverb, TC MegaReverb, etc. I don't know anything about Timeworks.

Finally, it's probably just as easy to mess up your mix with C1 as it is with C4!
 
ambi said:
Compression used on a final mix.
Ive been thinking that i'd use the waves C1 compressor, very lightly, with maybe a ratio of 1.5/1, maybe 2/1, and a threshold of maybe -2dba
Click to expand...

That's pretty light compression and I doubt it would really do much. Usually when you are compressing just the top end you go with a higher ratio. When you use a low ratio like that you usually use a much lower threshold.

Since you will be using a limiter also you should probably go the low ratio/low threshold route (aproximately 2:1/ -15) and then use the limiter with a very high threshold (-.5 or so) to control the peaks.
 
SCI said:
i was just wondering how you master a track any info would be appreciated. what softaware, hardware etc.. do i need guides.. blah blah blah.

thanx... help me da fuck out.

1........
SCI..........
Click to expand...

I would really recommend the document at iZotope
http://www.izotope.com/products/aud...ozoneguide.html
It not only gives a good overview to beginners but there is also a plug-in called Ozone at that site which is really cool to master with. The document is actually based on using that plug-in but it's cool reguardless. What I'm trying to say though is with the Oozne plug-in and it's guide you are pretty well on your way to mastering.
 
-15 threshold on the c1!!!
thats a lot of compression isn't it!

wait im gonna load up logic and try this out...



hmm, that sounds like a lot of compression. Definatly changes the sound. im using waves c1 compression and L1 ultramaximizer + btw..

now for the compression do i want peak ref or low ref.
low ref is the average over the whole song, and peak is just peaks above the threshold right?

And for attack and release im using the standard 2.00 attack and 50 release.

What do i need to change?

And for the limited, do you mean a low 0.5 out ceiling? with a threshold of about -3?
 
hmm, it does sound better, but i think i either have the threshold a bit too low (maybe i should try -10?) Or i have some other settings wrong like attack/release.

I used the peak ref setting for this one.
maybe its the low ref i need?

I can the compressor working a bit much, the breathing noticable effects the guitar in some parts.

it does however give the drums a punchier sound.

Once you guys read this and i get some more info on how to fine tune my settings, i'll bounce a couple tracks, with and without these mastering effects and see what you think im doing wrong.

thanks!
 
hmm upon further reflextion i decided that a thres of -15 peak compressoin, with a -4.5 thresh limiter with a ceiling of 0.5, actually makes the song sound worse!

Sorry not saying your advice was bad, im sure it would make it worlds better if i actually knew how to do it properly.

BUT, i like the effect the compressoin gave my drums, in my mix they are currently un compressed, so i think i may go in and add comression to the drums with a thresh of -5, and then put some compression over my whole mix at -5 peak, and then give it a limiter with maybe a -2 threshold.

I found that the guitars got all muddled and a lot of the seperation was lost, and it just wasn't as nice to listen to.

BUT the drums were better, so i want to give it that effect.
 
It's pretty difficult to tell someone what their threshold should be without knowing how hot the original material was recorded.

If someone held a gun to my head, I might say that "transparent" compression would be where the gain reduction was peaking at -7dB or less. So you might try raising the threshold until you get GR readings around that value.

If you are losing too much punch, you can also try increasing the attack time a bit to let more transients through.
 
hmm ok thanks, i'll try that.
I just found that before all the seperation i had was lost, everything was squished to the same volume and the guitars were muddled together.

i'll experiment.
 
littledog said:
It's pretty difficult to tell someone what their threshold should be without knowing how hot the original material was recorded.
Click to expand...

You have to hear it, threshold is usually a feel thing, and you feel it with your ears.;)

littledog said:

If someone held a gun to my head, I might say that "transparent" compression would be where the gain reduction was peaking at -7dB or less. So you might try raising the threshold until you get GR readings around that value.
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried "parallel compression? as described by Bob Katz.

littledog said:

If you are losing too much punch, you can also try increasing the attack time a bit to let more transients through.
Click to expand...
You can post eq if you've lost some of that punch from overcompressing.

One of the most important things in mastering is using your ears. Document your findings as you experiment. Typically mastering starts off with fast attacks an medium slow releases and you go from there. If you like the compression on the drums, do it on the 8 buss before you get to the "mastering" portion of your project. You might try several different mixes and experiment with how those are changed by "mastering". Oh, do alot of A-Bing so you keep the source mix as your reference, do print it to disc. Minimize the number of times you process your project, back and forth between 2 different softwares does degrade the integrity of the data.
Remember, the more time you spend mixing it right the less time you spend trying to fix it later.

SoMm
 
Ambi- I haven't used that specific plug in before and everyone is absolutely correct in that you can't really throw out threshold settings (or other settings) without hearing the material.

Just use those settings as a starting point and if it sounds like shit by all means change it.

Another tip- When you use a low threshold try using a slower attack for a more natural sound. When you use a high threshold for peak protection use a faster attack.

When I said -.5 for the limiting I mean to set the threshold so it brickwall limits at -.5 I'm not sure what different settings are in the C1 and C4 so use your ears and use any suggested settings as a guide.
 
littledog said:
It's pretty difficult to tell someone what their threshold should be without knowing how hot the original material was recorded.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. Or even more importantly, how hot of a signal is being sent to the compressor.

If you are losing too much punch, you can also try increasing the attack time a bit to let more transients through.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that I think littledog means decreasing the attack rate to let more transients through. By having a slower attack, you let more transients through.
 
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