Mastering in logic pro 9

[mkv1]

i am new to mastering what plug ings can i use to do mastering what comes with logic pro 9

 

[Massive Master]

You use what the mix tells you to use.

 

[Dags]

Hi there.
Logic's stock linear phase EQ, compressor/multicompressor and adaptive limiter can all be used in conjunction for the purposes of (pseudo)mastering.
The linear phase EQ adds loads of latency so is best used for mastering from stereo mixdowns rather than across a multitrack master out.
Use the standard EQ across multitrack master outs if required.

Dags

 

[derekwash]

You use what the mix tells you to use.

Hi John. Your answer isn't helpful for me. I too, have the same question as I try to figure the whole mastering process out. I like your quote about spoon-feeding newbies. I get that. And I generally follow that line of thinking. I would love to have my passion stoked, and would likely follow anyone who was skilled in stoking it.
However, though I have been digitally recording for nigh on 15 years now, and I have used helpful restraint in my mixing as I record, I truly feel I am just now being able to ask some good questions. I truly want to understand and learn. But there is a plethora of info out there, and a gazillion tools / helps / opinions to choose from. I get lost / overwhelmed when I start searches looking for training / learning opportunities.
So, your answer - "You use what the mix tells you to use" doesn't help me. I don't know what the mix is telling me to use. I just know that there are times I don't like a mix, and I don't know why. In such times I don't know how to "see" my way clear (or better, "hear" my way clear). My question to you and others is: assuming I have done a decent job mixing, what are the things you would always include when you master a song? What are those "never forget to do" kinds of things that you might do on each project?

My personal questions on mastering extend to both, mastering a song, then what does mastering a project of 10 look like?

Anyway. Just my thoughts. Not trying to pick an argument, just trying to explain that there are some of us out here who are simply whiplashed by the amount of info out here, and sometimes we get lost and discouraged in the process because of it.

thanks, Derek

 

[Massive Master]

My question to you and others is: assuming I have done a decent job mixing, what are the things you would always include when you master a song? What are those "never forget to do" kinds of things that you might do on each project?

There's the rub -- There isn't anything specific other than bringing it to its final form before distribution (the true definition of "mastering" anyway). Other than that, it's 100% listening and letting what you hear guide what you do.

Doing that to your own mixes is exceptionally difficult in the first place (which is why you rarely find a mastering guy who will work on his own mixes or a mixing guy who will master his own mixes). When you listen to a mix you're intimately familiar with, you're hearing what's there (something you've heard a half-zillion times already) and your brain is likely filling in a few things also (the way your brain "wants to hear it" is how I usually put it). Any objectivity has left the building long ago.

When I listen to a track here for the first time, I listen to a chunk (5-10 seconds), another chunk, maybe one more chunk, then I shut it off. I set up the "obvious" stuff -- maybe it's 2dB heavy at 200, a few heavy at 400Hz on the side info, needs a cut at 2.5kHz in the mid info, a boost at 10k in the side info, x-amount of gain into whichever compressor it's craving, etc., etc., etc. -- Then I turn it back on and do my best to ignore it (this is where forums come in handy). I let it play "in the background" and see if anything grabs my attention -- Clicks, pops, hiss, video whine (it still happens), sibilance and the like. Trying to stay "detached" from it -- Once I start tapping my feet, my objectivity is waning.

THEN I actually give it a good listen -- Tweak the settings I already set up -- maybe I pushed it too hard, maybe not hard enough, maybe the extra push means another .5dB down on that 2.5kHz cut, maybe it's craving a little more "flavor" or shelving (the BAX is probably there already with high and low cuts, but this is where I'd start messing with the shelving adjustments).

But long story short, 90% of the settings are decided after the first 10-20 seconds. That last 10% are over the next several minutes. If it doesn't follow that sort of plan, there's some other sort of "surgery" necessary (okay, that's normally obvious from the first 10 second chunk).

That's the everyday --

Now on the rare occasion that I'm working on my own mixes (it's incredibly rare, but there are a couple artists I work for with some regularity who insist on it), it's as simple as throwing a limiter across the main buss and controlling the damage (for lack of a better term). If something stands out, I fix it. If it doesn't, I'm done. And I *still* insist on giving them a set without any limiting on the main buss in case they ever want to send it to someone else for mastering (and I usually suggest a few people while I'm at it).

 

[rayc]

Ah, another on the road to plug in mastering.
Step one mix well & leave some head room.
Step two render the mix.
Step three play the rendered mix and listen, in a fairly neutral room, to it.
Step four do what it needs.
Step five if you can't hear what it needs you should take lessons and start over when you can hear.
Serioulsy, you need good hearing, trained ears and knowledge of the gear and what it does.

 

[N.D.V]

nice

 

[mkv1]

thanks every one