mastering tips?

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skuthepoo

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hey everyone, this is my first 'mastering' thread, so please be gentle!! (i just read some other threads where people get torn apart)

ive been recording and mixing music now for nearly 10 years (the latter 6 years are the ones that mainly count) and have worked on countless projects. I am a mixing engineer at heart, and i have in the past 5 years or so started learning how to master.

i understand that it is difficult to master something that you yourself have mixed, due to the ammount of times you have listened to the track. a second pair of ears is always good, but i cant afford that second pair of ears.

in my mastering, i have had some results im extremely proud of, but i dont truely understand how i came to that place. i refer back to these masters and wonder how i did it.

ANYWAY, on to why i posted. in the last 2 or 3 years ive been doing a LOT of mastering of my own stuff, and some others. i compare my final masters to a playlist i have made of my favourite sounding music that i would love the stuff i produce to sound as good as. i use mainly ik-multimedia plug-ins as my mastering gear and i master in logic pro8. in my mixes, i tend to keep drums high, as thats how i like it. but when i come to limiting the track to get it up to level, after i have applied the effects to the output stage i feel necessary, the drums almost seem to disappear.

i have been wondering whether this is to do with my limiter plug-in, or whatever, but i really dont know. no matter what i use at the limiting stage, my mix always seems to flatten out and loose everything it stood for pre-master. and when i listen to the pro masters i love, their stuff seems to breathe, where mine seems crushed and flattened and sometimes lifeless.

i will post a track ive been working on the past few years in its unmastered form, and its mastered form and i would like to know if you can all tell me you understand what i mean, or even give me some tips?


also, ive been told by an uncle who owns a mix/master facility in spain that my final maters still clip, despite it never telling me so in Logic pro, or even wave-burner. says its something to do with the limiter i use (ik-multimedia T-Racks Classic Clipper)

thanks guys

link:
Mastering Test by thenewguy on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

(having said everything i did previously, im actually pretty happy with this master version)

ps, other works of mine can be viewed at:
Portfolio (the top left video in the youtube section is the master i would consider the best)
 
You need the mastering crew to give you the answers (not me) but I do notice the mastered track is louder and seems pretty clear to me - something I would say is good.
 
skuthepoo said:
ANYWAY, on to why i posted. in the last 2 or 3 years ive been doing a LOT of mastering of my own stuff, and some others. i compare my final masters to a playlist i have made of my favourite sounding music that i would love the stuff i produce to sound as good as. i use mainly ik-multimedia plug-ins as my mastering gear and i master in logic pro8. in my mixes, i tend to keep drums high, as thats how i like it. but when i come to limiting the track to get it up to level, after i have applied the effects to the output stage i feel necessary, the drums almost seem to disappear.

i have been wondering whether this is to do with my limiter plug-in, or whatever, but i really dont know. no matter what i use at the limiting stage, my mix always seems to flatten out and loose everything it stood for pre-master. and when i listen to the pro masters i love, their stuff seems to breathe, where mine seems crushed and flattened and sometimes lifeless.
Click to expand...

Being able to go out board with favorable converters and using the gain staging in this process to play in your favor, helps to preserve and sometimes improve the transient info. Also realize that not all limiters are the same. The mixes come in to play as well. The sound quality is number one no matter what the level, and the farther you push it the trickier it is to keep that intact. Getting the eq right, proper monitoring etc.. all the little and not so little stuff adds up. Keep experimenting and you will discover ways to make it work for you... but staying itb is going to be difficult to compete with the big dogs.
 
Just to add to what Tom said, it sounds like you may be trying to do too much with a single limiter. I like to spread the job of dynamic processing across several outboard units and/or plugs-ins. Some react to slower or average dynamics, others "lift" lower level material, some may be there to even-out a loose bottom end, while others may work more as brickwall limiters (or clippers) to remove quick transients.

Each process is dedicated to a specific task.
 
My tip is to use the most accurate monitoring and room you can otherwise
it is complete guesswork.

Compare what you end up with with mastered music of similar genre.

SafeandSound Mastering
audio mastering
online mastering
 
For those of you who don’t know, mastering is the final step in the music production stage. You have recording, editing, mixing, and mastering is last. Honestly, a lot of people can go without it and still have decent sounding production. BUT, mastering when done correctly, can be exactly what’s needed to add that ‘commercial sound’ to your music.
 
The best advice I can give is avoid those one step mastering plugins (TRacks, Ozone).
 
rfahey86 said:
The best advice I can give is avoid those one step mastering plugins (TRacks, Ozone).
Click to expand...

interesting....what makes you dislike T-racks? since writing this post (a lot of items in replies has helped) i realised that i was compressing individual channels, then compressing the busses of those channels, then compressing the master out about 3 million times further, so that was the problem. ive been getting much better results since.

i agree that using the presets in the t-racks stand alone program would be a bad step for one step mastering, but i love the t-racks plugins...or at least i did until i started getting outboard gear! i think a studio with about 10 FMR RNC's would be a force to recon with! i would love a hand full of those!
 
The Art of Recording >> Now the art of Damage Control.
 
The best tip for mastering is, of course, to hire a pro!

A second set of ears is crucial and necessary.

Cheers :)
 
skuthepoo said:
i was compressing individual channels, then compressing the busses of those channels, then compressing the master out about 3 million times further
Click to expand...
Are you sure you know what mastering is? Because what you're describing here is "mixing", not "mastering". There are no "individual channels" in the mastering process.
 
I agree. But in these times it often can't be afforded. I know second set of ears helps though.
 
I've also started mastering my own projects, and I've always felt that when it comes to mastering, it helps to allow your mix to be a little loose and open, and allow the mastering to compress and tighten up that gaps. It's one of those cases where "Better too much than too little" sorta works in the reverse effect. I would think that when it comes to mastering, working with a thin mix is a lot better than working with a muddy mix.
 
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