Question about mastering several songs

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banjo71

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Ok, I saw a good deal on a limiter / maximizer plugin... sale $29, regular $200 from Waves. The L1.

Let's say I've got some compression and eq on the master channel and I have 12 mixes in the project and I want to use the L1 to maximize the sound so that the wave forms peak out at lets say -0.9 dB. Is it typical (I'm new at this, forgive me for any dumb questions) to master one song mix at a time, tweaking the L1 for each song to not hear distortion; or is it more typical to put all the mixes in order and set the L1 so that overall you don't hear any distortion for the total runtime, running one long wav file into your final burning editor?
 
Not sure if I have a real answer for you. I think it will depend on what program you are using to master your songs with. If you're using a DAW like Cubase or Reaper, then you can put the limiter on the master bus and all your two-track mixdowns into one channel and let the limiter do its job. I don't think that's the best approach.

You want to be able to make small tweaks to each song so they all sound nice together. I would imagine if I were to do this in a DAW, I would use automation to change eq, levels and compression for each song to better match them up.

I think the real answer is to use a program more suited for mastering like Wavelab Essential, CD Architect or Soundforge. These three programs will allow you to make tweaks to each song in a much simpler manner than trying to use a DAW. The songs are in a timeline as how you want them on your CD and you can select and edit whatever plugs you want for each song. Plus, they'll write in the PQ codes necessary to make a CD.
I've been using WLE, but have not been happy with it. I have downloaded the CD Architect trial but haven't used it yet. I think CDA has better CD writing capabilities than WLE. Way better. No experience with soundforge.

hth,
 
From what I think I understand about TRUE mastering, it's sort of a 2 step process in the sense that we master songs individually, and then we master the whole collection of songs to sound cohesive.

So, it's not just a matter of throwing a limiter on all the songs and get them peaking at the same level (in your example -.9) because they might not all have the same average level even if the peak level is the same. On top of that, even if they do have the same average level, it doesn't mean they're going to sound like they're all the same level.

So, what I do (and I emphasize that it's what I do, not necessarilly what should be done) is "master" each song individually, getting it to peak at -.2 and average about -12.5db. Then, when I have the 10-15 songs I want to make an album out of, I go through the songs and adjust each one so that they SOUND like they belong together, regardless of what the meters tell me.
 
Mastering them all at once won't work. The L1 isn't like that replaygain program that makes all the songs in your itunes library the exact same volume. Just set the level you want.

The L1 boosts the quieter parts and limits the top. It will make the quieter parts of a song louder as close to the limited level that you set it at.

If you ran all the songs together and all of the volumes are different for each song, they will still be different after the L1. Just louder. You have to maximize the songs one by one. And then retweak them all as a whole when putting the CD together.
 
Big Label Sound said:
You have to maximize the songs one by one. And then retweak them all as a whole when putting the CD together.
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I've been doing it backwards from you. I put all the tracks into a new project and then level out the mixes by ear to get the right levels, and then I limit the project to bring them all up in level.
 
banjo71 said:
Let's say I've got some compression and eq on the master channel and I have 12 mixes in the project and I want to use the L1 to maximize the sound so that the wave forms peak out at lets say -0.9 dB. Is it typical (I'm new at this, forgive me for any dumb questions) to master one song mix at a time, tweaking the L1 for each song to not hear distortion; or is it more typical to put all the mixes in order and set the L1 so that overall you don't hear any distortion for the total runtime, running one long wav file into your final burning editor?
Click to expand...
The goal is to have each song sound it's best on it's own while having continuity between them. Processing the songs individually is common and gives the most flexibility and makes easy for recalls. If you start or working with all the songs in one session you can still save them out individually. Batch processing isn't used so much.
 
banjo71 said:
Ok, I saw a good deal on a limiter / maximizer plugin... sale $29, regular $200 from Waves. The L1.

Let's say I've got some compression and eq on the master channel and I have 12 mixes in the project and I want to use the L1 to maximize the sound so that the wave forms peak out at lets say -0.9 dB. Is it typical (I'm new at this, forgive me for any dumb questions) to master one song mix at a time, tweaking the L1 for each song to not hear distortion; or is it more typical to put all the mixes in order and set the L1 so that overall you don't hear any distortion for the total runtime, running one long wav file into your final burning editor?
Click to expand...

Do you haver any mastering exp banjo? Have you like been in a mastering session with a mastering engineer? f you haven't go check one out aint your area best way for you to get a look at how mastering is actually done all use typing is worthless than seeing the real thing.
 
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I put all the songs in a project, even out volume, eq and dynamics issues track by track, and then place a limiter on the master bus to get the whole project to a good level. If there's a song that doesn't behave with the limiter I may do something special on it to get it in line with the rest.
 
Mastering know how is essential, they guys that do it are Audio Jedi's
 
jaynm26 said:
OLD POST DONT COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cursing:
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You're having trouble following along, huh? This thread is only 2 weeks old. The other one is 9 years old. I'm sure you'll figure out the difference by some time in the middle of the summer......of 2022. :D
 
RAMI said:
You're having trouble following along, huh? This thread is only 2 weeks old. The other one is 9 years old. I'm sure you'll figure out the difference by some time in the middle of the summer......of 2022. :D
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RAMI I have no idea what your talkin about :confused:..I think its cute you remember my quote ID tho and decided to create a post to make a fool out of me..Geeze RAMI! how far are you willing to go????????
 
Hehe...."remember your quote"? You posted it 2 minutes ago. :eek:

Get some sleep. :)
 
RAMI said:
Hehe...."remember your quote"? You posted it 2 minutes ago. :eek:

Get some sleep. :)
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I have know idea what you are talking about RAMI, that previous post escapes me, I know nothing of the sort...:D
 
I think its terrific this guy RAMi can add/change/delete what I say in my post with his quotes its amazing how are your doing that RAMI!???? I knew you were a secret shopper!!!!
 
Chili said:
I'm getting the feeling you two are one in the same... A good mod would do an IP search, but.... Nahhhhh. Keep having your fun. It's entertaining. :D
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Its RAMI he remotes into my system writes stupid, comments and post them in my name! The guys is a pure genius, Im serious no one is more powerful than RAMI Gandalf "White".

Im getting Norton Antivirus :cursing:
 
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