sjoko2
New member
In recent threads I have often encountered questions and opinions on things like mastering, getting “radio level” (whatever that might mean) etc. As a result I thought I’d write a post for “homers” on, well, mainly on the basics of getting something to sound good at the right volume levels
In order to come to an objective point of view, I have over the last couple of days spend some time listening to MP3 files, here, on MP3 and on record company websites, in order to listen if there were area’s of common “mistakes”. I also converted some of my tracks to MP3 files, something I had never done before. Three tracks, a rough mix / demo, a mixed track, and a finished, mastered track, so as to get a good comparison.
My observations were that there is an enormous difference in quality and volume on MP3 files presented, as well as some very noisy tracks. Quality is to be expected, but there is no excuse for excessively noisy or clipping tracks.
I will try to address this in two sections. The first being some tips to get your mix “up-to-the-level”, and the second a brief overview on how I would master a track. As far as the latter is concerned, please note that there are many ways; each engineer has their own way of doing things and their own favorite tools to use. Please don’t come back to me and say; “Alright for you to say, I haven’t got those tools”, that’s not why I write it; it is to give you a better idea. Most important – if you get the first section right, you’re 90% there.
Tracking
I’ll use drums as an example. The most common mistake “homers” seem to make is getting a good balance on their monitors, and then record that to tape / disk. Wrong! Your balance should be for your monitors only. Look at each individual channel as a separate project. Start with your kick, and make it sound right. Take your time! If you record at home, it does not matter, you don’t pay studio time! If it takes you a week of experimenting with microphone placements, tuning, pillows etc., who cares? Don’t stop until you are happy with the results.
When you have the sound you want on every single channel, take time to evaluate the complete kit’s sound, and make adjustments to ensure all tracks together sound as a complete instrument, without for instance one tom resonating in the exact frequency of another. Make adjustments accordingly, until you are happy with the result.
Time to record. Record each channel to the maximum level. Don’t clip out on it, don’t overdo it, make sure you leave room for dynamics, but aim for a level which hovers just below 0dB.
Do that with all your tracks, and you will have the basics right to start a mix.
Metering
How can you tell you are at the right levels when you only have tiny little meters? Metering is very important. Unfortunately only high-end equipment seems to have accurate, large metering. If it had large meters, it would be a lot more expensive.
But, there are cheap solutions. If you work on an analogue board, go to an army surplus place, or even radio shack, buy some meters cheap, and put them on the left and right bus of your console. A little bit of wiring, a couple of bucks, and you’ll be forever grateful you did it. If you work on a DAW, get some metering software. There are cheap ones and expensive ones; everything is better than none at all. (I use Spectrafoo software).
Mixing
Having finished tracking, now you come to the point where you will start to “set-out” your mix. In an ideal scenario, which never ever happens, you would have all your faders, including your masters, at 0dB. Your objective is to turn out a mix with 0dB levels. Obviously you cannot do that, but always keep in mind that it is the ideal world objective.
What happens if you loose track of all the above?
First of all you have to realize that your equipment is designed for optimum performance up to 0dB. If you tracked something at a low level and you have to push that track way up in the mix, you will introduce noise with it. You might be able to live with it on one track (not acceptable as far as I’m concerned), but 2, 3 or more tracks? A LOT of noise.
Second thing you could do – and many people do – start mixing at a low level on your faders. Then you are happy with your mix, but your overall output levels are well below the “ideal” – near a 0dB level. So, easy solution, you did have your masters on 0dB (if you didn’t, that is where they should have been), and you get the levels up by pushing your masters up. Same results – you introduce a lot of noise, you are exceeding the optimum levels for which your equipment has been designed.
If you have done the basics described above right, you will end up with a good volume, full sounding piece of work. If you ten want to print it to a CD, or convert it to an MP3 file, the same principles go. Get it as close to 0dB as possible, but don’t push it, leave room for dynamics.
Mastering
Some basics, like I said, just from my perspective. Once again, if you get the stuff above right, you’re almost there. I assume that you have mixed your track(s), so now you have a stereo track / file. You feel, after having listened to your mix on many different systems, it needs a bit of a “tweak” here and there. You won’t send it to be mastered, and you don’t have a lot of tools you can do mastering with. So, what to do? I can’t tell you. because I don’t know what type of equipment you have got, and I don’t know what kind of adjustments you want to make. What I can do is tell you how I would go about it with the “right” tools, and perhaps you have a piece of equipment available with which you can at least have a go at something.
1). Like I said, listen to your mix critically, on different systems. Ask people whose opinion you value to listen as well. Write down their comments. When you listen yourself, have a pad and pen ready, write your own feelings / comments down. Compare it to stuff you like, write comments down. Do you see a common thread? Now you’ll know what to do. First thing I do: Listen and make notes.
2). I use a spectrum analyzer. This allows me to see the frequency range of the track. It has “peak hold” facilities, so I can see where a track peaks out of proportion. Cool tool! I use it everywhere, especially for mixing and mastering, also for live gigs, which unfortunately I don’t do a lot anymore.
3). EQ – If for any reason you feel the track lacks something in one frequency, or needs something in another, You’d carefully apply some EQ. I use TC tools for that, which allow me to adjust frequencies in an almost surgical manner. If you don’t have anything like that, put it through 2 channels on a console, and see if you can make an improvement. Keep both, play it on your grannies boom box, in your car etc. See if you are happy with it.
4). Peaks. Something peaks wildly? First of all find out what it is. Is it a certain frequency that pops out? Can you fix it with an EQ? If not, apply some limiting, carefully, not too much. If you have not got access to a limiter, you might have to lower the overall volume of your track …. just enough. If you have access to a compressor, you might be able to squeeze it just a little, again, just enough.
5) Low level. If there is a low at a certain place in a mix, you could use an expander. If you haven’t got that, you’ll have to try and ride faders. If you work on a DAW you’d be able to do it very precisely, if not, hands and practice will do the job. Make sure you don’t overdo it and loose the feel, or dynamics, of the mix.
For 4 and 5 I also use TC, TCMasterX, which has the following features:
3 band expander / compressor / limiter
+12 to –25 dB gain control per band
Adjustable band crossovers
High precision ppm meters with consecutive clippings counter
Dynamics processing curve display per band
Target control per band, for module specific processing adjustment (hi/lo)
Look ahead delay of up to 10 milliseconds
Digital ceiling with an accuracy of up to 0.01dB
Separate L/R input level controls for post-balancing mixes
Soft clipping with analogue emulation for limiter stage
Most important, as you can see from 3, 4 and 5 above; all you are doing is fixing things which should have been addressed in the tracking and mixing stages. Once again, get your tracking and mixing right, which takes time, patience and practice. That way you can avoid most of the things which a mastering engineer has to do, namely ensuring the track is up to a good level, sounding good and faultless.
I hope the above will help someone, have fun!
PS I didn’t address things like compression in detail, Shailat has done an excellent piece on that, I suggest you read it.
In order to come to an objective point of view, I have over the last couple of days spend some time listening to MP3 files, here, on MP3 and on record company websites, in order to listen if there were area’s of common “mistakes”. I also converted some of my tracks to MP3 files, something I had never done before. Three tracks, a rough mix / demo, a mixed track, and a finished, mastered track, so as to get a good comparison.
My observations were that there is an enormous difference in quality and volume on MP3 files presented, as well as some very noisy tracks. Quality is to be expected, but there is no excuse for excessively noisy or clipping tracks.
I will try to address this in two sections. The first being some tips to get your mix “up-to-the-level”, and the second a brief overview on how I would master a track. As far as the latter is concerned, please note that there are many ways; each engineer has their own way of doing things and their own favorite tools to use. Please don’t come back to me and say; “Alright for you to say, I haven’t got those tools”, that’s not why I write it; it is to give you a better idea. Most important – if you get the first section right, you’re 90% there.
Tracking
I’ll use drums as an example. The most common mistake “homers” seem to make is getting a good balance on their monitors, and then record that to tape / disk. Wrong! Your balance should be for your monitors only. Look at each individual channel as a separate project. Start with your kick, and make it sound right. Take your time! If you record at home, it does not matter, you don’t pay studio time! If it takes you a week of experimenting with microphone placements, tuning, pillows etc., who cares? Don’t stop until you are happy with the results.
When you have the sound you want on every single channel, take time to evaluate the complete kit’s sound, and make adjustments to ensure all tracks together sound as a complete instrument, without for instance one tom resonating in the exact frequency of another. Make adjustments accordingly, until you are happy with the result.
Time to record. Record each channel to the maximum level. Don’t clip out on it, don’t overdo it, make sure you leave room for dynamics, but aim for a level which hovers just below 0dB.
Do that with all your tracks, and you will have the basics right to start a mix.
Metering
How can you tell you are at the right levels when you only have tiny little meters? Metering is very important. Unfortunately only high-end equipment seems to have accurate, large metering. If it had large meters, it would be a lot more expensive.
But, there are cheap solutions. If you work on an analogue board, go to an army surplus place, or even radio shack, buy some meters cheap, and put them on the left and right bus of your console. A little bit of wiring, a couple of bucks, and you’ll be forever grateful you did it. If you work on a DAW, get some metering software. There are cheap ones and expensive ones; everything is better than none at all. (I use Spectrafoo software).
Mixing
Having finished tracking, now you come to the point where you will start to “set-out” your mix. In an ideal scenario, which never ever happens, you would have all your faders, including your masters, at 0dB. Your objective is to turn out a mix with 0dB levels. Obviously you cannot do that, but always keep in mind that it is the ideal world objective.
What happens if you loose track of all the above?
First of all you have to realize that your equipment is designed for optimum performance up to 0dB. If you tracked something at a low level and you have to push that track way up in the mix, you will introduce noise with it. You might be able to live with it on one track (not acceptable as far as I’m concerned), but 2, 3 or more tracks? A LOT of noise.
Second thing you could do – and many people do – start mixing at a low level on your faders. Then you are happy with your mix, but your overall output levels are well below the “ideal” – near a 0dB level. So, easy solution, you did have your masters on 0dB (if you didn’t, that is where they should have been), and you get the levels up by pushing your masters up. Same results – you introduce a lot of noise, you are exceeding the optimum levels for which your equipment has been designed.
If you have done the basics described above right, you will end up with a good volume, full sounding piece of work. If you ten want to print it to a CD, or convert it to an MP3 file, the same principles go. Get it as close to 0dB as possible, but don’t push it, leave room for dynamics.
Mastering
Some basics, like I said, just from my perspective. Once again, if you get the stuff above right, you’re almost there. I assume that you have mixed your track(s), so now you have a stereo track / file. You feel, after having listened to your mix on many different systems, it needs a bit of a “tweak” here and there. You won’t send it to be mastered, and you don’t have a lot of tools you can do mastering with. So, what to do? I can’t tell you. because I don’t know what type of equipment you have got, and I don’t know what kind of adjustments you want to make. What I can do is tell you how I would go about it with the “right” tools, and perhaps you have a piece of equipment available with which you can at least have a go at something.
1). Like I said, listen to your mix critically, on different systems. Ask people whose opinion you value to listen as well. Write down their comments. When you listen yourself, have a pad and pen ready, write your own feelings / comments down. Compare it to stuff you like, write comments down. Do you see a common thread? Now you’ll know what to do. First thing I do: Listen and make notes.
2). I use a spectrum analyzer. This allows me to see the frequency range of the track. It has “peak hold” facilities, so I can see where a track peaks out of proportion. Cool tool! I use it everywhere, especially for mixing and mastering, also for live gigs, which unfortunately I don’t do a lot anymore.
3). EQ – If for any reason you feel the track lacks something in one frequency, or needs something in another, You’d carefully apply some EQ. I use TC tools for that, which allow me to adjust frequencies in an almost surgical manner. If you don’t have anything like that, put it through 2 channels on a console, and see if you can make an improvement. Keep both, play it on your grannies boom box, in your car etc. See if you are happy with it.
4). Peaks. Something peaks wildly? First of all find out what it is. Is it a certain frequency that pops out? Can you fix it with an EQ? If not, apply some limiting, carefully, not too much. If you have not got access to a limiter, you might have to lower the overall volume of your track …. just enough. If you have access to a compressor, you might be able to squeeze it just a little, again, just enough.
5) Low level. If there is a low at a certain place in a mix, you could use an expander. If you haven’t got that, you’ll have to try and ride faders. If you work on a DAW you’d be able to do it very precisely, if not, hands and practice will do the job. Make sure you don’t overdo it and loose the feel, or dynamics, of the mix.
For 4 and 5 I also use TC, TCMasterX, which has the following features:
3 band expander / compressor / limiter
+12 to –25 dB gain control per band
Adjustable band crossovers
High precision ppm meters with consecutive clippings counter
Dynamics processing curve display per band
Target control per band, for module specific processing adjustment (hi/lo)
Look ahead delay of up to 10 milliseconds
Digital ceiling with an accuracy of up to 0.01dB
Separate L/R input level controls for post-balancing mixes
Soft clipping with analogue emulation for limiter stage
Most important, as you can see from 3, 4 and 5 above; all you are doing is fixing things which should have been addressed in the tracking and mixing stages. Once again, get your tracking and mixing right, which takes time, patience and practice. That way you can avoid most of the things which a mastering engineer has to do, namely ensuring the track is up to a good level, sounding good and faultless.
I hope the above will help someone, have fun!
PS I didn’t address things like compression in detail, Shailat has done an excellent piece on that, I suggest you read it.
) It bolis down to guess work and experimentation, but we have time to do that don't we?
