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The Problem With Online Mastering Tutorials
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ส.ค. 2024
- The "problem" with mastering tutorials online is that it is very difficult to hear the subtle changes to the audio. Expert mastering tips and techniques are often given without a context and most (great!) tutorials are highly genre dependent. The result - you might not be able to accurately apply the tools and techniques to your own music. My solution to this is a 5 step mastering system that will give you consistent, repeatable results in any genre and using the skills you already have.
My usual long-form content includes many "before and after" audio examples and demonstrations. Learning to listen for these subtle changes takes many examples, lots of time and plenty of practise on your own music. I decided to outline the whole process here instead of wasting time on overly specific audio examples.
Save this video and watch it step by step when you next master your own music.
View this as though you have a friend working with you as you master your own music. You don’t need to watch the whole video and try to remember everything, just take it step by step and you’ll have an amazing master by the end.
0:00 - What's this all about?
1:10 - Step 1 - Error and Phase Check
3:49 - Step 2 - Balance and Tone
8:28 - Step 3 - Loudness Target
10:14 - Step 4 - Dynamic Range Reduction
11:10 - Step 5 - Final Limiting and Dither
13:09 - How To Improve
Notes and Tools Used:
Throughout this video, I use some plugins for the examples. These are only a tiny selection of the possible tools you can use. However, some of the basic tools you need are listed below:
DAW or Audio Editor (They can all do this. Ableton, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Cubase etc)
A dedicated editor such as iZotope RX is useful but not essential.
EQ - Any high-quality EQ with Mid/Side and Left/Right filters. Good options include TDR Slick EQ M, ProQ3 and Ozone Equaliser.
Compressor - A good compressor with as many controls as possible. Ideally controls over knee, peak and RMS release such as the free TDR Kotelnikov. Pro C2is a good premium option etc
Analogue Style EQ - Used for tone shaping, there are hundreds of free and premium options. Ideally with stepped 0.5 or 0.25 dB increments. These make it easier to dial in subtle amounts of processing.
Clipper - A clipper with a “Soft” clipping mode. A free option is Venn clip although it is a little difficult to dial in. A trusted premium option is StandardClip by Sir audio, although I have not used it personally.
Limiter - Ozone Maximiser, Pro L2, Sonnox Oxford Limiter v2, TDR Limiter No6 GE (the new one) are all great options. There are so many to choose from, I prefer a limiter with as many controls as possible.
Transient shaper - A multi-band transient shaper such as BSA Reviver is a great way to bring back some dynamic range and punch to your master.
Loudness Meter - Your limiter might have a built in loudness meter, but I have always trusted the Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (Free or Pro). LUFS are simply a measurement of perceived loudness relative to the dB scale. LUFS are the primary loudness unit used during mastering to asses the average and short term loudness. However, dB True Peak is still used for the absolute loudness ceiling.
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There are enough videos and tutorials out there about about mixing to allow someone to teach themselves that skill. I can't say the same for mastering, though; this is THE single most comprehensive video I've seen on mastering out there. Thank you for taking the time to make this!
@@eroero830 cohm-pree-hen-siv. 1.
complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.
"a comprehensive list of sources"
Not true...
Thnx for the video!
The "problem" with mastering tutorials online is that it is very difficult to hear the subtle changes to the audio. Expert mastering tips and techniques are often given without a context and most (great!) tutorials are highly genre dependent. The result - you might not be able to accurately apply the tools and techniques to your own music. My solution to this is a 5 step mastering system that will give you consistent, repeatable results in any genre and using the skills you already have.
My usual long-form content includes many "before and after" audio examples and demonstrations. Learning to listen for these subtle changes takes many examples, lots of time and plenty of practise on your own music. I decided to outline the whole process here instead of wasting time on overly specific audio examples.
love it when you hear master engineers say "and it really opens up the sound" whilst you can't hear ANYTHING different from the .1dB they added😅🥲
@@AnymMusic This is why I opted to not show lots of before and after demos on TH-cam (as I do in my other long-format mixing and mastering videos). I just don't think they are helpful when trying to get actionable advice like this. I hope this guide helps!
@@inthemix One of the issues is their listening environment. It really does make a difference. Tweaks that would be +/- 1 dB on 8" two-way speakers sitting behind a computer desk become far more precise and less drastic. There's a difference with headphones too because we don't just hear directly through our ears - the sound waves collected by our sinuses and transmitted internally to our ears affect our understanding of what we're hearing (likely why we can handle volume levels on headphones that would have us backing away from speakers).
Until I made the investment, I really didn't understand why there was all the fuss about speakers and rooms - frankly I thought it was gatekeeping. But I had ambitions to be a mastering engineer back then and bought moderately priced audiophile tower speakers (PSBs) and built a room aimed at mastering (no desks or mixers between speakers and ears). Even my wife could easily hear the difference and usually she only cares as long as she can hear the words of the song!
Streaky did a video purported to be like this one but when I watched it it was obviously click bate which was very disappointing. This has been the most practical, straight-to-the-point, relatable, and understandable video I have watched. The quality I would expect from a paid module on the subject. Cheers.
His response on the pinned comment was very on brand for him
@@drinkinouttacups2665The video didn't provide on the description at the introduction and wasn't much help for me in contrast to this video. The method you used was far too generic and lacking in explanation or examples of practical application. There was no example of techniques that could be applied that would be useful going forward that would advance the mastery of mastering and then at the end there was a push of fully paid advanced courses that were well beyond my budget. Same with the fabfilter free setting video. Pushed me to a site to purchase a complete bundle of presets with mo description or list of what you would get for your 90 quid.
Never thought about the last step, comparing the mix before mastering with the mastered one at the same volume. With mastering all sounds much clear and louder, but sometimes the normal mix have details or freqs that you loved while you was making the song, and they get lost at the mastering, but you don't realize because of the loudness. Very helpful video as always 😊
It’s a real eye opener. When I was starting out it really did humble me to hear than many of the benefits were simply increased volume!
I now regularly do ABX tests to be sure I’m not biased.
Back in 2012, I was making my first steps in mastering, for a band of friends: they presented me a test-master they made at a "pro" mastering studio from the area, really satisfied how "good" it was... I made them listen to their track before and after, but setting the test-master at the same average level as the source and their face grew long as it was then obvious that not only the test-master was just louder but their song had lost a lot of punch and brightness in the process. So yes, comparing before and after is essential, and if it doesn't sound better, there might be something to change. 😉
As I have gone through steps to master I have found these things to be true too. It is a reality check to do that last step of comparison. Sometimes after all that time and effort you find yourself back at just about the same place and it really teaches you something important. Volume is key. Everyone turns up songs they really like. So, don’t be fooled by gain. This is a profound lesson.
I’ve been trying to mix and master my own music for about 5 years now. And through this journey I’ve slowly developed more and more mixing skills. And for the past year no matter how much I loved my mix, I hated the final result. Today, thanks to this video my track has been saved. I finally feel for the first time proud enough of something that it’s ready for release to my ears. Might do that soon :)
Thank you!
Michael, all I can say is that you are an incredible teacher. Though I follow many good mixing and mastering TH-cam channels, I have learnt more from your channel by far. Thank you for helping me improve my knowledge and skills in the world of audio recording and mixing 👍
I’m happy to have helped!
Same here.. ❤
Never heard anyone touch on mastering like this that can be applied to basically any genre. This one is definitely going in the archives! Thanks for this brother! 👑🙏🏾
Never? I thought everybody did it...
@pullmyfingerish Yes but clear and easy to understand format. This helped alot.
This is definitely the cleanest and most fleshed out mastering video that I've watched
Thanks for coming back and looking forwards to whatever's next bro!
Your skills, your way of explaining, the examples you give, your honesty are a continuous inspiration.
Thank you so much Michael this is THE best and most comprehensive framework I’ve watched for mastering.
You are a one in a million teacher, all of your time and hard work is immensely appreciated by us.
Very clear, very concise - always to the point. The best youtube advice regarding mixing and mastering. Thank you.
I have watched many of your videos for years, they are all great. This is the first time I have commented, couldn't resist giving your a serious thumbs up for this one. Very comprehensive explantion of the mastering process.
As usual, great work Michael!
Going to try it next time
You could do so many "The problem with ____ tutorials" videos. There's so many that just say stuff like "don't use this plugin on your bass/kicks because it's____", and it's so stupid because many beginners won't know that you're becoming a much better engineer if you just study your tools and how they work.
Dan Worrall recently released a video about how to test your plugins, and how not to test them that somewhat tackles similar issues, and I feel like you can do something similar in regards to mixing and mastering, you're one of the few audio engineering/music production channels on TH-cam that I actually trust.
Great idea, without trying to be too negative this would actually help clear up a lot of misconceptions. I know, technically, there are no "wrong" ways to do things in a creative field, but there are certainly wrong interpretations of what plugins and processing actually do!
@@inthemix Exactly! that's also another reason. Your videos are so pleasant, zero negativity, you don't yell for clicks but you actually treat your audience as intelligent people.
@@ethai1 I just started watching Dans recent video (it's over an hour long so not done yet haha). He brings up so many interesting and funny points!
Thanks as always Michael. You've taught me a lot! Also, Vanity compliment incoming- your hair is just fantastic.
This is one of the best short concise mastering videos I've seen. Thank you for posting.
It’s awesome how simple he makes music feel for confused and discouraged producers. I watch one video and I’m ready to give it another shot.
you are AMAZING thank you so much for spreading your knowledge in such an aesthetically pleasing, informative, wonderful, masterful way!!
Million subs live stream / Q&A party incoming??? Congrats Michael honestly what a milestone you deserve it!
One final tip: if you save your pre-master to 32-bit float (or 64-bit like some daws support) format, there will be no digital clipping as you are importing your file to your mastering project. So you don't have to worry if the pre-master is too loud.
That last tip is pure gold! I will definitely be adding this as a final (hopefully) step in my process. I appreciate your channel, thanks!😊
Haven't watched any mixing/mastering related video that's so clear and plain and to the point, in a long time. Good job.
Learning HOW to learn something is as important as learning the subject itself, so this is a great video.
I want to echo the comment that said . This was an amazing tutorial, among your best work to date. Cheers!
I appreciate your explanation of certain things. I've heard the term "glue" a lot and never had a concrete idea of what people were referring to. I also appreciate the visualizations you provided when discussing the differences between things, like with the clips vs. limiters part.
I'm so glad I bumped into this specific video, it has helped me FINALLY get a grip on the multiple stages of finishing off a track once I'm happy with the writing, recording and arrangement. There is a staggering amount of detail work that goes into it after you're done creating the song you want if you want it to sound the way you intend and this video neatly lays what to think about doing, in what order, and more importantly.... why you do it.
This was really helpful. For some reason I find mastering to be the hardest part of the creation process.
Now *this* is the tutorial we need! tysm
Also congrats on 1 mil subs :)
You are an extremely good teacher! The way you have explained the steps and more importantly the intention behind them is very helpful.
Best content as always. Michael, i think you are the most professional mixing and mastering teacher out there on TH-cam. Really love your content im watching yoi for 4-5 years now and i have learnt a lot from you. Thanks❤❤
I think this is the single most useful video I've ever watched on YT, thank you!!
I'm a noob to music production but man your tutorials are so incredible and easy to understand. keep it up brother
I love this man with my whole heart. He is a true treasure
This was one of the fi st and few channels I'd subbed to when I first started producing.
And hand over heart, I found the material so digestible that when I decided to make the leap into mixing and eventually mastering my own songs, this was one of the first places I'd come to fot an "all in one" tutorial.
The other mastering videos on the channel are exemplary, no question; but yes, the lack of an aio mastering video was glaringly absent to some of us 😂. Thank you.
Definitely very, very useful. Clear and concise. Will be applying these soon enough. Thank you for taking the time to make and share this!
my man coming in clutch with a fantastic video!! appreciate it
bro I was literally getting ready to do my first master and then you drop this 😭 thank you
Great timing. Just load this up side-by-side when you get your project done and you will be on the right track! Of course, add in other tips and techniques you want to try too :)
Great video, i will add that the perception AB plugin for the final step is gold :)
Cheers
Smoothest explanation and slickest hairstyle on TH-cam.
Just noticed the channel is on 1m+ subs, congratulations
I have watched hundreds of videos I had I have watched more than I can count you are the best I've ever seen all of all the people you remind me and speak as though our speaking to myself. You're smart about it you're logical and you keep my thing is keep it simple you are very good😊 my name is William
This is the most clear video about what mastering is about! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
Great video! StandardCLIP from SiR Audio is very good, so much controllability over how the audio is clipped. Highly recommended.
best mastering video ive ever seen, thank you.
Blown away, what can I say. Thanks for your vids and your integrity
In the process of mastering songs atm and this answered a lot of questions I had with the compression techniques.
As a longtime viewer, in the future my suggestion would just be to further expand on the each of these 5 steps in their own videos - obviously a lot of work, but some more context may help advanced users? Thanks for the videos man, always on point.
As he mentioned, going beyond -8 LUFS needs some critical decisions. If you want heavy bass and big dynamic, then you may achieve -6 in short term, but it is not easy to get -8 integrated.
I would aim at like -12 to at most -10 LUFS :D This is how I export audio when sending to someone because otherwise it's just ripping ears off.
This is great!!! I would love to see a step-by-step video where you go deeper into each subject and show the tools in detail for each step. I have Ozone 10 Advanced and saw you're using that, but I'm unfamiliar with all the tools because I just started learning to master.
I'll be watching this video again while taking notes. Great job Michael!!!
Ive kept coming back to this, holy shit it's so dense with details on mastering in the box thank you bro!
Long time no see, great to see you’ve hit 1 mill subs 🎉 congrats!
Thanks! Did you not get notifications for my recent videos?
This was a very short and yet powerful video! Thank you Michael!!...request please...how to mix vocals while into your mix/song...not on a mastered beat..not many of those on the internet.
Been a fan of this content for 3 years now and I've learned a lot from you keep up the good work🔥❤
This tutorial is spot on! You have to give yourself the freedom to experiment. There are a lot of newbies out there who think that you have to follow some sort of routine or series of steps. You said it best: There are no rules! Sometimes, the best solution is to do nothing at all!
I deal remastering of vintage music. For loudness, I like to generally shoot for anywhere between 14-11 LUFS, and I constantly A/B my source. I constantly A/B the source and result while maintaining transparency. When the transparency diminishes, I stop and back of just a decibel or two. There is the crowd that says to just turn up the volume know when listening. We;;, there are cases where that doesn't always work, as in some car environments.
And, I use monitors, never headphones, except when doing restoration detail.
By the way, your hairstyle is very nice, bro. Keep up the good work!
Congrats on 1 million subscribers 🙌
Thank you!
Great video, thank you for sharing. Two things I’d like to point out:
1) soft clipping colors the audio, hard clipping only clips, therefore hard clipping may be more transparent
2) some limiters aren’t always cleanly ducking the audio and might introduce clipping of their own.
1) this confused me with this video!!
Fantastic Video!
So much effort went into each example with the photos being a massive help!
Would love to see a similar video, but in the mixing stages, explaining how to nicely balance a mix, preparing it for the mastering stage 🙌 love it
I appreciate how you’re helping people who are learning this through TH-cam. the tips and tricks are good but a framework is a game changer. 👏
I have to say this video was super helpful, even compared to previous mastering tutorials, having it all laid out in distinct sections which are clearly labelled by purpose and what kind of plugins you're going to be using! Definitely going to be coming back to this video next time I master a track, thank you so much!
I watched a lot of tutorials about mastering but it's really hard to collect all information about it at one place. You did a really great job with this video. I will save it for later and rewatch it when i try to improve my mastering skills :) The last tip to compare your final Master with your previous mix at the same volume level makes sense, but is often overlooked by me :). I heard before about this WAVEFORM Asymmetrie from another great youtube Channel "Sage Audio", he also has multiple tipps to mix and master tracks. But now i finally understand it :) Thank you for your efford you put into to make top quality videos about Mixing and Mastering :))
I'm what I am today thanks to Michael's tutorials. You're always the best man and I'm grateful for the priceless information you keep on sharing with the world. I'm glad to be benefiting from it all the time👍👍👍👍👍
Why do you have to be so reasonable. I don't want to watch your videos, but you keep saying things in a reasonable way that make sense.
😃
Good stuff.
Thank you man! Very helpful and clear explanation! I wrote the steps down and will try it out in mastering 👍🎶
HEY I just wanted to say you've helped me so much in my audio engineering journey bro. You never miss with these videos keep doing what you do bossman🌹🌹🌹
I hear you, thanks for the support! I'm happy to have helped you and wish you all the best.
The man himself🔥 as soon as there's a video I'm here haha! Been waiting and hope your plugin is doing well :)
I'm a professional musician/studio engineer..excellent content,clear and concise accurate information being presented..I mastered my band's last album..our new album will sound even better..thanks again for an excellent presentation..even a veteran can learn..
One Love!
Always forward, never ever backward!!
☀️☀️☀️
💚💛❤️
🙏🏿🙏🙏🏼
THANK YOU SO MUCH IT WAS REALLY HELPFULLL
Congrats on your Million!
Fantastic video! This is one of the best mastering tutorials I've ever seen! You're a great help to both new and experienced music producers alike! Keep up the amazing work you're doing! 😃
Thank you, I tried something very different with this one. I'm glad it's working!
Thank you VERY much!
Nice video format.
Talking about clipping, just a thought...
The "issue" (not an issue per se, but a motive to keep an eye on it) is that HARD clipping really cuts the "clicks" of the material processed, but if "properly set up", it will help a LOT.
We just need to have in mind that when a hard clipper is activated by the material trying to pass thru its threshold it will cause a "click" on this material.
So, that's not a very good idea to use a hard clipper on TONAL material (ex. vocal, bass, violin, pads, flute...).
On the other hand, soft clipping starts to affect the material BEFORE the threshold set level.
So, it starts to saturate the material as before as you push the material downwards with the threshold...
...and this may cause undesirable results and make you ask "What's wrong?".
I deeply suggest you (😉) use a good oscilloscope like Psyscope (it's free).
By the way, FreeClip is free, too and it performs THE VERY SAME result of some paid clippers.
So, clipping is Major League playball time...
...try it, crank it, twist it, but after that, use it with extreme care...
...because it bites.
Wow. Thanks again Michael. I've always felt a bit lost in the mastering process, now I know things to look and listen for.
The concept of a high pass filter increasing headroom... depends on your definition of "headroom". Due to the resonance of program material around the cut-off frequency, you can often increase your peak reading of the overall waveform - which you could validly argue reduces headroom. In general your advice is great though - subscribed :)
Greetings for your wonderful work and your great ideas in benefiting every product around the world by explaining the work of each machine, how to operate it and the basics of its work .. Really, thank you... 🇱🇾 From Libya - Benghazi city
[ Outlaw Beats Studio ] Producer)
Congrats on 1 million Michael! Your videos helped me a lot ♥️
My friend are giving me the best explainations
Oh man i never thought on doing the last step!! It could really help thanks!!!
Over processing is definitely a difficult thing to overcome. I have a hard time knowing when not to use tools vs using them on everything
Very impressed with your clear instructions on mastering, presented in a cohesive way to understand. I'm now eager to implement the stages of masting into my own music production practice and next mix. Something which has been sadly lacking due to little understanding of terminologies used. Many thanks for that Michael.
Could you maybe make a video about how to deal with those kind of peaks that you have shown in this video? Maybe with alternative free plugins? Kind of a phase issue video? That would be so much helpfull.
All the best :)
I will take a look around and hopefully make a video or update the description!
Ooo could we get another mastering from start to finish with these new tips??? Usually a high viewed video topic also so a win win!😅
make a video explaining the spotify stuff! i know its important to not be negative, but it also would be awesome to have the opinion of someone who know the how and whys. great video!
I've always resisted clipping, but I will give it another try. Great video mate. Keep 'em comming.
It is something to be very careful with. I don’t use it unless a song needs to be pushed very loud and the distortion is unavoidable.
@@inthemix Thanks for the reply mate. Looking forward to the next video.
great video. Would love to see you doing a full master video if a client allows the song to be used
Incredible video Michael!!!
The 5 step system looks pretty good
And personally, I used to had the most problems when dealing with phase and target loudness haha!
I might end up checking this video a few more times when the time comes :P
Awesome. This is a really great video. Thanks!
I like the way you did the clipping animation. Limiting
Exellent and informative as always mate. Well done with this one ! 😁 Cheers
phenomenal video. thank you. I look forwarx to watching more of your videos and then rewatching them a few times over before and after practice.
Thanks! The best way to get the most out of my videos is to watch them as you work. Watch a minute and apply it right away. This way the knowledge will stay with you and you won’t miss anything.
@@inthemix thank you! I definitely will! Best wishes to you and yours!
This is absolutely nice and easy to learn, Thanks mate
Final mix version 17 A is very reassuring! Thought it was just me ...
fantastic Tutorial for my band... Thank you from germany
Great info... something that should be mentioned in the loudness part is how useful saturation is for making sounds louder at the source, bus, or mix level. The saturation fills in the waveform and adds energy from the bottom and sounds great, and the clipping takes the peaks off. If you do this to every sound, within reason without distorting terribly, your mix will already be at like -8 LUFs before you even get to the 2-bus. Getting to -5 LUF's from there isn't that difficult because you're already set up for it. Then, you don't have to lean so hard on your limiter and create pumping.
Default hang out for music engineering, I mean how many YT channels have a million subs talking engineering ? Love it…thanks for the thought and prep that goes into the content here 🖤😎🍭🙌
Lol, here I was measuring all my masters to be -14 Lufs or below to be sure it sounds good on Spotify and Apple Music. Thanks for the heads-up that loudness won the war.
One of my greatest inspiration. Big fan, awesome content
You're the best man! Thank you so much for making these videos, you're helping out there the community. Also, congrats on 1M subs, u def deserve it