When it comes to Imaging during the Mastering stage do you ever have to be extreme in either increasing or decreasing the imaging bands or signal to fix something that a poor mix created or do you send back the record to mixing engineer to fix problematic areas
What would be the best way to process the image of the low-end in film and orchestral music? If I try to recreate the live settings of e.g. a symphony, the double basses and cellos have strong harmonic content on the low register and are usually to the sides. Should I then mono at all? Or shall I mono only certain frequencies i.e. below 60hz or even lower?
Are there instances in which M/S Compression is appropriate? Lots of compressors are offering it now but it seems like a strange thing to do to a mix...
This guy is one of the greatest "EXPLAINER'S" ever Any class that he teaches please sign me up... Izotope Mastering Class 2020. Please fly me out Im there
Personally, I find describing the side channel as containing the "panned" instruments, and the mid channel as containing the "centered" instruments, quite misleading. I do understand that it's a simplified approach aimed more at beginners. But I did struggle with the Mid Side concept for some time before grasping it, and I think one of the obstacles was looking at this from the notion of panning, rather than the notion of phase correlation between the left and the right channels. You can do an experiment - pan a mono sample to one side - left or right - and then monitor the Mid and Side channels - the audio event will be heard in both the Mid and the Side channels, despite the fact that it is panned. So why does the Mid channel contain the panned audio event? Let's now go further and duplicate the track with the mono sample, and then pan this track to the opposite side - so if the first track is panned hard left, and the duplicate is panned hard right. Now monitor the Mid and the Side channels - the Mid will contain the sample, but the Side will not. So why doesn't the Side channel contain the sample and it's duplicate, since they are both panned? Obviously, when we pan two identical events to both sides, it will sit in the perfect phantom center, because both the Left and the Right channels produce the same information with identical energy and rhythm (phase is identical), i.e. 100% mono. And, if you have the event panned only to one side, it will be contained in both the Mid and the Side, since those are respectively the sum of both channels, L+R, and the difference L-R. Mid Channel is L+R, the Side channel is L-R. I think about it like that - you hear the Side channel only when you monitor in stereo. When you press the Mono button on your monitoring console/interface, the Side information in both speakers cancels itself, and you hear only the Mid channel. I approach mono compatibility and stereo panning with this in mind. Cheers, K.
this is exactly what I am trying to get my head around at the moment & his comment about the side being the panned information confused me, so thanks for this comment!
Yes, at first trying to understand M-S at any depth with the usual layman's terms can be maddening. It's not helped when pros also refer to it as summing and differencing, which is mathematically true but just as non-intuitive. And you're right forget about panning when trying to understand it, that is only superficially related. A lot of confusion comes from the fact that M-S processing as used in mastering is a signal flow that is opposite of how it was originally used as a recording technique. With M-S recording you have 2 mics, an omnidirectional one placed somewhere in a space that you wish to be the center of the sound field, and a bi-directional (figure-eight) one placed as close to the other one as possible and pointed 90 degrees relative to the center of the sound source. In this configuration the omnidirectional provides the "Mid" channel and the bi-directional provides the "Sides" channel. This explains why the Mid signal is often referred to as the "true" signal. The omnidirectional mic being unbiased will pick up all sound levels from all sources at its point in space regardless of the directions the sounds are coming from. The Sides signal on the other hand is completely biased, picking up sound levels coming from only the left or right. And unlike the Mid signal the Sides signal is polarized so levels coming from one side will be positive and ones from the other side negative. This is why centering can become a confusing term with respect to the Sides channel. If you have two sounds of the same waveform, levels and distance originating from the opposite sides of the Sides mic then the sound will not be encoded in the Sides signal at all since their opposite levels will cancel each other out. In that sense the center of the Sides channel is silence. Since the Sides channel is totally biased that also means it contains no meaningful information (i.e. no left/right information) without an unbiased reference signal to compare it with. That is the job of the Mid channel. So when the Sides channel is combined (summed) with the Mid channel its bias is applied to the unbiased Mid which then renders as the Left channel (by convention). Likewise when the inverse of the Sides channel is summed with the Mid channel there is an opposing bias that is rendered as the Right channel. How does this apply to mastering? If we start with only Left and Right channels and use them to derive the Mid and Sides signals then we are effectively deriving a virtual omnidirectional mic and a virtual bi-directional mic within a virtual space relative to the recorded sound levels. Modifying the level of the Sides signal is then equivalent to modifying the gain of the Side mic. Modifying the compression of the Mid signal is equivalent to tweaking a compressor in the signal chain of the Mid mic. Etc. When we're done we then apply the M-S recording signal flow described above to derive the new Left and Right channels. When I started thinking of the Mid channel as being the signal "truth" and the Sides channel as being intentional signal "error" then the limits of M-S processing became more clear to me. For example, tweaking the Sides channel is less likely to result in a disastrous result because you're simply exchanging one form of error for another. But when you start tweaking the Mid channel then you're changing the truth of the underlying mix and you may end up with a result that is a complete lie to the ears of your listeners!
Setting the band crossovers at 500, 2K and 9kHz is great advice and worked wonders for a master that I bounced this afternoon. Thank you for the great series!
This is most enlightening mastering series I have ever come across! Thank you for making this series in this level. No one talks about like he does! It's very class-room quality teaching! blessings!
Amazingly helpful video. Not an advertisement, just a practical explanation of stereo imaging and how this tool approaches all those concepts and what they can mean to you as an artist. Just lovely 🙏
Very helpful, thanx from Hamburg Germany! I am now an Ozone Owner! A super personable man. For me as a German, i could understand every Word. Very good Voice!!!
This was incredibly revealing for me, creating ambient and meditative/relaxation music I tend to overdo the stereo image to get that spaced-out feeling. Just tightening up the various bands a little makes the world of difference when listening on a single Alexa-type speaker. Something to take back into my mixing workflow! I often struggle with following examples for mastering which rarely cover underscore-type work with few transients and slow sustained bass. We don't want to startle people so the loudness is not wanted but we still want people to hear the occasional melodic points of interest.
I have always been interested in the mastering process of production.With these videos it's like being in class as much as you want and learning the in's and out's of mastering.I'm Hooked. (Been recording for some 40 years and more and I still want to learn)He is a good instructor.
I don't know what I would;d do without ozone it's the most amazing plugin that I have in all my DAWs. The visual feedback is my favourite element to the software
Great information. My ears may be more sensitive to out of phase stereo image and unfortunately so much music today has way too much stereo widening making the song very problematic to listen to. This song has one good example of that with the short pad sound. Listen at 15:21. Not as drastically over widened as some songs but it still makes the stereo sound awkward. Note to the interested: You can have a great stereo mix without having the correlation going negative. If the mix is good you don't need any widening tool. And your music will sound smoother and calmer to the ear.
THAT SHIRT. I honestly didn’t think I could like you more for the vast depth of knowledge your videos offer…but there it is. You did it Jonathan. You brought it. 150%.😆😻
Fascinating and educational. Thank you for this! I purchased some of your products late last year and now I’m really seeing the benefits with this tutorial!
Thank you iZotope for doing these. Love this content and thumbs up for not excessively promoting your products, as these tips and guidelines are universally applicable. I wouldn’t buy any of your stuff anyway. The reason is simple - I’ve already got all your plugins (started with Ozone and Ozone for Winamp!!! back in the day).
This is such a gem and I can’t believe this was free. You would think something like this would only be found in paid webinar courses. Thank you for this! Learned a lot!
I fricken love Jon. I’ve learned so much from him, he just has a great way of conveying information to me. He makes everything so practical, thanks bud!
Hellooooooo izotope team 🎯 many many many thanks to you and Jonathan for mentoring me 👀😎 Iv been using your videos like a bible and already after only a few weeks the improvements are incredible 🎯 👀 well , to me they are haha sending good vibes to you all ✌️
I am a song writer. That's where my limited expertise is. This world of producing is so unlike anything I've experienced. I get "done" with a set of tracks only to discover mid/side eqing 😭 I'm sure I'll discover something new once I think I'm "done" with another set of songs It never ends...
Great episode. I have been listening to a lot of older songs lately and I kind of want to emulate that extreme panning, it sounds beautiful on headphones and gives amazing clarity. It definitely doesn't work for all applications, but it makes a good argument for multiple master versions for different circumstances.
What a video post on TH-cam! This is the best contribution about sound design, sound understanding in connection with our currently available technology and its application. I also mean your software :-) Thank you for this very understandable video and commitment to bring a very important topic in music so wonderfully into focus.
top Contents here ! Jonathan Wyner is gold ! well somebody should create a plugin that can emulate the Analog Mono .. because actually monoing in Digital world for example a Kick it result weak than if you monoize it in Analog world ! I saw here a lot of BaX gear they are the Top for this purpose !
What I heard when the bass was 'monoized' was less detail, like maybe there was some phase cancellation occurring in the center due to the extra side information. Listening on computer speakers at moderate volume with a small sub. Thanks! Great information.
Probably I would have listen better in school if my teacher would wear this amazing cat Shirt !! Thumbs up, best tutorial ever for mastering and the teacher is awesome🤘now I really understand Ozone and the power of it !!!
Thank you for this excellent tutorial (like the others) about stereo imaging of a mix in mastering. P.S. "Lissajous" in french really seems to be the second one 🙂
Does anyone have questions for Jonathan Wyner about imaging in mastering? Reply below!
What is crest factor? and what is "true peak" in maximizer?
Should i switch on the stereo button on izotope imager on a master buss During the mastering stage of the song?
When it comes to Imaging during the Mastering stage do you ever have to be extreme in either increasing or decreasing the imaging bands or signal to fix something that a poor mix created or do you send back the record to mixing engineer to fix problematic areas
What would be the best way to process the image of the low-end in film and orchestral music?
If I try to recreate the live settings of e.g. a symphony, the double basses and cellos have strong harmonic content on the low register and are usually to the sides.
Should I then mono at all?
Or shall I mono only certain frequencies i.e. below 60hz or even lower?
Are there instances in which M/S Compression is appropriate? Lots of compressors are offering it now but it seems like a strange thing to do to a mix...
Such a great teacher, no ego, never makes you feel talked down to or patronised and explains everything so clearly and simply!
This guy is one of the greatest "EXPLAINER'S" ever Any class that he teaches please sign me up... Izotope Mastering Class 2020. Please fly me out Im there
I was literally thinking this and then scrolled down and read your comment haha
Encamp Entertainment if they really loved you, they would....
Pack ya bags buddy boy!
"Fly me out", God I miss nine months ago
Personally, I find describing the side channel as containing the "panned" instruments, and the mid channel as containing the "centered" instruments, quite misleading. I do understand that it's a simplified approach aimed more at beginners. But I did struggle with the Mid Side concept for some time before grasping it, and I think one of the obstacles was looking at this from the notion of panning, rather than the notion of phase correlation between the left and the right channels.
You can do an experiment - pan a mono sample to one side - left or right - and then monitor the Mid and Side channels - the audio event will be heard in both the Mid and the Side channels, despite the fact that it is panned. So why does the Mid channel contain the panned audio event?
Let's now go further and duplicate the track with the mono sample, and then pan this track to the opposite side - so if the first track is panned hard left, and the duplicate is panned hard right.
Now monitor the Mid and the Side channels - the Mid will contain the sample, but the Side will not. So why doesn't the Side channel contain the sample and it's duplicate, since they are both panned?
Obviously, when we pan two identical events to both sides, it will sit in the perfect phantom center, because both the Left and the Right channels produce the same information with identical energy and rhythm (phase is identical), i.e. 100% mono.
And, if you have the event panned only to one side, it will be contained in both the Mid and the Side, since those are respectively the sum of both channels, L+R, and the difference L-R.
Mid Channel is L+R, the Side channel is L-R.
I think about it like that - you hear the Side channel only when you monitor in stereo. When you press the Mono button on your monitoring console/interface, the Side information in both speakers cancels itself, and you hear only the Mid channel. I approach mono compatibility and stereo panning with this in mind.
Cheers, K.
this is exactly what I am trying to get my head around at the moment & his comment about the side being the panned information confused me, so thanks for this comment!
This is awesome thank you
Yes, at first trying to understand M-S at any depth with the usual layman's terms can be maddening. It's not helped when pros also refer to it as summing and differencing, which is mathematically true but just as non-intuitive. And you're right forget about panning when trying to understand it, that is only superficially related.
A lot of confusion comes from the fact that M-S processing as used in mastering is a signal flow that is opposite of how it was originally used as a recording technique.
With M-S recording you have 2 mics, an omnidirectional one placed somewhere in a space that you wish to be the center of the sound field, and a bi-directional (figure-eight) one placed as close to the other one as possible and pointed 90 degrees relative to the center of the sound source. In this configuration the omnidirectional provides the "Mid" channel and the bi-directional provides the "Sides" channel.
This explains why the Mid signal is often referred to as the "true" signal. The omnidirectional mic being unbiased will pick up all sound levels from all sources at its point in space regardless of the directions the sounds are coming from.
The Sides signal on the other hand is completely biased, picking up sound levels coming from only the left or right. And unlike the Mid signal the Sides signal is polarized so levels coming from one side will be positive and ones from the other side negative. This is why centering can become a confusing term with respect to the Sides channel. If you have two sounds of the same waveform, levels and distance originating from the opposite sides of the Sides mic then the sound will not be encoded in the Sides signal at all since their opposite levels will cancel each other out. In that sense the center of the Sides channel is silence. Since the Sides channel is totally biased that also means it contains no meaningful information (i.e. no left/right information) without an unbiased reference signal to compare it with. That is the job of the Mid channel.
So when the Sides channel is combined (summed) with the Mid channel its bias is applied to the unbiased Mid which then renders as the Left channel (by convention). Likewise when the inverse of the Sides channel is summed with the Mid channel there is an opposing bias that is rendered as the Right channel.
How does this apply to mastering? If we start with only Left and Right channels and use them to derive the Mid and Sides signals then we are effectively deriving a virtual omnidirectional mic and a virtual bi-directional mic within a virtual space relative to the recorded sound levels. Modifying the level of the Sides signal is then equivalent to modifying the gain of the Side mic. Modifying the compression of the Mid signal is equivalent to tweaking a compressor in the signal chain of the Mid mic. Etc. When we're done we then apply the M-S recording signal flow described above to derive the new Left and Right channels.
When I started thinking of the Mid channel as being the signal "truth" and the Sides channel as being intentional signal "error" then the limits of M-S processing became more clear to me. For example, tweaking the Sides channel is less likely to result in a disastrous result because you're simply exchanging one form of error for another. But when you start tweaking the Mid channel then you're changing the truth of the underlying mix and you may end up with a result that is a complete lie to the ears of your listeners!
Very helpful comment, thank you!
Setting the band crossovers at 500, 2K and 9kHz is great advice and worked wonders for a master that I bounced this afternoon. Thank you for the great series!
Small detail: He said 2000 but he actually set it to 3000. Minor blemish on a great lecture.
There is no shortage of sound engineering tutorials and educational presentations, but Mr Wyner's are among the very best.
This is the 2nd Season of television we so desperately needed!
Thank you Jon! Videos are always informative and well made
Those drums in the beginning sound amazing!
agree. trying to ID (Shazam, etc.) them; failing (
This is my favorite video series on mixing/mastering and iZotope is definitely getting my business because if it!
This is most enlightening mastering series I have ever come across! Thank you for making this series in this level. No one talks about like he does! It's very class-room quality teaching! blessings!
Amazingly helpful video. Not an advertisement, just a practical explanation of stereo imaging and how this tool approaches all those concepts and what they can mean to you as an artist. Just lovely 🙏
Love this show!!
Holy moly thanks for this very transparent video.
It's nice to hear about mastering techniques from someone who truly knows what they're doing. Thank you, Jonathan, for all your expertise!
I'm so happy you are releasing Season 2! I love listening to Jonathan.
Very helpful, thanx from Hamburg Germany! I am now an Ozone Owner! A super personable man. For me as a German, i could understand every Word. Very good Voice!!!
Yeeeeesssssss! The best Video Series is back!
You are the man!!! Thanks for this info...
The playlist is a fantastic add! Really interesting hearing all these different processes of stereo imaging.
this is his second mid-sid video..............This is a good teacher
This was incredibly revealing for me, creating ambient and meditative/relaxation music I tend to overdo the stereo image to get that spaced-out feeling. Just tightening up the various bands a little makes the world of difference when listening on a single Alexa-type speaker. Something to take back into my mixing workflow!
I often struggle with following examples for mastering which rarely cover underscore-type work with few transients and slow sustained bass. We don't want to startle people so the loudness is not wanted but we still want people to hear the occasional melodic points of interest.
I use this it's fantastic. I use it on acoustic guitars. This guy is good.
I have always been interested in the mastering process of production.With these videos it's like being in class as much as you want and learning the in's and out's of mastering.I'm Hooked. (Been recording for some 40 years and more and I still want to learn)He is a good instructor.
I don't know what I would;d do without ozone it's the most amazing plugin that I have in all my DAWs. The visual feedback is my favourite element to the software
WOOHOO welcome back! I loved season 1, thanks!
Great information. My ears may be more sensitive to out of phase stereo image and unfortunately so much music today has way too much stereo widening making the song very problematic to listen to.
This song has one good example of that with the short pad sound. Listen at 15:21. Not as drastically over widened as some songs but it still makes the stereo sound awkward.
Note to the interested: You can have a great stereo mix without having the correlation going negative. If the mix is good you don't need any widening tool. And your music will sound smoother and calmer to the ear.
This is so well done, thank you iZotope and Jonathan Wyner!
THAT SHIRT. I honestly didn’t think I could like you more for the vast depth of knowledge your videos offer…but there it is. You did it Jonathan. You brought it. 150%.😆😻
it's all about widening beyond 100% 😂
AWESOME to see this come back!
Fascinating and educational. Thank you for this! I purchased some of your products late last year and now I’m really seeing the benefits with this tutorial!
Finally😁😁..I've been waiting on these.PLEASE KEEP THESE SEGMENTS GOIN😎
Thank you for another Season! This is awesome! S1 was great already.
What a great teacher. Articulates his thought process perfectly. Thanks guys!
Best stereo image class I've had until now. Thanks!
Thank you iZotope for doing these. Love this content and thumbs up for not excessively promoting your products, as these tips and guidelines are universally applicable. I wouldn’t buy any of your stuff anyway. The reason is simple - I’ve already got all your plugins (started with Ozone and Ozone for Winamp!!! back in the day).
This is such a gem and I can’t believe this was free. You would think something like this would only be found in paid webinar courses.
Thank you for this! Learned a lot!
Fantastic explanation, thank you! I'm just starting out learning about mastering and I think I just invested half an hour very wisely indeed :)
Very helpful! Thank you Jonathan and iZotope!
Jonathan Wyner is the boss! Thank you for hiring him Izotope.
This a fantastic teaching program. I made my 1st production TV show in 1984, and the new tools and basic listening skills are very well presented.
Excellent, thanks for sharing and looking forward to more! 👌
I fricken love Jon. I’ve learned so much from him, he just has a great way of conveying information to me. He makes everything so practical, thanks bud!
Very informative and interesting, I needed this.
This is awesome stuff! Season two is off to a great start!
This is great marketing and professionalism. Respect!
I'm mastering a track and this is so helpful. Thanks!
Hellooooooo izotope team 🎯 many many many thanks to you and Jonathan for mentoring me 👀😎 Iv been using your videos like a bible and already after only a few weeks the improvements are incredible 🎯 👀 well , to me they are haha sending good vibes to you all ✌️
Thank you from Cambridge, UK!
Isotope has been going off lately
Great lesson and an absolute killer joke at the end.
Thank you.
Thank you for a fantastic series about Mastering for streaming service. Greatly appreciated! 🙏👍😁
You guys are doing more of these ?
Oh goody !
This kind of video is amazing and so helpful, *iZotope, Inc.* and *Jonathan Wyner* !
rubber soul, revolver and so many 60's classic albums.... bass on one side, drums on the other, etc, etc... fun!!
Thank You Jonathan.
Thank you so much for all your content ✌😀
This is a blessing. You guys are doing amazing work for aspiring musicians, producers and mix/mastering engineers!
Ive had this plugin forever and still learned some good tips from this vid.
For a great master, there must be a great mix. When I applied this on my tracks, it did wonders
finally! You are great sir, thank you so much
Amazing info !!
I am a song writer. That's where my limited expertise is.
This world of producing is so unlike anything I've experienced.
I get "done" with a set of tracks only to discover mid/side eqing 😭
I'm sure I'll discover something new once I think I'm "done" with another set of songs
It never ends...
Such rich content was in this 30 minutes, thanks iZotope
YAY! Voice is finally in mono : )
instantly better sounding track thanks to this one video. thank you!
Great episode. I have been listening to a lot of older songs lately and I kind of want to emulate that extreme panning, it sounds beautiful on headphones and gives amazing clarity. It definitely doesn't work for all applications, but it makes a good argument for multiple master versions for different circumstances.
amazing, not just for Ozone users alone
Thank you so much for these videos!
Awesome content guys, amazing to be able to watch something like this for free. Thanks!
this was very insightful
For anyone wondering, the song he plays is Focused (On Your Phone) by Sleepy Tom.
Excellent.
What a video post on TH-cam! This is the best contribution about sound design, sound understanding in connection with our currently available technology and its application. I also mean your software :-) Thank you for this very understandable video and commitment to bring a very important topic in music so wonderfully into focus.
Thank you for this very clear video.
I will look into Izotope. It looks very helpfull.
Thank you for sharing the knowledge :)
top Contents here ! Jonathan Wyner is gold ! well somebody should create a plugin that can emulate the Analog Mono .. because actually monoing in Digital world for example a Kick it result weak than if you monoize it in Analog world ! I saw here a lot of BaX gear they are the Top for this purpose !
Wow! amazing videos
Very well made. And thanks for the spotify playlist!
excellent job thanks
Thanks great quality information video.
Really good information.
Great vid. Love the visualizations he uses. Eeeequi-distant though...
Muy bueno! Gracias desdr Argentina
Thanks izotope for the vids and plugins !
Such a valuable series thank you! Would love an episode on how to make saturation decisions during mastering with Ozone in a future season.
This had just the information I was looking for! Great video!
Amazingly well explained ! thanks !
What I heard when the bass was 'monoized' was less detail, like maybe there was some phase cancellation occurring in the center due to the extra side information. Listening on computer speakers at moderate volume with a small sub. Thanks! Great information.
Thank you...
Pure Gold...
Probably I would have listen better in school if my teacher would wear this amazing cat Shirt !! Thumbs up, best tutorial ever for mastering and the teacher is awesome🤘now I really understand Ozone and the power of it !!!
Excellent presentation my good man !!! useful tips, and a good practice in the beggining there.
Great start to the new Season!
Terrible Season song - I liked the previous one a lot more ;)
thank you very much for this!
Great lesson again, thank you
Love this serie❤️ helps a lot!🙏🏼
Great stuff as always from Jonathan. Thanks for sharing the knowledge on such an interesting audio topic. =)
The key to mastering a track correctly is to wear a galaxy mixer cat shirt.
^ he knows too much
Cats on synthesizers in space! Nice :-)
it's a Moog modular synth, but still true
MIB: Stay where you are!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 the goat comment
amazing info !!!
Thank you for this excellent tutorial (like the others) about stereo imaging of a mix in mastering. P.S. "Lissajous" in french really seems to be the second one 🙂