Ive got to say that i was rather sceptic on mastering my own tracks from the begining. I just felt like its not something i should do since i mixed it and i strongly believed that every mix requires new pair of ears to do the job properly. So this is the place i've got to take a libery of internet and say: Thank You Ian! I followed three rules every time i mastered my own tracks: 1. Does it acutally need any tweaking during mastering process? Maybe overly bright or dark track is what is needed - mind the source and media. 2. "My mix suxx" - i never mastered my mix the same day i mixed, nor without listening some other music in between. A lot of music to be precise. And i treated it in a way that its not mine, and it suxx, sort of say - ive been as critical towards my mixes as possible. 3. I follow your rules. Your set of mind and ears - if its possible. Thanks to your videos i learned what the mastering engineer is looking for and should touch on. I am certain that i havent achieved any decent level of mastering engineering yet, but in my humble oppinion im ont the best way to get there. You and Dan Worrall are two engineers that have change my approach the most. Hence your channel is the one of very few i have set as "Featured". Thank you again Ian.
I'm a beginner in every sense of the word but one method I use is doing a master with a separate music track and vocal track....I've found (and this is probably due to my amateur status) that sometimes I want to affect frequencies in the music without compromising the quality of the vocals or vice versa....and in doing so, I can usually use subtractive eq in one while retaining the integrity of quality in the other...does that make sense?
What you're describing is "stem mastering", +Captain Velveeta - I prefer to work from a complete mix, but it can be useful for solving problems, sometimes
Production Advice I love the cavette "Sometimes" I remember doing a mastering job and I wanted the vocals to sit better in the mix so I asked for the vocals separate from the instrumental. and I will never do it again if I can help it. I'm sure you can appreciate what I'm talking about Mr. Shepherd
God this video was so refreshing! Thank you! I've been feeling the need to be more subtle in my approach to mixing and mastering and this was just a breath of fresh air. I like "Loud" but I like "music" more. It's about the song. Nothing else. Thanks Ian!
The unmastered sounded just a wee bit muddy, whereas the mastered version was warm, clear, and present. And it gave me goosebumps, which is key. Very subtle difference, yet very powerful. Amazing
That mix sounds fantastic and the mastering made it even better. This comes really close to John Mayer stuff which obviously sounds amazing. Joe can be really proud that.
This is what i learned. Pre gain past compression point. Post gain is make up gain. And you dont want your overall track pre gain too high, then work the post to desired point. Apparently another credible source says tracks should be at -6dbfs with highest point peaking at -3dbfs. That makes sense since i tried one of my tracks in the car stereo that was peaking at -0.2db, and it was way too loud. I'd be happy if anyone comment because i can always learn something new, and by the way i may be wrong on everything i shared :)
That was mindblowing, basically! LOL The main sense that I had, was things moved within the landscape of the mix, as you compared the track to your tweaks! Very nice and I'd say you've made your point. Thank you!
One thing I noticed was that with mastering engaged the perception of stereo-field and hard panned sources was more coherent; this confused me a bit as compression will often shrink the stereo image. I'm thinking that what I actually heard was an improvement in the centre-image (which then made the panned sources more evident); the vectorscope seems to confirm this. Always good to learn something new...thank you, much appreciated : -)
My last song i was fighting the urge for loudness ,but i didn't join the dark side! Max short term -8LUFS (a few seconds in the chorus it goes to -7LUFS) and long term -10 LUFS. It sounds awesome and it's a heavy symphonic metal song with heavy screaming. Master volume rides and vocal rides are really powerful yet simple.
+blood lord (Chaotic Sonics) Also something really interesting if automations are done cleverly on volume the human ear can't tell the master volume is getting lowered a bit after a loud chorus part going into the bridge. Mostly because the ear is adjusting.
The way you make subtle changes and hear the difference I think if I sent you just how I make my tunes you would faint and fall back off your chair. lol
Great video. Love the subtle choices on an already solid mix. Other than issues with headroom or dynamic range, are there any types of EQ or balance changes you would ask the mix engineer to make vs. having to take more extreme steps during the mastering process? Thanks for all of the great info.
Thank you Ian :-) So precise, so delicate & so musical.You're a great educator & Masterer.I wonder if this low RMS levels can work in the aggressive EDM world.I know you've discussed that in the past but when you're track should be heard in a DJ mix among all this heavy kick & bass beasts that are usually around -5 RMS levels I'm not sure if such delicacy & subtlety can work.I mean that the mastering should somehow match the genre you're mastering until this stupid loudness war ends & musicians\producers\dj's revert back to normal & musical levels....
Hi Why do you have soft clip turned off in the Brickwall Limiter ? I have the same limiter and I´m mastering some acoustic / fusion jazz , can you recomment some settings for the TC Brickwall Limiter ?
You should make a MD3 tutorial, its such great but huge tool with a lot of possibilities. That would be fantastic. Do you often use the M/S for compression ?
Hi Ian..! Gorgeous vid...thanks a lot. But where can i find a license for a DVR2 from PoCoX8, its so hard to find anything about TC PoCoX8 before TC gonna shut down their servers this year, dont? Thanks a lot in advance!
There's just one thing that annoyingly pops out in this song It's when the singer says the letter "C" (like when he say "and i Can...", for example) and when he says "oh YHeaahh" in the chorus because he pronounce "YH" in a way that it makes the same effect as when he say "Can". I would fix that issue before everything else...
That's interesting but it doesn't bother me too much. Either way that's a change that it would be better (and easier) to make at the mixing stage, rather than in mastering.
would you ever make less subtle changes in mastering? When I master the songs from my HeavyMetal Band it has a huge impact, making the mix really loud and adding a lot of brilliance to it. is that something you wouldnt recommend? are there any major backdrafts? or as usually im guessing theres no simple answer? :D btw, great video!
Is there any part of the video where I can see what kind of gain reduction the limiter is doing? or could you comment on this? thanks
9 ปีที่แล้ว +1
Hi Ian! This is the first time that I wrote to you but is not the first video that I watch! Thanks for share knowledge. I have a problem with this A/B test (Eq ON and OFF). I don't hear the difference. I have a well treat room and the Focal Twins 6 Be monitors. What it could be? My audio interface? Your video/audio codec? Or just me? I really am very concerned about your answer. I also make videos on TH-cam and I think it is not the best platform for audio work because there is "something" that ruins everything. Any ideas? Ps: Greetings from Argentina
9 ปีที่แล้ว
I only hear a little difference between MASTERED and UNMASTERD MIX only.
***** I hear the difference even on £5 earbud headphones through my laptop and there's a definite subtle yet still a profound affect the mastering had on the track. I'm new to mixing and mastering my own recordings and have learnt quite a lot from this video.
9 ปีที่แล้ว
***** , thanks for your reply! I was going crazy about this, but now I hear the EQ on/off when you toogle the MID 1 buttom. I think is becouse the music, I mean, is not a loop you are playing. I hear a low frequency appeare in minute 9, 35 seconds (when you turn the EQ off). I still not hear the MID 2 toggle yet.
I have a question not on the mastering, but on your recording setup. Particularly, you seem to be quite far from the microphone, but still sound completely excellent, with no noise whatsoever. Is your voice track heavily modified from the original recording, or is this a result of the hardware you use? If the latter, which microphone do you use?
+Ian Shepherd Wow, thanks a lot. So much useful information! I always assumed Blue Yeti users post-process the audio to get rid of background hiss i seem to be getting on every mic ever. But you're right, echo has also been something i've been a little concerned about, so having information on that is quite valuable. Thanks again. :)
+Ian Shepard Great mastering as usual. One personal nitpick though: maybe it's just me, but I'm hearing a definitive increase in the 2-8 kHz range. In the unmastered version, the song's 12-20 kHz, such as the high-end harmonics found in the guitar's strumming, were clear and distinct. The master appears to have masked those frequencies, i.e. the song seems to have lost some shimmer/sparkle. Am I correct in saying that? If so, was this your intention, i.e. the "warmth" you desired? P. S. You are one of the few people who've inspired me to perfect the dynamics processing of whatever audio I engineer. P. P. S. Besides audio engineering, I am an independent professional pianist. I would love to hear your thoughts on how to optimize the dynamics of (any) solo piano track(s).
+dylan hughes The way I master my songs is by mimicking my EQs close to (if not equal to) various Equal-Loudness Countours. I wonder what Ian's opinion would be on that. wikipedia . org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour
Ive got to say that i was rather sceptic on mastering my own tracks from the begining. I just felt like its not something i should do since i mixed it and i strongly believed that every mix requires new pair of ears to do the job properly.
So this is the place i've got to take a libery of internet and say: Thank You Ian! I followed three rules every time i mastered my own tracks:
1. Does it acutally need any tweaking during mastering process? Maybe overly bright or dark track is what is needed - mind the source and media.
2. "My mix suxx" - i never mastered my mix the same day i mixed, nor without listening some other music in between. A lot of music to be precise. And i treated it in a way that its not mine, and it suxx, sort of say - ive been as critical towards my mixes as possible.
3. I follow your rules. Your set of mind and ears - if its possible. Thanks to your videos i learned what the mastering engineer is looking for and should touch on.
I am certain that i havent achieved any decent level of mastering engineering yet, but in my humble oppinion im ont the best way to get there. You and Dan Worrall are two engineers that have change my approach the most. Hence your channel is the one of very few i have set as "Featured".
Thank you again Ian.
I'm a beginner in every sense of the word but one method I use is doing a master with a separate music track and vocal track....I've found (and this is probably due to my amateur status) that sometimes I want to affect frequencies in the music without compromising the quality of the vocals or vice versa....and in doing so, I can usually use subtractive eq in one while retaining the integrity of quality in the other...does that make sense?
My pleasure, glad it's helpful !
What you're describing is "stem mastering", +Captain Velveeta - I prefer to work from a complete mix, but it can be useful for solving problems, sometimes
Production Advice I love the cavette "Sometimes" I remember doing a mastering job and I wanted the vocals to sit better in the mix so I asked for the vocals separate from the instrumental. and I will never do it again if I can help it. I'm sure you can appreciate what I'm talking about Mr. Shepherd
AGREE!!!!
God this video was so refreshing! Thank you! I've been feeling the need to be more subtle in my approach to mixing and mastering and this was just a breath of fresh air. I like "Loud" but I like "music" more. It's about the song. Nothing else. Thanks Ian!
The unmastered sounded just a wee bit muddy, whereas the mastered version was warm, clear, and present. And it gave me goosebumps, which is key. Very subtle difference, yet very powerful. Amazing
That mix sounds fantastic and the mastering made it even better. This comes really close to John Mayer stuff which obviously sounds amazing. Joe can be really proud that.
I could listen to you talk about audio forever, thank you for all your help!
This is what i learned. Pre gain past compression point. Post gain is make up gain. And you dont want your overall track pre gain too high, then work the post to desired point. Apparently another credible source says tracks should be at -6dbfs with highest point peaking at -3dbfs. That makes sense since i tried one of my tracks in the car stereo that was peaking at -0.2db, and it was way too loud. I'd be happy if anyone comment because i can always learn something new, and by the way i may be wrong on everything i shared :)
Graham Cochrane brought me here
Amazing video Ian, once again. Cheers to Graham as well !
That was mindblowing, basically! LOL The main sense that I had, was things moved within the landscape of the mix, as you compared the track to your tweaks! Very nice and I'd say you've made your point. Thank you!
I could really hear the difference when you used your plugin to bypass the master processing. Great stuff!
One thing I noticed was that with mastering engaged the perception of stereo-field and hard panned sources was more coherent; this confused me a bit as compression will often shrink the stereo image.
I'm thinking that what I actually heard was an improvement in the centre-image (which then made the panned sources more evident); the vectorscope seems to confirm this.
Always good to learn something new...thank you, much appreciated : -)
Wow, such a big improvement in the sound. Thanks for your tutorials!
Excellent video. Thanks for all of your great content
I feel like you filled up the holes in eq balance, and the glue effect is magical
I know Joe & Graham...Im subscribed to them too. I think I seen you with them in a vid before if Im not mistaken. Thanks
Fantastic video with great tips and wisdom! Much appreciated, Thanks Ian! Cheers!
This was such a great video Ian. Thank you it was such a great learning experience.
My last song i was fighting the urge for loudness ,but i didn't join the dark side! Max short term -8LUFS (a few seconds in the chorus it goes to -7LUFS) and long term -10 LUFS. It sounds awesome and it's a heavy symphonic metal song with heavy screaming. Master volume rides and vocal rides are really powerful yet simple.
+blood lord (Chaotic Sonics)
Also something really interesting if automations are done cleverly on volume the human ear can't tell the master volume is getting lowered a bit after a loud chorus part going into the bridge. Mostly because the ear is adjusting.
*****
All thanks to you! It's always better to have someone turn it up then down including heavy genres.
Thanks to Ian I got into the Melda stuff and the Fab Filter Pro-L. Really great tools.
The way you make subtle changes and hear the difference I think if I sent you just how I make my tunes you would faint and fall back off your chair. lol
Nice work Ian. Happy mastering :)
great informative video Ian! I've learned a lot from this
Great video. Love the subtle choices on an already solid mix. Other than issues with headroom or dynamic range, are there any types of EQ or balance changes you would ask the mix engineer to make vs. having to take more extreme steps during the mastering process? Thanks for all of the great info.
Another great video and explanation.
Great video once again. Do more with less and don't get tricked by loudness! Thank you Ian
amazing, as usual
huge difference, minor tweaks
like a boss
Thank you Ian :-) So precise, so delicate & so musical.You're a great educator & Masterer.I wonder if this low RMS levels can work in the aggressive EDM world.I know you've discussed that in the past but when you're track should be heard in a DJ mix among all this heavy kick & bass beasts that are usually around -5 RMS levels I'm not sure if such delicacy & subtlety can work.I mean that the mastering should somehow match the genre you're mastering until this stupid loudness war ends & musicians\producers\dj's revert back to normal & musical levels....
This plug in looks awesome ! Just a little confused on how it works. I'm looking to buy it just want to understand a little more
Hi Why do you have soft clip turned off in the Brickwall Limiter ? I have the same limiter and I´m mastering some acoustic / fusion jazz , can you recomment some settings for the TC Brickwall Limiter ?
Graham brought me to you aswell. Great stuff :)
Very good
You should make a MD3 tutorial, its such great but huge tool with a lot of possibilities. That would be fantastic. Do you often use the M/S for compression ?
Nice video! and I love that song! where can I purchase the whole album?
Fantastic video.
Hi Ian..!
Gorgeous vid...thanks a lot. But where can i find a license for a DVR2 from PoCoX8, its so hard to find anything about TC PoCoX8 before TC gonna shut down their servers this year, dont?
Thanks a lot in advance!
There's just one thing that annoyingly pops out in this song It's when the singer says the letter "C" (like when he say "and i Can...", for example) and when he says "oh YHeaahh" in the chorus because he pronounce "YH" in a way that it makes the same effect as when he say "Can". I would fix that issue before everything else...
That's interesting but it doesn't bother me too much. Either way that's a change that it would be better (and easier) to make at the mixing stage, rather than in mastering.
Brilliant thanks
would you ever make less subtle changes in mastering? When I master the songs from my HeavyMetal Band it has a huge impact, making the mix really loud and adding a lot of brilliance to it. is that something you wouldnt recommend? are there any major backdrafts? or as usually im guessing theres no simple answer? :D
btw, great video!
Christopher Bonte you are right. Creative mastering is a thing. Like trailer movies mastering and voice over, should be extreme
What about mastering por export in MP3? What bit and sample rate should I use? @Production Advice
Big difference for sure...still would like some slope up from 3k to the top though
cheers
Is there any part of the video where I can see what kind of gain reduction the limiter is doing? or could you comment on this? thanks
Hi Ian! This is the first time that I wrote to you but is not the first video that I watch! Thanks for share knowledge.
I have a problem with this A/B test (Eq ON and OFF). I don't hear the difference. I have a well treat room and the Focal Twins 6 Be monitors. What it could be? My audio interface? Your video/audio codec? Or just me?
I really am very concerned about your answer. I also make videos on TH-cam and I think it is not the best platform for audio work because there is "something" that ruins everything.
Any ideas?
Ps: Greetings from Argentina
I only hear a little difference between MASTERED and UNMASTERD MIX only.
***** I hear the difference even on £5 earbud headphones through my laptop and there's a definite subtle yet still a profound affect the mastering had on the track. I'm new to mixing and mastering my own recordings and have learnt quite a lot from this video.
***** , thanks for your reply!
I was going crazy about this, but now I hear the EQ on/off when you toogle the MID 1 buttom. I think is becouse the music, I mean, is not a loop you are playing. I hear a low frequency appeare in minute 9, 35 seconds (when you turn the EQ off).
I still not hear the MID 2 toggle yet.
The unmastered version sounds muddy
I can't take the credit, Bob Katz coined it, I believe :-)
I have a question not on the mastering, but on your recording setup. Particularly, you seem to be quite far from the microphone, but still sound completely excellent, with no noise whatsoever. Is your voice track heavily modified from the original recording, or is this a result of the hardware you use? If the latter, which microphone do you use?
+Ian Shepherd Wow, thanks a lot. So much useful information! I always assumed Blue Yeti users post-process the audio to get rid of background hiss i seem to be getting on every mic ever. But you're right, echo has also been something i've been a little concerned about, so having information on that is quite valuable. Thanks again. :)
Are you using TC ICON or that md3 is native?
That is amazing sir
yeah - the "kitchen sink" mixing. If you get into the "use all the things" mindset - it's a hard habit to break...
do you put all of your tracks in on one mastering session?
I clicked the "OS X update available" notification =))))
Bless man!!
I need better room :D
I really can't hear those minute changes n this box I have even if my speakers are Genelec 8020:s
Mtaalas To be exact, I hear stuff from the low mids upwards, but this room just wrecks everything below 500hz
I can't hear much difference either and am sitting 3 feet from a pair of Adam A7x's. Could be my room I guess or me.
ur dope saving me
please which is the link of battle mix?
thanks :)
Well I kinda expected to hear all three versions....
+Ian Shepherd Ha, no problem. Thanks for the video.
Wow I even heard huge differences even through my MacAir speakers.
Nice work as usual Ian. I couldn't agree more about that 7 steps video, it is truly cringe worthy, as are many of the others he makes...
He didn't really do much but talk about not going into Detail.
I agree that subtlety and simplicity are sometimes (not always) key to a great master but I was not impressed, and the song was bad :/
+Ian Shepard Great mastering as usual. One personal nitpick though: maybe it's just me, but I'm hearing a definitive increase in the 2-8 kHz range. In the unmastered version, the song's 12-20 kHz, such as the high-end harmonics found in the guitar's strumming, were clear and distinct. The master appears to have masked those frequencies, i.e. the song seems to have lost some shimmer/sparkle. Am I correct in saying that? If so, was this your intention, i.e. the "warmth" you desired?
P. S. You are one of the few people who've inspired me to perfect the dynamics processing of whatever audio I engineer.
P. P. S. Besides audio engineering, I am an independent professional pianist. I would love to hear your thoughts on how to optimize the dynamics of (any) solo piano track(s).
+dylan hughes The way I master my songs is by mimicking my EQs close to (if not equal to) various Equal-Loudness Countours. I wonder what Ian's opinion would be on that.
wikipedia . org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour