I always said: man, use the internal cubase effects more! These is absolutely high quality stuff, sounds top and are great to use! P.S: Maximizer in Modern Mode is exactly equivalent to Waves L2... good times. You don´t need external third-party plugins these days if you use Cubase Pro.
I would love more videos on mastering. I’ve used some of your techniques in mixing and mastering already and it’s paying off. Thank you for this great content
your mastering plugin tips are 'as good as gold' as we say 'down-under' so just know that any you share are treasured. many thanks for sharing and that song is gold too!
I am amazed by how much musical expertise you have and your knowledge of the music production cycle. This is a very useful video on mastering, and I'm interested in more of your views on mastering.
Yes Dom! Abso 'frickin' lutely - Would love for you to expand on the art of mastering in an 'all-in-one' or mini video series maybe? Especially with Cubase 12's imminent arrival - Love the works amigo!!
Mr.Dom... you are really a legend in music-tech... Don't know how to tell your passion and dedication towards analysing these tricky things.. I m Spellbound by your knowledge....
It would be great to see how you use your analogue gear and how you balance that with plug-ins when mastering. Patching, outputs, printing back into the project, all that good stuff. The soft clipper sounded great on the bass synth. Thanks for all your videos Dom, I have learned so much.
I gave you a thumbs up not only for the content but also the smile on your face each time you play your song. You just freaking love it and that gave me a smile. :)
I didn't use these plugins with that poposal. That's crazy, tried in two rock and pop mixes and them reach -10 and -8 LUFS with the FF L2 limiter gain at 0dB, sounding clear and powerful. Thanks for these videos, Dom!
PSA: SoftClipper can ALSO perform as a hard clipper. There's so very little info on Cubase's SoftClipper on the internet, so I thought I'd pop in and let y'all know that if you set both harmonic controls to 0% and push the input into the red, then SoftClipper actually performs hard clipping. (Confirmed with examining rendered waveforms and also compared against another Clipper plugin). Use judiciously, just as you would any other Clipper plugin. Cheers! Update: Having spent a bit more with this in an actual session, the lack of gain control unfortunately makes this plug-in a no-go for clipping. ie. You turn the gain control down (or even the channel fader) and you lose the clipping effect. Oh well. Maybe Steinberg will update this someday...
Thanks Dom for these tips. I ❤️ Cubase . I can see these stock plugins are very transparent, so this makes them usable in lot of different types of music
Hi Dom, thank you for this Video. One more time very helpfull. I do have one question: what exactly is the function of the Recovery Knob in the Maximizer? Thanks for answering and all the best.
Dear Dom, once again, you don't disappoint. You never disappoint. It's extremely insightful - as a media composer I'm mostly doing orchestral music. I guess the use of such plugins isn't always relevant, right ? Also, I'd be extremely curious to have your input on the music of some compatriots of yours, Septicflesh. How do they manage to blend orchestra, heavily distorted guitars, to have this M.A.S.S.I.V.E death symphonic metal sound, is yet a mystery to me. Anyway. I had one Greek musician that I was following, and that's Christos Antoniou; now, I have you - and for a little while already ❤️ cheers Dom, keep being awesome
This is good info, as always when it comes to Dom. But! I now, and probably many Cubase users with me, searching plugins in Cubase that can be exchanged with Waves. For me it’s the abbey road collection. Renaissance is also a good plugin in Waves. So, that’s my wish. Thank U 🙏
Mastering is the most challenging task for me when producing EDM music. In EDM you are never loud enough. The louder the better. If you listen to Trance music, it is so loud there is no upper room for dynamic availability anymore. They maximise it to the very limit, right before it starts to distort. Its hard to get such a good quality with stock plugins. Fabfilter are very liked plugins. The L2 is very powerful! Dom, could you show how to push a EDM track to its very loudness limit in Cubase? Even with 3rd party plugins? Thanks
Check out a channel called Baphometrix, he has a currently ongoing video series about the Clip To Zero mixing method, which is used for achieving precisely what you are talking about. It is absolutely game changing, I've never had such an easy time getting consistently loud tracks before.
Hello Dom, it should be us thanking you by keeping the channel alive and helping us inexperienced to be better at our craft! My question, you said you add your plugins like spices before you get to your limiter, is the maximizer a sauce after the cooking is finished or is it a spice?
Thanks for the video. It would be amazing if you can go through some of the top/main STOCK plugins and effects of Cubase. I personally think Cubase is the best DAW as it has what other's offer and more. I did purchase some other third p[arty plugins and some FREE ones recently advised by some channels on TH-cam. But because I'm new with Cubase and mixing, etc I need help with the basics first, Which is the stock plugins that I also believe is good enough for most applications. For example a vocal chain plugin example and how to use it. General instrument plugins and how to use it. If you have videos already you can just share the links. I am going through almost your whole channel top educate myself🙂🙂 And loved your recent Midi pack purchase video and thoughts.
شكرا لك على تعبك وعملك الجيد لكن اتمنى منك ان تصنع فديو تشرح اللاودنس جيدا لنعرف ما الغرض وماهي الحدود المسموح بها في اللاودنس وكل شي يتعلق به من استخدامه واين يمكن ان نثبته وشكرا لك صديقي
HAhH Dom . after this great video. it's seems that I have to sell all external plugs. UAD . Waves ....ets. always i like to stick with Cubase stock plugins . really why we need to pay more for external plugins finaly it is "songs" not plugins hahah .
Hello! I have started watching your tutorials ❤️❤️❤️ liked them, I comment and watch the ads as well, in order to help your channel…. Kindly make a video on the subject of maxing and mastering with hardwares and with out hardwares..:: what is the difference ? Do they give same quality ?
Hi Dom, Firstly thank you for all you do in music.You truly are a legend. Dom, Could you tell me what sound card you are using? or maybe a high level one you could recommend as my card was water damaged. I told you that at this moment in my life i'm paralysed and cant get out so i thought i would ask you. Thanks in advance my Brother. Danny. UK
I agree with level matching. It's good to gain a bit of level and colour in each stage. Or it's a mess when you drive your maximiser and smashing it into your protection limiter. Ewww
Hi Dom, thanks!, again LIFESAVER! since Cubase 8.5 I use M-Audio ctrl49 (it's an AKAI undercover) when I upgadedto cubase11 I had to download the presets again ,it didn't work well. I use NI komplete M32 and MaschineMK3 as a controler(for drums) as you see my life is a mess,but it works well so far Wll upgrading make my life easier??
You mentioned mastering and I would be interested in your views on how far we should master in Cubase and the master bus before moving to Wavelab? Is Wavelab really for final tweaks and balancing all the tracks for a whole album?
Hello Dom, Side question, I see you have some reflector of top of you Pad Absorber with some nice design . I was wondering if I really need to go with the expensive supposedly mathematically calculated design one`s of if a DIY wood plate with random holes would do the trick . Thanks for your time
Hi Dom, I'm curious what chain you do use for situation like singer songwriter stems. Gain staging each bus (vox, gtr, keys) and then limiter on last stereo out bus? Thanks so much for your cool hints about stock plug-ins. Cheers
Hmmmm you say perceived increase in loudness with multi band and the squashed bit I clearly saw the output jump a 1db or 2. I also noted that you didn't give an explanation of what was happening with the multi band comp or squasher. Just turning knobs saying yeah that's better!
Hey Stephen! I've done an extensive video about Squasher- a full explanation about this monster of a plugin would make this video be 40min long. People always complain that I explain everything so there you go. When it comes to level jumping- this is the whole point of this tutorial: you add all the little ingredients to lead up to a full big and loud master. Slapping a limiter in the end won't do any good. But if you gain stage in every step you will get to a big fat sound. Hope this helps clarify- level matching is not always the best workflow- unless it's a plugin video which this one wasn't ;)
@@DomSigalas Yeah I head ya. Pinning detailed videos and saying hey click here if you want to see a more in-depth exploration etc will satisfy everyone. Doing these kinds of videos takes so much work and you can't keep anyone happy all the time. I GET THAT :) I'll go through your other videos for sure. This is my first one
@@stephenthompson9722 Hi Stephen! Thank you for understanding. Sadly, people want an as short video as possible always :) The videos are already pinned! Just click on the "I" icon on the top right of the screen ;) You will find all the relevant videos ;)
@ I actually had just left the comment (check “most recent”) since this seems to be the only real source for SoftClipper info on the web. (Steinberg’s own description is pretty sparse on details even)
Wonderful. Cubase does not promote it has all this in Pro. How many Waves or Plugin Boutique items do we all buy looking for that *magic* Please can you do the final version where it is LUFTd and considered "mastered" that itunes will accept for release. Thank you
That is true, though he did in this example explain why he isn't gain matching (he wanted to bring the level of his master up before hitting his maximizer). A gain matched evaluation before doing that is definitely something you might want to do precisely for the reasons you describe.
@@owenchaim610 If you pull down a limiter's threshold then that will affect how high your signal can peak. For example, if you set the threshold to -3 your signal won't go higher than -3, and usually in mastering you want to get your track almost to zero (professional tracks are often mastered to -0.5 or even up to -0.1). Pushing a signal louder into the limiter rather than pulling the threshold down allows you to hit that peak value instead of limiting it unnecessarily low.
@@DrBuffaloBalls sorry, I had edited my question because I wasn't sure it made sense. now I realize I had confused input gain with threshold. so, to rephrase, is there a difference between adding gain with the plugins before the limiter and increasing the input gain on the limiter itself instead?
@@owenchaim610 In that case both gain functions would essentially achieve the same thing. Of course assuming you are not using analog modeling plugins in your chain where increasing the gain on the plugin might change the coloration of the signal.
I always said: man, use the internal cubase effects more! These is absolutely high quality stuff, sounds top and are great to use!
P.S: Maximizer in Modern Mode is exactly equivalent to Waves L2... good times.
You don´t need external third-party plugins these days if you use Cubase Pro.
I would love more videos on mastering. I’ve used some of your techniques in mixing and mastering already and it’s paying off. Thank you for this great content
your mastering plugin tips are 'as good as gold' as we say 'down-under' so just know that any you share are treasured. many thanks for sharing and that song is gold too!
Dom, I always hit the like button first! I love your tips and lessons! Thank you!
I would have never ever thought of soft clipper in my mastering chain. But the sound is great! Thank you professor Cubase ;-).
You’re welcome Gordon! Use it with caution and it can give you some beautiful bump in your sound ;)
I am amazed by how much musical expertise you have and your knowledge of the music production cycle. This is a very useful video on mastering, and I'm interested in more of your views on mastering.
didn't know about the soft clipper! Thank you Dom, for the entire video!!!
I love to watch your emotions Dom! Such a positive man you are! Thanks for another video!
dom you have no idea how much value you bring to us cubase users. Thank you!
Thank you Dom! ❤
Yes more mastering videos 😍
Very good! Mastering using cubase stock plugins to a nice LUFS pattern for streaming would be a good video too!
Very helpful summation! Thank you Dom!!! Your videos are a real treasure!
Well done Dom another great video ;-) Ive been producing dance music for 35 years and always learn something new from your videos 🙂
Yes Dom! Abso 'frickin' lutely - Would love for you to expand on the art of mastering in an 'all-in-one' or mini video series maybe? Especially with Cubase 12's imminent arrival - Love the works amigo!!
Mr.Dom... you are really a legend in music-tech... Don't know how to tell your passion and dedication towards analysing these tricky things.. I m Spellbound by your knowledge....
It would be great to see how you use your analogue gear and how you balance that with plug-ins when mastering. Patching, outputs, printing back into the project, all that good stuff. The soft clipper sounded great on the bass synth. Thanks for all your videos Dom, I have learned so much.
Thank you for all your work on these Cubase tutorials, it's definitely helping me get better at my favorite DAW.
Hi Dom, another, very informative video. I will now create a Loudness folder and put all of these in there.
Thanks Dom! This was very helpful!
I gave you a thumbs up not only for the content but also the smile on your face each time you play your song. You just freaking love it and that gave me a smile. :)
Thank you my friend!
Mastering videos from you are always very interesting and useful!
Great as always!!!
Yes please more on mastering with built in plug-ins
Amazingo vídeo! Thanks Dom!
Thanks for another great tutorial
Very nice song, and its great watching you enjoying your own music,
so amazing @Dom Sigalas you rock thanks for everything
Thank you for putting these videos out. I just found this channel a couple of weeks ago and it is so helpful. Really appreciate it.
Great Video!
I didn't use these plugins with that poposal.
That's crazy, tried in two rock and pop mixes and them reach -10 and -8 LUFS with the FF L2 limiter gain at 0dB, sounding clear and powerful.
Thanks for these videos, Dom!
Thanks Dom 👌 Yes Please , more mastering Video 💥
More mastering videos, please!
Loved this, Dom, thanks! More on mastering please! :)
PSA: SoftClipper can ALSO perform as a hard clipper. There's so very little info on Cubase's SoftClipper on the internet, so I thought I'd pop in and let y'all know that if you set both harmonic controls to 0% and push the input into the red, then SoftClipper actually performs hard clipping. (Confirmed with examining rendered waveforms and also compared against another Clipper plugin). Use judiciously, just as you would any other Clipper plugin. Cheers!
Update: Having spent a bit more with this in an actual session, the lack of gain control unfortunately makes this plug-in a no-go for clipping. ie. You turn the gain control down (or even the channel fader) and you lose the clipping effect. Oh well. Maybe Steinberg will update this someday...
Found it! Nice piece of information!
@@Eurodrummer666 Thanks! But see my latest edit/update 😞
@jeffperrinmusic Just read it, yeah, when I tried it it was a bit out of control too .
Oh yeah... Mastering-topics would be really great! 👍
Thanks again for a great video Dom. Your channel has helped me so much. Cubase 12, any day now!
Top video, is gold. More mastering videos are welcome. thanks.
Di Dom, Great video and Content. Love it! Yes please, like to see more about mastering and use of stock plugins
Brilliant. Many thanks Dom 👍👍
Thanks Dom for these tips. I ❤️ Cubase . I can see these stock plugins are very transparent, so this makes them usable in lot of different types of music
Thank you Dom
Great video. You have my support
Excellent information once again, thank you Dom :)
Awesome video! Please tell me everything you know about mastering!!!
Yes! Mastering video please 😀
#1 great info like ever!! Can't await!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge Dom - useful information as always, and very much appreciated! 🙂👍
Yes, more mastering videos please :-)
Thanks for the reminder, that we have such fine stock plugins to work with ;:-)
Hi Dom, thank you for this Video. One more time very helpfull. I do have one question: what exactly is the function of the Recovery Knob in the Maximizer? Thanks for answering and all the best.
Great video, thank you!
i love it. Make more mastering video.
Hello master ... we love you both loudly and proudly....!!!
Thanks for another very useful Video. 👍👏 And let me tell you... I love this Song! ♥️♥️♥️
Dear Dom, once again, you don't disappoint. You never disappoint. It's extremely insightful - as a media composer I'm mostly doing orchestral music. I guess the use of such plugins isn't always relevant, right ?
Also, I'd be extremely curious to have your input on the music of some compatriots of yours, Septicflesh. How do they manage to blend orchestra, heavily distorted guitars, to have this M.A.S.S.I.V.E death symphonic metal sound, is yet a mystery to me.
Anyway. I had one Greek musician that I was following, and that's Christos Antoniou; now, I have you - and for a little while already ❤️ cheers Dom, keep being awesome
ECXELLENT again...
You are the best Dom....
You’re welcome Luis!
Greatn man! Beautiful track too
This is good info, as always when it comes to Dom.
But! I now, and probably many Cubase users with me, searching plugins in Cubase that can be exchanged with Waves. For me it’s the abbey road collection. Renaissance is also a good plugin in Waves.
So, that’s my wish.
Thank U 🙏
Always great content.. Noticed, You don't link your cameras down below.
Wow, great video
Mastering is the most challenging task for me when producing EDM music. In EDM you are never loud enough. The louder the better. If you listen to Trance music, it is so loud there is no upper room for dynamic availability anymore. They maximise it to the very limit, right before it starts to distort. Its hard to get such a good quality with stock plugins. Fabfilter are very liked plugins. The L2 is very powerful! Dom, could you show how to push a EDM track to its very loudness limit in Cubase? Even with 3rd party plugins? Thanks
Hi, try using a clipper before limiter. I think Dom has a tutorial about that.
Check out a channel called Baphometrix, he has a currently ongoing video series about the Clip To Zero mixing method, which is used for achieving precisely what you are talking about. It is absolutely game changing, I've never had such an easy time getting consistently loud tracks before.
Thanks a lot. This plugin is only available on cubase pro 😭
Hello Dom, it should be us thanking you by keeping the channel alive and helping us inexperienced to be better at our craft!
My question, you said you add your plugins like spices before you get to your limiter, is the maximizer a sauce after the cooking is finished or is it a spice?
It seems in this example he has replaced the limiter with a maximizer.
Which is the sweet point ???? Very nice demonstration Dom
I respect that hoodie
Thanks for the video. It would be amazing if you can go through some of the top/main STOCK plugins and effects of Cubase. I personally think Cubase is the best DAW as it has what other's offer and more. I did purchase some other third p[arty plugins and some FREE ones recently advised by some channels on TH-cam. But because I'm new with Cubase and mixing, etc I need help with the basics first, Which is the stock plugins that I also believe is good enough for most applications.
For example a vocal chain plugin example and how to use it.
General instrument plugins and how to use it.
If you have videos already you can just share the links. I am going through almost your whole channel top educate myself🙂🙂 And loved your recent Midi pack purchase video and thoughts.
Waw thanks alot we need voicing template we the upcoming producer
شكرا لك على تعبك وعملك الجيد لكن اتمنى منك ان تصنع فديو تشرح اللاودنس جيدا لنعرف ما الغرض وماهي الحدود المسموح بها في اللاودنس وكل شي يتعلق به من استخدامه واين يمكن ان نثبته وشكرا لك صديقي
I hear this amazing song in many tutorials of yours. Has it been released already?? Where is it available?
HAhH Dom . after this great video. it's seems that I have to sell all external plugs. UAD . Waves ....ets. always i like to stick with Cubase stock plugins . really why we need to pay more for external plugins finaly it is "songs" not plugins hahah .
Hello! I have started watching your tutorials ❤️❤️❤️ liked them, I comment and watch the ads as well, in order to help your channel…. Kindly make a video on the subject of maxing and mastering with hardwares and with out hardwares..:: what is the difference ? Do they give same quality ?
Another awesome vid, thanks, can I ask what is that Cubase light you have? Love it! 😎🙏
Thank you! I have a link of it in the description ;)
Hi Dom,
Firstly thank you for all you do in music.You truly are a legend.
Dom, Could you tell me what sound card you are using? or maybe a high level one you could recommend as my card was water damaged. I told you that at this moment in my life i'm paralysed and cant get out so i thought i would ask you. Thanks in advance my Brother. Danny. UK
i think he's using the one from the Steinberg recording pack (the one that has the headphones he's always wearing and a condenser mic)
@@LeChapeauMusic Thank you👍👍
I agree with level matching. It's good to gain a bit of level and colour in each stage. Or it's a mess when you drive your maximiser and smashing it into your protection limiter. Ewww
Squasher really is crazy
Hi Dom, thanks!, again LIFESAVER!
since Cubase 8.5 I use M-Audio ctrl49 (it's an AKAI undercover) when I upgadedto cubase11 I had to download the presets again ,it didn't work well.
I use NI komplete M32 and MaschineMK3 as a controler(for drums)
as you see my life is a mess,but it works well so far
Wll upgrading make my life easier??
nice song
More mastering videos
You mentioned mastering and I would be interested in your views on how far we should master in Cubase and the master bus before moving to Wavelab? Is Wavelab really for final tweaks and balancing all the tracks for a whole album?
What IS the name of this song and where can I listen to it??? This song is pure magic! ✨🔥🙌
Have you done the Cubase 12 videos yet Dom? ;p
Hello Dom, Side question, I see you have some reflector of top of you Pad Absorber with some nice design . I was wondering if I really need to go with the expensive supposedly mathematically calculated design one`s of if a DIY wood plate with random holes would do the trick . Thanks for your time
I want Greek subtitles for any video dear Dom!!!! Please 🙏🙏
Hi friend, can we get a microphone vocal setting for recording?
Hi Dom, I'm curious what chain you do use for situation like singer songwriter stems. Gain staging each bus (vox, gtr, keys) and then limiter on last stereo out bus? Thanks so much for your cool hints about stock plug-ins. Cheers
Thank you. The Steinberg headphones are they good for mixing? Where can i buy it, please?
Hmmmm you say perceived increase in loudness with multi band and the squashed bit I clearly saw the output jump a 1db or 2.
I also noted that you didn't give an explanation of what was happening with the multi band comp or squasher. Just turning knobs saying yeah that's better!
Hey Stephen! I've done an extensive video about Squasher- a full explanation about this monster of a plugin would make this video be 40min long. People always complain that I explain everything so there you go. When it comes to level jumping- this is the whole point of this tutorial: you add all the little ingredients to lead up to a full big and loud master. Slapping a limiter in the end won't do any good. But if you gain stage in every step you will get to a big fat sound. Hope this helps clarify- level matching is not always the best workflow- unless it's a plugin video which this one wasn't ;)
@@DomSigalas Yeah I head ya. Pinning detailed videos and saying hey click here if you want to see a more in-depth exploration etc will satisfy everyone. Doing these kinds of videos takes so much work and you can't keep anyone happy all the time. I GET THAT :)
I'll go through your other videos for sure. This is my first one
@@stephenthompson9722 Hi Stephen! Thank you for understanding. Sadly, people want an as short video as possible always :) The videos are already pinned! Just click on the "I" icon on the top right of the screen ;) You will find all the relevant videos ;)
Where do i get a jumper like that Dom..
What about using it on a snare drum in a metal mix?
See my reply above ^^^ re: using SoftClipper as a hard clipper (popular w/more aggressive genres like metal or EDM)
@jeffperrinmusic I've looked through the past comments and am unable to find it! TH-cam app is really strange...
@ I actually had just left the comment (check “most recent”) since this seems to be the only real source for SoftClipper info on the web. (Steinberg’s own description is pretty sparse on details even)
The Cubase Bible
Would you use the multiband compressor as a glue compressor? Or which one?
how did u get that sound for the female voice? reminds me of a track by steven wilson king ghost
Dom - would you mix into these plugins pre mastering? I probably tend to get lazy and switch on the maximiser!
Wonderful. Cubase does not promote it has all this in Pro. How many Waves or Plugin Boutique items do we all buy looking for that *magic*
Please can you do the final version where it is LUFTd and considered "mastered" that itunes will accept for release.
Thank you
What’s the song name?
DOM WHERE IS THE LINK TO THE SONNNNGGGGG I HAVE IT STUCK TO MY HEAD I NEED IT IN SPOTIFY T.T
👊
I dont like squasher on my master, quadrafuzz is way cooler also for making things wide. Less is more and quadrafuzz does that!!
isnt gain matching meant to allow you to evaluate the effect of the plugin without being distracted by the gain increase?
That is true, though he did in this example explain why he isn't gain matching (he wanted to bring the level of his master up before hitting his maximizer). A gain matched evaluation before doing that is definitely something you might want to do precisely for the reasons you describe.
@@DrBuffaloBalls thank you for the clarification.
@@owenchaim610 If you pull down a limiter's threshold then that will affect how high your signal can peak. For example, if you set the threshold to -3 your signal won't go higher than -3, and usually in mastering you want to get your track almost to zero (professional tracks are often mastered to -0.5 or even up to -0.1). Pushing a signal louder into the limiter rather than pulling the threshold down allows you to hit that peak value instead of limiting it unnecessarily low.
@@DrBuffaloBalls sorry, I had edited my question because I wasn't sure it made sense. now I realize I had confused input gain with threshold. so, to rephrase, is there a difference between adding gain with the plugins before the limiter and increasing the input gain on the limiter itself instead?
@@owenchaim610 In that case both gain functions would essentially achieve the same thing. Of course assuming you are not using analog modeling plugins in your chain where increasing the gain on the plugin might change the coloration of the signal.
I’m confused about plugins for mastering.
iZotope, A.O.M and FabFilter.
Soft Clipper is a lot cheaper than a Lavrey!