Your videos have turned my sludge into songs in two weeks time. Still headroom for improvement of course, but your advice has been exponentially valuable to me and you waste no words nor keep us in the dark about anything. To anyone new here, look no further. Just listen to Mr Huart and you'll have a marvelous time mixing. guaranteed. Thank you ever so much.
T Racks along with this mastering tutorial have really brought my recordings to life. Using stock plugins to master really hindered my mixes and made me struggle to get the volume along with clarity as uncoloured as possible. But now I'm using using T Racks it's like night and day difference. Thanks for all the shared wisdom!
Hi Warren! I feel like some of us may underestimate or bypassed many of your old videos. And... you know what?? It´s a shame. Why?? Because you´ve done so many records outshines along these years and you are such a gentle (very british... I must admitt) and humble guy teaching us how to be better on recording, producing, mixing and master a song that I´m still amazed by the kinda of content you´ve released I mean... you deserves to win a prize or something...
For anyone out there, please get a paper and pen, and write all of these down, just like a teacher and a student, I have improved my mixing and mastering way better! Thank you Mr. Huart. Speaking of the Vocalist, I loved his crispy voice, it has different soul in it, and he is just 16, amazing, i hope puberty won't crash his crispy voice! (: thanks again!
Thanks for the tips! One suggestion: if the majority of the video is about explainig something in a smaller window on the sceen (like the T-Rex window in this case), it would be easier for us to follow what's going on if you zoomed in for those parts. I think you can do that in any screen capturing program. L2 is such a great plugin. I usually have it on my monitoring bus as well while mixing, just to give a little push/glue to the mix.
Hi Ati Shephard, thanks for pointing that out! We have zoomed in on other plugins before and we will do it again. Yes the L2 is a great plug in, we also like the McDSP ML4000, we are going to do a little overview of them all in our next video. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
I think many people are starting to do this differently. I was watching a famous producer using loads of plug ins on the master bus and he even said he didn’t know what they did! It was all on a MacBook in the box. Really opened my eyes.
Wow! Ultimately I suppose it's what you are looking for! This Home Mastering technique has got me LOADS of gigs in 'Mix Offs' against other mixers! It's a part of what we do now. I will of course whenever I can use a real Mastering Engineer! That is always preferable for me!
Great to watch this one Warren. Very clear explanation that I feel I needed in order to bring me back to the fundamentals because I may have been overthinking things with mastering lately. Thanks for that. EQ: I've been using Brainworx BX_Digital V2 for EQ and widening. COMPRESSION: Plus a combination of the Brainworx BX_XL for Mid-Side (& low-hi) compression with harmonic additive and LIMITING: Waves L3 LL Multi Stereo so I can control the lows separately from effecting the other frequencies, whilst limiting. It's a really amazing combination.
Hi Warren, I only recently stumbled across your channel and all I can say is THANKYOU! Your content is brilliant and although I'm using Reason, a lot of the information is transferrable. Mastering to me, still seems to be a bit of "black magic" :-) and getting different peoples views on what and where to put devices in the mastering bus is quiet interesting. Keep up the excellent work mate.
Good one! From 2000 till 2010 I used Sound Forge 8, to master my Sonar projects. Since then I've gotten a dozen from PSP and all of the T-Racks, all of which are excellent. Sonar keeps adding more to their included mastering tools, so I have lots of choices, though I've been using the T-Racks the most.
Hi Michael Parson-McNamara Thanks very much for your comment I really appreciate it! Yes I've been a big fan of T Racks for a while now! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks
But the most important thing is the music and mix. Mastering is so subtle and "magic". Micro details and polish. I like to get the sound right in the mixing process
I was thinking about one crucial difference between mastering yourself or have it done by someone else. Beside everything else like budget and skills and equipment, I found that it changes the way you work big time. I was actually releasing a CD a few years back that I had mastered by somebody else. Now I am working on the second one which I master myself. I am not a very gifted mastering engineer, it is mostly a money issue. When you know, you will give your stuff away for mastering, you will at one point approach the final mix, do it very carefully listen to it a million times, because you know once you sent it off that’s it. Even though a good mastering engineer might give you a call and suggest some changes, if necessary, but in general it is out of your hands from that moment on. Plus you have to let it go and stop thinking about all the little things that could have been done better. If you’re doing it yourself you have to bring up a lot more discipline to do the same thing cause you know you can always go back up to the very last minute. That sounds like a huge advantage and it may be.But on the other side it easily might lead to sloppy work and because you never have to let it go until the end you might easily get carried away and never get finished. I find myself in that process. Since I started recording that album, I have moved my studio and bought a different guitar amp and sold the old one, so there is no chance for rerecording most of the stuff but I went back from mastering to mixing a million times by now. Does that make sense ?
Hi +KaiUlrich I completely understand! I believe whether you're mastering it yourself or sending it out, it's important to view that as a separate step. Sounds like you're getting it all figured out ok though! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro Oh, I keep it completely apart. This is simple since I use Pro Tools for mixing and Logic for mastering, because is has more onboard plug ins for that matter.This is also helpful, because, even if you do it at the same day along with loading a new DAW you may as well load a new mindset ;-)
really like T-racks since always but recently I'm using Ozone 7 and Im very happy with results. The Ozone Maximizers are really amazing and all vintage plugins added are amazing too. thanks for your tutorials. You're a great master.
Very important to consider the minor cuts and boosts...and the fact that they are minor. Gotta remember the material is going to be listened to in vastly variable environments like the car, headphones, home speakers, computer speakers, PA systems, etc...all of which will have their own EQ settings and differences. The key to mastering is to have a track that will translate well to many different systems. A happy medium the end user will most likely wind up EQ'ing to taste. So if you master it to sound super sweet and rich on your monitors, it may sound very harsh in the real world. Same with bass. If you add a lot of punch that sounds great in your monitors, it will likely be muddy or distorted in the real world. So take test masters out to your car and home stereo, etc. See what mix sounds good on both. This will also help you learn your reference monitors. For instance, you'll learn how what you hear in your monitors will translate. You'll know if the bass sounds like "this" on your monitors, it will sound like "that" in the real world. This will cut down on wasted time endlessly testing mixes. You'll have such a good feel for your monitors that you won't need so many test mixes.
Hi +Guillermo Castellon Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Yes fantastic Plugin! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, love your channel! We’ve been using TRacks Mastering Suite for more than a decade, mainly for a quick fix master to drive home with to evaluate the prospective potential outcome. Definitely works best when used prudently. Just from experience there are much better (and pricier) alternatives available today though you are bang on for recommending T-Racks as a great way to Master at home and for folks that are attempting getting into this process themselves. Lately we are using the UAD 2 plugins which are mind blowing in comparison, such as the Chandler plugs along with the Manley, Ampeg and SPL plugs. Ultimately it is certainly an art and well worth approaching a seasoned mastering engineer for the best outcome if it is affordable. Thanks again, we thought we were alone with the T-RACKS Suite , they are awesome for what they are. Cheers.
Hey Warren what´s your opinion about the 'loudness war'? I think there is too much compression in today´s recordings and a lack of dynamics that makes albums less interesting sonic wise...Producers have more tools than ever to make albums sound better than 20-25 years ago and i feel that whenever i heard a late 80´s or 90´s record (alice in chains or nirvana for example) there is much more space and width in the recording. Thanks for all the tips! Cheers
Hi Luis Marban, I agree. The mastering engineers usually get the blame, but I believe it's mainly the producers fault. Producers are slamming everything so hard that the mastering guys I know say they get given an extremely undynamic stereo file that they cannot to do anything with. Thanks ever so much for watching. Have a marvelous time recording Warren
not true. the most common used streaming platforms are making quiet tracks louder anyway so a lot of people aren't worried about making their music loud because spotify, youtube etc are doing it for them anyway and making loud songs quieter also. it just means on certain platforms people will reach for the volume knob which really isn't a bad thing
You can kick Rick Rubin in the butt for starting this crap. After Slayer's "Season in the Abyss" Rick began to crush everything to stupid squash levels, culminating with the abortion of "Deaf (Death) Magnetic". Ted Jensen was hired to master the album and stated the mixes were brickwalled so bad he couldn't do anything with them, and had his name removed from the project. Rick is an example of using the digital space in the way wrong way. The problem is NO ONE USED IT CORRECTLY! In rock or pop anyways. Nashville producers up until the last couple of years used it right, I'd point you to George Strait - Love is Everything as an example of getting it right.
@@Producelikeapro Yes - I've studied this in depth. What I mean is that if you try to reproduce those types of effects (say take bands like In This Moment or Five Finger Death Punch) you will find that you cannot get that sound from just mastering techniques - you'll end up with harsh artifacts in the treble, or you'll just lose so much life that it doesn't sound the same. So, this means that the heavy compression is being applied pre-mastering - as you say by the producer driving the mix engineer's decisions. That then leads to less or almost no compression being even possible to apply by the mastering engineer, and the track maintains some semblance of "natural sound" because it is basically already slammed at the track level from the mix session. As you said in this video - it's mastered essentially straight off the mix bus. This of course is a horrible way to do it, if you care about dynamics. But it does create that ludicrous commercial sound - tracks with RMS around -6.0 (or I've even seen higher).
I use to master song by song using DAWs like Pro Tools, Reaper etc... the same way you did in this video. But I have since started mastering using Studio One Professional. My reason for this is I can master a whole album in one place. Also when I'm done the songs sound like they belong together. In the past, when mastering song by song, somethings the songs on an album would sound as if they were from different artist or different albums and stuck together on an album. Like some greatest hits albums do.
Hi +Sean O'Brien Great stuff! Thanks for the fantastic tip! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Warren, always learning something new from your excellent videos. thank you so much I know it can be a time consuming to produce all these videos but from me they are greatly appreciated. I am going to attempt to master a song in Pre Sonus Studio one 3 tomorrow...fingers crossed the best part is it's only digital and any mistakes can be reversed...if you save and copy
Nice video, Warren! I love Slate's FG-X mastering compressor suite. It's got some unique features that I haven't seen anywhere else like dynamic "perception" and hardness/smoothness as well as lo punch tweaks and detail adjustment. I feel that mastering is my weakest point here at the home studio, so my philosophy is to do as little in that stage as possible aside from bringing up the level, which is pretty easy to do in FG-X. If things aren't working when I bring it up with FG-X, I go back and fix it in the mix, mixdown again and try over. I really love Waves Linear Multi-band compressor as well. I watched a video with Greg Wells, I believe, who set it to Mutliband electro start and just lets the bands tap a little. You get them all moving just a hair and things just sit together a little better. Nothing crazy. I also enjoy the UAD Manley Massive passive for some touches if I need a pinch of air boost with a high shelf in the 8-12k range. I'll also take some low mids out and control the lows with it but only a couple clicks here and there. I also really enjoy DDMF's Linear Phase EQ. Visual parametric. Very nice for mastering. I do as little as I can get away with!
I've only been making music for a year so my understanding of mastering is limited, but I render my song to wave file then start a new project with that file. I use EQ, gclip for gain then maximus for multiband compression. I use levels 2.0 for my extra set of ears then make adjustments as needed.
Thanks a lot! I didn't used the t racks, but instead used the UAD plugins that came with my interface in a similar fashion. It produced great results in a matter of a couple hours.
cool! i tend to use a lot of ik stuff as well, very often the clipper and linear phase eq. i like to use multiple and different limiters in conjunction with the clipper, i kinda feel the volume gain cleaner, less unstable distortion pumping here and there. one thing i realized over the years is that more aggressive i go to please my 'vision' in the eq section (linear phase in m/s mode, generally), the more pleased i get listening my masterings days after released. in very specific dynamically problematic areas i go for linear phase multiband compressor from waves. thank you for sharing your knowledge through the channel, warren! cheers from brazil!
Hello Cássio Zambotto in Brazil! Thanks for watching I really appreciate your comment. I'm definitely going to do a video using different EQ's, Compressors and limiters. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren.
I actually use inserts instead of Audiosuite. a de-esser to eliminate really high frequencies and lots of compression and limiting. I will try to make it simpler next time, thanks for the tips!
Hi ricardo martinez, thanks for watching! Yes I believe inserting and then experimenting with different EQ, Compression and Limiting can really help. Also I agree a De-esser is great for removing some harsh top end. Many thanks Warren
Really enjoyed this, especially since I use T-RackS too. Only thing I don't like is they install crippled versions of the plug-ins you don't yet have and it can get messy in your plug-in selection menu.
Thanks Fezzler61, I'm going to demo other mastering plugins in the next episode. Thanks for watching, have a marvelous time recording! Many thanks Warren
multiband compressors are great for mastering they do make mixes breathe because you can use different ratios at different crossover frequencies depending on the source material.
hi warren thanks for the tips, i would like to ask you, what it should be the output in the master when the song or any song is mastered already it should be -3 in the meter or close, thanks best regards
I've been working on improving my mastering skills and this video was really informative, thanks. One problem I keep running in to is large, but short intersample peaks (as much as 2dB above the signal level, but only for hundreths or even thousandths of a second) after going through my limiter. I'd be interested in your thoughts on ISPs, if this is something I should be worried about, and what could possibly be causing this as it has me stumped!
Hi Warren, First, thanks for your excellent videos. After watching this video, I got the TRacks plug-ins you used, but discovered that they are not supported in Audiosuite any longer (in the most recent ProTools versions- I'm on 12.7). I've never really tried mastering before but thought I'd give it a go. If I bring my stereo file in, should I try doing what you've done hear but on the Master bus?
Great video Warren, as usual. My question is about compression. If you're using multiple compressors in the mastering phase do you ever end up being at cross porpoises when using more than one compressor? Do they ever cancel each other out? Thanks again for the great tutorials, I'm always learning from you. Thanks again and God Bless. Cheers mate!
Hi Paul Schmdit great question! I try not to use multi band compression when mastering, I honestly feel it fattens everything out, sure it can make it louder, but I want the music to sound exciting! As ever thanks very much for your kind words, I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Surprised no-one's mentioned that your Audiosuite process auditioning (and judging) with T-racks was in mono. I prefer inserts, on the source and/or an auxiliary buss - hearing everything in *context* is vital, especially if EQ'ing via a limiter. Along with *always* level-matched comparisons, and the use of (calibrated) VU meters.
Once again another awesome Video, Really Glad I found (and Subbed) to this. My band is getting ready to Master our "Home made Release" , Recorded in my basement using Pro-tools 11.3.1 and all the plug ins you demonstrate,and with your help here, I think I can get it sounding big and wide. I use all the same Plug ins as well, T-rex, waves, I also Like the New Steven Slate Everything Bundle. I'd Love to see you master with some of that stuff. Peace and Happy Christmas. You Rock my world.
I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to music production and only have a basic pc production suite but, once I think I've recorded each track to the best I can, I like to keep post-production and mastering to an absolute minimum, as little as possible, with only the tiniest tweaks & enhancements that I think it needs.
THANKS A LOT MAN .. I DEAL WITH A LOT OF HIP HOP SO I FOLLOWED THIS TIP VIDEO BUT JUST BOOST IT A LIL MORE ( HIP HOP LOL ) AND I HEAR A GREAT DIFFERENCE .. IM SUBSCRIBED .. PEACE
Hi +Trapp Beatz Glad to be able to help! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi, Warren. Thanks a lot for all the useful tips! One of the best ways for me to learn is watching other professionals work, and in general these videos are pure knowledge gold. I noticed you relied heavily on your ears during the whole process. Do you think it's useful also doing a pass with a "multi-meter" graph type plug-in to monitor things like dynamics or frequency picture, stereo spread, or goniometer 3d binaural imaging? I must confess that I rely heavily on visual, but I'd love to read your input about that. Again, thanks plenty.
Any thoughts on Izotope Ozone? I have used T-Rack (albeit not much) as well as WAVES L1-3 Maximizers but they all sound a bit "harsh" to me as opposed to Ozone which sounds very open and natural. Then again, I am not a "Mastering" engineer so it could just be me but I know what I like to hear. Thoughts?
Love your stuff, been in the biz for 40 yrs working alongside Ray Kennedy in Nashville several times. I also just started using the tRacks suite. Can you do a video with a little more depth on the brick wall limiter so we can have a better understanding of how to set it. I think there’s always confusion out here on setting attack and release Again thanks for all your help
Hi Warren, just discovered your channel and website. Very grateful that people like you share your wealth of knowledge and experience. Keep up the amazing work! I understand that you want to tuck in the kick a bit, but to me, the end result sounds really squashed and I prefer the dynamics before all that limiting. Is that just the mixing engineer talking? What are your thoughts on that? Thanks Chris
Hi +JamesLaChri Great question! You could be right!! Yes I'm sure if I was JUST the mastering engineer I might view it differently! Probably then they might do a little less! There's always a danger of doing too much when you do it yourself! Have a marvellous time recoding and mixing, many thanks Warren
Thank you for your videos! Love watching it. Very entertaining! ))) I also find the Brickwall Limiter by IK Multimedia the cleanest out of the whole bunch I own. But ITB mastering (home mastering) will get you somewhat acceptable results up to -14 db RMS. Anything beyond that level will be "crunchy", no matter what you try to do to it... And yes, it's ok, if your song is quieter. There is a volume knob, and nowadays sophisticated auto levelers built in to most of the devices. P.S. Check the track "She ain't hooked on me no more" by Toby Keith and Merle Haggard - from iTunes (specifically iTunes file), and analyze what they did at the mastering to it. It peaks at -2.2 dbfs with volume around -14 db RMS, yet still loud as f***. See if you can get it to distort, full volume on anything... Still, would be very hard to achieve the same in the box, without the converters, that you can "push" a few db's safely... :)
Hello Warren, I appreciate all of your posts here! I'm currently mixing an Afro-Cuban CD or modern Cuban Timba music and I'm having a problem getting a good reading on the SPAN spectrum analyzer but it seems like I have way too many mids and not enough lows. The left side is very low on the spectrum in comparison. When I go to correct and start to eq things differently or correct it it doesn't sound as good to me. What can I do cause I had one mastering engineer comment on it and in fact he's the one that told me about the SPAN plugin. I'm trying to balance keeping the mixes appealing to our ears but also not being to thin or not up to par with comparable mixes. Most of the Salsa Albums I've found don't seem to fill up both ends of the spectrum as much as other styles I've compared too but not quite as bad as my mixes. I've re-eque'd and panned the living shit out of it as recommended but still no cigar! What should I do? Wish they had a plugin to automatically correct these issues! (hahaha!). Thanks
Hi Warren, I was just wondering if you ever master using stems of the final mix. For instance a stem of Rhythm guitars, another of bass & drums, then say keys and then vocals main along with vocals back up as a stem. I know it probably complicates the process but maybe it opens the door to more dynamic masters whilst still adhering to the original mixers vision.
Hi +Bull Zephyr Thanks for the great question! The only time I would ever want stems is if I felt the mix wasn't very good, no reputable mastering engineer asks for them. The only time I've ever been asked for them the master came back sounding absolutely awful! Haha Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
It must be nice to have such amazing ears that one could shape the song in a way that you wouldn't be offended because you would not be able to hear the difference, respectfully speaking. Well isn't that nice. LOL. Im totally on your side Warren. Mastering engineers are a different brew of people, respectfully speaking. LOL. Sorry I couldn't help myself. Great show as always Warren and even greater self control.
Hi +Jak Leyton haha agreed! The Great Mastering Engineers are truly a breed unto themselves!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro Hi Warren, I recently subscribed to your channel as I find your deduction to the craft of recording, mixing, and mastering extremely informative and easy to apply, especially for those of us doing it at home, so thanks a lot! Just wondering could you inform me directly regarding this question below, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, thanks. I record at home myself Warren and I was just wondering when I go to master a mix in Cubase, and seeing you only have two wave forms up in the master of this vid it got me questioning myself, I take my mix of the song to master but I've been duplicating the mix six times so I have two central mix's and I pan two of the other four hard L&R and two L&R just off center to try and create a wider soundscape, but is this acceptable or is it just overkill? Thanks in advance, Dec.
@@decmccallion If you put a copy at left and another at right, it will be equivalent to keeping them both in the middle. In fact, if you put a copy x% left and another x% right, it's all the same. Now, if you process the left one differently than the right (invert, do limiting/compression differently, etc.), then you get an effect.
I don't touch the master bus when I mix now (only to flick on the mono switch) cuz I used to get too knotted into my mistakes made in the mix and using the master channel as a crutch. My mixes would fall apart once the master bus plugins were off.
I use Waveburner. There's a preset I really like called " Refresh & Gentle denoise ". Then I just tweak EQ and gain until it sounds fatter than it did going in. But no clipping or pumping. :)
Hi Warren. Nice video (as always). I've been using Steinberg's Wavelab for probably 15 years (been using Cubase for the same amount of time) with mostly its native plug-ins, and it works very well for me. About to put my hands on some UAD-2 goodies and that will be a nice add to the formula. :)
Hi ***** great! Yes I only hear great things about the UAD stuff! Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it! Warren
Hey thanks for the reply you said you were going to something on compressor while you're doing that can you do something on explain how to get a vocal to cut through or sit right in the mix without having to use a parallel process. I don't really like the parallel process as I don't really understand much about it.
Hi Nathan Brown, thanks for sharing! Yes I will definitely do a parallel vocal compression video very soon! Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
Agreed Tim Nienhuis a wonderful Limiter, I am going to do another Mastering Video showing a lot of different approaches. Many thanks for watching! Warren
pretty nice tips here warren, big fan of your channel. I work in adobe audition, i find it s very user friendly and all aroung complete software except when it comes to usin midi (does not support midi) , so there might come a time where i have to switch DAW , but for the time being it s working out ok for me. (I just work on my own stuff, a have a degree in music , but never worked professionally as recording or mixing engineer) still, you make this stuff sound pretty simple even when it s not.... any way, just though i ´d drop a line let you know I apreciate this stuff salutations from Venezuela
great video yet again!!! I do have one question... When mixing I will bounce the stereo track down and then add mastering type stuff ie, compress eq etc, separate like Wavelab my question is since I send my stuff and my clients stuff to Rodney Mills Mastering House out of ATL, how much head room do you think I should have before I send it to the mastering house or do you think not putting anything on the master buss is ok as well since it is being sent to some where else.... Normally what I have done before would be go to Cubase 8.0 and then Wavelab 7.......
Hi Tim Adams thanks an excellent question! I was talking with a mastering Engineer today and he said he actually liked to hear a 2 track exactly the way it was mixed, if that meant it had limiting he didn't care because he needed to know what they were hearing. So I would definitely supply both, give the mastering engineer what you've been listening too and then one without the limiting on it and he can make the decision! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
How do you compare the effected mix and the un-effected mix when toggling bypass, when the levels are so different? i.e., the louder signal easily sounds stronger, just because its louder... Thanks! :-)
Hi +Samos12 Great question! Yes it is definitely hard for many people to hear the difference between effected and unaffected if it changes the amplitude considerably! Ian Shepherd makes a plug in called 'Perception' which works great and addresses this exact issue! www.meterplugs.com/perception Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I just upgraded my TRackS classics to the new TRackS5 (Max, Deluxe, or Standard) suite and it is even more incredible now. I also recently got the Lurssen mastering plugin and it is super easy and gives great results although the tweakability is minimal which might be a good thing for us musician home mastering novices. Can't beat the prices. Have you checked out results from LANDR? What's your take on it? I have not tried it.
Hi Warren.... Man I like your tips so much... Thanks for the help you give us with your videos... I have a doubt... I have a focusrite scarlett 18i20 device and I use its line output with headphones amplifier to monitor the sound combined with the cubase elements 8, but the instruments sound very raw.. I'd like to use some equalization you know... Is there any way to use equalization in real time in this situation? ... If yes.. Can you teach me how?.. Thanks for the attention..
Hey Warren! I just met your channel today and I can't stop watching :) I'm really intrigued about levels. Believe I tested a lot, lot of things to sound at the same level that pro recordings (proper low end, low volumes at mix, mid volumes at mix, loud volumes at mix, metering RMS rather than just peaks... but it feels frustrating to me reach -5db of RMS and then realize that it sounds low on youtube). On this video you putted it down just a bit 'til it matched with -20RMS and then you putted it louder with the limiter. It would be some kind of "rule of thumb" during mixing when it comes measure the final RMS level on the final master on the mixing stage? Any hint would be really appreciated. Thanks a lot for all your videos! Are really really great!!!
Hi +The Last Great question!! I have to be honest I don't have a rule of thumb, however you are making me think I should devise one to help others! Thanks for your great insight! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hey Warren! Thanks for your quick reply! If you make something about "right levels" would be great for a lot of people, because I think there's a great misunderstanding about that. A lot of pro using hot levels, another lot using too conservative, but there's no one tutorial explaining that well or at least more in depth. Thank you very much! You rock!
+The Last I think you'll find there are actually a lot of great tutorials and articles out there on the subject, it just takes a little digging to find ones from trustworthy sources sometimes. Briefly, when it comes to mastering, there are a few important concepts to keep in mind. First is the idea of "loudness potential". This is the idea that how a song is produced and mixed will greatly effect how loud a mastering engineer can get it before it starts to sound flat and distorted, loosing all its punch. This involves everything from curating sounds that all compliment each other, to getting your balance and EQ right, to doing some pre-processing to control peaks on busses so that it's not all left to the mastering stage, and more! Another important concept is that perceived loudness has to do with much more than just final RMS level. If you're not familiar with the new generation of loudness meters, you' do well to look into them (I'm talking about things like LM2n from T.C. Electronic, Insight from iZotope, LCAST from MeterPlugs, WLM from Waves, etc.).What all these meters do is try to take into account the fact that we perceive different frequencies of the same absolute amplitude as being different volumes and use that to create a more accurate loudness measurement. The bottom line here is that without a balanced spectrum, a song with an RMS level of -6 dBFS can sound softer than something with an RMS level of -8 dBFS Lastly, you need to understand a bit about loudness normalization, especially if you are comparing your masters to other songs on TH-cam! TH-cam has been employing a form of loudness normalization for about a year at this point, and essentially what they do is turn louder tracks down to their chosen standard level. While I don't believe they have published specifications describing how they choose their target level, consensus is that it's down near -13 dBFS RMS. What this means is that often tracks with slightly less limiting and compression can sound louder than their hyper-limited counterparts. I'd go on, but this is already turning into a novel. Hope that helps!
Warren, do normally ppl master on the master bus and then send it off to the mastering engineer to then be further mastered as one wav file? Or would the mastering engineer open the project file? Or use multiple stems instead of one master wav file? Please let me know! You're the man! Cheers
hello in some professional I see the stereo width is going max, it's like fitting everywhere in the veloscope. when I put it in mono it still sounds good. How can I achieve that? I have done eq-ing and compressing, I have some problems maximizing it.
When you played it without processing, it was stereo. When you first opened the first compressor, it was Mono, then at the end, it was stereo again. Did you bump the mono button?
You mentioned having loads of DSP in the mastering bus - it sounds like that's what they did for Death Magnetic. Like they tried to master it in the mixing stage and then sent it away for mastering in a clipped state.
Like you Warren, I've used TRackS since it first came out. Believe it was just stand-alone at first, not plugin. I still use it heavily becuase I like the "analog" sound of it. Back then also the only stereo widening plugin I found to sound natural was the one in the TRackS classic compressor. I still consider it one of the best. Lately I bought some of the newer fancier plugins TRackS offer thru the custom shop but I still rely much on the old yellow classic plugins. One of the newer plugins I've come to use a bit more however is the brickwall limiter to replace the classic clipper. However, it offers quite a lot more options and I would appreciate your thoughts, Warren, about how much better (or not) you think the brickwall limiter sounds compared to the classic clipper and also about the several "style" options that to my ear sound very different. Also, the presets show quite different release times, so what do you think is optimal? Another thing is that I rarely use more than one maximizer plugin, but in your video your using two, apart from the TRackS brickwall limiter also the Wawes L2. Is this because you believe you can go louder and still get a good sound if you divide the maximizing between several plugins? And when discussing the Waves maximizer plugins, they now have quite a few. I want to extend my Waves plugin arsenal with one of those, but I'm not sure which one to go for. I also have the UAD Precision maximizer which I unfortunately cannot use at the moment since I'm working on a PC laptop that has no firewire connection for my Satellite Quad. And speaking of laptops; I notice you're using a Mac. My ecperiences with PC laptops for DAW use is very disapointing, The one I'm using now has a very fast processor and plenty of RAM but I still get a lot of performance issues. What Mac computer could you recommend if you want a hassle free DAW experience? Thanks for all the time you spend doing these videos.
Hi +MatsDagerlind Great comment! I'm a big fan of the TRacks plug in! I find it does an amazing job, I agree with 100%! I use the clipper and brick wall limiter subtly and then use the Waves L2 at the end, I'm a big fan of doing a smaller amount with two rather than a huge amount with one! Mastering engineers using analog gear run a reasonably large amount of gear all doing smaller increments, plus everyone I know has a L2 Hardware unit at the end of the chain! I have a few Apple products, an old lap top from 2008 etc and they always perform well with the DAW I use! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro Thanks for your reply. Just updating this conversation with that I now bought the new TRackS Stealth Limiter, which to my amateur ears sounds better than anything I've used before - better than the Waves L2, better than TRackS Brickwall Limiter and Classic Limiter, better than the UAD Precision Maximizer, better than the Izotope Ozone etc. Tried the Stealth Limiter for 14 days trial and just couldn't go back. Had to buy it. Have you tested/reviewed it?
Hi +MatsDagerlind Fantastic! Glad to be able to help! Great to hear you are making music!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Do you ever use a combination of plug ins and outboard gear? And if so, which outboard gear do you use? I think I'm sold on out the box mastering, but for the mix, I'm still a die hard console with DAW person.
Hi great videos , could you do one on mastering Dance /House music which I find tricky , personally I feel I need to improve my mastering in that field. I also use T-Racks along with my DAW . P.s do you use the compare button on T-Racks , that also shows what you have done. Many thanks.
Hi Warren Huart I like this mastering video, I just wanted to ask you what you thought about the Fabfilter's Pro L. I really like how clean it sounds, the L2 is good too, but on punchy music like hip hop IMHO it crashes too much the transients in a very obvious way without even reaching high RMS Levels. I generally use it on the mix bus just to raise some level, but more like a compressor than a final limiter. The pro L is just marvelous, with tons of control and very preserving on the transients when well set. I also do like the Brickwall on The T-Racks very much, but the Pro L is my go to Limiter. Thanks again for sharing
Thanks Arib Crisp for the comment! I will definitely have to try out the Fabfilter's Pro L! If you like to add more energy to the track, you can use the MV2 to simulate parallel bus compression as well. Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
The part that's weird to me is that you do direct processing instead of buss processing. No matter if I'm mixing or mastering I always Buss process. Direct processing is just too destructive for me. If I want to render out the file to see what the waveform looks like then I'll pretty much do exactly that, I'll export it and then reimport it.
Hi +Studio 7-22 Thanks for the great question! Are you in Pro Tools? If so I would just duplicate the playlist and then you'll always have an original to listen to. I hope that helps? Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I have to agree with Studio 7-22 Media. And Warren, I super appreciate all your marvelously, marvelous and truly useful knowledge I've been a loyal subscriber for some time now. The Vocals are clear and sound great but the music and the end result here is distorted and lacks dynamic range. It's basically that fuzzy white dog turd in the yard, you know that one that kept most kids far away from ever eating a frosted mini wheat. With your resume a mile long and mine almost non-existent not too mention the respect I have for you Warren, man that was very hard for me to say (post ). All in all this is the one & the only fuzzy white dog turd I've ever heard you produce and I've learned at least a half a dozen techniques from you. So thank you sir for that P.S. No, there's nothing wrong with my studio monitors & yes my room is properly treated
Your videos have turned my sludge into songs in two weeks time. Still headroom for improvement of course, but your advice has been exponentially valuable to me and you waste no words nor keep us in the dark about anything. To anyone new here, look no further. Just listen to Mr Huart and you'll have a marvelous time mixing. guaranteed. Thank you ever so much.
Me too 🔥
Sludge is a great word for a crappy mix
You don't even know how much people appreciate your invaluable tips and advice. Mixing can be way more confusing than people think. Thank You.
Thanks ever so much Ozzie
T Racks along with this mastering tutorial have really brought my recordings to life. Using stock plugins to master really hindered my mixes and made me struggle to get the volume along with clarity as uncoloured as possible. But now I'm using using T Racks it's like night and day difference. Thanks for all the shared wisdom!
Hi +Gareth Rowley Fantastic! Yes T Racks make great mastering plug ins!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren! I feel like some of us may underestimate or bypassed many of your old videos. And... you know what?? It´s a shame. Why?? Because you´ve done so many records outshines along these years and you are such a gentle (very british... I must admitt) and humble guy teaching us how to be better on recording, producing, mixing and master a song that I´m still amazed by the kinda of content you´ve released I mean... you deserves to win a prize or something...
That’s extremely kind of you! Thanks ever so much
Loved the opening American "MAASTERING" bit! Great video.
Hi +Nick Mac Haha Thanks!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
@@Producelikeapro To my Northern ears, you pronounce Mastering as Marstering.
@@mrcodhead67 yep
For anyone out there, please get a paper and pen, and write all of these down, just like a teacher and a student, I have improved my mixing and mastering way better! Thank you Mr. Huart. Speaking of the Vocalist, I loved his crispy voice, it has different soul in it, and he is just 16, amazing, i hope puberty won't crash his crispy voice! (: thanks again!
Hi +Crows Ravens Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I LOVED THAT MASTERING PROCESS. IN MY HEAD PHONE IT HAS THAT RADIO READY SOUND WHICH IS AWESOME. THANK YOU
Wow! Thanks ever so much
Thanks for the tips!
One suggestion: if the majority of the video is about explainig something in a smaller window on the sceen (like the T-Rex window in this case), it would be easier for us to follow what's going on if you zoomed in for those parts. I think you can do that in any screen capturing program.
L2 is such a great plugin. I usually have it on my monitoring bus as well while mixing, just to give a little push/glue to the mix.
Hi Ati Shephard, thanks for pointing that out! We have zoomed in on other plugins before and we will do it again. Yes the L2 is a great plug in, we also like the McDSP ML4000, we are going to do a little overview of them all in our next video. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
I think many people are starting to do this differently. I was watching a famous producer using loads of plug ins on the master bus and he even said he didn’t know what they did! It was all on a MacBook in the box. Really opened my eyes.
Wow! Ultimately I suppose it's what you are looking for! This Home Mastering technique has got me LOADS of gigs in 'Mix Offs' against other mixers! It's a part of what we do now. I will of course whenever I can use a real Mastering Engineer! That is always preferable for me!
Great to watch this one Warren. Very clear explanation that I feel I needed in order to bring me back to the fundamentals because I may have been overthinking things with mastering lately. Thanks for that.
EQ: I've been using Brainworx BX_Digital V2 for EQ and widening.
COMPRESSION: Plus a combination of the Brainworx BX_XL for Mid-Side (& low-hi) compression with harmonic additive and
LIMITING: Waves L3 LL Multi Stereo so I can control the lows separately from effecting the other frequencies, whilst limiting.
It's a really amazing combination.
Thanks my sir. You are always doing a great job of feeding us with balance diet.
Thank you ever so much!!
Hi Warren, I only recently stumbled across your channel and all I can say is THANKYOU! Your content is brilliant and although I'm using Reason, a lot of the information is transferrable. Mastering to me, still seems to be a bit of "black magic" :-) and getting different peoples views on what and where to put devices in the mastering bus is quiet interesting. Keep up the excellent work mate.
Hi Oz Macca Wow! Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Good one! From 2000 till 2010 I used Sound Forge 8, to master my Sonar projects. Since then I've gotten a dozen from PSP and all of the T-Racks, all of which are excellent. Sonar keeps adding more to their included mastering tools, so I have lots of choices, though I've been using the T-Racks the most.
Hi Michael Parson-McNamara Thanks very much for your comment I really appreciate it! Yes I've been a big fan of T Racks for a while now! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks
Mastering is one of the most difficult things in recording production. It's an art form.
But the most important thing is the music and mix.
Mastering is so subtle and "magic". Micro details and polish.
I like to get the sound right in the mixing process
Nope. Izotope makes it easy :)
Hello Warren! Is it possible to do an updated Mastering video with any new chain you work on? :D really helpful tips! Thanks and Cheers!
I was thinking about one crucial difference between mastering yourself or have it done by someone else. Beside everything else like budget and skills and equipment, I found that it changes the way you work big time. I was actually releasing a CD a few years back that I had mastered by somebody else. Now I am working on the second one which I master myself. I am not a very gifted mastering engineer, it is mostly a money issue.
When you know, you will give your stuff away for mastering, you will at one point approach the final mix, do it very carefully listen to it a million times, because you know once you sent it off that’s it. Even though a good mastering engineer might give you a call and suggest some changes, if necessary, but in general it is out of your hands from that moment on. Plus you have to let it go and stop thinking about all the little things that could have been done better.
If you’re doing it yourself you have to bring up a lot more discipline to do the same thing cause you know you can always go back up to the very last minute. That sounds like a huge advantage and it may be.But on the other side it easily might lead to sloppy work and because you never have to let it go until the end you might easily get carried away and never get finished.
I find myself in that process. Since I started recording that album, I have moved my studio and bought a different guitar amp and sold the old one, so there is no chance for rerecording most of the stuff but I went back from mastering to mixing a million times by now.
Does that make sense ?
Hi +KaiUlrich I completely understand! I believe whether you're mastering it yourself or sending it out, it's important to view that as a separate step. Sounds like you're getting it all figured out ok though! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro Oh, I keep it completely apart. This is simple since I use Pro Tools for mixing and Logic for mastering, because is has more onboard plug ins for that matter.This is also helpful, because, even if you do it at the same day along with loading a new DAW you may as well load a new mindset ;-)
Hi +KaiUlrich Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
really like T-racks since always but recently I'm using Ozone 7 and Im very happy with results. The Ozone Maximizers are really amazing and all vintage plugins added are amazing too. thanks for your tutorials. You're a great master.
Hi +Marcos Rubio Great stuff! I'm not too familiar with the Ozone yet! Have a marvellous time reaching and mixing, many thanks Warren
Thanks for adding the American translation(US and UK citizen)
Haha thanks ever so much
Very important to consider the minor cuts and boosts...and the fact that they are minor.
Gotta remember the material is going to be listened to in vastly variable environments like the car, headphones, home speakers, computer speakers, PA systems, etc...all of which will have their own EQ settings and differences.
The key to mastering is to have a track that will translate well to many different systems. A happy medium the end user will most likely wind up EQ'ing to taste.
So if you master it to sound super sweet and rich on your monitors, it may sound very harsh in the real world. Same with bass. If you add a lot of punch that sounds great in your monitors, it will likely be muddy or distorted in the real world.
So take test masters out to your car and home stereo, etc. See what mix sounds good on both. This will also help you learn your reference monitors. For instance, you'll learn how what you hear in your monitors will translate. You'll know if the bass sounds like "this" on your monitors, it will sound like "that" in the real world. This will cut down on wasted time endlessly testing mixes. You'll have such a good feel for your monitors that you won't need so many test mixes.
Hi +Jween Tech I agree! Always reference in different environments! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
i have been using tRacks for awhile now and going to use it forever i love it
Hi +Guillermo Castellon Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Yes fantastic Plugin! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
You deserve a subscriber. This really helped me thanks alot!
Hi Nathan Payne aw shucks thanks!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, love your channel!
We’ve been using TRacks Mastering Suite for more than a decade, mainly for a quick fix master to drive home with to evaluate the prospective potential outcome.
Definitely works best when used prudently.
Just from experience there are much better (and pricier) alternatives available today though you are bang on for recommending T-Racks as a great way to Master at home and for folks that are attempting getting into this process themselves.
Lately we are using the UAD 2 plugins which are mind blowing in comparison, such as the Chandler plugs along with the Manley, Ampeg and SPL plugs.
Ultimately it is certainly an art and well worth approaching a seasoned mastering engineer for the best outcome if it is affordable.
Thanks again, we thought we were alone with the T-RACKS Suite , they are awesome for what they are.
Cheers.
Very good video thanks, I could hear the difference even through my laptop speakers.
Thanks very much!! Thanks ever so much for the great comment! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Hey Warren what´s your opinion about the 'loudness war'? I think there is too much compression in today´s recordings and a lack of dynamics that makes albums less interesting sonic wise...Producers have more tools than ever to make albums sound better than 20-25 years ago and i feel that whenever i heard a late 80´s or 90´s record (alice in chains or nirvana for example) there is much more space and width in the recording.
Thanks for all the tips! Cheers
Hi Luis Marban, I agree. The mastering engineers usually get the blame, but I believe it's mainly the producers fault. Producers are slamming everything so hard that the mastering guys I know say they get given an extremely undynamic stereo file that they cannot to do anything with. Thanks ever so much for watching. Have a marvelous time recording Warren
does it matter? everybody's doing it, nobody can stop it. if you don't participate, you'll fade out.
not true. the most common used streaming platforms are making quiet tracks louder anyway so a lot of people aren't worried about making their music loud because spotify, youtube etc are doing it for them anyway and making loud songs quieter also. it just means on certain platforms people will reach for the volume knob which really isn't a bad thing
You can kick Rick Rubin in the butt for starting this crap. After Slayer's "Season in the Abyss" Rick began to crush everything to stupid squash levels, culminating with the abortion of "Deaf (Death) Magnetic". Ted Jensen was hired to master the album and stated the mixes were brickwalled so bad he couldn't do anything with them, and had his name removed from the project. Rick is an example of using the digital space in the way wrong way. The problem is NO ONE USED IT CORRECTLY! In rock or pop anyways. Nashville producers up until the last couple of years used it right, I'd point you to George Strait - Love is Everything as an example of getting it right.
@@Producelikeapro Yes - I've studied this in depth. What I mean is that if you try to reproduce those types of effects (say take bands like In This Moment or Five Finger Death Punch) you will find that you cannot get that sound from just mastering techniques - you'll end up with harsh artifacts in the treble, or you'll just lose so much life that it doesn't sound the same. So, this means that the heavy compression is being applied pre-mastering - as you say by the producer driving the mix engineer's decisions. That then leads to less or almost no compression being even possible to apply by the mastering engineer, and the track maintains some semblance of "natural sound" because it is basically already slammed at the track level from the mix session. As you said in this video - it's mastered essentially straight off the mix bus. This of course is a horrible way to do it, if you care about dynamics. But it does create that ludicrous commercial sound - tracks with RMS around -6.0 (or I've even seen higher).
I use to master song by song using DAWs like Pro Tools, Reaper etc... the same way you did in this video. But I have since started mastering using Studio One Professional. My reason for this is I can master a whole album in one place. Also when I'm done the songs sound like they belong together. In the past, when mastering song by song, somethings the songs on an album would sound as if they were from different artist or different albums and stuck together on an album. Like some greatest hits albums do.
Hi +Sean O'Brien Great stuff! Thanks for the fantastic tip! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Excelente, por más vídeos traducidos al español! Gracias..!
Warren, always learning something new from your excellent videos. thank you so much I know it can be a time consuming to produce all these videos but from me they are greatly appreciated. I am going to attempt to master a song in Pre Sonus Studio one 3 tomorrow...fingers crossed the best part is it's only digital and any mistakes can be reversed...if you save and copy
Nice video, Warren! I love Slate's FG-X mastering compressor suite. It's got some unique features that I haven't seen anywhere else like dynamic "perception" and hardness/smoothness as well as lo punch tweaks and detail adjustment. I feel that mastering is my weakest point here at the home studio, so my philosophy is to do as little in that stage as possible aside from bringing up the level, which is pretty easy to do in FG-X. If things aren't working when I bring it up with FG-X, I go back and fix it in the mix, mixdown again and try over. I really love Waves Linear Multi-band compressor as well. I watched a video with Greg Wells, I believe, who set it to Mutliband electro start and just lets the bands tap a little. You get them all moving just a hair and things just sit together a little better. Nothing crazy. I also enjoy the UAD Manley Massive passive for some touches if I need a pinch of air boost with a high shelf in the 8-12k range. I'll also take some low mids out and control the lows with it but only a couple clicks here and there. I also really enjoy DDMF's Linear Phase EQ. Visual parametric. Very nice for mastering. I do as little as I can get away with!
I've only been making music for a year so my understanding of mastering is limited, but I render my song to wave file then start a new project with that file. I use EQ, gclip for gain then maximus for multiband compression. I use levels 2.0 for my extra set of ears then make adjustments as needed.
Thanks a lot! I didn't used the t racks, but instead used the UAD plugins that came with my interface in a similar fashion.
It produced great results in a matter of a couple hours.
Thanks so much for great advices .❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
You’re very welcome
cool! i tend to use a lot of ik stuff as well, very often the clipper and linear phase eq. i like to use multiple and different limiters in conjunction with the clipper, i kinda feel the volume gain cleaner, less unstable distortion pumping here and there.
one thing i realized over the years is that more aggressive i go to please my 'vision' in the eq section (linear phase in m/s mode, generally), the more pleased i get listening my masterings days after released.
in very specific dynamically problematic areas i go for linear phase multiband compressor from waves.
thank you for sharing your knowledge through the channel, warren! cheers from brazil!
Hello Cássio Zambotto in Brazil! Thanks for watching I really appreciate your comment. I'm definitely going to do a video using different EQ's, Compressors and limiters. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren.
I actually use inserts instead of Audiosuite. a de-esser to eliminate really high frequencies and lots of compression and limiting. I will try to make it simpler next time, thanks for the tips!
Hi ricardo martinez, thanks for watching! Yes I believe inserting and then experimenting with different EQ, Compression and Limiting can really help. Also I agree a De-esser is great for removing some harsh top end. Many thanks Warren
Thanks for watching ricardo martinez
Thankin you for what you do, good sir.
Very welcome
Really enjoyed this, especially since I use T-RackS too. Only thing I don't like is they install crippled versions of the plug-ins you don't yet have and it can get messy in your plug-in selection menu.
Thanks Fezzler61, I'm going to demo other mastering plugins in the next episode. Thanks for watching, have a marvelous time recording! Many thanks Warren
LOVE YOUR VIDEOS learn something new everyday thanks
multiband compressors are great for mastering they do make mixes breathe because you can use different ratios at different crossover frequencies depending on the source material.
Thank you so much for your tutorials.. very helpful.
Hi +Michael Ogbanje Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I would love MANY MANY MORE videos about mastering Warren, thanks for being a pro! ; )
Hi Warren, are you limiting the peaks then creating a separate audio file ( with the limiting ) to get the loudness?
hi warren thanks for the tips, i would like to ask you, what it should be the output in the master when the song or any song is mastered already it should be -3 in the meter or close, thanks best regards
I'm American. Loved that impression at the beginning. Hahahaha
Thanks! Just being silly!
Your videos are so great. Awesome info and this very helpful for mixing and mastering
I've been working on improving my mastering skills and this video was really informative, thanks. One problem I keep running in to is large, but short intersample peaks (as much as 2dB above the signal level, but only for hundreths or even thousandths of a second) after going through my limiter. I'd be interested in your thoughts on ISPs, if this is something I should be worried about, and what could possibly be causing this as it has me stumped!
Hi Warren,
First, thanks for your excellent videos.
After watching this video, I got the TRacks plug-ins you used, but discovered that they are not supported in Audiosuite any longer (in the most recent ProTools versions- I'm on 12.7). I've never really tried mastering before but thought I'd give it a go. If I bring my stereo file in, should I try doing what you've done hear but on the Master bus?
Great video Warren, as usual. My question is about compression. If you're using multiple compressors in the mastering phase do you ever end up being at cross porpoises when using more than one compressor? Do they ever cancel each other out?
Thanks again for the great tutorials, I'm always learning from you. Thanks again and God Bless. Cheers mate!
Hi Paul Schmdit great question! I try not to use multi band compression when mastering, I honestly feel it fattens everything out, sure it can make it louder, but I want the music to sound exciting! As ever thanks very much for your kind words, I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Surprised no-one's mentioned that your Audiosuite process auditioning (and judging) with T-racks was in mono.
I prefer inserts, on the source and/or an auxiliary buss - hearing everything in *context* is vital, especially if EQ'ing via a limiter. Along with *always* level-matched comparisons, and the use of (calibrated) VU meters.
Once again another awesome Video, Really Glad I found (and Subbed) to this. My band is getting ready to Master our "Home made Release" , Recorded in my basement using Pro-tools 11.3.1 and all the plug ins you demonstrate,and with your help here, I think I can get it sounding big and wide. I use all the same Plug ins as well, T-rex, waves, I also Like the New Steven Slate Everything Bundle. I'd Love to see you master with some of that stuff. Peace and Happy Christmas. You Rock my world.
I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to music production and only have a basic pc production suite but, once I think I've recorded each track to the best I can, I like to keep post-production and mastering to an absolute minimum, as little as possible, with only the tiniest tweaks & enhancements that I think it needs.
Warren, you are the best!
Thanks ever so much
THANKS A LOT MAN .. I DEAL WITH A LOT OF HIP HOP SO I FOLLOWED THIS TIP VIDEO BUT JUST BOOST IT A LIL MORE ( HIP HOP LOL ) AND I HEAR A GREAT DIFFERENCE .. IM SUBSCRIBED .. PEACE
Hi +Trapp Beatz Glad to be able to help! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
what about the L1 and L3 for final print? Would it be fine as well?
Definitely! I find the L1 a little gritty sounding, but the L3 is very smooth! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
thank you. you as well 🙏
Hi, Warren. Thanks a lot for all the useful tips! One of the best ways for me to learn is watching other professionals work, and in general these videos are pure knowledge gold. I noticed you relied heavily on your ears during the whole process. Do you think it's useful also doing a pass with a "multi-meter" graph type plug-in to monitor things like dynamics or frequency picture, stereo spread, or goniometer 3d binaural imaging? I must confess that I rely heavily on visual, but I'd love to read your input about that. Again, thanks plenty.
Any thoughts on Izotope Ozone? I have used T-Rack (albeit not much) as well as WAVES L1-3 Maximizers but they all sound a bit "harsh" to me as opposed to Ozone which sounds very open and natural. Then again, I am not a "Mastering" engineer so it could just be me but I know what I like to hear. Thoughts?
In a way you seem to fix things with the mastering. How do you know when you are mixing that its ok to leave that for the master instance?
Love your stuff, been in the biz for 40 yrs working alongside Ray Kennedy in Nashville several times. I also just started using the tRacks suite. Can you do a video with a little more depth on the brick wall limiter so we can have a better understanding of how to set it. I think there’s always confusion out here on setting attack and release
Again thanks for all your help
Hi Warren,
just discovered your channel and website. Very grateful that people like you share your wealth of knowledge and experience. Keep up the amazing work!
I understand that you want to tuck in the kick a bit, but to me, the end result sounds really squashed and I prefer the dynamics before all that limiting. Is that just the mixing engineer talking? What are your thoughts on that?
Thanks
Chris
Hi +JamesLaChri Great question! You could be right!! Yes I'm sure if I was JUST the mastering engineer I might view it differently! Probably then they might do a little less! There's always a danger of doing too much when you do it yourself! Have a marvellous time recoding and mixing, many thanks Warren
Thank you for your videos! Love watching it. Very entertaining! )))
I also find the Brickwall Limiter by IK Multimedia the cleanest out of the whole bunch I own. But ITB mastering (home mastering) will get you somewhat acceptable results up to -14 db RMS. Anything beyond that level will be "crunchy", no matter what you try to do to it... And yes, it's ok, if your song is quieter. There is a volume knob, and nowadays sophisticated auto levelers built in to most of the devices.
P.S. Check the track "She ain't hooked on me no more" by Toby Keith and Merle Haggard - from iTunes (specifically iTunes file), and analyze what they did at the mastering to it. It peaks at -2.2 dbfs with volume around -14 db RMS, yet still loud as f***. See if you can get it to distort, full volume on anything... Still, would be very hard to achieve the same in the box, without the converters, that you can "push" a few db's safely... :)
Great tips can you zoom in on the settings it makes it difficult see what you're doing when watching from a mobile device Thanks
Hi +Alex Solano Thanks very much!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Hello Warren, I appreciate all of your posts here!
I'm currently mixing an Afro-Cuban CD or modern Cuban Timba music and I'm having a problem getting a good reading on the SPAN spectrum analyzer but it seems like I have way too many mids and not enough lows. The left side is very low on the spectrum in comparison.
When I go to correct and start to eq things differently or correct it it doesn't sound as good to me.
What can I do cause I had one mastering engineer comment on it and in fact he's the one that told me about the SPAN plugin.
I'm trying to balance keeping the mixes appealing to our ears but also not being to thin or not up to par with comparable mixes.
Most of the Salsa Albums I've found don't seem to fill up both ends of the spectrum as much as other styles I've compared too but not quite as bad as my mixes.
I've re-eque'd and panned the living shit out of it as recommended but still no cigar!
What should I do? Wish they had a plugin to automatically correct these issues! (hahaha!).
Thanks
Hi Warren,
I was just wondering if you ever master using stems of the final mix. For instance a stem of Rhythm guitars, another of bass & drums, then say keys and then vocals main along with vocals back up as a stem. I know it probably complicates the process but maybe it opens the door to more dynamic masters whilst still adhering to the original mixers vision.
Hi +Bull Zephyr Thanks for the great question! The only time I would ever want stems is if I felt the mix wasn't very good, no reputable mastering engineer asks for them. The only time I've ever been asked for them the master came back sounding absolutely awful! Haha Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I love your channel
Aw shucks Daai Zin Yaw many thanks, I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
finally a Song that i like!
did a search couldnt find it
Carlos Manso it's "Linger" by Lyric Dubee from his 2015 album "Combat Of Love". available on itunes
Wow! Well done for finding it!!
It must be nice to have such amazing ears that one could shape the song in a way that you wouldn't be offended because you would not be able to hear the difference, respectfully speaking. Well isn't that nice. LOL. Im totally on your side Warren. Mastering engineers are a different brew of people, respectfully speaking. LOL. Sorry I couldn't help myself. Great show as always Warren and even greater self control.
Hi +Jak Leyton haha agreed! The Great Mastering Engineers are truly a breed unto themselves!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro
Hi Warren, I recently subscribed to your channel as I find your deduction to the craft of recording, mixing, and mastering extremely informative and easy to apply, especially for those of us doing it at home, so thanks a lot!
Just wondering could you inform me directly regarding this question below, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, thanks.
I record at home myself Warren and I was just wondering when I go to master a mix in Cubase, and seeing you only have two wave forms up in the master of this vid it got me questioning myself, I take my mix of the song to master but I've been duplicating the mix six times so I have two central mix's and I pan two of the other four hard L&R and two L&R just off center to try and create a wider soundscape, but is this acceptable or is it just overkill?
Thanks in advance,
Dec.
@@decmccallion If you put a copy at left and another at right, it will be equivalent to keeping them both in the middle. In fact, if you put a copy x% left and another x% right, it's all the same. Now, if you process the left one differently than the right (invert, do limiting/compression differently, etc.), then you get an effect.
I'm viewing in 2021. I miss the music intro of the newer videos, hehe
Haha thanks ever so much
I don't touch the master bus when I mix now (only to flick on the mono switch) cuz I used to get too knotted into my mistakes made in the mix and using the master channel as a crutch. My mixes would fall apart once the master bus plugins were off.
Hey Warren! Quick question. You work in audio suite rather than on the channel strip. Is there a reason for this besides CPU? Cheers
Hi Rob, I like he workflow and the speed of results!
I use Waveburner. There's a preset I really like called " Refresh & Gentle denoise ". Then I just tweak EQ and gain until it sounds fatter than it did going in. But no clipping or pumping. :)
+David Oakes It's really good for home recording.
Hi Warren. Nice video (as always). I've been using Steinberg's Wavelab for probably 15 years (been using Cubase for the same amount of time) with mostly its native plug-ins, and it works very well for me. About to put my hands on some UAD-2 goodies and that will be a nice add to the formula. :)
Hi ***** great! Yes I only hear great things about the UAD stuff! Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it! Warren
Hey thanks for the reply you said you were going to something on compressor while you're doing that can you do something on explain how to get a vocal to cut through or sit right in the mix without having to use a parallel process. I don't really like the parallel process as I don't really understand much about it.
Hi Nathan Brown, thanks for sharing! Yes I will definitely do a parallel vocal compression video very soon! Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
Thanks for sharing Nathan Brown!
Thanks for these videos.
You're very welcome Danny!
McDsP ML4000 is great too
Agreed Tim Nienhuis a wonderful Limiter, I am going to do another Mastering Video showing a lot of different approaches. Many thanks for watching! Warren
Thanks Warren Your always a great help. I'll be putting up 3 cd's i produced this year. I need meta Data tips. if you have any. i'm sure to watch.
Thank you very much for this helpful info! This will be great info for my band's material!
-Sean
What are opinions on using limiters on basically everything?
pretty nice tips here warren, big fan of your channel. I work in adobe audition, i find it s very user friendly and all aroung complete software except when it comes to usin midi (does not support midi) , so there might come a time where i have to switch DAW , but for the time being it s working out ok for me. (I just work on my own stuff, a have a degree in music , but never worked professionally as recording or mixing engineer) still, you make this stuff sound pretty simple even when it s not.... any way, just though i ´d drop a line let you know I apreciate this stuff
salutations from Venezuela
great video yet again!!! I do have one question... When mixing I will bounce the stereo track down and then add mastering type stuff ie, compress eq etc, separate like Wavelab my question is since I send my stuff and my clients stuff to Rodney Mills Mastering House out of ATL, how much head room do you think I should have before I send it to the mastering house or do you think not putting anything on the master buss is ok as well since it is being sent to some where else.... Normally what I have done before would be go to Cubase 8.0 and then Wavelab 7.......
Hi Tim Adams thanks an excellent question! I was talking with a mastering Engineer today and he said he actually liked to hear a 2 track exactly the way it was mixed, if that meant it had limiting he didn't care because he needed to know what they were hearing. So I would definitely supply both, give the mastering engineer what you've been listening too and then one without the limiting on it and he can make the decision! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Produce Like A Pro awesome thank you for the response. ..
Hi Tim Adams of course! My pleasure! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
How do you compare the effected mix and the un-effected mix when toggling bypass, when the levels are so different? i.e., the louder signal easily sounds stronger, just because its louder... Thanks! :-)
Hi +Samos12 Great question! Yes it is definitely hard for many people to hear the difference between effected and unaffected if it changes the amplitude considerably! Ian Shepherd makes a plug in called 'Perception' which works great and addresses this exact issue! www.meterplugs.com/perception Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I just upgraded my TRackS classics to the new TRackS5 (Max, Deluxe, or Standard) suite and it is even more incredible now. I also recently got the Lurssen mastering plugin and it is super easy and gives great results although the tweakability is minimal which might be a good thing for us musician home mastering novices. Can't beat the prices. Have you checked out results from LANDR? What's your take on it? I have not tried it.
Hi Warren.... Man I like your tips so much... Thanks for the help you give us with your videos... I have a doubt... I have a focusrite scarlett 18i20 device and I use its line output with headphones amplifier to monitor the sound combined with the cubase elements 8, but the instruments sound very raw.. I'd like to use some equalization you know... Is there any way to use equalization in real time in this situation? ... If yes.. Can you teach me how?.. Thanks for the attention..
Hey Warren! I just met your channel today and I can't stop watching :)
I'm really intrigued about levels. Believe I tested a lot, lot of things to sound at the same level that pro recordings (proper low end, low volumes at mix, mid volumes at mix, loud volumes at mix, metering RMS rather than just peaks... but it feels frustrating to me reach -5db of RMS and then realize that it sounds low on youtube).
On this video you putted it down just a bit 'til it matched with -20RMS and then you putted it louder with the limiter. It would be some kind of "rule of thumb" during mixing when it comes measure the final RMS level on the final master on the mixing stage?
Any hint would be really appreciated. Thanks a lot for all your videos! Are really really great!!!
Hi +The Last Great question!! I have to be honest I don't have a rule of thumb, however you are making me think I should devise one to help others! Thanks for your great insight! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hey Warren! Thanks for your quick reply!
If you make something about "right levels" would be great for a lot of people, because I think there's a great misunderstanding about that. A lot of pro using hot levels, another lot using too conservative, but there's no one tutorial explaining that well or at least more in depth.
Thank you very much! You rock!
Hi +The Last Yes that's a huge grey area! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
+The Last I think you'll find there are actually a lot of great tutorials and articles out there on the subject, it just takes a little digging to find ones from trustworthy sources sometimes.
Briefly, when it comes to mastering, there are a few important concepts to keep in mind. First is the idea of "loudness potential". This is the idea that how a song is produced and mixed will greatly effect how loud a mastering engineer can get it before it starts to sound flat and distorted, loosing all its punch. This involves everything from curating sounds that all compliment each other, to getting your balance and EQ right, to doing some pre-processing to control peaks on busses so that it's not all left to the mastering stage, and more!
Another important concept is that perceived loudness has to do with much more than just final RMS level. If you're not familiar with the new generation of loudness meters, you' do well to look into them (I'm talking about things like LM2n from T.C. Electronic, Insight from iZotope, LCAST from MeterPlugs, WLM from Waves, etc.).What all these meters do is try to take into account the fact that we perceive different frequencies of the same absolute amplitude as being different volumes and use that to create a more accurate loudness measurement. The bottom line here is that without a balanced spectrum, a song with an RMS level of -6 dBFS can sound softer than something with an RMS level of -8 dBFS
Lastly, you need to understand a bit about loudness normalization, especially if you are comparing your masters to other songs on TH-cam! TH-cam has been employing a form of loudness normalization for about a year at this point, and essentially what they do is turn louder tracks down to their chosen standard level. While I don't believe they have published specifications describing how they choose their target level, consensus is that it's down near -13 dBFS RMS. What this means is that often tracks with slightly less limiting and compression can sound louder than their hyper-limited counterparts.
I'd go on, but this is already turning into a novel. Hope that helps!
+Ian Stewart Thank you very much! Your explanation it's pretty useful to me at this time. Thanks!
Greath tips man, thanks
Warren, are there loudness levels that you aim for in your pre-master mix?
What is normally on your 2 buss on the mix?
Thanks for all you do!!
Usually it's good to leave your pre master at lease 6db of headroom for the mastering engineer
Thanks for this video, great!
Thanks TheNextStrangers! I really appreciate it. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
Warren, do normally ppl master on the master bus and then send it off to the mastering engineer to then be further mastered as one wav file?
Or would the mastering engineer open the project file?
Or use multiple stems instead of one master wav file?
Please let me know! You're the man!
Cheers
Great video!
Thanks chase .w I really appreciate it! Thanks for watching! Many thanks Warren
hello in some professional I see the stereo width is going max, it's like fitting everywhere in the veloscope. when I put it in mono it still sounds good. How can I achieve that? I have done eq-ing and compressing, I have some problems maximizing it.
when he pulled the Thresh down on the L2, i was like "Oh no baby, what is you doin??"
When you played it without processing, it was stereo. When you first opened the first compressor, it was Mono, then at the end, it was stereo again. Did you bump the mono button?
You mentioned having loads of DSP in the mastering bus - it sounds like that's what they did for Death Magnetic. Like they tried to master it in the mixing stage and then sent it away for mastering in a clipped state.
maybe that was the sound they were looking for
Do you use expand plugins much, if so do you use it on your bus mostly?
I like that song
Hi +guitarplayer1994 Thanks very much!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Like you Warren, I've used TRackS since it first came out. Believe it was just stand-alone at first, not plugin. I still use it heavily becuase I like the "analog" sound of it. Back then also the only stereo widening plugin I found to sound natural was the one in the TRackS classic compressor. I still consider it one of the best. Lately I bought some of the newer fancier plugins TRackS offer thru the custom shop but I still rely much on the old yellow classic plugins. One of the newer plugins I've come to use a bit more however is the brickwall limiter to replace the classic clipper. However, it offers quite a lot more options and I would appreciate your thoughts, Warren, about how much better (or not) you think the brickwall limiter sounds compared to the classic clipper and also about the several "style" options that to my ear sound very different. Also, the presets show quite different release times, so what do you think is optimal?
Another thing is that I rarely use more than one maximizer plugin, but in your video your using two, apart from the TRackS brickwall limiter also the Wawes L2. Is this because you believe you can go louder and still get a good sound if you divide the maximizing between several plugins? And when discussing the Waves maximizer plugins, they now have quite a few. I want to extend my Waves plugin arsenal with one of those, but I'm not sure which one to go for. I also have the UAD Precision maximizer which I unfortunately cannot use at the moment since I'm working on a PC laptop that has no firewire connection for my Satellite Quad.
And speaking of laptops; I notice you're using a Mac. My ecperiences with PC laptops for DAW use is very disapointing, The one I'm using now has a very fast processor and plenty of RAM but I still get a lot of performance issues. What Mac computer could you recommend if you want a hassle free DAW experience?
Thanks for all the time you spend doing these videos.
Hi +MatsDagerlind Great comment! I'm a big fan of the TRacks plug in! I find it does an amazing job, I agree with 100%! I use the clipper and brick wall limiter subtly and then use the Waves L2 at the end, I'm a big fan of doing a smaller amount with two rather than a huge amount with one! Mastering engineers using analog gear run a reasonably large amount of gear all doing smaller increments, plus everyone I know has a L2 Hardware unit at the end of the chain! I have a few Apple products, an old lap top from 2008 etc and they always perform well with the DAW I use! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
+Produce Like A Pro Thanks for your reply. Just updating this conversation with that I now bought the new TRackS Stealth Limiter, which to my amateur ears sounds better than anything I've used before - better than the Waves L2, better than TRackS Brickwall Limiter and Classic Limiter, better than the UAD Precision Maximizer, better than the Izotope Ozone etc. Tried the Stealth Limiter for 14 days trial and just couldn't go back. Had to buy it. Have you tested/reviewed it?
Hi +MatsDagerlind Fantastic! Glad to be able to help! Great to hear you are making music!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Do you ever use a combination of plug ins and outboard gear? And if so, which outboard gear do you use? I think I'm sold on out the box mastering, but for the mix, I'm still a die hard console with DAW person.
Hi great videos , could you do one on mastering Dance /House music which I find tricky , personally I feel I need to improve my mastering in that field. I also use T-Racks along with my DAW .
P.s do you use the compare button on T-Racks , that also shows what you have done. Many thanks.
Hi Warren Huart I like this mastering video, I just wanted to ask you what you thought about the Fabfilter's Pro L. I really like how clean it sounds, the L2 is good too, but on punchy music like hip hop IMHO it crashes too much the transients in a very obvious way without even reaching high RMS Levels. I generally use it on the mix bus just to raise some level, but more like a compressor than a final limiter. The pro L is just marvelous, with tons of control and very preserving on the transients when well set. I also do like the Brickwall on The T-Racks very much, but the Pro L is my go to Limiter. Thanks again for sharing
Thanks Arib Crisp for the comment! I will definitely have to try out the Fabfilter's Pro L! If you like to add more energy to the track, you can use the MV2 to simulate parallel bus compression as well. Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks Warren
Thanks for the tip I will definetely try it
Arib Crisp Great! Let me know how you get on! Have a marvelous time recording, many thanks +Warren Huart
How do you sequence the song w/ x fades… to have averaged as in a play thru that would on CD?
The part that's weird to me is that you do direct processing instead of buss processing. No matter if I'm mixing or mastering I always Buss process. Direct processing is just too destructive for me. If I want to render out the file to see what the waveform looks like then I'll pretty much do exactly that, I'll export it and then reimport it.
Hi +Studio 7-22 Thanks for the great question! Are you in Pro Tools? If so I would just duplicate the playlist and then you'll always have an original to listen to. I hope that helps? Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I have to agree with
Studio 7-22 Media. And Warren, I super appreciate all your marvelously, marvelous and truly useful knowledge I've been a loyal subscriber for some time now. The Vocals are clear and sound great but the music and the end result here is distorted and lacks dynamic range. It's basically that fuzzy white dog turd in the yard, you know that one that kept most kids far away from ever eating a frosted mini wheat. With your resume a mile long and mine almost non-existent not too mention the respect I have for you Warren, man that was very hard for me to say (post ). All in all this is the one & the only fuzzy white dog turd I've ever heard you produce and I've learned at least a half a dozen techniques from you. So thank you sir for that
P.S. No, there's nothing wrong with my studio monitors & yes my room is properly treated
I Love your Tutorials very nice thank´s for all this good stuff
Hi +P. Records Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Great videos, thanks so much.