I usually like to use fabfilter on everything, then some sort of eq for colour, SSL comp always, I like to use 2 limiters, one very natural and another one for some texture, I also like to add some tape saturation, nowadays I solve most of the stuff in the mix.
I have to many plugins so I try yo build different chain for different needs and musical styles. Sometime I also use semi and full automatic mastering systems, offline (AMMS, Lursen, Ozone 11 STD, MasterDesk) and online as well (Landr and other A.I. staff) as analysis tool and to compare 'cause my masters have to sound better than these ones.I have tried Rich and First versio of Master Plan but It were at the same quality of MasterDesk. I Will try this new versione, curious...😊
For about the past year, I've been doing final mixes through Ozone, and was pretty happy with the results. I'm not a big plugin shopper, but this sounded pretty interesting - and just wow. It took one of my mixes that was just a little out of control, and glued it together in a really beautiful way. Tightened up the low end and got rid of some annoying midrange harshness to boot. I'm sold. THANK YOU!
I love using Master Plan! My go-to chain is simple: I start with a touch of EQ (bx_digital) and a hint of saturation (HG-Q), then finish it off with Master Plan. I focus on getting the mix as solid as possible so that the mastering stage just needs a bit of balance and polish. It's amazing how far you can go with a streamlined approach!
Thank you so much Warren for introducing me to this plug in ... I've been using it for the past few months on all my final mixes / 'masters' . Tried Lander's - sample master {I use them for distribution only} & others . Master Plan works best for me . I always will admire and respect your skills . Peace / love and blessings to you my friend !!
This thing is bonkers. It has significantly less overhead than Ozone and the "Clean" function is a godsend for someone that struggles with mudiness in their mix when making bass-heavy music. This was a really good demonstration of the plugin and I'm very grateful for the few voices on this platform that don't push junk because a company threw some cash at them. Thank you for bringing this thing to my attention.
I don't know if you've said this before Warren, but a good advice for listeners when hearing mastering changes is using headphones. It's incredibly difficult to catch lowend mud/clipping in speakers. In fact i can work on mixes and think "this is rocking", only to put on the headphones and hearing all the clipped bass lowend that my ears got used too during recording/mixing, ha ha. It's always how i check my final mixes. With headphones you hear immediately when it's clipping, i honestly think even a beginner producer would catch it in headphones. It's that big of a difference when listening to the lowend (Kickdrum/Bass) or rather say clipping too much to be musically pleasant. Since realistically most mixes these days have some form of clipping during the mastering process. Rock on
I purchased Masterplan a few months ago based on your original video. I think it's one of, if not, the best mastering plugin out there at present. Thanks for this vid!!
I personally have always loves the way that MP has always worked so great with the high to high mid. It never feels dull to me. No knock on either of the mastering engineers the both did great.
for tape, there's better, and for the widener i use other things, but the loudness - limiter/clipper - function is fantastic. you can get away with so much limiting that you wouldn't believe. you could halve the peak level of your master and it would still be usable. the unity gain function is great, and the different monitoring options - the speakers and the mono function - are also very useful.
Thanks for this, Warren. I really liked the results and the UI is very intuitive. Purchased! An interesting thing I noticed here is that both you and the pro mastering engineers didn't target a particular LUF value for any of the 3 tracks. I'm not far enough into your book yet (which is excellent!) to have covered this topic, but it seems the -14 LUF thing just isn't a thing. I guess it depends on genre or target. As I'll be mostly mixing/mastering for the game I'm developing, I'll have to think hard on how much loudness is right. Anyway, thanks for the masterclass. This video was superb in a number of ways for this newbie.
Really nice demonstration of this plugin. I have it and will be spending more time with it. It seems to get incredibly close but more than usable for a final.
Great vid Warren. This is really impressive -- wow. I don't generally master stuff I mix. I am not a mastering engineer, I just starting to get good at mixing but some of my client request it because I do it for free. I generally use Ozone 10 but I hand pick the modules and listen, I don't use the AI stuff. I'm not heavy handed with EQ or anything else, anyway. I'm am definitely getting this plugin -- if anything it's a great way to get a mix in the loudness ballpark when going back and forth with clients. Thanks for the detailed overview.
Oh cool!! I had the Tyler Acoustics monitors to work on like in Nicolas DE Porcel studio. I forgot about them crazy good for the money. Just hit them with good power and they rock.. Good video enjoyed...
Without chasing to the end, I am guessing you are pretty good at this Warren and your master will be pretty great. 😀 And yeah you are totally on with the whole "mixers need to hand off masterish stuff" as things move so fast. And then there is the "played back on a phone speaker" thing 😭
I never liked the idea of a one plugin finishing/master.. But then I got a copy of Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher.. & I was so surprised at how great it was. I will have to have a go at this at some point as my interests have been peaked
Competitiveness primarily comes into play during DJ sets, where tracks must stand out against other productions. If you have no intention of competing in that arena, focus on creating a beautiful, dynamic master. That said, today tracks achieve competitive loudness through production techniques, not mixing or mastering. A fundamental principle is to maintain monophony (one sound at given time) in the lower frequencies and allow more overlaping sounds as you move towards the higher frequencies. Essentially, means that you build complexity and richness in the mix as you increase the frequency range. Another common approach is to remove second harmonics from instruments that consume headroom. It basically works on psyhoacustic level. There is no frequency, but you mind fill it in yourself. Damn I like sound design and mixing... However, if you’re not planning to have your track played by a DJ, you don’t need to worry about loudness. Without competition, there’s no problem. PS: If you are interested in loudness look for: LUFS, Fletcher Munson curve, harmonics...
Masterplan looks like a great go to plugin with easy-to-understand instructions. I really like how when you hovered over the buttons, they are all proper descriptions. We currently have been using the TG Mastering chain from Waves. I love that one and like that it was modeled after the Redd desk. We also have Ozone, but I typically use the TG to get me where I want it and then sometimes, I will use the SSL comp as well if needed. We've compared to the ai before, and things are so negligeable with the results. Seems it all comes down to taste and if the client needs it, a mastering engineer can be hired easily. Great topic Warren!
I mix with maximizer on to glue everything together and most of the time in mono, but I go back and forth turning the maximizer on and off and level gain match. I also mix with a somewhat standard eq curve as well on the mix Bus. I do this so that I can hear some kind of standard of what the master is going to sound like so I can hear what I need to fix on the mix before actually mastering it if that makes sense.
Against the plugin, Warren brought out a bit more of the snare, brightened it up a bit better, def sounds better. I feel like there's a smidge better low end as well, the sub sub lows, on the J smith song. The vocals are also more present, and he got rid of some over emphasis in the 500hz region there I think .... I like his version better... but I'm just nitpicking here, that plugin gets pretty close but I don't have it, so I dunno what exactly it does under the hood. It's also an excellent mix to start with :)
It's tough for me between Ozone 11 Advanced, Master Plan and sonible smart limit. Smart Limit is more about limiting but it does have a few tonal adjustments. I don't use the AI on Ozone but I do use about 3-4 of their modules. Maximizer is something amazing. I do love the all in one interface of MP and it does a great job!
Oh, that’s interesting what you said at the beginning that some people will view the master as a way to fix the mix. I’m definitely the opposite of that, I go back to the mix to figure out how to solve a problem at the mix level first.
It's more of what I hear from many people with ANY mastering process, either AI, online, plug ins or even using a mastering engineer, not just this plug in
I just watched another similar blind test a few days ago. A couple mastering engineers against a.i. services and something I didn't know about called "MATCHERING 2.0". Note the spelling. Since it's an open source project, some insiders theorize that newer a.i. services may now be using it and putting their wrapper on it and making a couple tweaks here/there. Hope that makes sense. Lander came in almost last which was a surprise. In fact, most services you've heard of came in near last. A live engineer came out first but the matchering software came in two or three, (I forget),. IE; it did fairly well but you are still in control of it running on your machine!!! Just wanted to share that with you. One more thing, recently I've whittled my own mastering down to a touch of automated e.q., de-resonance and clip/limit. And rarely, IK "one". That's it. There's already more than enough compression on the busses. The less is more approach? Cheers. 👍
Nice one! Well, I think tracks for clubs should’t be too much stereo, because most of the people aren’t dancing in the center spot. LANDR fixed some of the fuzzyness in the upper range better than MasterPlan, more a matter of taste. I use Ozone, but more to check what it will fix or change, then going back to the mix until Ozone isn’t doing crazy tweaks anymore. Cheers!
I find that the landr master tames the mids a little making the track less fatiguing , also adding a little more bass..I think if you were to cut the mids just a bit you would have a better master with master plan ... Great video
Is Masterplan just great when you work with great mixes? When we work on our own stuff and we're not amazing at mixing and we don't have the best reference equipment I find something like Izotope is great at making certain corrections. Would Masterplan still work for me?
Great question! I believe yes, however, download it for free and test for yourself. My job is to demonstrate it and I enjoyed what it does and felt it did an amazing job!
Only part way through. The difference on Chris' remix between Landr and Masterplan is huge! I felt much more immersed in the track. Actually think Landr ruined his mix? The tape setting on Jonah's song really brought out a lovely depth to the bass. I preferred your low end to Warren Sokol's but (sorry) liked his mids better. Very subtle though, whereas the low end had a vast difference. Pretty incredible result.
I have Master Plan version 1.5, God Particle, HMWC and Wine from Acustica Audio, Lursen Master Desk and One from IK Multimedia, Ozone 11 Advance and MasterDesk Pro from Brainworx and they all work but it all depends on the music and sounds. Ozone 11 blew me away though. It gets so loud. Also don’t sleep on Tony Maserati’s MixBus by Waves and IMPusher by Waves
I'm a pro mastering engineer who uses Masterplan as a limiter sometimes. The real difference between a pro an amateur is not which limiter (they are all good at this point) but the speakers and acoustics of your room and to a lesser degree conversion. If you can't hear the sound accurately, you will never get mastering engineer grade results.
Absolutely. Ears first, if we know our room then we can work around it! Secondly an amazing sounding room should help almost anyone hear issues. However, the experience of knowing what is and isn’t an issue is also huge! Lots of inexperienced Mastering Engineers I’ve know have carved out tracks hearing lots of issues!
I suppose masterplan use a sort of dynamic compander, so even with matched gain and quite same intLufs value, the ratio with short and momentary Lufs is better for more excitement listening...
Tried it . . . It's good but I got better results bouncing to real tape and clipping the AD converter (and then finishing with a transparent limiter which in my case was Voxengo Elephant). The tape sim isn't near the same imo.
Thanks for this demo. Great idea to have different versions to compare directly. Personally I think in the dance track the Master Plan version is a bit thin in the low end. And the BD in the Hip Hop track is too distorted compared to the pro master...but nevertheless not a bad plug in especially when used in smaller doses whithin a decent mastering chain.
I noticed you had the "Warm" setting on Landr - so you would have gotten a very different tone if you went with either one of the two presets. Not that I would recommend anyone use Landr, because I use Master Plan / smart:limit on my own tracks, but Landr definitely is capable of a different sound.
Indeed! I just wanted to use it the way anyone would! Ultimately I believe we proved that with a small investment in the plug in you could, with time, do a better job and save some of your budget and maybe even eventually charge for your services!
@@Producelikeapro Absolutely! It's a great video btw - I really enjoyed watching the whole thing and it gave me a lot of small nuanced details to think about next time I use Master Plan. cheers!
I use landr distribution only and ozone for mastering but I don't like the auto master feature so I do it manually but finding it a bit hard to get right. Masterplan seems like a much easier interface. On song two the more proud mid mids sounded more modern and I liked it but it felt like the rim and then snare fought the vocal a bit on the more forward master.
I’ve not tried this plug-in but I can’t help but think that a professional mastering engineer who would have been trained and also working in a good room would do a much better job
1: It's really weird how Landr completely messed up that arpeggio and made it sound completely different. Reminds me how I bought this Behringer mastering rack unit, and whatever you did with it, it would always just make things worse. 😀 2: I liked your version better than Warren Sokol's until the snare came in. I thought it was a bit too loud and harsh in your version. 3: I know nothing about hip-hop, but it's interesting how the vocals, which really annoyed me, got a lot less annoying in the mastered versions (both of them).
this plugin is awesome i bought it an hour after downloading the demo and i have never used ozone since. the limiter alone is worth the price. I just have a question, do you think it is better to use it before or after its usual limiter? thx
@CaptainProton1 I guess I hear the automatic result from Landr, but the Landr mastering plugin also offers quite a few tweaks, and I think you can produce even better results than Masterplan.
I never understood what's so special about mastering so It requires a whole new engineer, or why some mastering engineers cost so much... The goal of mastering is to balance the frequencies, saturate and compress a track as a whole to taste, and then make it louder. If the audio has any technical issues, it should be fixed in the mixing stage. A mix engineer has all of the skills to do all of this. They can't twist a few EQ knobs if the track, as a whole, sounds too dim or too bright?... Cmon.
I guess these type of AI plugins can be useful for beginners, to see how their music might sound mastered, but nothing can quite match a real engineer, or being able to rearrange plugins however you want.
I feel the professional master of the last song was better. Specifically the low end had sort of a nice bit of liquid vibe - perhaps a bit of compression? In any case I tried it with my eyes closed and could tell when they switched. Master Plan was sort of "drier" in the low end. Master Plan certainly did beat the Landr though.
See that’s the thing…if it isn’t mixed well a mastering plug in can’t “fix” it…I can’t wait to see a plug in that takes control of your faders in your DAW and mixes in real time and masters at the same time out the master bus…
Sokol's master of the soul song was much better in my opinion. Brighter and wider will always win if you're only playing a couple seconds of the track. I feel like Sokol approached it vibe-first and dialed in the sonics to facilitate vibe, whereas Huart/MP approached only the sonics. The blanket high end wasn't working for me on that track although Sokol could've used like 1 dB of 9k, narrow Q, just to sweeten the breath of the vocal and even it out.
Thank you for the detailed review much appreciated. I would like to mention your breaths betweeen your words are being emphasized by your mic and/or comp and its distracting i am having hard time concentrating on the content, i would suggest to upgrade the mic it sounds so boxy and harsh…
I feel the first dance mix needed a refix, that filter bass is taking away the focus and over powering the rest of the track. The Landr had a more balanced and weighted low end.. but then I could be wrong
The plugin sounds quite good, BUT the masters made by the mastering engineers won by a mile. First thing was, their masters were lower on level than your version so the comparison was quite off. Second, they still managed to have more depth and control, and the overall tone was more unified - The elements were deeper into the songs. Third, getting something ”close” to a reference, which is made from the same song, is not reality when you have to do it by yourself without the reference which you don’t have if you gonna master your song by yourself - there will not be a guide which will tell you where to go😉 A guess am trying to say is that with this plugin you will be able to make an acceptable master if the mix is good enough and you have the ears to do it - if acceptable is the thing you are after. But it defenitely will not be the best version of the song.
The results of this plug-in are better suited to the overloud environment that is the norm today. You give it an above average and well recorded, well mixed track, with nuance and good dynamics, and it falls short.
Good mastering engineers will outperform AI, but bad ones will not, and like every profession, there are good ones and bad ones. After paying for some lackluster professionals. I just do it myself now.
@@Producelikeapro Not that im aware of, my dad died a long time ago, must be 40 years since he said it, ive used it once since, everybody said 'WHAT?' only time ive ever heard it, you, and my dad xD must have been a thing though....
i dont know, i prefer master plan , they both are good, but the pro engineer's master has less highs and more lows , i hear them in my macbook's speaker and the same in the studio monitors...
@@Producelikeapro but probably if is other people using that plugin won do a good job, the plugin or tools every day are making things "easier" for us, but the taste or experience not every one have it... people just will have to focus in creating not in making this kind of decisions .
When I heard the video towards the end, I thought to myself, "WHY is the low end so high in level, and so GARBAGE?!" Awful for this being the final master. I'll gladly use my own technique compared to this!
Agree with @@Producelikeapro - and, the low end (and L-R out-of-phase details) is how contemporary styles “cheat” the integrated LUFS measurement. The loudness measurement folds to mono, and discards low end (caveats, read R-128 spec). This way, the loudness war has continued, but on different technical terms and limitations than e.g. CD & radio pushed - literally. The other part lies within TP measurements, where saturation or other forms of controlled distortion/clipping “plays” the true-peak measurement. The meta-point is that there’s no “medium” to control now (unless you do legacy distribution). This now lies with the platforms - somewhat analogous (pun) to bygone FM radio use of bus treatment (Orban et al…). As a mastering engineer I would treat the live recorded track to the ca -14LUFS i / -1dBTP paradigm (i.e. -16 i, higher crest, slow track) , for musical integrity and good platform adaption. The other two contemporary tracks? I’d send them to a younger colleague… 😊
LANDR eat up the highs and the width of the track. MasterPlan made the track alive with few touches only. Definite winner. Bought it. Thanks for the introduction, Warren
@@Producelikeapro for me it is horrible. Just sounds like AI turned it up, there’s audible distortion. I don’t think it knows details or something..lol I dunno. I won’t be buying anymore. In fact I have 4 left, with 3 songs to be mastered. Not gonna happen with waves.!
That’s the modern way. Like people who want to make music but can’t be bothered learning an instrument or a single damn thing about Music in general. Hello , A.I.
How Are You Mastering Your Tracks?
Check Out The MusikHack Masterplan Here: www.musikhack.com/products/masterplan/55/DI/
using Ozone but this one seems much more easier to use as for me its always about cutting time
I usually like to use fabfilter on everything, then some sort of eq for colour, SSL comp always, I like to use 2 limiters, one very natural and another one for some texture, I also like to add some tape saturation, nowadays I solve most of the stuff in the mix.
Ssl native bus compressor => Q3 => bx master or Abbey roads => L 2
I have to many plugins so I try yo build different chain for different needs and musical styles. Sometime I also use semi and full automatic mastering systems, offline (AMMS, Lursen, Ozone 11 STD, MasterDesk) and online as well (Landr and other A.I. staff) as analysis tool and to compare 'cause my masters have to sound better than these ones.I have tried Rich and First versio of Master Plan but It were at the same quality of MasterDesk. I Will try this new versione, curious...😊
I ended up reaching out to Max because of Benn's video! he's mastering my 9 song album as we speak.
This is still the only one on yt that I can watch the whole video of him talking about mixing & making mix moves . LOL ! Love this guy !
Aw shucks! Thanks ever so much!
Yes, great content indeed! ☺ I just wish the audio was not compressed to pieces. 3:32 🤐
Warren is legend! We all love him!
Thanks ever so much
For about the past year, I've been doing final mixes through Ozone, and was pretty happy with the results. I'm not a big plugin shopper, but this sounded pretty interesting - and just wow. It took one of my mixes that was just a little out of control, and glued it together in a really beautiful way. Tightened up the low end and got rid of some annoying midrange harshness to boot. I'm sold. THANK YOU!
I love using Master Plan! My go-to chain is simple: I start with a touch of EQ (bx_digital) and a hint of saturation (HG-Q), then finish it off with Master Plan. I focus on getting the mix as solid as possible so that the mastering stage just needs a bit of balance and polish. It's amazing how far you can go with a streamlined approach!
Thanks ever so much for sharing your process!
Thank you so much Warren for introducing me to this plug in ... I've been using it for the past few months on all my final mixes / 'masters' . Tried Lander's - sample master {I use them for distribution only} & others . Master Plan works best for me . I always will admire and respect your skills . Peace / love and blessings to you my friend !!
This thing is bonkers. It has significantly less overhead than Ozone and the "Clean" function is a godsend for someone that struggles with mudiness in their mix when making bass-heavy music. This was a really good demonstration of the plugin and I'm very grateful for the few voices on this platform that don't push junk because a company threw some cash at them.
Thank you for bringing this thing to my attention.
Masterplan is awesome as long as ur mix is good ur master wont need alot of work this can usually push you to a good competitive end result
Thanks for sharing!
I don't know if you've said this before Warren, but a good advice for listeners when hearing mastering changes is using headphones. It's incredibly difficult to catch lowend mud/clipping in speakers. In fact i can work on mixes and think "this is rocking", only to put on the headphones and hearing all the clipped bass lowend that my ears got used too during recording/mixing, ha ha. It's always how i check my final mixes. With headphones you hear immediately when it's clipping, i honestly think even a beginner producer would catch it in headphones. It's that big of a difference when listening to the lowend (Kickdrum/Bass) or rather say clipping too much to be musically pleasant. Since realistically most mixes these days have some form of clipping during the mastering process. Rock on
Max, which headphones you use ? I have ATH-M50x which I'm about to use with Sound ID to mix
I purchased Masterplan a few months ago based on your original video. I think it's one of, if not, the best mastering plugin out there at present. Thanks for this vid!!
Glad you enjoy it! That’s great to hear!
Agreed, best to learn these techniques for ourselves vs using an online service
Warren ... from argentina... follow u from allways... im 42... i love u dude... thanx for exist
Thanks ever so much! I really appreciate the support
Wow!… that Plug-In is really Nice going up against the others. 😳Great Job Warren! George Amodei
Thanks George!
I personally have always loves the way that MP has always worked so great with the high to high mid. It never feels dull to me. No knock on either of the mastering engineers the both did great.
I use Masterplan. A total gamechanger for me when I'm recording home studio demos. Great plugin for a beginner like me.
Great to hear! Thanks ever so much!
Love what you did with the low mid on the rap vocal. It really wasn’t happening for me before that.
Thanks ever so much!
Its sounds just PERFECT with the Masterplan Plugin.!
Well done.
Even on normal Apple Earpods its sounds very very good and perfect balanced.
Thanks ever so much!
Great thorough video as always, I learned a lot. Thanks Warren!
Thanks ever so much! Glad to be able to help!
Excellent video. Thank you!! ✨
Thanks ever so much!
Great to watch you work, Your Mast Plan version sounds awesome.
Thanks ever so much!
I got Masterplan since youre last Review, its great.
That's wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing!
26:43 wow, one take ! even the original sounds pretty amazing.
Thanks ever so much
for tape, there's better, and for the widener i use other things, but the loudness - limiter/clipper - function is fantastic. you can get away with so much limiting that you wouldn't believe. you could halve the peak level of your master and it would still be usable. the unity gain function is great, and the different monitoring options - the speakers and the mono function - are also very useful.
Thanks for this, Warren. I really liked the results and the UI is very intuitive. Purchased! An interesting thing I noticed here is that both you and the pro mastering engineers didn't target a particular LUF value for any of the 3 tracks. I'm not far enough into your book yet (which is excellent!) to have covered this topic, but it seems the -14 LUF thing just isn't a thing. I guess it depends on genre or target. As I'll be mostly mixing/mastering for the game I'm developing, I'll have to think hard on how much loudness is right. Anyway, thanks for the masterclass. This video was superb in a number of ways for this newbie.
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
This plugin is really cool and extremely helpful! Easy to use and sounds great!
Glad you like it!
Really nice demonstration of this plugin. I have it and will be spending more time with it. It seems to get incredibly close but more than usable for a final.
Thanks ever so much Leroy!
Great vid Warren. This is really impressive -- wow. I don't generally master stuff I mix. I am not a mastering engineer, I just starting to get good at mixing but some of my client request it because I do it for free. I generally use Ozone 10 but I hand pick the modules and listen, I don't use the AI stuff. I'm not heavy handed with EQ or anything else, anyway. I'm am definitely getting this plugin -- if anything it's a great way to get a mix in the loudness ballpark when going back and forth with clients. Thanks for the detailed overview.
I find Masterplan on your examples sound better than all the Masteringstuff the big Names did…
Its really surprising
Thanks ever so much for sharing
I really appreciate your openness to new technology. Thanks for the video. I’ll check out Master Plan.
You’re very welcome! Thanks for the support
Oh cool!! I had the Tyler Acoustics monitors to work on like in Nicolas DE Porcel studio. I forgot about them crazy good for the money. Just hit them with good power and they rock.. Good video enjoyed...
Without chasing to the end, I am guessing you are pretty good at this Warren and your master will be pretty great. 😀 And yeah you are totally on with the whole "mixers need to hand off masterish stuff" as things move so fast. And then there is the "played back on a phone speaker" thing 😭
I never liked the idea of a one plugin finishing/master..
But then I got a copy of Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher.. & I was so surprised at how great it was.
I will have to have a go at this at some point as my interests have been peaked
Definitely try it out and see what you get!
Simple love this plugin!!
Thanks ever so much!
Competitiveness primarily comes into play during DJ sets, where tracks must stand out against other productions. If you have no intention of competing in that arena, focus on creating a beautiful, dynamic master.
That said, today tracks achieve competitive loudness through production techniques, not mixing or mastering. A fundamental principle is to maintain monophony (one sound at given time) in the lower frequencies and allow more overlaping sounds as you move towards the higher frequencies. Essentially, means that you build complexity and richness in the mix as you increase the frequency range.
Another common approach is to remove second harmonics from instruments that consume headroom. It basically works on psyhoacustic level. There is no frequency, but you mind fill it in yourself. Damn I like sound design and mixing...
However, if you’re not planning to have your track played by a DJ, you don’t need to worry about loudness. Without competition, there’s no problem.
PS: If you are interested in loudness look for: LUFS, Fletcher Munson curve, harmonics...
Masterplan looks like a great go to plugin with easy-to-understand instructions. I really like how when you hovered over the buttons, they are all proper descriptions. We currently have been using the TG Mastering chain from Waves. I love that one and like that it was modeled after the Redd desk. We also have Ozone, but I typically use the TG to get me where I want it and then sometimes, I will use the SSL comp as well if needed. We've compared to the ai before, and things are so negligeable with the results. Seems it all comes down to taste and if the client needs it, a mastering engineer can be hired easily. Great topic Warren!
I LOVE TG. it just adds some secret sauce. I also love The One by IK Multimedia for easier mixes.
I mix with maximizer on to glue everything together and most of the time in mono, but I go back and forth turning the maximizer on and off and level gain match. I also mix with a somewhat standard eq curve as well on the mix Bus. I do this so that I can hear some kind of standard of what the master is going to sound like so I can hear what I need to fix on the mix before actually mastering it if that makes sense.
Against the plugin, Warren brought out a bit more of the snare, brightened it up a bit better, def sounds better. I feel like there's a smidge better low end as well, the sub sub lows, on the J smith song. The vocals are also more present, and he got rid of some over emphasis in the 500hz region there I think .... I like his version better... but I'm just nitpicking here, that plugin gets pretty close but I don't have it, so I dunno what exactly it does under the hood. It's also an excellent mix to start with :)
Excellent, thanks. Lot's of Thought process instead of exaggerated knob turning that some reviews of this have done. Thanks
Haha thanks ever so much! Glad it was helpful!
i have this plugin and always i use LOUD for my track.. Awesome. ;)
Marvellous! Thanks for sharing!
Really enjoyed this! I will definitely try it out. Perhaps you could compare in another video how Masterplan compares to IK Multimedia ONE or Ozone?
Great suggestion!
Hands down my favourite TH-cam channel! He could tell me about a pack of cigarettes and I would listen 😂
Aw shucks! Thanks ever so much!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's tough for me between Ozone 11 Advanced, Master Plan and sonible smart limit. Smart Limit is more about limiting but it does have a few tonal adjustments. I don't use the AI on Ozone but I do use about 3-4 of their modules. Maximizer is something amazing. I do love the all in one interface of MP and it does a great job!
Oh, that’s interesting what you said at the beginning that some people will view the master as a way to fix the mix. I’m definitely the opposite of that, I go back to the mix to figure out how to solve a problem at the mix level first.
It's more of what I hear from many people with ANY mastering process, either AI, online, plug ins or even using a mastering engineer, not just this plug in
And yes, always fix the issues in the mix first! Agreed 100%!
I just watched another similar blind test a few days ago. A couple mastering engineers against a.i. services and something I didn't know about called "MATCHERING 2.0". Note the spelling. Since it's an open source project, some insiders theorize that newer a.i. services may now be using it and putting their wrapper on it and making a couple tweaks here/there. Hope that makes sense. Lander came in almost last which was a surprise. In fact, most services you've heard of came in near last. A live engineer came out first but the matchering software came in two or three, (I forget),. IE; it did fairly well but you are still in control of it running on your machine!!! Just wanted to share that with you. One more thing, recently I've whittled my own mastering down to a touch of automated e.q., de-resonance and clip/limit. And rarely, IK "one". That's it. There's already more than enough compression on the busses. The less is more approach? Cheers. 👍
YES! That was the Benn Jordan video I was referencing! Great video
@@Producelikeapro 👍
Great plugin! Used the demo version on my latest track (Destiny) and I'm impressed. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Thanks for sharing
Nice one! Well, I think tracks for clubs should’t be too much stereo, because most of the people aren’t dancing in the center spot. LANDR fixed some of the fuzzyness in the upper range better than MasterPlan, more a matter of taste. I use Ozone, but more to check what it will fix or change, then going back to the mix until Ozone isn’t doing crazy tweaks anymore. Cheers!
How would compare Masterplan to the master match in T Racks 6?
🔥👊🧡👍🔥 It has been a minute! Warren 🤘
Marvellous
I find that the landr master tames the mids a little making the track less fatiguing , also adding a little more bass..I think if you were to cut the mids just a bit you would have a better master with master plan ... Great video
Is Masterplan just great when you work with great mixes? When we work on our own stuff and we're not amazing at mixing and we don't have the best reference equipment I find something like Izotope is great at making certain corrections. Would Masterplan still work for me?
Great question! I believe yes, however, download it for free and test for yourself. My job is to demonstrate it and I enjoyed what it does and felt it did an amazing job!
@ Thanks Warren.
Only part way through. The difference on Chris' remix between Landr and Masterplan is huge! I felt much more immersed in the track. Actually think Landr ruined his mix?
The tape setting on Jonah's song really brought out a lovely depth to the bass. I preferred your low end to Warren Sokol's but (sorry) liked his mids better. Very subtle though, whereas the low end had a vast difference. Pretty incredible result.
Thanks ever so much for sharing your insight!
I have Master Plan version 1.5, God Particle, HMWC and Wine from Acustica Audio, Lursen Master Desk and One from IK Multimedia, Ozone 11 Advance and MasterDesk Pro from Brainworx and they all work but it all depends on the music and sounds. Ozone 11 blew me away though. It gets so loud. Also don’t sleep on Tony Maserati’s MixBus by Waves and IMPusher by Waves
Yowsa! That's quite the collection! Thanks for sharing!
@ No problem. I’ve spent a house worth of money on plugins
@@PharaohLawLess1 I hear you loud and clear! Guilty as charged! Haha
Thats crazy, I like the master plan better, now I gotta try it
Thanks for sharing!
Watch Benn Jordan's AI Mastering video here: th-cam.com/video/wZRV2H4PK0Q/w-d-xo.html
I'm a pro mastering engineer who uses Masterplan as a limiter sometimes. The real difference between a pro an amateur is not which limiter (they are all good at this point) but the speakers and acoustics of your room and to a lesser degree conversion. If you can't hear the sound accurately, you will never get mastering engineer grade results.
Absolutely. Ears first, if we know our room then we can work around it! Secondly an amazing sounding room should help almost anyone hear issues. However, the experience of knowing what is and isn’t an issue is also huge! Lots of inexperienced Mastering Engineers I’ve know have carved out tracks hearing lots of issues!
@Producelikeapro "fixing" is the wrong mindset for mastering for sure. over processing and fiddling is the hallmark of a novice!
@@GingerDrums Indeed, ultimately working with a great mastering engineer is an amazing asset for an up and coming mixer!
I suppose masterplan use a sort of dynamic compander, so even with matched gain and quite same intLufs value, the ratio with short and momentary Lufs is better for more excitement listening...
Maybe? I know it sounds great though!
Big Like from "ISRAEL" !!
Tried it . . . It's good but I got better results bouncing to real tape and clipping the AD converter (and then finishing with a transparent limiter which in my case was Voxengo Elephant). The tape sim isn't near the same imo.
That would make a great video! Can you film yourself doing your process? Thanks!!
Thanks for this demo. Great idea to have different versions to compare directly. Personally I think in the dance track the Master Plan version is a bit thin in the low end. And the BD in the Hip Hop track is too distorted compared to the pro master...but nevertheless not a bad plug in especially when used in smaller doses whithin a decent mastering chain.
Well it’s actually a great engineer with a great plugin. I wonder how I’d do with it and one of my mix downs 🥴
Try it for free and see what results you get!
Noticed when you were saying that the tape was controlling the compression on the low end when applied but you never tried turning the mix down on it?
I noticed you had the "Warm" setting on Landr - so you would have gotten a very different tone if you went with either one of the two presets. Not that I would recommend anyone use Landr, because I use Master Plan / smart:limit on my own tracks, but Landr definitely is capable of a different sound.
Indeed! I just wanted to use it the way anyone would! Ultimately I believe we proved that with a small investment in the plug in you could, with time, do a better job and save some of your budget and maybe even eventually charge for your services!
@@Producelikeapro Absolutely! It's a great video btw - I really enjoyed watching the whole thing and it gave me a lot of small nuanced details to think about next time I use Master Plan. cheers!
I use landr distribution only and ozone for mastering but I don't like the auto master feature so I do it manually but finding it a bit hard to get right. Masterplan seems like a much easier interface. On song two the more proud mid mids sounded more modern and I liked it but it felt like the rim and then snare fought the vocal a bit on the more forward master.
Try it out and see how it works for you!
Nicolas’s rules
Marvellous!
I’ve not tried this plug-in but I can’t help but think that a professional mastering engineer who would have been trained and also working in a good room would do a much better job
Straight 🔥!
Thanks!
Would you combine it with the god particle in some instances or would it be an overkill?
If you feel the need? It might be the God Particle is part of your mixing process, if so then keep it on!
1: It's really weird how Landr completely messed up that arpeggio and made it sound completely different. Reminds me how I bought this Behringer mastering rack unit, and whatever you did with it, it would always just make things worse. 😀
2: I liked your version better than Warren Sokol's until the snare came in. I thought it was a bit too loud and harsh in your version.
3: I know nothing about hip-hop, but it's interesting how the vocals, which really annoyed me, got a lot less annoying in the mastered versions (both of them).
Thanks ever so much for sharing!! I really appreciate it
Did you use the LANDR mastering plugin though? \
Is there a de-esser on that thing? I'm still using Lürssen's standalone which gives great results as long as you mix is good.
Back and forth or do you suggest an order to choose for wich parameter change ?
would be nice to hear this MasterPlan plugin going up against Ozone.
this plugin is awesome i bought it an hour after downloading the demo and i have never used ozone since. the limiter alone is worth the price. I just have a question, do you think it is better to use it before or after its usual limiter? thx
Good advise, thank you. Comparing Landr online mastering and Masteplan plug-in, why don't you use Landr's mastering plug-in in this video?
Did you not hear the difference?
@CaptainProton1 I guess I hear the automatic result from Landr, but the Landr mastering plugin also offers quite a few tweaks, and I think you can produce even better results than Masterplan.
I never understood what's so special about mastering so It requires a whole new engineer, or why some mastering engineers cost so much...
The goal of mastering is to balance the frequencies, saturate and compress a track as a whole to taste, and then make it louder. If the audio has any technical issues, it should be fixed in the mixing stage. A mix engineer has all of the skills to do all of this. They can't twist a few EQ knobs if the track, as a whole, sounds too dim or too bright?... Cmon.
When God Particle came out a while ago, I liked it, but Master Plan sounds better and less overhyped for me
“Recorded with lots of tubes and valves” 😂
Haha got to cover all the bases! I speak both American and English! Haha
Where can I find the Jonas track it's beautiful
I guess these type of AI plugins can be useful for beginners, to see how their music might sound mastered, but nothing can quite match a real engineer, or being able to rearrange plugins however you want.
I feel the professional master of the last song was better. Specifically the low end had sort of a nice bit of liquid vibe - perhaps a bit of compression? In any case I tried it with my eyes closed and could tell when they switched. Master Plan was sort of "drier" in the low end. Master Plan certainly did beat the Landr though.
See that’s the thing…if it isn’t mixed well a mastering plug in can’t “fix” it…I can’t wait to see a plug in that takes control of your faders in your DAW and mixes in real time and masters at the same time out the master bus…
There’s lots of tech out there that says it can do close to that! Haha
What the hell would the fun or point of that be ??? Jesus H…
@@Producelikeapro I can’t wait to see it…if it would be usable or not remains to be seen…but it is an exciting time to be alive!
Sokol's master of the soul song was much better in my opinion. Brighter and wider will always win if you're only playing a couple seconds of the track. I feel like Sokol approached it vibe-first and dialed in the sonics to facilitate vibe, whereas Huart/MP approached only the sonics. The blanket high end wasn't working for me on that track although Sokol could've used like 1 dB of 9k, narrow Q, just to sweeten the breath of the vocal and even it out.
Thank you for the detailed review much appreciated. I would like to mention your breaths betweeen your words are being emphasized by your mic and/or comp and its distracting i am having hard time concentrating on the content, i would suggest to upgrade the mic it sounds so boxy and harsh…
Sorry to hear that. My asthma was playing up pretty badly
I feel the first dance mix needed a refix, that filter bass is taking away the focus and over powering the rest of the track. The Landr had a more balanced and weighted low end.. but then I could be wrong
would this plugin make WLM Plus Loudness Meter not needed?
Using a loudness meter is a personal choice, if it's part of your work flow then there's no need to change
The plugin sounds quite good, BUT the masters made by the mastering engineers won by a mile. First thing was, their masters were lower on level than your version so the comparison was quite off. Second, they still managed to have more depth and control, and the overall tone was more unified - The elements were deeper into the songs. Third, getting something ”close” to a reference, which is made from the same song, is not reality when you have to do it by yourself without the reference which you don’t have if you gonna master your song by yourself - there will not be a guide which will tell you where to go😉 A guess am trying to say is that with this plugin you will be able to make an acceptable master if the mix is good enough and you have the ears to do it - if acceptable is the thing you are after. But it defenitely will not be the best version of the song.
The results of this plug-in are better suited to the overloud environment that is the norm today. You give it an above average and well recorded, well mixed track, with nuance and good dynamics, and it falls short.
Good mastering engineers will outperform AI, but bad ones will not, and like every profession, there are good ones and bad ones.
After paying for some lackluster professionals. I just do it myself now.
Thanks for sharing your experience
@@Producelikeapro thank you for your channel and the knowledge and wisdom you share!
Maybe it’s because of TH-cam but I don’t hear any difference between mastered and unmastered or maybe I don’t know what I’m listening for🤔
'Destructions' never heard anybody else but my dad say that....
Haha I learned from an old employee who was younger than me! So must still be a thing!
@@Producelikeapro Not that im aware of, my dad died a long time ago, must be 40 years since he said it, ive used it once since, everybody said 'WHAT?' only time ive ever heard it, you, and my dad xD must have been a thing though....
i dont know, i prefer master plan , they both are good, but the pro engineer's master has less highs and more lows , i hear them in my macbook's speaker and the same in the studio monitors...
Thanks ever so much for sharing! The best thing is it got us thinking!!
@@Producelikeapro but probably if is other people using that plugin won do a good job, the plugin or tools every day are making things "easier" for us, but the taste or experience not every one have it... people just will have to focus in creating not in making this kind of decisions .
As soon as I see your face I always think Adam Ant 😊
Haha that's fun!
@Producelikeapro 😊
When I heard the video towards the end, I thought to myself, "WHY is the low end so high in level, and so GARBAGE?!" Awful for this being the final master. I'll gladly use my own technique compared to this!
It’s all genre based! The mastering engineer knows the market he’s mastering for and that’s a huge skill to know the genre really well!
Agree with @@Producelikeapro - and, the low end (and L-R out-of-phase details) is how contemporary styles “cheat” the integrated LUFS measurement. The loudness measurement folds to mono, and discards low end (caveats, read R-128 spec).
This way, the loudness war has continued, but on different technical terms and limitations than e.g. CD & radio pushed - literally.
The other part lies within TP measurements, where saturation or other forms of controlled distortion/clipping “plays” the true-peak measurement.
The meta-point is that there’s no “medium” to control now (unless you do legacy distribution). This now lies with the platforms - somewhat analogous (pun) to bygone FM radio use of bus treatment (Orban et al…).
As a mastering engineer I would treat the live recorded track to the ca -14LUFS i / -1dBTP paradigm (i.e. -16 i, higher crest, slow track) , for musical integrity and good platform adaption. The other two contemporary tracks?
I’d send them to a younger colleague… 😊
LANDR eat up the highs and the width of the track. MasterPlan made the track alive with few touches only. Definite winner. Bought it. Thanks for the introduction, Warren
Thanks ever so much! Glad to be able to help!
I tried this plugin extensively.
Stereo spreading os good.
Loudness makes things flat, dont' like so much. Lacking depth.
Wide at 6 couldn’t find my way home
Soco did essentially the widener at around 6 or 7 imo which means nothing
I'm doing well, but not "mahhvorisly" well
Haha I hope you do marvellously well soon!
I have to say I find it more confusing now than 5 years ago ago
I bought 5 waves masters for like $25. In my opinion the one song that I’ve mastered sounds horrible.
Marvellous! What did you think of the Waves mastering service? Many thanks!
@@Producelikeapro for me it is horrible. Just sounds like AI turned it up, there’s audible distortion. I don’t think it knows details or something..lol I dunno. I won’t be buying anymore. In fact I have 4 left, with 3 songs to be mastered. Not gonna happen with waves.!
😊
😅
I guess this is for people who write music and want to master it themselves but don't want to learn anything about audio engineering or something?????
That’s the modern way. Like people who want to make music but can’t be bothered learning an instrument or a single damn thing about Music in general. Hello , A.I.
Not at all! It is NOT an automative plug in, you need ears to get the results!
@@Producelikeapro😂all my life I got made fun of for not having ears. You bastard.