Abletons Saturator, set to soft sine, and output set to -1.33, almost completely nulls with the Oxford inflator. So if you want a stock version of the inflator, you already have it 🤌🏻 Why the .07 release time on the limiter? Generally, if the release time of your compressor/limiter is a shorter duration than your sub freq’s cycle length, you end up with distortion. Not saying it should always be longer than your sub, it depends on what you’re doing, but curious. As for clipping, yea it’s a bit tricky with stock stuff, but the digital clip in saturator is probably the best. Set it to hi quality mode, and look at the meters to figure out where you’re clipping the signal. The glue compressor’s soft clipper, is actually closer to a hard clip than a soft clip. It has the subtle curve to the transfer curve. So that’s something to play around with as well.
Great addition! As for the release time: It's always a trade-off between distortion and pumping (which occurs at longer release time) and the latter, to me, messes with the groove too much. In most scenarios, the distortion is masked but the pumping is obvious. So I tend to err on the side of faster release times with limiters. But it's a case-by-case decision, obviously.
@@larkhallpaul9381 oh I wonder if I’m remember correctly, but I’m pretty sure if hi quality mode is on, the digital clip in saturator doesn’t clip at 0. It’s fixed in live 12, because you have different clipping options separate from the transfer curve. But in live 11 and before, I think that’s was the way the saturator worked for some reason
I’m always amazed at people who are able to hear such slight nuances between different tools. I really wish I hadn’t f***ed up my hearing in all those 90’s raves.
Thing is….. no one at a rave knows the difference, then and now. By the time the Dj has eq’d the mix it makes no difference if a mix is a tiny bit this way or that way.
@@CraigScottFrost em.. no. i have made plenty mix an mastering mistakes in my day. lowerin the mids a little at 400hz ish and highs, 4k ish, and ultra highs 13k+ on a great track goes a loong way!
Impressive demonstration of what can be achieved using only Ableton Live's stock tools. It's clear that while external plugins might give you more precision and control, a professional-sounding master is still possible with the stock devices, especially if the mix is already strong. The EQ8 and Glue Compressor do solid work here, although some tools like the Saturator and Limiter don't quite match the finesse of third-party plugins. Overall, this shows that with skill and critical listening, stock plugins can be a viable option for mastering.
OK, this was pretty interesting. I personally like the Ableton Master a bit more as it seems to breathe a bit more. But this could be just personal taste. But that mastering is just the icing on the cake is a statement that you can hear everywhere. If you have a nice production, then with mastering you'll get a nice mastered production. And everything starts with good sound selection and a good idea. Well done, dude. Thank you for this video.
Nice! It just goes to show how far one can go with very basic tools. I still prefer the other way (and personally also like that version more) but I didn't expect it to get that close in terms of quality.
Yeah these discussions should never be black and white as some comments may suggest. There are stock plugins that are just as good as third party and there are third partys that far surpass stock, both can be true because there are ALOT of plugins lol. In the big expensive studios you would always see cheap and trusted gear mixed in there (Art Pro VLAs, none VU DBXs......) among the expensive units because ultimately price should never be the determining factor, in either direction. = Use both!
10:00 Important thing: you just dodge all the phase rotation problems that might happen with using multiple bands (especially with Ableton's stock Multiband Dynamics)
I love 3rd party plugins because of their GUIs (don’t laugh). But tbh the type of plugins that can get very different from one to the others are distortion and compressors. Each distortion has different flavour and each compressors reacts differently to the signal. Headhunterz once said that he couldn’t get his iconic kick sound he had back in the day without Logic. And even though the compressor in Ableton is so versatile that it works in almost every situation, when you want to get a sound like what 1176 or the Distressor has, you will have a very hard time to achieve using stock plugins. Other than that, having 3rd party plugins, especially analogue simulating ones, are most about the workflow of that specific interface you are familiar with. It will be very possible to recreate the Pultec bass trick and the API bright sound using any kind of digital EQ, but it will save you way more time to just dial in the setting with relatively limited options that you know it’s going to take you to the place you want with just a few touches.
So, without even getting into how to master, my focus has been on how to get my tracks "master ready" so to speak. On the whole, I believe I understand the mixing process relatively well. But the problem comes in with tracks which have a drastic breakdown section. I'm working on a track right now & at one point I want the kick & bass to drop out & then what's left to go through a high pass on which the frequency cut off is slowly rising, just before it cuts almost everything off a nice drop & then *bang* bring everything back. The problem is, you mix the track one way & as soon as the break happens all these mid & high end elements got SO much louder because there isn't any low anymore pushing everything down. But if you mix it the other way, by the time the high pass starts to rise, near the end the track is so quiet it sounds like a fade out at the end of an old vinyl recording when studios couldn't afford to risk having bands actually try to end a song clean. Is there a way to have the cake & eat it too? Can a track have sufficient compression to avoid the latter problem while not having so much it creates the former problem? Or should a track with this kind of radical dynamic actually be super quiet by the end of the break prior to the whole thing going to mastering?
Am I the only one that thought the ableton master sounded better? Thought it sounded more vibrant and pleasant through a HK Onyx 4 BT speaker located 30-50cm from my ear. Not sure if this is a limitation of the speaker or a personal preference thing, but the ableton master was more pleasant to my ears. Although I will say that the ableton limiter sounds awful
the original master sounds like it has a whoosh or white noise added to it from one of the external plugins, maybe i'm wrong but it almost reminds me of dithering. maybe it actually just is dithering from the export idk
400hz cut was missing on the original. the original is more defined and has better transients but people usally prefer the one with more high end, why i think people actually will prefer the ableton master more even if it sounds a little "cheaper"
I actually prefer the version you did this time with those Ableton plugins. You got rid of that annoying 400hz peak which I heard. Which could be acoustic problem also in my listening position though. Great video! 👍
I don't usually use stock plugins, I always go for 3rd party so this opinion is not biased towards stock plugins and have to say, on my headphones (DT990 Pro), the Ableton version actually sounds a little better to me. It's a bit more defined, it sizzles nicer in the top end and the clap/snare has a little more impact. The Original version sounds a little dark and not as focused.
i like it when people say "Ive been doing this for 10, 20,100 years" Most of them have been doing it wrong for all those years....Most have no education or degree in music, don't understand music theory, music production, sound design, fundamentals or studio work. Those who really know what's going on are seen/noticed by the bigger guys, and they hand pick them, taking them forward. That's why you have people like David Guetta, Morten, Vini Vici, Armin van Buuren and those producers that are where they are. The guys on top don't care about a big mouth at the bottom.
@@starkid9736 how come? It makes sense to me because you're not just adding adding adding. Things sound 'better' when they're louder. It doesn't train the ear
Great question! It's one of those music production myths still floating around, so it's important to have that discussion. There's nothing inherently worse when you boost an EQ as compared to reducing frequencies. Technically, it's pretty much the identical process and if you gain stage correctly, there's nothing to worry about. The interesting bit here is this: My philosophy with mixing and mastering is "enhancing the beauty within every sound", so I focus more on what I like about the mix/ master and try to bring that out. Sometimes that involves cutting, but I allow myself complete freedom to boost whenever I want to hear more of something that's already there and beautiful.
@@pickyourselfofficial yeh and also I find bumping things up and reducing so you actually know what you're changing. I've found out myself far too often that trying high compression thresholds first and THEN increasing the threshold up to see where it should sit. Rather than tweaking it delicately first
@@pickyourselfofficial Can u produce with them alone and with good results, o giess on the end no matter what cans u have u need to learn them, so its again learning. I know one guy who made tracks with small 30 dollar pearplugs and tested in car hes tracks, he wasa into Techno. So i dont know anymore haha and he got great resultd
Man, that was funny, when you said, the distortion is too much because of the limiter and you have to decrease the output...and then put it exactly back to 6.86 Db and thought now it's better! (at about 11 minutes...) :D Shows, how hard it's even for an expert like you to hear the things correctly sometimes. But don't get me wrong, i appreciate your content and your skills! Thank you.
Hahahaha, well spotted. My biggest issue is that while doing tutorials and talking, I'm just never "in the zone" aka in flow state as compared to an actual mastering session. But yeah, you're 100% right.
as an ableton user, it was very hard to watch you try to use saturator set to digital clip as a soft clipper 😅as another commenter said, set to soft sine with soft clip enabled and dont touch ANY of the other parameters except say, gain controls. Absolutely killer sound. Better than standard clip? Maybe not, but free with ableton. The clipping stage on glue compressor is also killer, but not nearly as transparent.
As a HARD clipper. Watch again and listen closely ;) it’s replacing k-clip in crisp mode which is a hard clipper, modeled after the sound of a clipped Lavry AD converter 😜🫶🏻
Whenever it's necessary, yes. I use it with caution though, as it often gives me the feeling that it's ripping musical aspects apart for the sake of technical correction. Especially multiband compression. Saturating only specific bands is something I do more often.
It's not a linear phase EQ, that's true. But that doesn't mean that there's a phase issue. Happy to hear that you like the music! Paul Conrad is an amazing artist.
I really feel that the emulation plugins sometimes adds character and in this case some depth that the ableton stock is missing, I think it should have to do with the bass frequencies and the saturator character, but personally I think that you can get away with something hybrid like; the eq, compressor stuff from the stock, and the saturator, limiter and low frequencies character from emulations 3th party plugins
yeah and guess what? the one with the stock plugs sound 100% better my friend. no one cares about what fancy plugins are used. the main thing carrying that master is Roar. literally nothing else (low shelf eq, glue compressor, and additive eq) made any difference that any listener would even care about. all those fancy plugins can go in the dump, and if you think otherwise then you're coping hard. and i know this is mastering in the context of being aware of what systems this will be playing through, but honestly those little subtle changes do nothing, why? because, the track was pretty darn solid to begin with. like i am saying, nothing you put on made any difference except Roar, and the limiter would be the runner up.
@@siloporcen bro it doesn't matter, mastering is not about big changes, it is the sum of small processing and what a song needs. Sometimes it needs more, sometimes less.
@@p4493 @p4493 1. pretentious/pseudo logic 2. that's a contradicting statement. 3. I already addressed this in my first post. you're wasting your breath
Enjoyed this insight into your mastering chain. Whats the view on how important it is to include a LUFS meter at the end of the chain (I don't think there is a stock one but does max for live count?)
I think it's definitely good to have it. Personally I just use the integrated one in Fabfilter Pro L2, but there's also a free LUFS meter youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/
After years with Stock Plug Ins i tried the LA2 and the Chanel Strip by UA. And they Sound "better" - same with the TDR Nova EQ. Maybe the Range, Values - for me there is a difference ( in this case )
🤔I came to the comments to see if people agreed with what I'm hearing...and I was right.🧐 To be honest if you use a different Mastering Engineer, you're gonna get a different master. If you use different tools, you're gonna get a different master.🤷🏾♂✌🏾
0:53 If a good craftsman doesn't rely on tools, then how can she / he work? Manually move the sample values? Even that would require some sort of tool.
Okay to spare you the mental gymnastics: a good craftsman can get great results even with less than ideal tools. Just think about a street drummer who’s playing an insane groove on trash cans. With lots of love from Berlin :)
yeah, he's not saying that good craftsman avoid tools altogether. he's stating that it's not really about WHICH tools are used overall. it's the mind behind it all that's pulling all the weight, not the 200$ Eq, or 500$ synth. a master can use some free & open source synth and still make something far better than any 3rd rate with access to omisphere. this isn't rocket science.
plugins in general are a trap. if you cannot get by with just the basic, essential stock tools that are provided with the DAW then something is fundamentally wrong in regards to mindset. the over reliance on 3rd party (whether paid, or pirated) shows a weak undisciplined mind. akin to "shiny new toy" syndrome that gets old once you get bored if it. vapid consumerism in a sense
Ableton limiter, EQ and saturation plug-ins are nowhere near professional plug-ins. That 20% is massive. The Ableton mix sounds flat and digital. This is why we spent a fortune on third-party plug-ins as Ableton is far behind Logic and others.
Your taste in mastering is biased. Your targets are unclear. I don't understand your process at all. You don't reference the content or context of the rest of the album, you don't reference or get context from a proven classic, you just rely on your own bias. Sure these subtle changes won't hurt. And shure you do like transparency... so it's not hurting the track... but is it helping the audience to apprecia5e the core emotion, the strengths and context of the track? I'll tell you a secret.. true classics have a unique sound. Go test for yourself. You might find 1 good quality eq and 1 good quality tape plugin taking you 99% of the way... then finish off with a tiny secret sauce. I mean.. its not bad... but is it GOOD? We don't listen to sounds... we listen to music! Next video: how you enhance the emotional impact intended by the artist with less plugins. You need targets to avoid bias. You are not a magic plugin. You are a person with a unique ear and personality. 1. There are better eq than stock. 2. There are better saturation than stock. 3. Definitely better limiters. But that does not mean better master! Try less plugins and more context. Looking forward to a conversation about this.
The process and the why behind most decisions is shown here: th-cam.com/video/ooa527ZKKv4/w-d-xo.html I just add that as context for everyone reading this.
@@pickyourselfofficial sorry i realise it was a bit of a rant about something off topic. it just triggers me when plugins become this bigger deal than content. ill check out the othet vid. cheers!
wait wait wait, is that something a mastering engineer should be worried about honestly? sounds like you're mainly referencing what a mixing engineer does.
FREE guide - The Finisher Framework: pickyourself.com/framework/
Abletons Saturator, set to soft sine, and output set to -1.33, almost completely nulls with the Oxford inflator. So if you want a stock version of the inflator, you already have it 🤌🏻
Why the .07 release time on the limiter? Generally, if the release time of your compressor/limiter is a shorter duration than your sub freq’s cycle length, you end up with distortion. Not saying it should always be longer than your sub, it depends on what you’re doing, but curious.
As for clipping, yea it’s a bit tricky with stock stuff, but the digital clip in saturator is probably the best. Set it to hi quality mode, and look at the meters to figure out where you’re clipping the signal.
The glue compressor’s soft clipper, is actually closer to a hard clip than a soft clip. It has the subtle curve to the transfer curve. So that’s something to play around with as well.
Great addition! As for the release time: It's always a trade-off between distortion and pumping (which occurs at longer release time) and the latter, to me, messes with the groove too much. In most scenarios, the distortion is masked but the pumping is obvious. So I tend to err on the side of faster release times with limiters. But it's a case-by-case decision, obviously.
epic !
iLL.Gates swears by the digital clip mode for hard clipping. But he also insists on taking high quality mode off
@@larkhallpaul9381 oh I wonder if I’m remember correctly, but I’m pretty sure if hi quality mode is on, the digital clip in saturator doesn’t clip at 0. It’s fixed in live 12, because you have different clipping options separate from the transfer curve. But in live 11 and before, I think that’s was the way the saturator worked for some reason
I’m always amazed at people who are able to hear such slight nuances between different tools. I really wish I hadn’t f***ed up my hearing in all those 90’s raves.
Me too!
Thing is….. no one at a rave knows the difference, then and now. By the time the Dj has eq’d the mix it makes no difference if a mix is a tiny bit this way or that way.
You even forgot to mention the YT Algorithmen… with other words, what he could notice make no sense on a YT channel…
@@CraigScottFrost em.. no. i have made plenty mix an mastering mistakes in my day. lowerin the mids a little at 400hz ish and highs, 4k ish, and ultra highs 13k+ on a great track goes a loong way!
Well, there is always a possibility there are no nuance/it's so small it's practically Irrelevant, but they told you it matters 😂
Curious if you have tried the new limiter update for 12.1 which is in beta. To me it sounds muchhhhh better. Would love a comparison to Pro- L2
Impressive demonstration of what can be achieved using only Ableton Live's stock tools. It's clear that while external plugins might give you more precision and control, a professional-sounding master is still possible with the stock devices, especially if the mix is already strong. The EQ8 and Glue Compressor do solid work here, although some tools like the Saturator and Limiter don't quite match the finesse of third-party plugins. Overall, this shows that with skill and critical listening, stock plugins can be a viable option for mastering.
I prefer the Ableton. Brighter and more warmth in the low end from my listening point
OK, this was pretty interesting. I personally like the Ableton Master a bit more as it seems to breathe a bit more. But this could be just personal taste.
But that mastering is just the icing on the cake is a statement that you can hear everywhere. If you have a nice production, then with mastering you'll get a nice mastered production. And everything starts with good sound selection and a good idea.
Well done, dude. Thank you for this video.
Nice! It just goes to show how far one can go with very basic tools. I still prefer the other way (and personally also like that version more) but I didn't expect it to get that close in terms of quality.
have to agree! cake is way better with icing!
Yeah these discussions should never be black and white as some comments may suggest. There are stock plugins that are just as good as third party and there are third partys that far surpass stock, both can be true because there are ALOT of plugins lol. In the big expensive studios you would always see cheap and trusted gear mixed in there (Art Pro VLAs, none VU DBXs......) among the expensive units because ultimately price should never be the determining factor, in either direction. = Use both!
@@Reggi_Sample best comment so far 💯🙌🏻😜
10:00 Important thing: you just dodge all the phase rotation problems that might happen with using multiple bands (especially with Ableton's stock Multiband Dynamics)
you master into a boosted limiter? i heard this can cause problems, how do you do this without issue?
I love 3rd party plugins because of their GUIs (don’t laugh). But tbh the type of plugins that can get very different from one to the others are distortion and compressors. Each distortion has different flavour and each compressors reacts differently to the signal. Headhunterz once said that he couldn’t get his iconic kick sound he had back in the day without Logic. And even though the compressor in Ableton is so versatile that it works in almost every situation, when you want to get a sound like what 1176 or the Distressor has, you will have a very hard time to achieve using stock plugins.
Other than that, having 3rd party plugins, especially analogue simulating ones, are most about the workflow of that specific interface you are familiar with. It will be very possible to recreate the Pultec bass trick and the API bright sound using any kind of digital EQ, but it will save you way more time to just dial in the setting with relatively limited options that you know it’s going to take you to the place you want with just a few touches.
This is exact my experience ( i use cakewalk ), too. Some Plug Ins sounds better than Stock.
Hey man what headphones are you using
second this!
@@DirDanielNeeson Audeze LCD-X
So, without even getting into how to master, my focus has been on how to get my tracks "master ready" so to speak. On the whole, I believe I understand the mixing process relatively well.
But the problem comes in with tracks which have a drastic breakdown section. I'm working on a track right now & at one point I want the kick & bass to drop out & then what's left to go through a high pass on which the frequency cut off is slowly rising, just before it cuts almost everything off a nice drop & then *bang* bring everything back.
The problem is, you mix the track one way & as soon as the break happens all these mid & high end elements got SO much louder because there isn't any low anymore pushing everything down. But if you mix it the other way, by the time the high pass starts to rise, near the end the track is so quiet it sounds like a fade out at the end of an old vinyl recording when studios couldn't afford to risk having bands actually try to end a song clean.
Is there a way to have the cake & eat it too? Can a track have sufficient compression to avoid the latter problem while not having so much it creates the former problem?
Or should a track with this kind of radical dynamic actually be super quiet by the end of the break prior to the whole thing going to mastering?
Am I the only one that thought the ableton master sounded better? Thought it sounded more vibrant and pleasant through a HK Onyx 4 BT speaker located 30-50cm from my ear. Not sure if this is a limitation of the speaker or a personal preference thing, but the ableton master was more pleasant to my ears. Although I will say that the ableton limiter sounds awful
the original master sounds like it has a whoosh or white noise added to it from one of the external plugins, maybe i'm wrong but it almost reminds me of dithering. maybe it actually just is dithering from the export idk
what song/ track is this? 🙏
@@vladvartosu “Leaving” by Paul Conrad.
400hz cut was missing on the original. the original is more defined and has better transients but people usally prefer the one with more high end, why i think people actually will prefer the ableton master more even if it sounds a little "cheaper"
I actually prefer the version you did this time with those Ableton plugins. You got rid of that annoying 400hz peak which I heard. Which could be acoustic problem also in my listening position though. Great video! 👍
Interesting! Thanks for sharing :)
I think the mid frequency are better in your Ableton master as the original.
I don't usually use stock plugins, I always go for 3rd party so this opinion is not biased towards stock plugins and have to say, on my headphones (DT990 Pro), the Ableton version actually sounds a little better to me. It's a bit more defined, it sizzles nicer in the top end and the clap/snare has a little more impact. The Original version sounds a little dark and not as focused.
i like it when people say "Ive been doing this for 10, 20,100 years" Most of them have been doing it wrong for all those years....Most have no education or degree in music, don't understand music theory, music production, sound design, fundamentals or studio work. Those who really know what's going on are seen/noticed by the bigger guys, and they hand pick them, taking them forward. That's why you have people like David Guetta, Morten, Vini Vici, Armin van Buuren and those producers that are where they are. The guys on top don't care about a big mouth at the bottom.
There's a lot of gain used in the EQ eight there. I've always been told better it's better to reduce more than increase?
yesteryear knowledge
@@starkid9736 how come? It makes sense to me because you're not just adding adding adding. Things sound 'better' when they're louder. It doesn't train the ear
And it has the same result, instead of just boosting here there and everywhere
Great question! It's one of those music production myths still floating around, so it's important to have that discussion. There's nothing inherently worse when you boost an EQ as compared to reducing frequencies. Technically, it's pretty much the identical process and if you gain stage correctly, there's nothing to worry about. The interesting bit here is this: My philosophy with mixing and mastering is "enhancing the beauty within every sound", so I focus more on what I like about the mix/ master and try to bring that out. Sometimes that involves cutting, but I allow myself complete freedom to boost whenever I want to hear more of something that's already there and beautiful.
@@pickyourselfofficial yeh and also I find bumping things up and reducing so you actually know what you're changing.
I've found out myself far too often that trying high compression thresholds first and THEN increasing the threshold up to see where it should sit. Rather than tweaking it delicately first
Those headphones look good, what are they?
Audeze LCD-X. Incredible tools, don’t wanna miss them.
@@pickyourselfofficial Can u produce with them alone and with good results, o giess on the end no matter what cans u have u need to learn them, so its again learning. I know one guy who made tracks with small 30 dollar pearplugs and tested in car hes tracks, he wasa into Techno. So i dont know anymore haha and he got great resultd
Man, that was funny, when you said, the distortion is too much because of the limiter and you have to decrease the output...and then put it exactly back to 6.86 Db and thought now it's better! (at about 11 minutes...) :D Shows, how hard it's even for an expert like you to hear the things correctly sometimes. But don't get me wrong, i appreciate your content and your skills! Thank you.
Hahahaha, well spotted. My biggest issue is that while doing tutorials and talking, I'm just never "in the zone" aka in flow state as compared to an actual mastering session. But yeah, you're 100% right.
Just as expected, Ableton stock plugins can really hold their ground when processing its really close to the 3rd party plugins..
as an ableton user, it was very hard to watch you try to use saturator set to digital clip as a soft clipper 😅as another commenter said, set to soft sine with soft clip enabled and dont touch ANY of the other parameters except say, gain controls. Absolutely killer sound. Better than standard clip? Maybe not, but free with ableton. The clipping stage on glue compressor is also killer, but not nearly as transparent.
As a HARD clipper. Watch again and listen closely ;) it’s replacing k-clip in crisp mode which is a hard clipper, modeled after the sound of a clipped Lavry AD converter 😜🫶🏻
The longest look ahead setting in the limiter distorts less
Less distortion? Must be making boring music...
@@DBTHEPLUG you make mumble rap trap type beats
Great in depth easy to follow vid. How about multi band mastering?
Whenever it's necessary, yes. I use it with caution though, as it often gives me the feeling that it's ripping musical aspects apart for the sake of technical correction. Especially multiband compression. Saturating only specific bands is something I do more often.
Did the Phase issue occure that happenz with EQ8 in the Lowz? Nice track thiS!
It's not a linear phase EQ, that's true. But that doesn't mean that there's a phase issue. Happy to hear that you like the music! Paul Conrad is an amazing artist.
I really feel that the emulation plugins sometimes adds character and in this case some depth that the ableton stock is missing, I think it should have to do with the bass frequencies and the saturator character, but personally I think that you can get away with something hybrid like; the eq, compressor stuff from the stock, and the saturator, limiter and low frequencies character from emulations 3th party plugins
super hilfreiches Video danke dir :)
You can get a similar sound….its just less fun
yeah and guess what? the one with the stock plugs sound 100% better my friend. no one cares about what fancy plugins are used. the main thing carrying that master is Roar. literally nothing else (low shelf eq, glue compressor, and additive eq) made any difference that any listener would even care about. all those fancy plugins can go in the dump, and if you think otherwise then you're coping hard.
and i know this is mastering in the context of being aware of what systems this will be playing through, but honestly those little subtle changes do nothing, why? because, the track was pretty darn solid to begin with. like i am saying, nothing you put on made any difference except Roar, and the limiter would be the runner up.
Eq did a very big change
@@p4493 not compared to roar tbh.
@@siloporcen bro it doesn't matter, mastering is not about big changes, it is the sum of small processing and what a song needs. Sometimes it needs more, sometimes less.
@@p4493
@p4493 1. pretentious/pseudo logic 2. that's a contradicting statement. 3. I already addressed this in my first post. you're wasting your breath
Stock actually sounds amazing
saturator and limiter just got updated. Unlucky timing
Haha I knooooow 😂
new saturation might be the best plugin ever made, 12.1 beta 14
Enjoyed this insight into your mastering chain.
Whats the view on how important it is to include a LUFS meter at the end of the chain (I don't think there is a stock one but does max for live count?)
I think it's definitely good to have it. Personally I just use the integrated one in Fabfilter Pro L2, but there's also a free LUFS meter youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/
All engineering, no music
I feel the mix is pretty good. so the mastering in this case is not a big deal
After years with Stock Plug Ins i tried the LA2 and the Chanel Strip by UA. And they Sound "better" - same with the TDR Nova EQ. Maybe the Range, Values - for me there is a difference ( in this case )
ozone eq!
your mastring chain feel more alive then the stock one but the stock was very clean
If you know what youre doing you can do ALLOT with a little.
🤔I came to the comments to see if people agreed with what I'm hearing...and I was right.🧐
To be honest if you use a different Mastering Engineer, you're gonna get a different master. If you use different tools, you're gonna get a different master.🤷🏾♂✌🏾
0:53 If a good craftsman doesn't rely on tools, then how can she / he work? Manually move the sample values? Even that would require some sort of tool.
Okay to spare you the mental gymnastics: a good craftsman can get great results even with less than ideal tools. Just think about a street drummer who’s playing an insane groove on trash cans. With lots of love from Berlin :)
@@pickyourselfofficial Thanks for answering, that makes sense, indeed. A master can do just fine even with basic tools - that I can agree with.
yeah, he's not saying that good craftsman avoid tools altogether. he's stating that it's not really about WHICH tools are used overall. it's the mind behind it all that's pulling all the weight, not the 200$ Eq, or 500$ synth. a master can use some free & open source synth and still make something far better than any 3rd rate with access to omisphere. this isn't rocket science.
plugins in general are a trap. if you cannot get by with just the basic, essential stock tools that are provided with the DAW then something is fundamentally wrong in regards to mindset. the over reliance on 3rd party (whether paid, or pirated) shows a weak undisciplined mind. akin to "shiny new toy" syndrome that gets old once you get bored if it. vapid consumerism in a sense
@@siloporcen It's not rocket science, but you still have to rely on some tools at the end of the day. Unless you're Chuck Norris, of course.
I like the Ableton master more
Thanks for sharing, I'm also quite impressed that there wasn't a huge gap.
Ableton wins on the clarity
I never liked the Live-limiter, never used it
They recently updated it I think (right after I recorded the video). Might still be in the beta but it seems to be an improvement.
new limiter update in the beta is GREAT. from the worst stock limiter in all DAWs to the best one overnight.
👍
Ableton limiter, EQ and saturation plug-ins are nowhere near professional plug-ins. That 20% is massive. The Ableton mix sounds flat and digital. This is why we spent a fortune on third-party plug-ins as Ableton is far behind Logic and others.
keep coping.
@@siloporcen I ain't coping mate. I've got two grand of plug-ins and a whole bunch of outboard analogue gear. Shove it.
Your taste in mastering is biased. Your targets are unclear. I don't understand your process at all. You don't reference the content or context of the rest of the album, you don't reference or get context from a proven classic, you just rely on your own bias. Sure these subtle changes won't hurt. And shure you do like transparency... so it's not hurting the track... but is it helping the audience to apprecia5e the core emotion, the strengths and context of the track? I'll tell you a secret.. true classics have a unique sound. Go test for yourself. You might find 1 good quality eq and 1 good quality tape plugin taking you 99% of the way... then finish off with a tiny secret sauce.
I mean.. its not bad... but is it GOOD? We don't listen to sounds... we listen to music!
Next video: how you enhance the emotional impact intended by the artist with less plugins.
You need targets to avoid bias. You are not a magic plugin. You are a person with a unique ear and personality.
1. There are better eq than stock. 2. There are better saturation than stock. 3. Definitely better limiters. But that does not mean better master! Try less plugins and more context.
Looking forward to a conversation about this.
Also next time show us the level matched mix to master!
The process and the why behind most decisions is shown here: th-cam.com/video/ooa527ZKKv4/w-d-xo.html
I just add that as context for everyone reading this.
@@pickyourselfofficial sorry i realise it was a bit of a rant about something off topic. it just triggers me when plugins become this bigger deal than content. ill check out the othet vid. cheers!
@@KOSMIKFEADRECORDSall good mate. You’re coming from a good place and I’m having some videos here that praise the same philosophy 💯🙌🏻
wait wait wait, is that something a mastering engineer should be worried about honestly? sounds like you're mainly referencing what a mixing engineer does.
This isn't melodic techno, it's Millenial electronic.