I appreciate how concise and on point your tutorials are. I am so sick of other tutorials where they "expertplaining" every tiny bit of technical aspect. I've learned a lot from this channel
This video must be one of the most spot on videos I have ever seen on a mastering chain. The ending came a bit of nowhere but other then that this video is pure gold.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for letting me know the ending feels abrupt - I'll come up with something to fix that. SageAudio.com
Thank you! Finally someone generally taking Phase Alignment into consideration, this is so important! I'm post producing podcasts and the material I get is often so terribly off-center, it hits my processing chain completely different than it should.
I never like or comment on anything here on youtube, BUT this video/chain is just 🔥🔥🔥! I do watch every of your videos etc. but going thru this chain top to bottom, step by step is just exactly what someone that watches this kinda videos wants and needs 💯 Thanks a lot! And I would love a simpel video for the mixing process before this chain - like what plug-ins you put on your drum-bus, instru-bus etc. and how you do the most effective routing to get into the master-chain… Keep it up man! 🎉
Thanks for watching Denyo! Great to hear you found the video helpful! I'll definitely keep what you said here in mind and make more videos that cover tops in this way. We'll make a new video on mixing soon! SageAudio.com
@@sageaudio … perfect! Btw - I edited your CleanMasterChain by starting with the Waves NLS Buss to give it a analog console vibe in generell, went into the GodParticle (only like 30-30%) to uplift some parts of the whole song, then used your order of the chain and exchanged the u-he presswerk into the sonible smartcomp (that m/s comp by u-he didnt sound well on a modern 808 driven song to me). I also exchanged the Weiss DeEsser with the FF DS-Pro (since I don‘t have the Weiss) and put a UAD-Pulltec at the end (before the Clipper/Limiters) with your suggestions outta your latest EQ Mixing Tipps and it just sounds AMAZING (loud/warm/full etc.)! Your free-alternative of the Clipper is also just beautiful (incl. oversampling) with such a power! Man - just an crazy strong chain period. 🔮🎶
Wonderful. Glad to see you keeping going with the quality. Only thing I missed was a "matched perceived loudness" comparison of master-premaster to be able to hear more subtle differences without having to match the volume myself
Thanks sage. So many tips i really wanted. All this time i was learned to use low shelving instead of pass filter when doing low in ms eq processing since it might harm overall frequency. Thats a new sight i got from you that actually pass filter can sound more clean and somewhat more dynamic. One funny thing is it becomes notion that we need to cut to the 20hz😂 same in my contury.
Fav vid of ursss! Been watching u for a few years n this is the cleanest easiest and most demonstrated video on yt. Cut to the point straight and useful. Keep it up mannn
Thank you so much! We've been working on finding the best way to showcase info, so great to hear that this newest iteration is an improvement. All the best! SageAudio.com
Awesome Man! You literally explained what I've been trying to figure out, subbed for sure, I mean the phase alignment was a gem, cos iZotope throws the phase outta wack I can attest to that.
Wow! Thank you. This will help my production! I love it to make new sounds and music but always had a hard time to manage the master. This will help a lot! Thank you
Very good video! I notice you have soothe as the second in the chain, but for some reason I have been under the impression it should go before the final limiter. I will have to try it earlier in the chain. It makes sense why it should go earlier. Cut those resonant frequencies before they get to a compressor or limiter.
In most cases, you can bypass Oversampling entirely if your DAW Sessions are 96k Sample Rate and above with 32-bit Float). Oversampling will minimize unwanted harmonics, yet to obtain the most transparent setting, you will need to use 16x and above. Another element is using 96k Sample Rate and above will eliminate Nyquist. The flip side is over 50% of plugins today does not support 192k Sample Rate, yet they do support 96k Sample Rate. I am not saying you have to avoid Oversampling altogether if the session is 96k. In fact, Oversampling does add psychoacoustic transparency, which will add more clarity to the Mix/Master. If 32-bit Float is available within the DAW you are using, I suggest using that as the standard. PCM Bits will produce clipping the moment headroom exceeds 0dB, regardless if it is a track or master fader. In regards to Fabfilter Pro-L 2, the most transparent style next to Safe is Transparent. Be aware all styles generates harmonic distortion, with Bus style generating the most.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! From what I've observed in testing oversampling, it works a good amount better than a 96kHz sampling rate due to the additional low-pass filter. That said, using a higher sampling rate is definitely helpful for avoiding aliasing, and then when combined with oversampling, it's made all the better. Thanks again for watching! SageAudio.com
Thanks for watching! I could! What do you have in mind? Just how they work? Or some of the more technical aspects of how they're affecting the audio? SageAudio.com
Thanks for watching John! The LUFS was roughly -7. The Pro L2 was measuring the loudness relative to -9LUFS (kind of a weird way to measure it but that's how that plugin does it haha). SageAudio.com
Thanks for letting me know! I still avoid it due to the phase cancellation is causes to create the expansion (which I'm not sure linear phase will fix). Thanks again for watching! SageAudio.com
Just today I read a comment under a video about whether new music is not as good (Mary Spender's channel I believe) - one person said "I don't like it as much because it seems overproduced". Watching and listening to this video I can see you had a great master in the end in terms of clean production and good separation (i.e. audible) of the instruments/frequencies, but... is that what really people want? Or did we fall in the trap of "plugins can produce squeaky clean results, so we MUST use them to that capacity"...
Thanks for watching! I'm not entirely sure! Some people will probably prefer a cleaner sound whereas others may like something more natural sounding like you described. Probably depends on genre and the listener's expectation. SageAudio.com
Thanks for watching! For the initial before and after of the mix and master, there would be no way to match the loudness any closer without having to add processing to the original mix. Both the original mix and master were peak normalized to -1dB; however, if I was to normalize the loudness of the mix to match that of the master it would be clipping +6dB. That said, instead of lowering the peak of the master significantly to match the LUFS of the mix, I left it as is. SageAudio.com
your videos get better and better! awesome explanations, simple and perfectly to the point, and like that you use high tier gear but always recommend free alternatives. always wanted longer a/b comparisons though!
Thanks for watching! I'll have to look into this, but I'm sure there is. If I find a plugin that offers a similar function I'll be sure to mention it in a video. SageAudio.com
Thanks for watching! Lots of the tips here should help with mastering lofi - I think some additional saturation should help as well, typically tape saturation has the expected sound for Lofi. SageAudio.com
Thanks for the videos, been an avid follower for some time now. Question: when doing phase alignment it looks like the waveforms for the in-line are smaller in amplitude which would lead to less compression anyway, is it normal for phase aligning to reduce the overall amplitude of the wave? Please keep up with the vids, good stuff.
Thanks for watching Andrew! The overall amplitude is the same, since any info that was oriented to the positive or negative side is just shifted/balanced. This makes it look like the peaks are lower. SageAudio.com
what are some pointers for listening out for those really small eq changes and the resonance reduction choices you make? i can barely if at all tell the difference in the a/b for the problem frequencies, shaping and resonance reduction
Why aren't you using a Linear Phase Filter, when cutting the side/mid frequencies? I know it can reduce punch, but many ppl still advise to. Really wondering? :)
Thanks for watching Justin! In this case it's not altering the phase in a significant enough way to justify linear-phase (at least in my opinion). If I was using a higher slope I might, but the result of a high-slope HP filter in zero latency would be a moderate boost to the frequencies right above the cutoff, so even then I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I appreciate the question!
How do you make sure you don't deliver files with inter sample peaks higher than -1 with nothing set for "true peaks" on your master? You analayze the final master and bring it down by whatever intersample peaks you detect?
Thanks for watching! And that's exactly what I do! I lower the limiter's output by the amount of inter-sample peaking, and then lower it a little more if the track is going to be encoded. Since the plugin operates in 64-bit, the overs don't result in clipping distortion within the plugin, but the output or master channel fader need to be lowered to avoid the clipping these overs would cause. SageAudio.com
7:30 video needs warning to not just always click oversampling for saturn and other saturation plugins as sound can change in some cases to worse side, so always listen, if you actually need oversampling
Thanks for watching! That's fair! From what I understand, the only difference in the audio that oversampling makes is removing aliasing, and some very subtle destructive interference to the transients (much less noticeable than linear phase processing). But I'll be sure to keep that in mind and discuss it when oversampling comes up. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! SageAudio.com
Haha no that would be deafening. The Pro L2 measures LUFS in a weird way - it compares it to either -14 LUFS or -9 LUFS. So the +2 was in reference to -9LUFS, so it was -7 LUFS. Not sure why they use this method in their plugins. SageAudio.com
It's definitely not the best alternative, but if you side-chain a reference track, trackspacer will attenuate resonances between a balanced track (the reference) and the potentially unbalanced track. Thanks for watching! SageAudio.com
Haha yeah the way they measure is weird. It's relative to -9LUFS when CD is selected, or -14LUFS when streaming is selected. So +1LUFS in the Pro L2 is -8LUFS
Is it true that linear phase low cut smears high end transients? I see you using zero latency on the mid High Pass There are a few new EQs that claim to have no pre or post ringing when in linear phase mode one of the MAAT Blue, Orange or Red is supposed to do it. Seeing that amazing masters were done in the 1980s with none of these modern tools - that the overall perceived sound quality is more important than all the technically perfect details - is any of this phase rotation for a fraction of a dB or frequency specific saturation or inserting oversampling wrappers actually necessary? Is anyone going to hear these obsessively detailed changes?
Yes and no, to answer the last question. Most people probably aren't going to notice anything as long as everything sounds okay but things could also not sound okay without you knowing because human error.
Thanks for watching Tomos! For the mid-image high pass, I probably would use linear phase if I intended to keep it, but seems like there's more cons than pros with that filter in my opinion - especially since the linear phase setting will affect transients like you said. To answer your question about small details - I'm not sure! I did some research a while back and had people listen to various levels of compression to see if they could tell a difference and most couldn't. I guess the point is, many people won't consciously notice a difference, but I'd imagine that the details they miss still have some effect on how they enjoy the track. SageAudio.com
It’s probably a good video (i haven’t watched it completely yet) but I think it’s a little off putting that the intro is pretty much non existent. At least have a little introductory sentence on what you are going to do, because I immediately felt like I missed something
I don't it's think it's funny that somebody watching a tutorial on TH-cam, are complaining about a youtube video's advice so that they can portray themselves as an expert. You'd expect an expert to be rolling in work, or at least have better things to do. It was sad to read your comment and the chat you have started. Not funny at all, and I've never heard of you.
This comment reeks of inexperience. Why would you use your ears to find the fundamental frequency? It’s way easier to use a frequency analyzer to do that. The author only suggests using your ears when it's appropriate, like when adjusting something to taste. It would be a waste of time to try to find the fundamental frequency of a kick by ear when it's already displayed on the screen. You might as well manually find the DC offset while you're at it too. 😂
@@davidasher22 Ahem. Listen bud, before you start trying to down someone based on their lack of experience, (which in this industry doesn't matter one bit and you know that) do you want to reread what I wrote one more time? Because the only thing your response did was tell me that you can't comprehend or understand what I said. I never made fun of him with the bias of "never look at the screen" or "always use your ears never the analyzer" I simply made a joke that he contradicted himself. L.m.a.o. I'm 💀.
@@justinswayne he didn’t contradict himself. He just explained the typical thought process behind these types of things. I’m also not putting you down by saying your comment reflects inexperience. If you thing being told you lack experience in something is an insult then i can’t imagine what you’d do with some actual criticism. As for your comment in general, it just lacks purpose and anyone who does this type of work for a living would see it as inaccurate which is why I decided to say something. Sorry if you feel insulted. My only purpose was to correct what I saw as a misunderstanding on your part.
Welcome to today's world of loudness war and volume-targeted mastering! Dynamic range tampering is the new request if music is to be released, played, or entertained in the commercial music sector. Self-projects that are Reverbnation, SoundCloud, etc just have to meet their vendor-specific target loudness, but the pro music industry is an entire and much louder creature. There are ways to mimic intended and perceived dynamic ranges in mastering through meticulous and extensive use of automating instrument category groups of individual comped stems (I.e. all strings grouped, guitars grouped...basically a stem of all the BUS groups) but one will have to pay what they weigh for that amount of work by causing the mastering engineer to basically become a multitrack re-mixing engineer too. Many industry famous recording artists get away with perceived dynamics at that level of loudness because the label has the budget or minions they farm work out to on payroll...until then we will have to wait on people to go deaf in mass so that music returns to the very dynamic -18 to -15 max where dynamics and crescendos are as played and not faked by automation.
Thanks for watching! For the full chain before and after, that's as close as I can get the loudness of the 2 without having to add processing to the mix. I used peak normalization to match their peaks at -1dB; however, that won't/can't adjust for the differences in loudness. For example, if I was to normalize the loudness of the original mix to match the master, it would end up peaking by 6dB. SageAudio.com
Clipping: Clip with Soft Knee instead of Hard Knee. Hard Knee will shave the transient straight across, whereas Soft Knee shaves it with round transients, which still have a peek at their apex. This method will provide more clarity and punch, combining the white noise before limiting it. Using 50% to 53%, Soft Knee works best (sweet spots).
Clean? Actually sounds worse than before and distortion is audible. I understand balancing compromises are done for making it as loud as possible while maintain still good dynamics, requested by your client or to have competitive loudness. I hate music mastered this way and I’m not willing to listening to any music like this. At least is not completely squashed and distortion lower than many other I’ve heard.
my first ever comment 🤭. But question, do u recommend having the 24 bit dither option on in the Oxford limiter in this chain? even when exporting in 32 bit float?
Thanks for the comment! If you're exporting to 32-bit float, no need to use dithering. In most instances, dithering isn't necessary - I only use it when exporting from 24-bit to 16-bit.
wow thanks so much for this, my masters were pretty good already but now with the phasing and mid side eq and compression just made my them sound incredible!!!😱😭
The frequency response is very important! Making EQ a huge part of mastering - here's a video we just put out about that - th-cam.com/video/FYtLsFyDt44/w-d-xo.html
I have a few questions: 1- Should I phase align if I mixed the track by myself and is not a single track that was sent to me? 2-Can I make use of Pro-L2 as a Clipper too? But with 1:1 activated ( to avoid volume change) and transparent mode? 3-Do you have any videos where you mix a track by stems? 4-(this one is another topic) When mixing my stems (not a single wav track) with the vocals.. how I make them fit in the mix? Should I use soothe to reduce any particular sound? Or as sidechain in the beat send channel that group everything apart from the vocals? Thx for such knowledge!
Thanks for watching! 1. to be honest, this step isn't absolutely crucial, but it is helpful and may prevent distortion - that said, I'd recommend it but it's not the end of the world if you don't align it. 2. The L2 is in a way a clipper (all limiters are) they just affect the transients differently to achieve a distinct sound. So you could do this, but I'd avoid the 1:1 function, unless you really need the loudness to stay the same. 3. Yes! This one is older but should be helpful: th-cam.com/video/UVvCfJNfSr8/w-d-xo.html 4. Both of the ideas you had should work if you want to separate the vocal from the stems - like you said, you could use soothe 2 on a stem and side-chain the vocal to help separate the 2 signals. YOu could also dip a little of 2.5-5kHz on a stem to help the vocal stick out. SageAudio.com
2. the author of the video doesn't really know pro-l 2 (the explanation in the second part is really showing), and just takes wild swings. both TPL and lookahead are explained completely incorrectly. yes, pro l and pro l 2 can act as clippers. maximum attack, minimum release, minimum lookahead, minimum stereo link and NOT newer algorithms. you can nulltest to check that. however, if you don't plan to "crossfade this clipper" to a "limiter" territory, there's no practical benefit to doing this; clippers are always available for free to everyone. in general, if you have to hardclip in mastering, but you still have access to the tracks, you're selling your material short. nothing wrong with fast limiting; clipping, though, especially with such a soft material as demonstrated, should only be applied to the shortest peaks and only if you can really hear the results on multiple quality systems. longer clipping artifacts are really easy to recognize, they are generally terrible, so you should really think after you've tried them.
@@sageaudio I use Ableton. I am relatively new to this but I’m getting a solid mix down and now I need to learn how to master because I only have myself to do this
Wav is better - but if you only have the MP3 and can't get access to the wav file, the MP3 will be ok. Again though, if it's available, definitely use the Wav file.
Probably one of the most concise and informative vids you've made about getting loud masters!! I'm trying, though, to figure out how to use TrackSpacer to attenuate resonant frequencies, since you mentioned that as an alternative to Soothe...? Thanks!
Thanks for watching! Great to hear the video was helpful - as for trackspacer, I'm kind of regretting mentioned it haha. But if you side-chain a reference mix, trackspacer will attenuate excessive resonances on the processed track. It's definitely not perfect, but works ok. SageAudio.com
I appreciate how concise and on point your tutorials are. I am so sick of other tutorials where they "expertplaining" every tiny bit of technical aspect. I've learned a lot from this channel
Thanks for watching and that's great to hear! Glad you found the video helpful!
SageAudio.com
This video must be one of the most spot on videos I have ever seen on a mastering chain. The ending came a bit of nowhere but other then that this video is pure gold.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for letting me know the ending feels abrupt - I'll come up with something to fix that.
SageAudio.com
bro, thank you so much for explaining plainly what a clipper actually does, this has been killing me for years
Of course! Thanks so much for watching!
SageAudio.com
Thank you! Finally someone generally taking Phase Alignment into consideration, this is so important! I'm post producing podcasts and the material I get is often so terribly off-center, it hits my processing chain completely different than it should.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thought! It definitely makes a difference, especially when processing in layered in.
SageAudio.com
I thank you for making this video, clear, straight forward and more. Can't believe I only just discovered you
That's great! Hope it helps!
SageAudio.com
I never like or comment on anything here on youtube, BUT this video/chain is just 🔥🔥🔥! I do watch every of your videos etc. but going thru this chain top to bottom, step by step is just exactly what someone that watches this kinda videos wants and needs 💯 Thanks a lot! And I would love a simpel video for the mixing process before this chain - like what plug-ins you put on your drum-bus, instru-bus etc. and how you do the most effective routing to get into the master-chain… Keep it up man! 🎉
Thanks for watching Denyo! Great to hear you found the video helpful! I'll definitely keep what you said here in mind and make more videos that cover tops in this way. We'll make a new video on mixing soon!
SageAudio.com
@@sageaudio … perfect! Btw - I edited your CleanMasterChain by starting with the Waves NLS Buss to give it a analog console vibe in generell, went into the GodParticle (only like 30-30%) to uplift some parts of the whole song, then used your order of the chain and exchanged the u-he presswerk into the sonible smartcomp (that m/s comp by u-he didnt sound well on a modern 808 driven song to me). I also exchanged the Weiss DeEsser with the FF DS-Pro (since I don‘t have the Weiss) and put a UAD-Pulltec at the end (before the Clipper/Limiters) with your suggestions outta your latest EQ Mixing Tipps and it just sounds AMAZING (loud/warm/full etc.)! Your free-alternative of the Clipper is also just beautiful (incl. oversampling) with such a power! Man - just an crazy strong chain period. 🔮🎶
I needed to understand the phase allignment method you showcased on your previous video, so thanks for that one
Thanks for watching this video too!
SageAudio.com
I always learn something new.
That's great! Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
THANK YOU no bloat. Just pure, valuable info.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video and found the info helpful
Wonderful. Glad to see you keeping going with the quality. Only thing I missed was a "matched perceived loudness" comparison of master-premaster to be able to hear more subtle differences without having to match the volume myself
Thanks for watching Saar! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts - maybe I can do both the peak normalized and loudness normalized AB.
SageAudio.com
Quickest subscribe of my life. Amazing job on this!
Awesome! Thanks John!
SageAudio.com
Thanks sage. So many tips i really wanted. All this time i was learned to use low shelving instead of pass filter when doing low in ms eq processing since it might harm overall frequency. Thats a new sight i got from you that actually pass filter can sound more clean and somewhat more dynamic. One funny thing is it becomes notion that we need to cut to the 20hz😂 same in my contury.
Thanks for watching HJ! Great to hear the video covered a lot of useful info for you. All the best with your productions!
SageAudio.com
best most true video on mastering I've seen on YT
That's awesome! Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
Great demo on the mastering plug-in process, thanks. One tip I'd not thought of was 2 limiters.
Thanks for watching! Great to hear you found a new trick!
SageAudio.com
Fav vid of ursss! Been watching u for a few years n this is the cleanest easiest and most demonstrated video on yt. Cut to the point straight and useful. Keep it up mannn
Thank you so much! We've been working on finding the best way to showcase info, so great to hear that this newest iteration is an improvement. All the best!
SageAudio.com
Awesome Man! You literally explained what I've been trying to figure out, subbed for sure, I mean the phase alignment was a gem, cos iZotope throws the phase outta wack I can attest to that.
Awesome! Great to hear you enjoyed the video and thanks for the sub.
SageAudio.com
Wow! Thank you. This will help my production! I love it to make new sounds and music but always had a hard time to manage the master. This will help a lot! Thank you
That's great to hear it's helpful! Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
Very good video!
I notice you have soothe as the second in the chain, but for some reason I have been under the impression it should go before the final limiter.
I will have to try it earlier in the chain. It makes sense why it should go earlier. Cut those resonant frequencies before they get to a compressor or limiter.
Nice made tutorial!
Thanks for watching Jan!
such a great refresher. thank you!!
Thanks for watching!
Finally I have a general idea of what mastering actually is
In most cases, you can bypass Oversampling entirely if your DAW Sessions are 96k Sample Rate and above with 32-bit Float). Oversampling will minimize unwanted harmonics, yet to obtain the most transparent setting, you will need to use 16x and above. Another element is using 96k Sample Rate and above will eliminate Nyquist. The flip side is over 50% of plugins today does not support 192k Sample Rate, yet they do support 96k Sample Rate. I am not saying you have to avoid Oversampling altogether if the session is 96k. In fact, Oversampling does add psychoacoustic transparency, which will add more clarity to the Mix/Master. If 32-bit Float is available within the DAW you are using, I suggest using that as the standard. PCM Bits will produce clipping the moment headroom exceeds 0dB, regardless if it is a track or master fader. In regards to Fabfilter Pro-L 2, the most transparent style next to Safe is Transparent. Be aware all styles generates harmonic distortion, with Bus style generating the most.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! From what I've observed in testing oversampling, it works a good amount better than a 96kHz sampling rate due to the additional low-pass filter. That said, using a higher sampling rate is definitely helpful for avoiding aliasing, and then when combined with oversampling, it's made all the better. Thanks again for watching!
SageAudio.com
Awesome insight on saturation
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
Great tutorial
Great video, could you make more detailed explanation of the plugins technicalities?! You have so much knowledge about these aspects! Thanks! 🔥🔥
Thanks for watching! I could! What do you have in mind? Just how they work? Or some of the more technical aspects of how they're affecting the audio?
SageAudio.com
Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
@@sageaudio I never miss out your videos
+2 lufs integrate seems bonkers to me. In the hottest sections of loud music I’ve seen -3.5 but averaging around -7 to -9
Thanks for watching John! The LUFS was roughly -7. The Pro L2 was measuring the loudness relative to -9LUFS (kind of a weird way to measure it but that's how that plugin does it haha).
SageAudio.com
Phew! Ok that makes a lot more sense. Thanks 😊
Getting rid of noise can get you a clean master as well
True! Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Note: Ozone imager can be set to Linear phase. By default it’s set to a hybrid mode which is fairly close to linear phase!
Thanks for letting me know! I still avoid it due to the phase cancellation is causes to create the expansion (which I'm not sure linear phase will fix). Thanks again for watching!
SageAudio.com
Great channel. A lot of info to dive into. ✅✅✅
Thanks! Lots of videos haha
😀Thanks good comparisons with a hugh difference.
Thanks!
Just today I read a comment under a video about whether new music is not as good (Mary Spender's channel I believe) - one person said "I don't like it as much because it seems overproduced". Watching and listening to this video I can see you had a great master in the end in terms of clean production and good separation (i.e. audible) of the instruments/frequencies, but... is that what really people want? Or did we fall in the trap of "plugins can produce squeaky clean results, so we MUST use them to that capacity"...
Thanks for watching! I'm not entirely sure! Some people will probably prefer a cleaner sound whereas others may like something more natural sounding like you described. Probably depends on genre and the listener's expectation.
SageAudio.com
it would be great to gain stage when you show the before and after.. without it it is hard to say if the mastered one truly sounds better
Thanks for watching! For the initial before and after of the mix and master, there would be no way to match the loudness any closer without having to add processing to the original mix. Both the original mix and master were peak normalized to -1dB; however, if I was to normalize the loudness of the mix to match that of the master it would be clipping +6dB. That said, instead of lowering the peak of the master significantly to match the LUFS of the mix, I left it as is.
SageAudio.com
You mean... gain match/compensation 😉
Thanks
Thanks for watching!
SageAudio.com
your videos get better and better! awesome explanations, simple and perfectly to the point, and like that you use high tier gear but always recommend free alternatives. always wanted longer a/b comparisons though!
Thanks for watching and for the kind words! Great to hear your enjoying the videos and where they're going.
SageAudio.com
Wow! This was REALLY enlightening! Thank you😊
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the video.
SageAudio.com
Reaper has built-in oversampling for single plugins or the whole chain
much love
A question about a phase alignment here: is it beneficial to run a phase alignment on STEM tracks separately?
Thanks again for the useful video🙏
Great video!
Is there another (cheaper) way to do the phase alignment than using iZotope RX?
Thanks for watching! I'll have to look into this, but I'm sure there is. If I find a plugin that offers a similar function I'll be sure to mention it in a video.
SageAudio.com
wow actually goos tips on TH-cam !!
Nice! Thanks for watching!
Tysm!
Could you make a short video about how to mix/master Lofi?
Thanks for watching! Lots of the tips here should help with mastering lofi - I think some additional saturation should help as well, typically tape saturation has the expected sound for Lofi.
SageAudio.com
@@sageaudio Thanks!
I usually keep very raw mixes (cuz there arent many instruments) and very dynamic masters (boomy drums).
THANKS CHIEF!
Thanks for watching Ammar!
SageAudio.com
Thanks for the videos, been an avid follower for some time now. Question: when doing phase alignment it looks like the waveforms for the in-line are smaller in amplitude which would lead to less compression anyway, is it normal for phase aligning to reduce the overall amplitude of the wave? Please keep up with the vids, good stuff.
Thanks for watching Andrew! The overall amplitude is the same, since any info that was oriented to the positive or negative side is just shifted/balanced. This makes it look like the peaks are lower.
SageAudio.com
how can we compare the before and after if they are different loudness?
How do you use Trackshaper to perform tasks similar to Soothe 2? @3:49
You'd have to side-chain a reference mix - not a great solution but it would work somewhat similarly.
SageAudio.com
Great video , what’s the song ?
Thanks for watching! I can't remember the track name, but the band is 'The American Indie'
Amazing Video as usual. Quick question , for your second limiter what attack and release values did you use?
Thanks for watching! I used quick attack and release settings - usually around 10ms each.
Thank you
Thanks Thamil!
SageAudio.com
what are some pointers for listening out for those really small eq changes and the resonance reduction choices you make? i can barely if at all tell the difference in the a/b for the problem frequencies, shaping and resonance reduction
It just takes time to notice a difference! The more you master the easier it'll become to notice smaller differences. Thanks for watching!
Why aren't you using a Linear Phase Filter, when cutting the side/mid frequencies? I know it can reduce punch, but many ppl still advise to. Really wondering? :)
Thanks for watching Justin! In this case it's not altering the phase in a significant enough way to justify linear-phase (at least in my opinion). If I was using a higher slope I might, but the result of a high-slope HP filter in zero latency would be a moderate boost to the frequencies right above the cutoff, so even then I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I appreciate the question!
What db should your track peak at before applying all of this?
Can MSED be used effectively for phase alignment?
Thanks for watching! I don't think so - I think that plugin is mainly for isolating the mid and side images.
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thx for tutorial 👍👍
Thanks for watching!
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Do you uave a video on exactly what you use and how you record your vocals for your videos?
We don't have one like that unfortunately! Thanks for watching!
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hey im using fl studio. Do you think I can master well/ mix audio well just using mainly stock plug ins and some free ones
I think so! This video is a little older, but it covers mastering in FL Studio using just stock plugins: th-cam.com/video/xBs1Roi0ch0/w-d-xo.html
It looks like you've got an older version of Newfangled Saturate, an update added oversampling
Thanks for letting me know! I'll be sure to update it.
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what's the song called?
Can't remember the exact name, but the band is 'The American Indie'
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Why no hpf for classical music master?
Typically the bass occupies the side image in classical music and listeners don't want it cut out. Thanks for watching!
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@@sageaudio thank you for answering!
How do you make sure you don't deliver files with inter sample peaks higher than -1 with nothing set for "true peaks" on your master? You analayze the final master and bring it down by whatever intersample peaks you detect?
Thanks for watching! And that's exactly what I do! I lower the limiter's output by the amount of inter-sample peaking, and then lower it a little more if the track is going to be encoded. Since the plugin operates in 64-bit, the overs don't result in clipping distortion within the plugin, but the output or master channel fader need to be lowered to avoid the clipping these overs would cause.
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So how do I lower my lufs
Thanks for watching! Amplify the signal less - so use less of the gain function on your clipper or limiter.
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if doing a comparison you should keep the stems the same volume
cause he doesnt know what his doing
Whats the title of the song and artist? Thanks
Can't remember the exact track name, but the artist is 'The American Indie'
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@@sageaudio Thanks that will do. Stay safe.
which song is this?
Thanks for watching! I can't remember the track name, but the band is 'The American Indie'
Why did you put Saturate in DDMF metaplugin when it has an anti Aliasing button? is there a reason for this?
Thanks for letting me know! Where do you see the button, I can't seem to find it? Maybe yours is updated?
I enjoyed every phase except the final limiter which sounded louder but not better
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts! Sometimes thats the case unfortunately, but ideally it would sound better and louder.
WHAT PLUGIN WRAPPER IS THAT?
IS IT M2 MAC COMPATIBLE?
It's by DDMF! I don't think they've updated it for M2 yet, but worth checking.
@@sageaudio can't see anything online about it - hopefully, will cop it as soon as they do. its a brilliant plugin for the master chain
7:30
video needs warning to not just always click oversampling for saturn and other saturation plugins as sound can change in some cases to worse side, so always listen, if you actually need oversampling
Thanks for watching! That's fair! From what I understand, the only difference in the audio that oversampling makes is removing aliasing, and some very subtle destructive interference to the transients (much less noticeable than linear phase processing). But I'll be sure to keep that in mind and discuss it when oversampling comes up. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Who mixed the track being mastered?
Thanks for watching! An artist named 'The American Indie'
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Did you actually bring it upto +2 Lufs?!?! 🤨😵🥴
Haha no that would be deafening. The Pro L2 measures LUFS in a weird way - it compares it to either -14 LUFS or -9 LUFS. So the +2 was in reference to -9LUFS, so it was -7 LUFS. Not sure why they use this method in their plugins.
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I want to take a course
Awesome! Here's a link to our website: SageAudio.com
Pay once, study forever or pay annually.
trackspacer is not an alternative to soothe2
It's definitely not the best alternative, but if you side-chain a reference track, trackspacer will attenuate resonances between a balanced track (the reference) and the potentially unbalanced track. Thanks for watching!
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isn't +1 LUFS insane ??? (first few seconds on pro-l hahaha)
Haha yeah the way they measure is weird. It's relative to -9LUFS when CD is selected, or -14LUFS when streaming is selected. So +1LUFS in the Pro L2 is -8LUFS
Is it true that linear phase low cut smears high end transients? I see you using zero latency on the mid High Pass
There are a few new EQs that claim to have no pre or post ringing when in linear phase mode one of the MAAT Blue, Orange or Red is supposed to do it.
Seeing that amazing masters were done in the 1980s with none of these modern tools - that the overall perceived sound quality is more important than all the technically perfect details - is any of this phase rotation for a fraction of a dB or frequency specific saturation or inserting oversampling wrappers actually necessary? Is anyone going to hear these obsessively detailed changes?
Yes and no, to answer the last question. Most people probably aren't going to notice anything as long as everything sounds okay but things could also not sound okay without you knowing because human error.
Thanks for watching Tomos! For the mid-image high pass, I probably would use linear phase if I intended to keep it, but seems like there's more cons than pros with that filter in my opinion - especially since the linear phase setting will affect transients like you said.
To answer your question about small details - I'm not sure! I did some research a while back and had people listen to various levels of compression to see if they could tell a difference and most couldn't. I guess the point is, many people won't consciously notice a difference, but I'd imagine that the details they miss still have some effect on how they enjoy the track.
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Good producer has only a clipper on Master
If you say so! Thanks for watching!
Couldn't hear the sound examples sorry... such a little touches...
Thanks for sharing your thoguhts!
We have some geeky questions in the comment section 😂😂
Lol thanks for watching!
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Creepy with no music lol
I much prefer it. It got annoying after years of watching!
Haha I'll probably add some subtle classical music in.
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👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for watching!
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It’s probably a good video (i haven’t watched it completely yet) but I think it’s a little off putting that the intro is pretty much non existent. At least have a little introductory sentence on what you are going to do, because I immediately felt like I missed something
Thanks for letting me know! I'm enjoying getting right into the topic, but I'll keep this in mind and maybe find a good compromise.
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I hate watching mixing videos in logic lol
Haha sorry!
@@sageaudio I still learn what I came for that’s all that matters
i think its funny this guy said "the kicks fundamental, which I'm gonna have to 'look' for" and then a few seconds later says "Use your ears" lmao
Such bad advice I mean it's good for beginners but definitely not for professional work
I don't it's think it's funny that somebody watching a tutorial on TH-cam, are complaining about a youtube video's advice so that they can portray themselves as an expert. You'd expect an expert to be rolling in work, or at least have better things to do.
It was sad to read your comment and the chat you have started.
Not funny at all, and I've never heard of you.
This comment reeks of inexperience. Why would you use your ears to find the fundamental frequency? It’s way easier to use a frequency analyzer to do that. The author only suggests using your ears when it's appropriate, like when adjusting something to taste. It would be a waste of time to try to find the fundamental frequency of a kick by ear when it's already displayed on the screen. You might as well manually find the DC offset while you're at it too. 😂
@@davidasher22 Ahem. Listen bud, before you start trying to down someone based on their lack of experience, (which in this industry doesn't matter one bit and you know that) do you want to reread what I wrote one more time? Because the only thing your response did was tell me that you can't comprehend or understand what I said.
I never made fun of him with the bias of "never look at the screen" or "always use your ears never the analyzer"
I simply made a joke that he contradicted himself.
L.m.a.o.
I'm 💀.
@@justinswayne he didn’t contradict himself. He just explained the typical thought process behind these types of things. I’m also not putting you down by saying your comment reflects inexperience. If you thing being told you lack experience in something is an insult then i can’t imagine what you’d do with some actual criticism. As for your comment in general, it just lacks purpose and anyone who does this type of work for a living would see it as inaccurate which is why I decided to say something. Sorry if you feel insulted. My only purpose was to correct what I saw as a misunderstanding on your part.
Honestly sounded better before you touched it. You obliterated any sort of dynamic range the song had.
Welcome to today's world of loudness war and volume-targeted mastering! Dynamic range tampering is the new request if music is to be released, played, or entertained in the commercial music sector. Self-projects that are Reverbnation, SoundCloud, etc just have to meet their vendor-specific target loudness, but the pro music industry is an entire and much louder creature. There are ways to mimic intended and perceived dynamic ranges in mastering through meticulous and extensive use of automating instrument category groups of individual comped stems (I.e. all strings grouped, guitars grouped...basically a stem of all the BUS groups) but one will have to pay what they weigh for that amount of work by causing the mastering engineer to basically become a multitrack re-mixing engineer too.
Many industry famous recording artists get away with perceived dynamics at that level of loudness because the label has the budget or minions they farm work out to on payroll...until then we will have to wait on people to go deaf in mass so that music returns to the very dynamic -18 to -15 max where dynamics and crescendos are as played and not faked by automation.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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@@sageaudio is there an emoji for doing the hand fart thing?
Why not level much before and after?
Thanks for watching! For the full chain before and after, that's as close as I can get the loudness of the 2 without having to add processing to the mix. I used peak normalization to match their peaks at -1dB; however, that won't/can't adjust for the differences in loudness. For example, if I was to normalize the loudness of the original mix to match the master, it would end up peaking by 6dB.
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Clipping: Clip with Soft Knee instead of Hard Knee. Hard Knee will shave the transient straight across, whereas Soft Knee shaves it with round transients, which still have a peek at their apex.
This method will provide more clarity and punch, combining the white noise before limiting it. Using 50% to 53%, Soft Knee works best (sweet spots).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'll try out that value with a soft knee!
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at 2:09 would that be similar as adding waves vitamin ? on the -150ish?
Thanks for watching! I don't think so but I'm not sure - I haven't used that plugin. Looks like that plugin also adds harmonics.
Tight video. Good work sir
Thank you!
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Clean? Actually sounds worse than before and distortion is audible. I understand balancing compromises are done for making it as loud as possible while maintain still good dynamics, requested by your client or to have competitive loudness. I hate music mastered this way and I’m not willing to listening to any music like this. At least is not completely squashed and distortion lower than many other I’ve heard.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
my first ever comment 🤭. But question, do u recommend having the 24 bit dither option on in the Oxford limiter in this chain? even when exporting in 32 bit float?
Thanks for the comment! If you're exporting to 32-bit float, no need to use dithering. In most instances, dithering isn't necessary - I only use it when exporting from 24-bit to 16-bit.
wow thanks so much for this, my masters were pretty good already but now with the phasing and mid side eq and compression just made my them sound incredible!!!😱😭
Thanks for watching!
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The most important thing about mastering I've noticed it's all about knowing your frequency most videos don't tell you that
The frequency response is very important! Making EQ a huge part of mastering - here's a video we just put out about that - th-cam.com/video/FYtLsFyDt44/w-d-xo.html
I have a few questions:
1- Should I phase align if I mixed the track by myself and is not a single track that was sent to me?
2-Can I make use of Pro-L2 as a Clipper too? But with 1:1 activated ( to avoid volume change) and transparent mode?
3-Do you have any videos where you mix a track by stems?
4-(this one is another topic) When mixing my stems (not a single wav track) with the vocals.. how I make them fit in the mix? Should I use soothe to reduce any particular sound? Or as sidechain in the beat send channel that group everything apart from the vocals? Thx for such knowledge!
Thanks for watching!
1. to be honest, this step isn't absolutely crucial, but it is helpful and may prevent distortion - that said, I'd recommend it but it's not the end of the world if you don't align it.
2. The L2 is in a way a clipper (all limiters are) they just affect the transients differently to achieve a distinct sound. So you could do this, but I'd avoid the 1:1 function, unless you really need the loudness to stay the same.
3. Yes! This one is older but should be helpful: th-cam.com/video/UVvCfJNfSr8/w-d-xo.html
4. Both of the ideas you had should work if you want to separate the vocal from the stems - like you said, you could use soothe 2 on a stem and side-chain the vocal to help separate the 2 signals. YOu could also dip a little of 2.5-5kHz on a stem to help the vocal stick out.
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2. the author of the video doesn't really know pro-l 2 (the explanation in the second part is really showing), and just takes wild swings. both TPL and lookahead are explained completely incorrectly.
yes, pro l and pro l 2 can act as clippers. maximum attack, minimum release, minimum lookahead, minimum stereo link and NOT newer algorithms. you can nulltest to check that.
however, if you don't plan to "crossfade this clipper" to a "limiter" territory, there's no practical benefit to doing this; clippers are always available for free to everyone.
in general, if you have to hardclip in mastering, but you still have access to the tracks, you're selling your material short. nothing wrong with fast limiting; clipping, though, especially with such a soft material as demonstrated, should only be applied to the shortest peaks and only if you can really hear the results on multiple quality systems.
longer clipping artifacts are really easy to recognize, they are generally terrible, so you should really think after you've tried them.
did anyone told you sound like Leonardo di caprio
They haven't but I will take that as a compliment!
Are you able to mix the track on any DAW or is there a specific on you need to use
Just about any DAW will work! I just use Logic Pro X since it's the one I started with. Thanks for watching!
@@sageaudio I use Ableton. I am relatively new to this but I’m getting a solid mix down and now I need to learn how to master because I only have myself to do this
should i do my master on a mp3 format or wave?
Wav is better - but if you only have the MP3 and can't get access to the wav file, the MP3 will be ok. Again though, if it's available, definitely use the Wav file.
Why don't you use adaptive phase alignment. Is there a drawback
To be honest I'm not sure! I'll have to look into the plugin and see what it does exactly. Thanks for watching!
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@@sageaudio Can''t wait to get the notification when you address the topic
🔥
Thanks for watching!
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I love you thanks
Thanks for watching!
Probably one of the most concise and informative vids you've made about getting loud masters!! I'm trying, though, to figure out how to use TrackSpacer to attenuate resonant frequencies, since you mentioned that as an alternative to Soothe...? Thanks!
Thanks for watching! Great to hear the video was helpful - as for trackspacer, I'm kind of regretting mentioned it haha. But if you side-chain a reference mix, trackspacer will attenuate excessive resonances on the processed track. It's definitely not perfect, but works ok.
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@@sageaudio ahhh. Ok. That makes sense. Appreciate the honesty. Haha.