Preparing A Track For Mastering

[ThyraiMedia]

thanks!

[wrathallll]

i had to sub you dude, your vids are very professional! good stuff, keep it up

[MRHDOTCOM1]

I buy softwear for do this for me, why think too much yeah? Only enjoy my sound!

[lowedv]

you helped alot with that master fader part, some one told me to pull it down if its clipping and pull it up if its not enough.....

[djbigdk]

thanks mate!

[5m1nutes]

04:37... if what you say is right then why having the master fader at all? I`m using Reason and if my master volume is in the red I bring it down because it requires the least effort and does the same thing...

[SkeletinProductions]

What mis wrong with lossless compression on files. Since they are lossless.

[Area593Studio]

@SkeletinProductions Using lossless codecs in between the mixing and mastering stages is simply not the way it is done in the professional world. Most professional mastering engineers would much prefer a wave file as there has typically been no conversion done on it (ie: data compression), plus wave files have the ability to be saved at high bit depths (24bit, 32bit float), and high sample rates (96kHz, 192kHz), meaning that you are loosing very little quality from the mix.

[rainbowbowserpow9999]

@FingerstyleTV No. Its only temp compression and ZIP files can't even compress WAV files that much.

[thenamesdave]

@FingerstyleTV No, not at all; as the engineer or whoever will use the track has to de-compress (unzip) it first.

[CuddleOscar]

How do you grab all the channels at once???

[Area593Studio]

@CuddleOscar In Ableton for example, you select the first channel, hold shift and then select the last channel. Or alternatively, you select one channel, hold Ctrl and select other individual channels.

[MrLittletomdj]

@ Area593Studio Hi mate, I do a lot of stuff with samples, particularly layering drum loops, I produce really very complex tracks. I throw in lots of glitchy sounds & spot fx. I use literally 100's of tracks in a recording, so mastering gets hectic. I was just hoping you might have some tips on mastering tracks like this, or could point me to a tutorial that deals with mastering parts that are made with multiple sounds.. Cheers!

[MrDarkBliss]

Superb tutorial man, a real help.

[Area593Studio]

@MrDarkBliss Thanks

[NicroticSouls]

Great Tutorial! I'm a new wanna be Eddie Kramer. Youtube has been such a wonderful tool for learning.



[Area593Studio]

@NicroticSouls Thanks! Keep practicing and you'll be as good as Eddie some day!

[multisonus]

nice and concise... thank you and keep them coming ;)

[jericho667]

it's ok if I use compression/limiting just on the single tracks before mastering?

[Area593Studio]

@jericho667 Yes it is OK to compress individual channels. Just bear in mind that typically a mastering engineer can do a better job on a track if the overall dynamic range of the track is still there (note "overall"), allowing them to use higher quality tools to bring up the final levels with less chance of introducing artifacts.

[Area593Studio]

@sitcomsidekick It would make much more sense to just lower all of the individual channels / busses that are feeding into the master channel, although if that proves too difficult then using the return could be a work around.

I would seriously avoid using limiting in that situation however, as you will be removing dynamic range that can then make the mastering process more difficult and you may also introduce artifacts into the sound, which can't always be removed during mastering.

[zerosoma33]

Good video, very in depth. Thank you so much!

[Area593Studio]

@zerosoma33 Thanks for your comment!

[lowedv]

@Area593Studio can i ask a question, how loud should my overall mix be if its going to be mastered..... ????? like -3db or -5db. how much head room i should leave basically?

[nblfyb]

Thanks for making dithering clearer.

(Benson and Tonic)

[Area593Studio]

@nblfyb No worries, glad to help!

[AppA]

That PAZ Analyzer seems to be just what I need!

Is there also plugin which has a combination of analyzer and equalizer (with regards to panning as well) ?

[Area593Studio]

@AppA iZotope Ozone provides an analyzer and EQ in one screen. As for panning I'd recommend using a combination of your DAWs panning controls with a phase analyser like the one in Waves' Paz, or Ozone.

[0rquesm]

Many tnxs for this one.......learned a lot, this is a great tutorial......

[Area593Studio]

@0rquesm Thanks for the comment!

[joesimmons90]

Thanks

[Area593Studio]

The last thing is dithering. Limiting should never be used in the mastering process, typically multi-band compression or maximisation will yield much better results than limiting.

[AnskeOfficial]

A good tutorial for the beginners mate :)

What's the last thing, limiting or dithering ? Thanks.