How to export your song for mastering: 6 essential TIPS tutorial

[alexrm1x]

Thanks for the Video. I'll try these guys!

Cheers from Brazil.

[sKyPhamusic]

great just great very informative!!!

[billzyFEM]

Thanks man, awesome video... never considered this before

[onestunnna87]

YOU ARE VERY HELPFUL!!! KEEP THEM COMING. THANK YOU

[VenHaut]

btw u ass good producer take a look at my new track of nicki minaj...converted to jay-z on my own beat

thank u

[VenHaut]

okok yeah ure really good in what you are doing keep op the good work

many people will have allot of use about your tips

btw u talk great for camera.

i wish i could talk that way in english

gr Nick de jonge (for youtube check) venhaut

[VenHaut]

you already start with the best info you can give :)

i wil watch further now...

till now...good info

[ryanjstever]

I totally agree with setting your final mix with lots of head room. But unfortunately, I find writing at that setting to be terribly uninspiring. The magic is completely gone. Do you set everything that low AFTER you have finished the writing process?

[KrackhauSwag]

if i mastered my mix in ableton what do i if I want to just export it to be ready to be used on soundcloud and such? do i leave it as 24 bit ? 16 bit? wav? aiff? please someone respond! thank you!

[DubstepHero1]

Is that a pink Kaossilator on your desk?

[benjicarlson]

Hey man, I watch ALOT of tutorials online and I rarely comment, Usually because theyre all so shit. But not this one, I thought i would just throw some support your way on this. For one,This was really helpful; its hard to find good advanced level tuts. but two, you are concise and articulate. Saying only what needs to be said and no more, for some reason, rarely happens on tutorials (9 minutes to show how to make a vowel bass, for example). SO thanks alot! and keep it up,i am now subscribed.

[Valorousmusic]

Your videos are helping me a lot with finishing up my first EP! Thank you so much! :D

[ahmtTyln]

I m pretty curious that if we should send our tracks as audio files our just keep the whole original project itself as als. file folder. OR what :D?

[TheCrogotti]

DJVespers, im becoming familiar with izotope ozone 5 and really nailing the final mixes (peak, master db levels), However Is izotope not adequate enough to get that Professional Mastering sound?

[1n50mn1ac]

If i use compression on my drums or on other channel would that affect the final mastering?

[SchmidtyHQ]

press 3 and 7 for her possible rack

[Simonefunkydrummer]

So Helpful Thanks so Much!

[byouno93]

He's right NEVER MIX INTO COMPRESSORS!!!

[Arpetrio1]

So I have always used this video to remind myself what to do before exporting (THANKS!). I have always stuck to 24 bit, but just recently realized that freeze &flattening (which I use alot) converts the sample to 32 bit (may explain some of the clicks/pops). Even though I export to 24 bit, does this effect the overall quality since the flattened tracks are 32 bit?

[davdcl499]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I will look into Innerportal for a master or two. 

[vout23]

i have produced all my samples at 16bit in all of my tracks,, If i export the tracks at 24bit there will be any changes?

[riseup20twelve]

Awesome tips. Cheers bro @DJVespers

[dkinetik]

great great tips .. thanks !!

[Altodnb]

Im new to all this, when sending your tracks in do you send the full exported audio? the project file? or stems? so the mastering engineer can work with separate parts of the track?

[bkpoltina]

Thank you so much for the tips vespers! Do you always bounce using Abletons export audio menu??.. versus routing the master to another audio track and recording (printing) the mixdown inside of ableton, or rewireing into another DAW such as Protools... And do you normally print individual MIDI tracks before mixing down or just leave them as midi tracks??just wanted to get a professionals opinion!! thanks a lot man!

[DjEnDium]

im sending my first 3 tracks to get mastered and i wanna make sure i get things right. My question is, do you mean 6db's of head room from you loudest point in your track? i have an electro track that when it breaks into dubstep the bass sounds make it go up to -2.

[sexpen]

24 bites : D

[rsmd42o]

when you say to leave six decibals of headroom do u mean all the individual tracks as well? answer if u can please

[jgraz99]

If I produced the song in 24bit, except for one sample that I received and used in 16bit, can I still export the song in 24bit?

[DJVespers]

@jgraz99 Indeed you can, and should.

[djgierro]

@DJVespers Hi I would like to know, If you leave 6db of headroom space on the master, do you start mixing your kick below 6db.

[DJafferiK]

great video, really useful :)

[megadroidnblastoids]

great vid!

[Arpetrio1]

Thanks for the advice! Why do you export in 24 bit and not 32?  Many producers I know use 32 for live use and production.

[DJVespers]

@Arpetrio1 At some point with audio resolution, you get so detailed that the human ear loses the ability to perceive differences. For example, how many megapixels does a digital camera need to be until we can't tell the dif. Could you tell 30 mexapixels from 20? No idea, but I'm sure there's a point of diminishing or unnoticeable returns. For audio, I find 24 bit to be that point. 32 bit is used primarily to absorb overages due to clipping an input signal during recording.

[DjCyaneyed]

@DJVespers its allso the industry standard from cd formats so it kinda got stickied :D

[owenkilleen]

brilliant advice.

[BrauthaMinister]

good deal! thanks

[MO0siQ]

i find it so hard to find actual helpful tutorials on music production, youve done well! thanks man

[Slicknote]

You say never ever put a plugin on the master bus and if it absolutely essential then 2 copies right? wich i never mix with limiters anyway or compression ,however maybe a noise gate on a channel but anyways ,what about routing all or most of the channels to a seperate bus? say like adding an audio track and route everything to it and then from it to the master bus ? I ask only because recently i had two groups that were large because they were all freak split and had automation and eqing on

[Slicknote]

@Slicknote (continued ) them and one had an empty midi channel on it routed to the group bus .(to control studdddddddderrrer edit lol) anyway if you watch the ozone videos they do with sonar they always say dont put ozone on the master bus ,so i thought hhhhmmmm maybe i can cheat and group two groups......the result was it sounded like shit going through the one channel. :( it was 2 synths that phrased back and for and i wanted to get a good aproximate volume with out wrecking their dynamics.

[jrhager84]

Charles Dye mixes into a tasteful master compressor, lightly and such. Just sayin' a "never on the master bus" is a slight overstatement to me.

[Arpetrio1]

So I export with 24 bit but often use 32 bit samples? Why is this frowned upon and is it bad to do this in live situations as well?

[jrhager84]

@Arpetrio1

If you don't "dither" your bit depth, it essentially truncates (chops off) the extra bits. Dithering, takes a 32 bit float, and approximates it into the 24 bit depth that you're dithering too, so the majority of the dynamics/integrity are there. CD-R format is 44.1/16 (44.1khz being the sample rate, 16 being the bit depth.). So if you bounce down into 24bit, and burn to a cd, it will effectively truncate the other 8bits, noticeably affecting your sound quality.

[lordtoranaga]

Tarekith is the MAN

[DanielGrozier]

thanks vespers,awesome

[djeselboy]

thanks good video :P

[biggtimemusic]

say you're going to put an unmastered track onto soundcloud, just to show some people or whatever - I keep my tunes under -6db and I'm wondering if it'd be a good idea to normalize in this situation.., again i'm only talking about quick uploads to soundcloud for demos or previews.. or would you just leave it with the 6db headroom and have people turn up their volume?

[DJVespers]

@biggtimemusic Great question. In that case I could definitely use some compression and limiting on the master and use normalization to push the volume up. On Soundcloud you'll be competing with properly mastered tracks so you want yours to stand up.

[LopatoBeats]

Question: In order to leave about 6dbs of headroom is it fine to mix a track how i like and then just take the gain down on the master bus?

[DJVespers]

@LopatoBeats You could, yes, but it's a better production practice to mix to -6dbfs without moving your master down. If you're rolling your master down it means your track levels are too hot and it's likely you could be digitally clipping inter device chains, which - with non-Live devices - is a major problem and will cause your sound be be brittle.

[biggtimemusic]

@DJVespers but then again isn't that the ill-esha secret? ;) ;)

[4Dean3]

thanks so much !

[Jojoereggaemtl]

THANKS A ZILLION

[curtisstearn]

how much money do you spend on each track to get mastered vespers?

[mgtk06]

Thank you very much for these tips ! 

[Eumusic1]

5/5 for tips. Thx.

[BasisDubstep]

Answered a lot of my questions :) i'm currently in the process.

[Rusty511]

thanks for this. Priceless information that will surely benefit everyone watching.

[DJVespers]

@Rusty511 Cheers! Thanks for watching.

[JimmyGr90]

Good video mate, keep them coming.

[jessebrede]

Great video. Going to getting some tracks mastered this summer, I'll be sending this to a lot of producers and probably using your buddy to get it mastered.

[DJVespers]

@jessebrede Nice one mate. Cheers!

[DJPaggos]

Deadmau5 does it himself...is this wrong?

[DJVespers]

@DJPaggos Apparently not if you're Deadmau5 ;) Take into account his skill level and experience though.

[macgregoroi]

Thanks!

[lastninja64]

just great tips, keep em comings vespers, such sound advice on different subjects presented professionally and explained clearly, thanks

[DJVespers]

@lastninja64 Thanks for watching!

[ColdAsBalls]

hey vespers, in your template you recommended using compressors set to -15 etc to easily get your mix in at -6.

is it better to have compressors on every channel reducing everything down like that or am i killing off part of my sound by running everything through a compressor (even if it isnt actually just compressing, and just reducing the volume). should i just be turning my volume knobs way down instead?

[DJVespers]

@ColdAsBalls Hey mate. Yeah, don't use compressors to cheat and adjust your levels for you. That's a bad production habit. Adjust your levels. There are many ways of doing that. In my template I use the compressor's output gain, but you could easily use a Utility device or the volume fader. Cheers!

[naDsIemaNyM]

new camera is looking nice man. thanks for another great vid

[DJVespers]

@naDsIemaNyM Cheers! Yeah, I love the new Canon XA10. The on camera lighting helps too.

[AeonFlexMusic]

for the -6 db headroom, would i do that by bringing down my master fader or have to mix all my sounds using -6db as my limit instead of 0?

[DJVespers]

@AeonFlexMusic The latter of the two. You want to leave your master fader level at 0 then mix all your individual parts so they collectively sum to -6 dbfs. This means that each individual part will likely need to be much lower in volume because they all together need to sum up to less than -6 dbfs in the final mix. Good question. Cheers!

[rudeboys28712]

@DJVespers damn that will be hard, if im not using a limiter. So really i should use a limiter on all tracks and set them all to -6 ?

[DJVespers]

@rudeboys28712 God no. Please never do that. Don't use a limiter at all. You need to balance each sound in your mix properly and ensure your master out is slightly under -6 dbfs. It's not hard, it's necessary to build that habit of mixing properly. Cheers!

[MrRjzam]

@DJVespers another great vid! Learned a lot of great things from you! Thanks for taking the time to share all the advice and tips u've learned over the years! Wish u all the success bro!

[DJVespers]

@MrRjzam Thanks for watching and supporting. Cheers! 

[DJVespers]

@tomijj Yes, this is bad. You should properly gain stage your tracks to avoid excessive levels rather than use a limiter. Limiters are a brutal process to run audio through and are best left to your mastering engineer, especially on the master out. Cheers!

[LeeToTheVIMusic]

Very usefull tips thank u dude!!!

[fuzzjohn]

@tomijj as a protective measure against unexpected peaks it's fine once everything is -6db below 0db. If, however, you are using the limiter to push your tracks louder than -6db you will leave no head-room for the mastering engineer to work with.

[Youpeaceman]

Which boxes do you use? (they in the background)

[DJVespers]

@Youpeaceman Not sure what you mean by "boxes"? Do you mean speakers? If so, Mackie HR824s. Cheers!

[DarrenMalla]

hey Vespers I don't export my track my technique for recording the track is by creating a new audio track and record it, I don't know why but when I export the track it don't sound good...

[DJVespers]

@DarrenMalla That's likely because of your project or export settings. Follow the steps in this video and you should be fine.

[Xo1ot1]

thanks for the tips! 40 seems really reasonable, will keep that in mind

[djstgo]

you the best :) keep it up



[DJVespers]

@djstgo Cheers!

[mrbeemee]

Very useful tips. Thanks alot! :)

[DJVespers]

@mrbeemee You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[ChadLikesGuitars]

Only 40$ a track? Damn.

[DJVespers]

@ChadLikesGuitars No doubt.  Dirt cheap IMO.

[ChadLikesGuitars]

@DJVespers Yeah for sure.