I am about to share with you some of my mastering secrets. This is the Mastering Chain I prefer to use and think it adds a nice amazing final mix. I sadly don’t own most of these programs and have a few friends in the mastering business that let me use their rig for the final cut, but these programs are completely worth the investment. Here are the basics.
The Mix Down
To start before you do the mastering though make sure that it is all set for the mixdown. Here is a quick list to go down.
- Are your different instruments eq’ed to not clash (High pass on melodies and such)
- Cut off your low end around 30hz
- Levels are good and all elements are at a good volume
- The final master channel is around -3db for “headroom”
The Chain
Start a new instance and loud your stereo bounce. From here we are going to set up the effect chain for the mastering. To start the chain I use the Engineers Filter. This is a great high and low pass filter. I cut the sound at about 30hz just to make sure. Depending on your style of music you could go higher as well.
From there I go to the V Comp to give just a little compression and an analog touch.
This super-responsive dynamics processor packs a recognizable musical punch heard on countless hit records. Its controlled, gentle compression can really glue a mix together.
The next part of the chain is the Waves C4.
The ultimate multiband dynamics processor, the C4 does it all: 4-bands of up and down expansion, limiting, and compression, plus dynamic and standard EQ. Combining technologies from our acclaimed Renaissance Compressor and the powerful C1 Parametric Compander, the C4 gives you unprecedented control over the contours of your mix, with maximum clarity and transparency.
Read more about Waves and Mastering
I love this as my Multi-Band compressor that evens out the sounds and makes a great even and smooth mix.
The last part of the chain is the Ozone 4. I mainly like to use this as a limiter and dither. I don’t like there Multiband. The mix should have been EQed by now and such so I don’t find the rest of the mastering vst useful. I do think they have an amazing Limiter though.
All the pictures in this article are the settings I have used to master songs in the past so it is a good starting point. With this chain, you can easily get a decent master of your songs. Running through analog gear definitely helps the sound quality but this is a great way to get a simple pro sound.
Enjoy!
Curious on the -3db, I thought -6 was mastering studio standard… or so says the Dubspot Ozone tutorial.
Yeah well ideally your over all mix is around -4 to -6. If it peaks at -3 it’s all good.
I think the -6 db is just an over corrections. That means when you compress the whole mix it will bring out a lot more of the quieter frequencies with the ones peaking low at -6.
I am a big fan of having really good mixes before the mastering process. then it’s just a light touch.But if your mix sucks and you have to do eqing and who knows what else I could see having that extra headroom as a nice thing.
Thanks Subaqueous!
This setup really does the trick. :) A minor upgrade can include Ozone 5. With 5 you can just load the maximizer, which will use less CPU.
All the best,
Logichead
Oh and correction by the way… I came to learn the -6 db is when you are running your masters through analog gear. That extra room allows the tubes or whatever gear your using a little more room to “round out” the sound. If you are using all digital mastering then it is not as big of a deal.
I wrote this before Ozone 5 and I totally agree. Love Ozone and with the new 5 I love it even more. Smooth and reliable with little CPU usage.
Excellent article Subaqueous!
I use a similair chain just with different plug-ins.
I normally compress before filtering though. dont think that makes a big difference… or does it?
I use PSP Vintage Warmer instead of C4 (will give C4 a shot) I use waves a lot but never thought of using C4
I highly recommend VintageWarmer especially for its easy to use interface.
I use Waves L2/L1 instead of Ozone, I’ve never liked Ozone… too CPU intensive for my liking, I produce electronic music and much rather reserve the CPU usage for my synth plugins.
Ozone 5 may be an option but I dont think I will be investing in it anytime soon
actually I use ozone is very good did you tried the stereo image of ozone.
i use ingenier filter,ozone eq,ozone multband,ozone stereo image,then you ozone limiter
can you post the video of how you are mastering and using those showed plugin?
help me on how to achieve thick vocals on mix and achieving debt in my end mastered work.
Is there any purpose in bouncing before going into the mastering chain? I usually do these steps simoultaniousy.
@martins… By simultaneously mixing n mastering, i guess u meant to add ur mastering chain in the master channel of ur DAW… Is it a kind of short-cut or smthg? U cant achieve a great final mix with that…. I know that the only rule is that there’s no rule but mixing is a stage, mastering is another. Maybe somebody have a contrary opinion, id like to learn….
While there is no set formula for mastering this is a good walkthrough for those starting out and will at least get there track levels up a bit :)
I don’t have any outboard gear for this process. I’m trying to do the mix and mastering with the ITB method. I’m going to try this. This sounds like it should work for me. Thanks for the article. Very informative.
[quote name=”Ken”]help me on how to achieve thick vocals on mix and achieving debt in my end mastered work.[/quote]
Hello Ken. For me, achieving great debt in the end, mastered work is really easy — given that I spend all my spare time and money making music…
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This article posted at this web site is in fact nice.
the mix is supposed to be no higher than -6 db the master set it for just below zero -0.1db
-3 tho is better than -6 for the final mix below -6 is good .
Hey guys your ideas are cool! Keep them coming.
In all my years of searching for the secrets, reading books on mastering, this simple chain has been hands down the absolute best advice i have found. The results I have gotten using my version of this chain is simply amazing
It doesnt really matter if you master in the mix project, from a technical standpoint at least, as the master fader is what is printed to file when you bounce. Printing gives me a couple of other advantages though. First and foremost it gives me an idea of what the dynamics of the song are, which parts are quieter or if there might be some peaks/parts I need to go back and fix. You don’t really get that in the mix. Also it is much easier to drive more signal into my compressors as I only need to automate a single track, and it obviously frees CPU to process all them linear-phase plugins you hopefully are using ;-)
Just be careful with the Multi Band compressor it can trick the ear and ruin your track
Totally! Good point.
Hi Sub. I have been an audio engineer for most of my life. I have worked on releases for everyone from Carlos Santana and David Gilmore to local artists. You have it backwards. Mastering in the analog world leaves more headroom and analog gear will not clip as quickly or as harshly as digital gear. There is about 6db of headroom with analog gear. When you go over “0” db in the digital world the clipping is instant and sounds horrible! Secondly, if you are using Waves plug ins, why on earth would you use Ozone for just the limiter? Waves has some fantastic limiters. Ozone is a good mastering plug in, I have used it myself on certain mixes but I prefer Waves because of their transparency.
Big Daddy
Thanks Mate, this is all great advice and thoughts.
I have definitely leveled up my tools and knowledge the last 4 years and 40+ albums later. (Mastering that is).
Thanks for sharing those thoughts on analog and Digital.
Hey guys am Thabang so I need to know if you using digital so your mixdown should be -6 or -4
Generally you want at least -4 headroom but -6 is better. I use digital processing, but it’s nice to have that room.
Heya Sub! Much love. I used to always use a HPF and LPF (for headroom). However, I learned that even gradual cuts will change the way the frequencies outside of the curve sound (not only the amplitude, but the way they sit on the time line). I didn’t think it was a big deal, but I can actually hear snares being misplaced by a tiny bit, even with -6db/oct slopes on linear HPF’s. Therefore, I have started to avoid using subtractive shelves and cuts. Waves has an eq that is “a-symmetrical,” but I forget the name of it. Apparently, it did cuts without changing anything on the rest of the spectrum. Thoughts?
Ok… hell yeah man. Now we are getting into the deep geekery. Check this video out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efKabAQQsPQ
I think you are referring to the phase issue in most EQ’s. I have switched to FabFilter EQ when I want cleaner cuts. I hope this answeres