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MASTERING

Reminder: we work on this song I wrote: Life


(mp3 file)

Quick definition

We should say "pre-mastering" instead of "Mastering", but everyone says "Mastering", so I'll do the same.

Theoretically, the mastering is the process that results in a "Master", which is the final version of a recording before it's transfered to a physical medium (vinyl, cassette, CD, etc.), while controlling that all established norms are respected for the type of medium. Therefore, it's the last creative process as well as the last purely technical process of a recording.

But most of the time, when someone speaks about mastering, it's merely the last creative step of a musical work, the one that comes right after mixing and before broadcasting it to the public, whether that public be yourself and your family, or millions of people!

On this page

Before anything else... | What do I need? | Multiband compressor | Limiter | Conclusion

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Before anything else...

Before you start mastering anything, make sure you follow these rules:

- The mix must be completed. Don't start the mastering process unless you are happy with your mixing and there is nothing more to do in that area. Because mixing is the art of polishing each instrument individually to get a consistent whole, while mastering is the art of polishing a whole tune as a single entity. You don't deal with various parts anymore, you deal with the whole mix altogether. Which implies it must be finished.

- In order to be objective once the mix is over, I advise you to wait one day or two before starting the mastering. As the hearing memory is rather short, you will rediscover your work with a fresh ear if you wait that long.

- During the mastering process, it's better to work with studio monitors rather than with a headset, even more so than for the mix. But as always, it's better to work with a very good pair of headphones than with mediocre monitors. If you work with headphones, be aware that your perception of stereo sounds, as well as the balance of lows and highs are different with headphones. But if you know your headphones well, if you use reference songs that you know as well, you will be able to fix any possible mistakes by yourself.

- In professional studios, the mastering engineer is not the same as the mixing engineer. That gives him a fresh and neutral look over the song. Mastering monitors are also particularly accurate and placed in a well-studied room, sound-wise.
In a home studio, you will most probably mix and master yourself, with the same monitors and/or headphones (and not necessarily the best ones), in an untreated room of your appartment or house, with daily life sounds around you (cars in the street, noisy neighbors, family members in the next room...). And you're going to have to deal with it!

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What do I need?

Not much, actually, but here are the essentials, sufficient for most home-studio owners:
- A multiband compressor
- A limiter

As an option, you may also use the following gear/plugins:
- An equalizer. If your mix is good, you probably don't need to balance frequencies when mastering, but a few (very few!) corrections might be necessary here and there.
- A reference song. To help you reach your goal, keep a song you like within reach (use a song in the same style as the song you're working on, don't refer to Mozart if you're mastering a Death Metal song...). Your aim will be to obtain a sound similar to that song.

Other tools may help you give your song the atmosphere you're looking for:
- Stereo enhancement plugins
- Spectrum analyser plugins that will analyse your song and compare it to your reference song
- Plugins that will let you know about the dynamics of the song, so you don't get a sound that is too compressed and crushed. Like TT Dynamic Range Meter available on this page.

Personally, I only use a multiband compressor and a limiter. The first one helps me to highlight some frequency ranges to shape and enhance the sound. The difference with and without a multiband compressor is staggering.
The limiter will boost the perceived sound volume and make the song more energetic. But don't overdo it or you might lose some dynamics and make your song too aggressive and tiring to listen to.

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MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR

To be clear, on the Master bus, the bus towards which all other main buses converge (guitars, bass, vocals, synths, drums), I put a multiband compressor plugin on top.

Mise à part cette caractéristique, cela reste un compresseur, avec les réglages suivants :

A multiband compressor will apply different compression settings on frequency ranges defined by the user. For example, you may want to compress a lot the low frequencies, leave the mediums untouched, and slightly compresse the highs.

- Threshold: defines the level from which the compressor starts reacting.

- Ratio: defines the compression level you want to apply, from 1 (no compression) to infinite (in this case, the compressor becomes a limiter).

- Attack: defines the speed at which the compression reacts once the threshold is reached.

- Release: defines the speed at which the compressor stops reacting once the volume level goes back below the threshold.

- Knee: defines whether the compression starts reacting precisely when the threshold is reached, or starts reacting gradually when the volume level comes close to the threshold.

- Gain: the more the sound is compressed, the lower the volume gets. To compensate for the volume loss due to compression, use the gain.

Multidynamics (the multiband compressor plugin that I use) has two gain knobs; lo-gain and hi-gain. Lo-gain is the gain that is applied to the sound signal when it is below the threshold, whereas hi-gain is the gain applied to the signal when it is above the threshold. The ratio determines the transition from one to the other.

To use Multidynamics like a compressor, lo-gain must be higher than hi-gain, which will reduce the signal gain when it gets over the threshold. If you do the opposite (hi-gain higher than lo-gain), the compressor becomes an expander, that is to say the opposite of a compressor. For now, we are looking forward to using the plugin as a compressor and not as an expander.

- Output: the overall output volume.
The Wave Arts multiband compressor Multidynamics can use from 3 to 6 bands. Here, I defined 4 frequency ranges (bands):
- From 0 to 50 Hz, for infra-basses
- From 50 to 175 Hz, for lows
- From 175 Hz to 2 KHz, for mediums
- From 2 to 20 KHz, for highs.

Why these specific frequencies? Because after various trials, I found this was the best setting for this song. Nothing magical about it. Trials, errors, more trials...

Settings used for the first frequency band (from 0 to 50 Hz):
- Lo-gain: 0 dB
- Threshold: -24 dB
- Hi-gain: -5 dB
- Ratio: 2
- Attack: 35 ms
- Release: 40 ms

Settings used for the second frequency band (from 50 to 175 Hz):
- Lo-gain: 6 dB
- Threshold: -21 dB
- Hi-gain: -8 dB
- Ratio: 2
- Attack: 16 ms
- Release: 25 ms

Settings used for the third frequency band (from 175 Hz to 2 KHz):
- Lo-gain: 3 dB
- Threshold: -21 dB
- Hi-gain: -6 dB
- Ratio: 2
- Attack: 5 ms
- Release: 10 ms

Settings used for the fourth frequency band (from 2 to 20 KHz):
- Lo-gain: 6 dB
- Threshold: -18 dB
- Hi-gain: -8 dB
- Ratio: 2
- Attack: 5 ms
- Release: 10 ms

Common settings for all bands:
- Knee: Medium
- Crossover slope: 30 dB/octave (behavior of transitions between frequency ranges)
- Lookahead: 5 ms (used to analyse sound peaks that can occur during play)
- Mode: Vintage

Here is the Master bus sound without any plugin:


(mp3 file)

Then the sound obtained with the multiband compressor Multidynamics:


(mp3 file)

Obviously, the multiband compressor allows for a much better sound clarity and all instruments find their place. Everything seems to breathe better, the sound is less confined, more open. Just better!

Wave Arts Multidynamics
Wave Arts Multidynamics is a commercial plugin. You may replace it with a free alternative plugin like 5orcery from Platinum Ears Plugins, a free 5 band compressor.

Download 5orcery
(5orcery.zip, 2.09 MB)

The zip file contains the PDF user manual, as well as a preset file named "5orcery_master.fxp". This is the preset I use for the song Life, and corresponds to the screenshot below.


With a free plugin...

I obtained a very similar result using the free multiband compressor 5orcery from Platinum Ears Plugins. Simpler than multidynamics, it offers all the settings you need. You get 5 frequency bands, you can manually choose the frequency that separates two bands, and each band has threshold, fain, attack and release knobs. The peak detection is achieved by selecting an RMS level for each band (RMS is an average level, similar to what the human ear can perceive), or the peaks (Pk). You can also activate or deactivate each band separately if you don't want to use all of them. You can adjust the Input signal, and you will find a Saturation knob, which does not add saturation, but is made to attenuate unexpected peaks. Finally, you have an overall Output level knob.

Using the settings shown on the screeshot above, I obtain a result pretty close to what I get with Multidynamics. It's a bit less accurate, a bit less defined, but it's definitely close.

Here is the sound I get with the multiband compressor 5orcery:


(mp3 file)
Platinum Ears Plugins - 5orcery
Platinum Ears Plugins - 5orcery
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LIMITER

We are one step away from the final result, and we are going to use a limiter. This is a tool that will boost the volume of a song, by raising up the volume from a defined threshold, up to a ceiling level you define manually. This is a great tool, but it can be damaging to the song. If you set a threshold too low, the sound is altered, it can become very aggressive, because the sound dynamics is crushed and everything will sound loud all the time. So, be gentle with it. With modern music (such as Dance or many Electronic musics), you can compress the signal much more than you would with musics that should have more constrast, where volume variations are desired and benefit the song, making it lively.

For the song Life, with the multiband compressor activated, the average RMS level is rather low, around -15 dB, with a dynamic range between -12 and -14 dB for the most part. This means we have quite a lot of margin, the dynamics is rather large, and we will be able to apply much compression without damaging the song, in order to raise the average level while maintaining good dynamics.

This is the dynamics we have before applying the limiter, measured with the plugin TT Dynamic Range Meter:
TT Dynamic Range Meter
In the top center, you can see the dynamic range at the moment the screenshot was made while playing the song (14.3 dB). At the bottom left and bottom right, you can see the average RMS level of the left and right channels (-16.3 dB and -15.6 dB).

Once the limiter is activated, we still have a dynamic margin between 9 and 11 dB. For your information, the album Nevermind by Nirvana, released in 1991, had a dynamic range of about 12 dB, as well as the album Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, released in 1975. The Fame Monster from Lady Gaga, released in 2009 has a dynamic range of 5 dB. Way more compressed!

The trend nowadays is to compress a lot, reducing the dynamic range as much as possible, which is bad for your ears and bad for musical finesse, but high compression levels allow for a high sound volume. It has been proved that a song is more attractive when played loudly, so record companies try to get the highest possible volume by compressing more and more. People are getting used to such high compression levels, they have become a standard and if you don't follow that trend, you may very well be looked down upon. Within a playlist, if the volume of a song is much lower than that of other songs, chances are the listener will just skip it, especially if they don't know it well and like it a lot. Yet, it would be so easy to simply raise the volume..

Here, the Wave Arts limiter FinalPlug is set with a threshold of -6 dB and a ceiling of -0.1 dB. This means that when the sound level reaches -6 dB, the signal will be boosted up to -0.1 dB. Release is set to Auto.
Here's the sound obtained with the limiter FinalPlug:


(mp3 file)
Wave Arts FinalPlug
Here is the dynamics measured after applying the limiter, at the same position in the song as the previous screenshot:
TT Dynamic Range Meter
As you can see, the RMS level goes from about -15 dB to about -9 dB, which corresponds to the 6 dB added with the limiter.
As for the dynamics range, it is reduced by about 3 dB, but we maintain around 10 dB.

Wave Arts FinalPlug is a commercial plugin. As an alternative, you may want to use the Classic Master Limiter from Kjaerhus.

Download Classic Master Limiter
(classic_master-limiter_v106.zip, 356 KB)


And with a free plugin...

Classic Master Limiter from Kjaerhus is a good limiter, very simple to use as there is only one knob. The only setting is the threshold. There is no ceiling setting, but it is in fact predefined to -0.2 dB. The sound obtained is slightly different from Wave Arts limiter's, but the difference is not that huge.
Here is the sound obtained with the Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter:


(mp3 file)


Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
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CONCLUSION

Voilà... this tutorial is over. Mastering was the last stage.

From the begining, we went from...

a sound recorded in the box, with no effects:


(mp3 file)


We got to this version after mixing:


(mp3 file)


And obtained this final result after mastering:


(mp3 file)


Remember that this tutorial is not a magic formula that should be strictly followed all the time, with all songs of all genres. Mainly because it is not perfect, but also because there are many possible ways to mix a song to get various results. Finally, because each music, each song must be treated differently. Some plugins are useful for some songs and not for others, settings will need to change, etc.

I hope that with this tutorial, you understand better - if it wasn't already the case - how to mix a project, how to organize it, what is the purpose of the various plugins we used, how to set them, why you should use an EQ, a reverb, a compressor...

There are tons of other things to find out and learn, by yourself, with other people, through the Internet, this is a vast subject. Everyone has their habits, their hints and tips, but there's always more than one solution to a problem. Don't forget that the best way to improve your skills is to practice, again and again. So, experiment and have fun!!!

Mixing in practice : Preparing the session | Bass | Drums | Rhythm guitars | Solo guitars | Keyboards | Vocals | Mastering
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MESSAGES

(laisser un message)

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aissa
le 27/01/2013 à 14h24

Bonjour,

Je suis chanteur de reggae et rappeur, j'aurais voulu connaître vos tarifs pour l'enregistrement de quelques titres à moi.

Je souhaiterais faire la prise de voix plus le mix.

Je suis habitué au studio. Faites-vous des tarifs à la journée ?

Cordialement.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

<em>Bonjour Aissa,

Merci de votre confiance, mais je ne suis pas un professionnel. Je n'ai pas de studio, simplement un home studio dans une pièce de mon appartement.
Je me contente de faire mes propres enregistrements, à l'occasion je bosse avec quelques potes pour leur filer un coup de main, mais ce n'est pas mon métier !
Et puis je n'ai jamais mixé de reggae ou de rap, alors je m'en voudrais de faire mal les choses dans un style que je ne maîtrise pas. Je vous conseille de vous tourner vers un studio pro spécialisé dans votre style, il doit être possible d'en trouver des pas trop chers.

Grebz</em>



Veji
le 22/01/2013 à 02h42

Which particular Redwirez impulses
1)which mic(sm57/r121/421 etc)
2)distance(0''/0.5''/1''/2'')
3)cap/cone capedge etc
are your favorites for distortion and clean?

Also do you use the bass with shb-1 w/impulses or without?

Thanks

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

<em>Hello again Veji,

Concerning the SHB-1 bass amp sim, I find it very usable with and without impulses. Depends on the sound you want to get. The sound is brighter without impulses, deeper with impulses. It also depends on the tone you select on your bass when recording, on the settings you have in SHB-1 and on the impulse you pick.

I also sometimes don't use any amp sim for the bass track, leaving only the direct sound if it fits the song.

Or you can have one bass track with direct sound only, and a second bass track (a copy of the direct track) with an amp sim. Mixing the 2 can bring you the qualities of each, but it could also blur your bass sound. You need to try various possibilities and see (or hear) for yourself. Each song is different, so don't think you got it set once and for all. You probably need to make adjustments and try different combinations every time.

Now about the Redwirez impulses:
It's pretty damn difficult to tell you which impulses sound best. You probably won't use the same impulses if you play Metal songs or Rock'n Rollish songs. I am pretty sure that ACDC, Marilyn Manson, the Beatles, Oasis, Nirvana, Opeth, Metallica, Muse and Radiohead don't use the same gear.

It might be a good idea to try and find out what gear your favorite bands use and pick something similar, if that's their music genre you want to play.

As for me, I often use Vox AC30, because I love the Vox sound. That's my favorite.
But I also use Orange impulses, Engl Pro, Marshall 1960 as second choices.
Soldano, Bogner Uberkab and Mesa Rectifier from time to time.

For bass cabs, I try them all and change frequently. I don't have one favorite in particular. I have 4 impulse collections from Redwirez for bass: 2 Ampegs, Aquilar and Hartke cabs. They all have different qualities.

About the microphones and their positionning: most of the time, I use 2 impulses per guitar track.
My starting point is one R121 mic, CapEdge, 4'', and one SM57 mic, Cap, 0''. I found this combination to be pretty complementary, and it gives me a sound I'm immediately satisfied with. But it's not perfect every single time.
From that starting point, I will try to change the distances a bit until I find THE perfect combination (to my ears). Could be R121 at 2'' instead of 4, or CapOffAxis instead of Cap, etc.
It can be very time-consuming, it takes a bit of trials and errors, but if you want to reach your goal, that is to get THE sound you like, you have to go through this.

I also use my own impulses, particularly the Vox AC4 impulses, which sound pretty good, I'm proud :-)

Also note that the guitar you use will make a difference. My main guitar is a Fender Stratocaster, but a friend of mine lent me his Tokai Les Paul, and so my impulse settings need to be different, because these guitars sound different.

I also use Neumann U87 impulses, 421 or 414 mics... Really, I try a lot of things and it takes time.
Oh... and you have to try it in context. I mean, if you try various impulses while listening to your soloed guitar track, you will find a great sounding impulse combination, but when you play all the tracks together with all instruments, you will find that your combination doesn't sound so great anymore.

Have fun,

Grebz</em>



Chochel
le 20/01/2013 à 07h40

J'ai tenté L'UCG 102 Behringer + AC Box Combo soi-disant facile, résultat : pas un son... Énervé, j'ai découvert Studio de Grebz.

Ma question :
Est-ce que j'oublie l'UCG102 ?
Quel montage serait le plus aisé et le plus simple pour un premier essai ? Le combo Marshall ?

Par la suite, je tenterai des montages plus sophistiqués.

Cordialement,
JP



Veji
le 19/01/2013 à 15h50

Hi,
What are your top 5 best amp plugins and top 5 best cab impulses?
Also can you send me the recabinet 2... I can't find it anymore.
Thanks

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

<em>
Hi,

My favorite amp plugins for guitar are:
 - Ignite Amps' NRR1 (free product).
 - TSE's X50 (free product).
 - Kuassa's Amplifikation Creme (retail product), US$ 34. Only emulates one amp, but the sound you get is fantastic.
 - Overloud's TH2 (retail product), much more expensive - US$ 197 - but it emulates several real amps.

And for bass :
 - Ignite Amps' SHB1
 - Helian's 1st Bass or 2nd Bass (free products), which sound the same to me.

As for impulses, I use only Redwirez' impulses (retail products) which in my opinion are the ones that sound best of all the impulses I've tested so far. They're not free, but they're really unexpensive. The first cab impulses you buy will cost you US$9, then the more you buy, the more discount you get for the next impulses. And you can pick only the impulses you are interested in.

I cannot send you Recabinet's impulses, they are a discontinued retail product. They have been replaced by Recabinet 3, which cost only US$ 19.99 at the moment. That's quite a bargain, even though I think that Recabinet's impulses are not as good as Redwirez'. Your choice.

Finally, I am not sending any retail product to anyone. On my site, I make a large collection of free products available (amp sims, impulse loaders and impulses) for anyone to download, but I am not giving away any commercial products.

Cheers,
Grebz
</em>



Jak2112
le 08/01/2013 à 18h38

Salut !
Tout d'abord, félicitations et merci pour ce super site que je viens de découvrir et qui est très utile, notamment pour ceux qui débutent comme moi dans la MAO.
Donc en ce moment j'explore et je teste, mais j'ai un petit problème : je n'arrive pas à lire les extraits que vous proposez pour illustrer les différents plugins et logiciels ; le petit lecteur indique : Liste vide ! Peut-être ai-je oublié une manip en route ou autre ? Si vous pouviez m'aider ce serait super.
Merci d'avance et encore bravo !
Cordialement.
Jak2112

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

<em>Bonjour, et merci !

En ce qui concerne le problème de lecture des extraits... il s'agit de lecteurs Flash, il peut donc y avoir des problèmes de compatibilité avec certains navigateurs.

De plus, si vous utilisez un système Apple, sachez qu'Apple a décidé (unilatéralement) de bannir Flash de ses machines, donc impossible de lire quoi que ce soit en Flash avec un iPad par exemple ou un iPhone. Pour les ordinateurs Mac, je ne sais pas trop, je n'ai pas eu l'occasion d'essayer, mais je crois avoir lu que c'était possible en téléchargeant le plugin Flash Player, comme sur PC. En ce qui concerne Linux, j'ai lu que seul le navigateur Chrome proposait la compatibilité Flash.

Entre parenthèses, il vaut mieux que vous soyez sur PC si vous comptez télécharger des choses sur mon site, parce que je ne propose que des plugins pour PC. Je suis moi-même utilisateur PC, donc je ne connais pas l'univers Mac ou Linux. Rien de sectaire, mais je suis un simple particulier, je ne peux pas m'occuper de tout, donc je m'occupe de ce que je connais uniquement ! Mais utiliser un Mac pour faire de la MAO est une excellente chose, aucun doute là-dessus. Après, tout est question de préférence et d'affinités. Fin de la parenthèse.

Si vous êtes sur PC avec Windows, il n'y a pas de raison que vous ne puissiez pas lire les extraits, à moins que votre navigateur Internet soit trop ancien, donc pas à jour ou incompatible, mais tous ceux que je connais fonctionnent bien. J'ai testé avec Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera et Safari, et mon site fonctionne bien avec chacun d'entre eux.

Ce que je vais faire, c'est essayer de proposer systématiquement de télécharger les extraits sonores en version mp3, ce qui permettra à tout le monde de pouvoir quand même les écouter même lorsque le lecteur Flash ne fonctionne pas. Il va me falloir un peu de temps pour mettre tout ça en place, mais je vais le faire rapidement, promis.

Grebz</em>

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