Hi, my name is Bobby Owsinski and I am the author of The Mastering Engineer’s Handbook, as well as these other best selling books in recording and music.
I’m going to show you how to do your own mastering with the help of IK Multimedia’s T-RackS mastering software. First of all, let’s take a look at what mastering really is.
Mastering is the process of turning a collection of songs into a record by making them sound like they belong together in tone, volume and timing or the space in between songs, as well as making any final editing fixes. A project that’s been mastered sounds complete, polished and finished.
The usual mastering signal chain has the EQ first to adjust the total balance, then a compressor to raise a relative level, then finally a brick wall limiter. The limiter is always the last in the chain no matter how many other devices you add, and in which order because it stops any digitals overs from happening.
We’re going to use my favorite mastering package T-RackS 3 Deluxe as an example. I like T-RackS because it can be used as a stand along app on a desktop, as well as plug-in in your workstation. It also has all the features needed for a professional mastering job.
EQuing is usually the place that gets engineers who are mastering their own mixes in trouble. There’s a tendency that over compensate with the EQ adding huge amounts usually in the bottom end that wrecks the frequency balance of the song completely. Listen to other songs that you like first before you even touch and EQ parameter. The more songs you listen to the better. You need a reference point to compare it to and listening to other songs will prevent you from over EQuing.
A second rule is, a little goes a long way. If you feel that you need to add more than 2 or 3 db you’re better off to remix. That’s what the pros do. It’s not uncommon at all for a pro mastering engineer to call up a mixer and tell him where he’s off and ask him to do it again.
The compressor is where you get your gain from. Set the ratio at 2 or 3 to 1 with only about 2 or 3 db of gain reduction. Then increase the level of the program to the desired amount by increasing the output level of the compressor.
If you’re mastering for CD’s set the master level on a limiter to -.1 or -.2 db to contain the peaks and avoid digital overs. If you’re going to be exporting MP3’s, setting it to -1.1 or -1.2 db might actually be better since many MP3 encoders output a db hot. Be careful not to over compress or over limit your song because this can lead to hypercompression. Instead of making a song louder hypercompression sucks all the dynamics out of it making it lifeless and fatiguing to listen to.
Here’s an example of a wave formed of a hit song from 1985. Here’s that same song when it was reissued in 1990. Here it is again in 1995. Notice how much hotter the wave form is. Here is that same song in 2000, notice how the wave formed are beginning to clip. And here it is again in 2005, look at how there’s no dynamic left. This is what you want to stay away from.
So remember, if you’re mastering yourself stay away from large EQ boost. If you feel that you have to add a lot of EQ you’re better off remixing. Constantly compare your mastering job to other songs that you like the sound of. T-RackS make this pretty easy with its A/B function. Concentrate in making all the songs sound the same in relative level. This is one of the key operations in mastering. The idea is to get to them to all sound like they are the same volume. It’s pretty common for mixes to sound different from song to song even if they are done by the same mixer with the same gear. But it’s your job to make the listener think that the songs were all done on the same day on the same way. Finish the songs by editing out count-offs and glitches, fixing fades and creating spreads for CD’s and final records.
In the next video we’ll show some examples of how to use T-RackS to do your own mastering.
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