Do you use your DAW's mastering features or a separate plug-in?

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Andy Howell

In terms of self-mastering I think the most important thing is to give yourself some space and time to go back to the stereo track afresh.

I find it harder to nail the master on something I've mixed because it's difficult to listen to a song globally (if that's the right word) after spending so much concentrating on individual details. I'd need a relatively long stretch of time and a few projects in between for my brain and ears to make that listening adjustment. Essentially, I'd have to wait long enough to have forgotten much of what I did when mixing.

[BoneDigger]

Mastering is a huge issue for me but I usually use Ozone for my Mastering.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Andy Howell

In terms of self-mastering I think the most important thing is to give yourself some space and time to go back to the stereo track afresh.

Then you should be looking at small changes. I don't have any specific 'mastering' plugins but I tend to rely on these:

Fab Filter ProQ3 — inlcudes mid side and dyamic eq which is great for finishing;

Dynone — multiband compressor — I can't speak more highly of this. It works always in parallel which is really subtle — some great mastering presets to start with — deals with problems I can'f fix elsewhere;

Eventide SP reverb — again easy to use in very moderate doses;

I use two limiters. Primarily I use Fab Filter L2 which is very good and easy to use. I also use Barricade 4 which is ridiculous good value for money.

The only tip I will give is that — sometimes on very dynamic music — it is a good idea to use two limiters in sequence with modest limiting rather than one with greater limiting.

Finally, you cna't go wrong with the Youlean metering system which even in its free version is probabnly all you will need.

Thanks for the feedback Andy and the references to what you are using. We need to have a new term around here - PIAS (Plug-In Acquisition Syndrome). There seem to be so many good ones available for mixing and mastering.

So regarding your workflow, would you not consider the EQ, compression, and reverb steps above part of your mixing process?

Then the application of the limiters where you are shaping your volume levels is the mastering process?

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I find it harder to nail the master on something I've mixed because it's difficult to listen to a song globally (if that's the right word) after spending so much concentrating on individual details. I'd need a relatively long stretch of time and a few projects in between for my brain and ears to make that listening adjustment. Essentially, I'd have to wait long enough to have forgotten much of what I did when mixing.

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

Mastering is a huge issue for me but I usually use Ozone for my Mastering.

I believe both of you do a lot of recording with multiple instruments and vocals so I can really appreciate where you are coming from here. My task is solo acoustic, much less daunting for sure.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

I believe both of you do a lot of recording with multiple instruments and vocals so I can really appreciate where you are coming from here. My task is solo acoustic, much less daunting for sure.

True. We are taming different beasts.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Andy Howell

In terms of self-mastering I think the most important thing is to give yourself some space and time to go back to the stereo track afresh.

Then you should be looking at small changes. I don't have any specific 'mastering' plugins but I tend to rely on these:

Fab Filter ProQ3 — inlcudes mid side and dyamic eq which is great for finishing;

Dynone — multiband compressor — I can't speak more highly of this. It works always in parallel which is really subtle — some great mastering presets to start with — deals with problems I can'f fix elsewhere;

Eventide SP reverb — again easy to use in very moderate doses;

I use two limiters. Primarily I use Fab Filter L2 which is very good and easy to use. I also use Barricade 4 which is ridiculous good value for money.

The only tip I will give is that — sometimes on very dynamic music — it is a good idea to use two limiters in sequence with modest limiting rather than one with greater limiting.

Finally, you cna't go wrong with the Youlean metering system which even in its free version is probabnly all you will need.

A great point in there, especially with more complex mixes: If the master attempts aren't producing the results you're aiming for, it may be time to do a new mix. One of the lovely things about working with modern computer DAWs is that a new mix is trivial to try. Frankly, if it wasn't for me rapid production schedule and comfort with "close enough for folk-music" I should sometimes re-track too.

Those who master at the final stereo bus while mixing of course can do this while "Mastering" as mixing and "Mastering" are the same to them. As I've explained upthread, I like to keep the mastering a separate, stand-alone process as I believe (maybe only a psychological trick I play on myself) that I want to concentrate on the final blended thing and the expected listeners experience of that without changing mindset to "you know the keyboard part should come up in the choruses, and then down in verses" or "the drums need more cowbell.*"

*Insert Will Farrell/SNL reference in your own mind.

[Rudy4]

I played a bit with mastering plug ins in the past, but I quickly figured out that all the adjustable parameters were simply too much to try and figure out for myself. I love playing music and just didn't want to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out "mastering". I know the basics, but really only enough to be truly dangerous.

There's a reason why most recordists opt to send their work out to someone who will offer a fresh set of ears and considerable experience for the mastering task.

Simple solo guitar recording would be an exception, needing little to spruce them up. Perhaps as little as EQ, riding levels, and normalizing final mixes.

One thing that you need to take into consideration is that "mastering" is usually done at the end phase of a recording project and one objective is to tie several songs together in a continual project so the entire recording canbe listened to without abrupt changes from track to track.

The one thing I tried with mastering plugs was to audition "pre-sets" and simply listen to the results. If you find that you like what you hear then you can look at the mastering plug settings to see what contributed to the sound you liked.

I've done a few CD recordings for bands and provided them with mixes that I applied mastering plugs on with the caveat that I DID NOT know what I was doing, only applying pre-sets and using my own judgement as to what sounded good.

In those cases they opted to send mixes off for mastering, and I'm glad they did!

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

Just curious. I use Reaper as my DAW. I downloaded the Elements version of the Izotope mastering plug-in Ozone 9 ($19). My first pass with it was less than impressive but I need to work with it some more.

The standard and advanced versions of Ozone have impressive features but wonder if it's overkill for mastering acoustic solo guitar beyond what Reaper offers.

I actually do mastering professionally. I've looked into just about everything out there...but have settled on doing it within Pro Tools with a tried & true signal chain I have tweaked over the years. A lot of it was once hardware, now it's mostly plugins.

I was unimpressed with Ozone Advanced, which I bought. It's probably fine if you're just trying to get things to a target loudness value, but, in my testing, the "mastering assistant" missed issues and really didn't do much to help the mix.

To each their own, I guess, but I would venture to say that there could be a lot of benefits to having a professional master done to a solo acoustic guitar. It's not just hitting target levels. There is an art to mastering that goes beyond just levels. It's about impact & emotion...and delivering that in the most translatable way possible.

[Doug Young]

Bob, not sure if you've come across this ancient demo of mine, but a decade ago, after I'd released one of my CDs, I put together this demo showing each step of how I mixed 1 track and then what happened after I sent the track out for mastering. Kind of funny to watch, since other than Logic, I use almost nothing I mention in this video anymore - I guess that's good, hopefully I've made progress since then in some way, or at least am trying different things. But I think this touches on some things from this thread as well as some others I've seen you ask about. I've changed the gear I use since then, and I'd like to think I get a better sound these days, but I'd say the basic approach remains pretty much the same for me.

[j3ffr0]

I got the Ozone Elements in bundle of Izotope stuff not too long ago. I tried it for a rough pre-master of a finger style tune. It is pretty cool, but I did an a/b with what I would do on my own with some eq and limiting plugins and I preferred what I came up with (it was a little more gentle, I think) I haven't tried it for a tune with full instrumentation yet, but I might next time I do one of those.

[shufflebeat]

Lots of answers here:

Website
Ian Shepherd, mastering.

And podcast
The Mastering Show.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Get it to where you like the sound in the DAW and export the music to a wav or other uncompressed audio file type.

That's pretty much what I do, then it's just "mix down."