home mastering

i use t-racks

What I been doing recently is bouncing seperate tracks down in and mastering in my sequencer (Cubase, but any one will do). Just run your mastering plugins on the output channel and if you decide some levels still need tweaking or whatever everything’s still right there.

I start with an eq with a low cut at around 50hz. Next comes 3 compressors with the threshold set at about -2 (assuming the mix is peaking @ just under 0db), a long attack @ release and about +2db gain on each one (making sure they aren’t clipping).
Then comes the sonic maximizer (best used subtly) to enhance the highs & tighten the bass.
Last comes a maximiser.

Often a multiband compressor can help tighten things up (probably after the eq) but for me this is just trial & error, quite hard to get your head around!
It’s also very useful to use a spectrum analyser at the end of the chain. Use this (and your ears!) to compare your mix with a reference track (ie something of similar style & great production). I Experiment freely with the order but leave the maximiser at the end of the chain.
Using 3 compressors may seem like overkill but 3 compressors used subtly sounds much better than one used hard. Here’s the link I got this tip (and many others) from:
[url:3fiufz5h]http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_xtreme_processing/[/url:3fiufz5h]

[quote:29k8l4w9]tim.gosden: Sounds good Yob, only thing is that using a high pass filter at 50hz will mean you lose the very low end. Your ears can hear down to around 20-30hz. [/quote:29k8l4w9]

The thing is that most high pass filters have a slope of 12db per octave (meaning that 25hz will be -12db, 12.5hz will be -24db, etc) so a cutoff at 50hz will still let through enough sub bass for most purposes. Doing this will produce a mix that will still sound OK on small speakers but will still shake the room on a PA.

To add to that, if you use a spectrum/frequency analyzer [I think Voxengo make a free one] you can check exactly what your EQ and filters do!

Tim

SYN wrote:

I won’t deny that.

I will. You can do up a GOOD home mastering setup for $2000-5000. It’s all about the organization, layout, and arrangement. Also, the equipment used helps. Obviously you’re not going to get a good sound out of built-in AC’97 audio, or a cheap-o soundcard, but a nice higher-end sound card(or better yet digital audio signal) will give good quality, and true signal processing with almost no noticable loss of quality.

As for plugins, I’d say it’s entirely up to preference, but for the most part mastering is subjective. It’s up to the person in charge of how they think it should sound. You can use absolute shite plugins and say that’s how it’s supposed to sound – that’s part of the track, and that’s how it was supposed to be mastered. Hell, for some Hardcore tracks, clipping audio is part of the game.

-Rob

Of course not, seeing as I have no idea who those people are.