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FX, FX order, and Mastering info
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| FuzzyGreen |
I have been reading a lot about mastering and general effects order lately and wanted to post what I've learned, if anyone has anything more to add (or correct) please do so.
Sonic Maximizer
You should usually add a sonic maximizer before any other effect to a solo track. For instance, if you add it after a reverb, it will maximizer the reverb tails and make it sound fake.
A maximizer adds harmonics and distorts the signal (though in a clean way), for this reason adding it after other effects could cause nasty distortion or boosting of certain frequencies too much.
For mastering a Maximizer should be last in your chain because you should have already gotten rid of any boosted frequencies by EQ'ing and compressing during your mastering session.
Distortion
In general distortion, like the maximizer should be used first in line on a solo track. But, since we are always looking for new and interesting sounds for our synths you could experiement it in other places in the effect order and see what strange effect distorting a long reverb tail (VERY unnatural) or a boosted frequency go nuts.
EQ
Since we usually have pretty high quality DAWs here (being all digital with plug-ins(no A/D conversion) our tracks tend to be very bright with boosted frequencies and harmonics all over the place. This usually sounds great when you're listening to a solo track, but when you mix these tracks together you get mud. Listen to a PVD track, listen to how punchy his kick and bass is. This is because he rolls off the low frequencies from other tracks that don't need to be there (like the lead,snare,hi-hats,arps). Basically he has the bass taking up the bass frequencies and nothing else, the kick having anything less then 100, maybe more, rolled off. No other tracks are below around 250hz. In general you want to roll off all frequencies from all tracks below 80hz(gradual roll off with nothing below 40hz). You will be suprized how great your song will start sounding when you clean up the bass eqs.
Highs I haven't been able to find much information on, but in my own experience and experimentation adding *a little eq(like 3-5db in the 7000-15000hz range) to the hi-hats can make them sound really crisp. Snare the same thing but a little lower.
You shouldn't need to really notch any frequencies unless you need to fix a problem in your track (like a filter sweep that has an area of nasty loud resonance). Also, keep in mind that your compression will also flatten out stuff for you so you're just looking to make sure each track has it's own place in the mix.
Get a Pro audio CD(NOT AN MP3!!!) by an artist you like that has really great sounding mastering and study where they place each instrument in the mix. I'm not a big PVD fan, but I must say that his recordings seem to have the highest quality out of all trance CD's. Most psy-trance CD's also seem to have great mastering quality. Way Out West comes to mind also. Compare their mix to yours.
Compression/multiband/Limiting
Probably the most important effect that you can use is the compressor. If you had a theoretical perfect compressor you wouldn't have to EQ your tracks at all. All the tracks would compress the correct frequencies perfectly and your mix would come together like a nice flat puzzle. But they aren't perfect and don't have a brain with ears so....
You will get nice results compressing most tracks on their own. Play with the compressor settings and you can get cool "breathing" effects that are popular in a lot of dance music (James Holden ahem).
A compressor works by "compressing" everything above a certain threshold db. You adjust how much compression by changing the ratio and threshold. 2:1 at -14db will compress everything above -14 by 2:1 so now everything in your track above -14db will have it's volume lowered by 1/2 so you can hear more of the quieter parts of the track and less of the "loud" parts effectively flattening the sound out. Most compressors will also automatically do a gain adjust to raise the overall volume of the track since it will be quieter. The result is a perceived louder track with less dynamics. Want to hear music that has tons of compression? Listen to the rock band Aerosmith (yuk), they have so much compression that thier songs have absolutely zero dynamics (you can't hear any volume differences between the instruments, the lead guitar is just as loud as the hi-hat, the snare is just as loud as the bass, ect...).
A limiter works as a compressor set at the ratio 1:infinity. If you limit a track to -0.5db everything above -0.5 will be compressed so much that nothing will go above -0.5db in the track. Limiters work great if you want to avoid going over zero db and getting nasty digital distortion in your tracks/songs. They also work great as hardware devices as a way to avoid blowing your speakers in your studio.
Final Mastering effect order
In general, you would want to master with the following order:
DC offset adjust (makes all your waves centered properly and helps your mp3 quality a lot since the mpeg compression wont be cutting off frequencies you need)
EQ
Compression
EQ again to fix any problems compresson caused
Limiter
sonic maximizer (if needed and on a low setting)
Have fun and I want to hear some quality productions now!
This information comes from articles I've read in Keyboard magazine, on-line internet forums, some books I've read, Electronic Musician magazine, and my own experience and experimentation, your results may vary and I suggest researching the subject since it's more involved then this simple explanation. |
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| Limit |
One thing to keep in mind is that for the final eq'ing if you need it that is(probably will) you should use a parametric EQ since it can be more responsive and target just the right freaquencies. One thing I'd like to add is in the part about eqing the high hats. going to 15000hz is a bit much...I think that 8000 to 10000hz range is about what is needed nothing more than that..going any higher can cause too much brightness. And if your going to set up a chain of plug-ins there's no sense in having an eq before a compressor..all thats gonna do is let the compressor try to bring up the freaquencies that are eq'ed(or rolled off)...thats what I have read in a lot of mastering articles and books...and have noticed it myself too.
Great stuff you've got down there by the way!
Limit Out! |
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| Vizay |
well there's not just one way to do mastering and soundengineering the right way...you can do it in many different ways :)
what I don't agree with you about is putting a maximizer in the beginning of every FX chain that you have on an instrument...
a maximizer is basicly a compressor and as many of you might know, much compression = a flat and dull sound without any dynamics at all...
shure, it makes mastering and mixing easier in the end but the track won't have any dynamics at all...
when I work with the fx I try to stay of compressors as much as possible just to keep the sound as alive and dynamic as possible, if it needs compression in the mastering then I compress it but It's not a necesity to compress the track when youre mastering...
if the track aint clipping and it sounds good then stay off the compressor, trust your ears, if it sounds good then it is good :)
now this is just as I work so don't take what I say (or what fuzzy said) as a bible or something like that, it's just a help on the way :)
and btw. fuzzy, great stuff you posted even though I don't agree with it all...you have some very good points in your post :)
if you want to check out a good forum for mastering then check out the recpit at prosoundweb.com, brad blackwoods part of the forum is about mastering and a lot of pro mastering engineers post there...
and when I say pro I mean pro like "hello, I've mastered the top three songs on the UK mainstream charts" and the like :)
many really good engineers posts there :) |
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| FuzzyGreen |
Yes, I do believe you are correct about that hi-hat eq boost. Your range sounds more appropriate.
As for the eq before the compressor, look at it this way:
The compressor wont adjust all the levels equally, unless you are using a super high ratio would it do that. So it wont negate your eq'ing, only lower it's effectiveness. For instance, if you eq out 6db from a loud snare at 2000hz which now has -10dm total volume and your compressor is set at 3:1 at -12db only the loudest 2db of the snare will now be lowered (flattened out) and the rest of that frequency range would be uneffected. Before eq'ing that snare would be -4db and would have 8db compressed. 8db of compression will be louder then 2db of compression unless your using some super high ratio. So the snare will be lower in the mix if you eq first. But you are still somewhat correct, the compressor will flatten it out for the most part.
Another thing I learned that I forgot to mention is a good rule for EQ'ing. A rule that I learned awhile ago is to try and remove rather then add. Some people will over boost with the eq when they should just remove the opposite frequencies. Boosting can possibly add distortion and it will raise the noise floor (signal to noise ratio of the source recording)of their track and the final mix.
Oh, and did I mention good monitors? all of this mastering wont do much for you if you are playing it back on a stereo with the loudness button on and the eq all tweaked. Double check every mix with a good pair of headphones too. Sony VR6's!!!!!
:crazy: |
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| Vizay |
| although you should know that many of the pro mastering engineers preferrs to master in a pair of high quality hi-fi speakers and in a non-studio room :) |
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| FuzzyGreen |
Thanks for the link Vizay! that's exactly the type of site I've been looking for!
IMO you are right about using the maximizer, I personally only maximize my leads (a litte) and the final mix (Very little). Too much maximizer and it starts to sound like you cut out the middle section of the song or something.
I do disagree with you about the compression. From my experience the only way to get a great punchy bass and powerfull kick is to compress the song plus individual tracks (though not go crazy). Not only will the song be perceptively louder, it will play back better on crappy systems. Of course this is a matter of opinion and everyone has their own taste. I would like to see how a pro mastering engineer handles their compressors I bet they have a few tricks up their sleeves along with $20,000 optical multiband comps.
BTW, if you haven't tried the PSP vintage Warmer plug-in I HIGHLY suggest it. It's a multiband compressor that adds analog drive. It's a gift from God. |
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| Vizay |
I actually think I have the psp somewhere around here just lying there....heard it's good as hell :)
well as for the compression...when it comes to the kick and bass-sounds your'e absolutley right, I forgot to mention that I almost always compress them. Why I do that is simply to get that tight but still clean sound :)
of cpurse you can go with compression on all sounds as long as you do it very gentle, what I don't like is the risc of squashing the mixdown before it even comes to the mastering...imo it's easier to limit the whole mixdown with a compressor :)
although if you find it hard to compress the whole mixdown it might be a very good idea to go in and compress a single instrument before you do the whole compression because one synth or bassline or whatever can it up pretty good if it's not so well blended with the rest of the mix :)
again this is just my 5 cents about it all, I'm not trying to tell anyone that I'm right and everyone else's wrong...it's just my view of it all :) |
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| Limit |
| well i say that a good multi band compressor is needed in the end most of the time....and that was told to me by a mastering engineer "pro' as you say. About the mastering on a good set of Hi-Fi's I really don't think that is possible as masterig engineers like to know every frequency front to back in the mix and hear what it it doing. personally I'v never seen or heard of a "pro" engineer mastering on a set of hi-fi's?? Maybe they use them too(for reference) as well as a good pair of NS10's or whatever they like. |
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| Vizay |
well I guess they still need monitors as you say to hear what's going on exactly.
I was told that the reason for using regular speakers while doing it was simply because they wanted to hear how it will sound but I guess I muissunderstood it a little (when I read my last post afterwards I heard how silly it sounded :))
and as for the compressor in the end...well that's probably a personal thing...some people use it there always and some people just use it when they think it's really needed. |
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| Limit |
| Yep your right...there are to many ways to go about mastring a track and a tonne of tricks to learn. I just think for me I like to have the multiband compressor in the end just to clean up a little. Also something that kicks some serious ass but I don't use it anymore is the waves L2...use this as the final touch on the mix....Also another good option is to do 2 mixes...one with compression and the otehr without like you do Vizay. Then master them both and see what sounds better to you. Just an option not a must. |
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| Vizay |
well first of all I want to make one thing clear...I do use compression but not always :)
I just use it when I feel I need to use it...otherwise I stay off it :)
although it's a bit of hipocracy(spelling?) from my side to say that I doesn't always use a compressor since I nine of ten times use the L2 to finalize the mastering and L2 just as any other limiter is a kind of compressor :)
difference is that I use the L2 to crank the volume up instead of "flatening" out the track :) |
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| hey cheggy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Limit
well i say that a good multi band compressor is needed in the end most of the time....and that was told to me by a mastering engineer "pro' as you say. About the mastering on a good set of Hi-Fi's I really don't think that is possible as masterig engineers like to know every frequency front to back in the mix and hear what it it doing. personally I'v never seen or heard of a "pro" engineer mastering on a set of hi-fi's?? Maybe they use them too(for reference) as well as a good pair of NS10's or whatever they like. |
I think what he meant was that people doing mastering don't use near fields. I have read that from pro's as well. I don't know if "hi-fi" is the best word to describe the speakers they use though. |
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