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Final Master - The BIG Question
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| muzikislife |
Hi all
I have a simple question...
During the mastering stage, what do you guys put on your tracks ?
I normally include an exciter, EQ And multiband.
I heard that reverb goes well on a final master and it also warms up the track creating a bit of space in the mix.
Please let me know how you guys go about this.
Thanks |
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| Mr.Mystery |
| I punch up the volume slightly and normalize. That's it. |
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| BOOsTER |
well on the final you can use kinda anything...here even more than anywhere else pays the rule "what sounds good! Is GOOD!"
the other thing you mentioned...reverb...you should be very subtle with it on the master and really know how to work with it...my advice would be to leave that out...most of the time it doesn't work that well...
exciters...one thing to consider...for example a vocal that you after recording it de-essed...so the sibilants will not be hard on ears might loose this effect and the sibilants in vocal will your mix up...that applies on distorded guitars, hats, hissy synths etc...
an EQ might be a good friend, but you don't have to put it there always "if it sounds good, it's good" and there's no rule telling you, that you should boost basses or treble...nothing like that so do what you like and what sounds good to you...and preferably to AR's or some pros too.
sometimes a mastering compressor can do wonders and it can "tighten up" your mix...sometimes I just use it on the lowest band like from 30-150 hz and use kinda similar settings as I would use to compress kick and bass together and that clear the mix up.
Multiband compression is a different thing though, it's better usable just to balance your mix and get it kinda "glued together" or how to say it, hope you understand...
the last thing in your master bus should be (but doesn't necessarily have to be) a limiter/maximizer so you can bring up your overall volume to -0.3db (which is "industry standard" sort of...many use -0.1, -0.2...)
What I use sometimes too is a stereo enhancer which can go to minus part of enhancing...so it makes the input more "mono". Actually what worked for most of my tracks was to "monoize" the low-end with this let the middle bands go as they like and widen up the high end really much.
That should be about it...that's just my thoughts no rules, I'm in no way saying I'm an expert this is just what I like to do sometimes...now...someone with a longer reply come flame me :) |
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| LENG |
| i would use an eq, and in my case, a fruity eq. just some slight overall support. i try not to compress the end product tho. |
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| Effero |
Depends on your mix...
If you need to alter the tonal balance, use linear eq, if the mix needs to be tighter, compress.
Parallel compression is your best friend here since at this stage you can add reverb or eq massively the parallel track.
Try not to use multiband or normalize. Multiband is used only in extreme cases when remix is not possible. Make sure that your final mix sounds great and then go into the mastering stage.
This is a process that's very finicky and better left in the hands of a professional. If you'd still like to do it yourself, be careful not to destroy the sound of a final mix.
Effero |
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| LENG |
| yeah... i agree with effero. that's why i never tried to compress it in the final mix. i found out that if you have your stuffs done right in the 1st place, it won't need much fixing in the final mix. |
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| DigiNut |
No, actually, the final master is not the "big question". It is a very, very small question, with an answer that's different for every track.
I definitely wouldn't suggest reverb on the master of an electronic track. Exciters aren't a great idea either. EQ is fine, assuming you know what you're doing with it (just putting an EQ there does nothing unless you actually, well, EQ it). |
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| Alex Petelin |
| Depends on the sound you're going for, and on your mixing skills/habits. My tracks generally need a big boost around 2-5 khz (on all instruments), just because that's how I compose. I do like the multiband (LinMB from Waves), when used carefully. Reverb? I try it and if it sounds good I leave it. That's all. |
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