Your mastering setup

[EnochLight]

Clearly you're to be avoided.

Brilliant! We're finally on the same page. Have a great life.

[SA Studio]

It really is like dealing with someone who got bullied or abused a lot as kid = You can't help but do it back to someone else as an adult.

I'm not going to NOT post or share info around here out of fear of being bullied or trolled by you, either. When you said you blocked me here, I thought you meant it. When I saw I could see your post, I thought you were over it. Guess not.

[EnochLight]

It really is like dealing with someone who got bullied or abused a lot as kid

Nope. Actually, I had a fantastic childhood. But really, just stop engaging. You and I will be much better off, as will everyone else. No need to drag the drama out.

And I do have you blocked here, but you must have missed the part where I stated earlier "I regret pressing the 'show post' button.." I still regret it, and keep on regretting it.

[The_G]

So...mastering software.

[SA Studio]

So...mastering software.

Exactly.

To the OP and anyone else, I hope you find those videos useful.

Don't be the guy that immediately calls someone else an ego-freak or a narcissist just because you can't do something like they do. Dont be the guy sitting behind your computer drinking Hater-aid.

[EnochLight]

So...mastering software.

More truth has never been spoken. Back to your regular programming, folks!

[Loque]

The VST was reduced 50% but the RE was not.

The RE only went down to $225 from $350 during the Black Friday sale, IIRC.

That were the prices i had in mind of their last sale. Maybe for 50% i had bought it. That was the time i tried them, but the compressor was so... Nothing... It were like the MClass compressor, clean and unaudible. The EQs were.... Nothing... If i compare that to MP5, the MP5 was wow! The FET or C1L1 or Mace they were wow! Maybe if i retry them, i would like them now. Also the RE2A... I did not liked the attack and the sound. Maybe for special sounds they work, but i couldnt found a way how i liked it.

[EnochLight]

That were the prices i had in mind of their last sale. Maybe for 50% i had bought it. That was the time i tried them, but the compressor was so... Nothing... It were like the MClass compressor, clean and unaudible. The EQs were.... Nothing... If i compare that to MP5, the MP5 was wow! The FET or C1L1 or Mace they were wow! Maybe if i retry them, i would like them now. Also the RE2A... I did not liked the attack and the sound. Maybe for special sounds they work, but i couldnt found a way how i liked it.

Horses for courses, and all that. It's definitely not for everyone. I think the Kuassa eq's do a fine job as well, and comps seem to boil down to personal preference in many cases. Use what works for your material!

[GRIFTY]

wow

[dvdrtldg]

Reminded me of the episode of South Park where Cartman's sea monkeys evolve really fast, and in the space of about 30 seconds go from shaking spears at each other to total nuclear annihilation

[selig]

The VST was reduced 50% but the RE was not.

The RE only went down to $225 from $350 during the Black Friday sale, IIRC.

That were the prices i had in mind of their last sale. Maybe for 50% i had bought it. That was the time i tried them, but the compressor was so... Nothing... It were like the MClass compressor, clean and unaudible. The EQs were.... Nothing... If i compare that to MP5, the MP5 was wow! The FET or C1L1 or Mace they were wow! Maybe if i retry them, i would like them now. Also the RE2A... I did not liked the attack and the sound. Maybe for special sounds they work, but i couldnt found a way how i liked it.

I did a comparison of the EQ curves between the Tube Tech and the MP5, and they were almost exactly the same. Maybe the saturation on MP5 was what made the difference for you? Otherwise they are nearly indistinguishable from each other in my experience.

As for the RE2a, if you don't find a use for an optical type compressor it's not for you. I don't own that plugin, but in trials it seemed to emulate the basic LA-2a effect nicely. Definitely a "horses for courses" thing IMO.

[ebop]

SA Studio, I found your mastering YouTube vid to be really helpful when you first released it. So much so that I use the set up as my mastering template. The one RE that I reckon really makes a difference is the Synapse Vintage EQ. Bought it after watching the vid and I don't regret it. Thnx man

[SA Studio]

SA Studio, I found your mastering YouTube vid to be really helpful when you first released it. So much so that I use the set up as my mastering template. The one RE that I reckon really makes a difference is the Synapse Vintage EQ. Bought it after watching the vid and I don't regret it. Thnx man

Oh cool! Really glad it's worked out for you. I think that little 3 band EQ is nice. It has a surprising way of just putting a nice finish or polish on it, in that chain especially. I'm careful to use the word "color", but I do think that lil' RE has it's own thing going on and it's own sound or result apart from other EQ's

[mcatalao]

I did a comparison of the EQ curves between the Tube Tech and the MP5, and they were almost exactly the same. Maybe the saturation on MP5 was what made the difference for you? Otherwise they are nearly indistinguishable from each other in my experience.

As for the RE2a, if you don't find a use for an optical type compressor it's not for you. I don't own that plugin, but in trials it seemed to emulate the basic LA-2a effect nicely. Definitely a "horses for courses" thing IMO.

Hi Selig, I did that too when i bought MP5.

I don't have the TubeTechs now, but what i saw was that the altered frequencies matched perfectly, but there was some bias at the amount of gain added when you were near the top gain values. For example if you dialed the bass up to 10 db's it would be more prominent on MP5 than in the TubeTechs. At the time, if i remember correctly i could even see this difference on almost any band. Further testings, i could never make the 2 devices null each other with the same settings, even using normen's VG1. I don't know if there are some phasing issues from the saturation section from either side, but i simply couldn't. The level mismatch might have had something about it too.

That being said just having the same frequencies affected, and Q's along the different controls makes me think Kuassa did a heck of a job. And for a fraction of the price (not that Softube didn't do a good job too, but from where i stand i don't see a reason to buy the Softube tubetechs just for the Compressor).

Another interesting thing about these devices, and maybe the compressor is the guilty party here, but it seemed to me that the tubetechs were quite more CPU hogging than the MP5.
Though the Vari-Mu emulation of the Fairchild from McDsp, is different from CL1b, you almost could use an MP5 and a c670 at every single channel of a project, as their cpu cost is so small and sonic performance is so good!

[mcatalao]

BTW, if anyone is still interested in the original OP question...

I don't consider having a definitive Mastering chain per se (or one that i use that often - like if it is a mastering patch or something like that). Each song needs different tasks, so if i have one that doesn't need limiting or compression or multi-band compression or stereo enhancement, i don't use it. If i came to think about it, most mastering i do, are mostly EQ . I think it was Jonathan Winer that said 90% of mastering work is EQ and i agree with him. If a song sounds good a litle eq and limiting is enough.

I have a mastering setup (that's actually always changing), but lately has:


- MClass Stereo expander
- Lab One Recordings Red Queen (mainly for slight M-S Tweaks and the HPF and LPF)
- Flower Audio 4 dyne
- McDsp c670 (alternate or adjuvant to the Mixer's Bus compressor. Additionally when mastering multiple songs in the same project i prefer to have multiple instances of the c670 than tweaking the bus comp with automation).
- Kuassa Eve Mp5
- Softube Saturation Knob or audiomatic on the tape mode.
- Tsar-1 reverb or RV7000 Mk2 with convolution that i use either to add some depth to drier mixes, or to take care of harsh tails either in the middle or the end of the song.
- ozone Maximizer (i only use the soft or IRCII modes).

Every device here is bypassed so most often a great part of these ones will not be used at all.

[adfielding]

- Audiomatic Retro Transformer, Hi-Fi setting, transform at about 75%, dry/wet at about 50%. Sounds satisfying on the lows & highs, scoops the mids a little, but I try not to go overboard with it.
- Ozone Maximizer. IRC I most of the time, IRC II for stuff that relies more heavily on live instrumentation. Tastes may vary.

Sometimes I'll use the SSL master comp, sometimes I won't. To be honest it mostly depends on how I'm feeling on that particular day, haha

That's it. I'm still a fervent believer in getting the mix sounding as good as possible without altering things too much at the post-mix stage, which is especially useful if you're planning on having your music mastered externally. For full projects I'll bring Studio One into the equation (because the project view is bloody fantastic for working with semi-complete projects), or I'll get someone else to have a crack at it. But for a lot of my individual solo tunes or preview masters, those two devices are usually sufficient for me.

[selig]

- Audiomatic Retro Transformer, Hi-Fi setting, transform at about 75%, dry/wet at about 50%. Sounds satisfying on the lows & highs, scoops the mids a little, but I try not to go overboard with it.
- Ozone Maximizer. IRC I most of the time, IRC II for stuff that relies more heavily on live instrumentation. Tastes may vary.

Sometimes I'll use the SSL master comp, sometimes I won't. To be honest it mostly depends on how I'm feeling on that particular day, haha

That's it. I'm still a fervent believer in getting the mix sounding as good as possible without altering things too much at the post-mix stage, which is especially useful if you're planning on having your music mastered externally. For full projects I'll bring Studio One into the equation (because the project view is bloody fantastic for working with semi-complete projects), or I'll get someone else to have a crack at it. But for a lot of my individual solo tunes or preview masters, those two devices are usually sufficient for me.

That's a great point about getting the mix as good as it can be before mastering, especially in this day of ITB mixing. Mastering was a great way of pulling all your mixes together to work "as one", but that was when you couldn't just go back to the mix itself (mid/side is a great example of techniques that were created BECAUSE the you couldn't just fix the mix).

But these days, instead of mastering to correct/improve the mix, I prefer to simply go back to the mix if there are issues that scream for "help" at mastering.

My basic process in mastering a collection of songs is to bounce the mix "dry" (no mastering) but copy/paste the mastering devices/settings into the mastering file. That gives me a great starting point from which to move forward. I'll often only have individual EQs on each song, and the multi-band and limiter as an overall setting (adjusting each individual song with level/EQ so it "hits" the limiter similarly, which IMO helps to tie the songs together).

@mcatalao: I don't consider mix compression, a la the Master Compressor or similar to be a part of the mastering process, so I wouldn't me automating it or using multiple REs for this. It's "MIX" compression, not mastering compression IMO!

[SA Studio]

It's all about the mix. Definitely get the mix as good as it can be.

For those who may not know, Mastering is more about volume and loudness levels and a slight bit of extra finish on the audio like stereo widening, dressing it up with a nice Pultec EQ perhaps, or letting a MultiBand Comp help certain frequencies come through, if it even needs that, than anything else. Hitting a certain target loudness for either one single track that's intended for a release, or bringing a collection of songs all within the same loudness ballpark. That's what Mastering is about these days.

Be mindful of proper metering and various loudness scales if you're going to be doing any Mastering of your own material. To be sure, there's a proper way to prepare audio in this era. Being aware of your loudness is at the zenith of concern. You're not Mastering anything ITB if you're not paying attention to, or aiming for, a certain loudness. You have to keep in mind you're preparing a product = It has to be in certain parameters. Working on things like EQ, Stereo Width, MidSide work, are for the most part just window dressing at that stage = loudness is paramount.

If you're going to start investigating how to do Mastering, learning how to read meters and finding out all you can about loudness these days will set you on the path to getting it all sorted and producing a good final product.

[normen]

It's all about the mix. Definitely get the mix as good as it can be.

For those who may not know, Mastering is more about volume and loudness levels and a slight bit of extra finish on the audio like stereo widening, dressing it up with a nice Pultec EQ perhaps, or letting a MultiBand Comp help certain frequencies come through, if it even needs that, than anything else. Hitting a certain target loudness for either one single track that's intended for a release, or bringing a collection of songs all within the same loudness ballpark. That's what Mastering is about these days.

Be mindful of proper metering and various loudness scales if you're going to be doing any Mastering of your own material. To be sure, there's a proper way to prepare audio in this era. Being aware of your loudness is at the zenith of concern. You're not Mastering anything ITB if you're not paying attention to, or aiming for, a certain loudness. You have to keep in mind you're preparing a product = It has to be in certain parameters. Working on things like EQ, Stereo Width, MidSide work, are for the most part just window dressing at that stage = loudness is paramount.

If you're going to start investigating how to do Mastering, learning how to read meters and finding out all you can about loudness these days will set you on the path to getting it all sorted and producing a good final product.

This. Technically, mastering is nothing but adapting the track to a certain release format (CD, iTunes, what have you) and adapt multiple tracks to have a consistent frequency response / loudness (e.g. for an album). Then with a good mastering engineer what you get is that the loudness and frequency response of your tracks compare well with other music that is currently on the market. To do mastering what you need is

a) a good room
b) good speakers
and most importantly c) a whole lot of experience with all kinds of music played on that system

The "magic" of mastering engineers is simply that they instantly hear if your music has too much bass, to much high end or too much (or few) loudness variation because they listened to thousands of tracks on their listening setup. Theres tons of stories of mastering engineers that did nothing but add 2dB at 3kHz and the client was super excited about the result. You just can't do that at your home - if you didn't hear it in the mix, why would you fix it in the mastering process?

So if you don't have access to a mastering engineer just add a limiter to reach the maximum possible loudness (don't let it work more than 1 or 2 dBs). Then check if your tracks sound similar enough if you do a compilation and adapt with an EQ.

[mcatalao]

@mcatalao: I don't consider mix compression, a la the Master Compressor or similar to be a part of the mastering process, so I wouldn't me automating it or using multiple REs for this. It's "MIX" compression, not mastering compression IMO!

I'm lost at this. I really am... Can you explain?

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[GRIFTY]

When you get your mix really nice and satisfying.... Activate the SSL bus compressor. Just on the default setting it works as a really nice glue for your mix. Try it.... If you're too hot and the meter is bouncing past the 4 pull the threshold up a smidge. It's "mix compression". Makes the mix sound better. It's not mastering compression because it's not effecting the level too much, just acting as a soft little mix pillow and tucking all your mids and bass's in for the night

[selig]

@mcatalao: I don't consider mix compression, a la the Master Compressor or similar to be a part of the mastering process, so I wouldn't me automating it or using multiple REs for this. It's "MIX" compression, not mastering compression IMO!

I'm lost at this. I really am... Can you explain?

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I meant to say that I don't do bus compression at mastering only because I do it during the mix stage (towards the very end). That being said, as always it's worth mentioning the old chasten: there is no "right" way. The MEs I've used and have read about do things differently for each project and sometimes for each song (and on rare occasion perform no mastering at all - but not on any of MY mixes, mind you!).

[mcatalao]

Ok now i got it. It just seemed that you were saying that the "SSL" compressor shouldn't be used at the mastering stage. IMHO, it is pretty usable, and if I'm only mastering 1 song, it will probably be the compressor i will use (or at least one of them).

In any case, what you said about copying the master chain in the song to a mastering project, makes pretty good sense - i do exactly that myself if I already did some "pre-Master".
With the exception that this mastering chain in a multiple track project will go to the mix inserts of each channel (with one channel for each track).
Something i did since the days i used Wavelab.
This allows me to prepare the songs in the project without having to do complex automation (and that's why the Master Bus Compressor is not a good option when i'm mastering a multiple song project).
Yes, i will end with 10 instances of the re's in the chain (except for the Limiter which i like to use in soft modes and the same setting for every song).

PS.: ME's feel the need to do something. It's a lot of pressure on their shoulders i guess, and i doubt ANY will get to the Mix engineer and say "hey, you really did a great job, i didn't have to do nothing."

[normen]

PS.: Re's feel the need to do something. It's a lot of pressure on their shoulders i guess, and i doubt ANY will get to the Mix engineer and say "hey, you really did a great job, i didn't have to do nothing."

Among each other they definitely do. Its the client who pays after all.

[mcatalao]

Crap I meant MEs... lol

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