I am interested in your thoughts when it comes to a simple "mastering" workflow (mainly ITB)

I have a bunch of tracks that I want to finish up for friends or just digital release, that I would like to take a crack at. These are tracks that are not worth sending off to you pros out there. I am talking practice space demos, dumb covers, old shit from my high school bands, etc.

I was thinking of acquiring a summing mixer of some sort to run to from Reaper, but I can't decide if it is necessary or not. Any insight regarding outboard gear or plugins would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ryan

Ryan Zepaltas wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 8:15 am practice space demos, dumb covers, old shit from my high school bands, etc.

I wouldn't bother with anything other than some kind of decent EQ/comp/limiting plugins.

There are all kinds of ways to go about it really. Mostly just understand what you're trying to accomplish and listen over and over and over again. Take a break. Listen again. Print your tracks and listen on a bunch of different systems, car stereos, home stereos, even maybe a shitty computer or one of those weird sound things you hook your phone to. Listen and listen more. Reference other tracks you are familiar with on those same systems.

The only other things I would say is. Don't be afraid to go back into your mix to fix something that you shouldn't be fixing with your mastering and don't feel like you need to do that much. Sometimes the best thing you can do for mastering is very little.

Have fun. The more you do it the better you will get and the easier it will get. And probably the worse you'll think you'll be at it. But that's just your ears getting better. Once you feel like you've reached the limitations of the gear you're working with then that might be the time to get something new, new plugins, new hardware or whatever.

I'm running Logic Pro X and started trying to figure this out for myself while working on things for the monthly tribute. After watching a bunch of people talk at me on youtube I got to a point where I have a template. I'd love to hear more from folks who have a better idea what they're doing, but this at least seems to improve the overall quality of the stuff I run through it. Here's my chain for that:


I'd assume Reaper probably has native plugins that accomplish something similar, so I'll run through my workflow.
Watch with the MultiMeter to see how the overall song looks. I'll occasionally move it around the chain as I adjust each plugin.
Linear EQ is usually just cutting high and low unless I notice something else.
Exciter adds harmonics above a certain frequency. Brings out vocals or more melodic parts, improves cymbal overtones.
Multipressor is a 4 band Compressor. Can help pull certain things out of the mix, adds cohesion.
Spreader is a Stereo Spreader. Helpful in small doses at giving different instruments space, but has a tough time with a lot of percussion.
and Limiter keeps things that've gotten pushed during this process from getting too loud.

I agree with GussyLoveridge's points, and also suggest to have one or two of your tracks professionally mastered as a reference. Tell them to print it at a conservative level, so you're listening back and comparing for substance and not just OMG This One's Louder. Use your ears, but also ask for their notes and suggestions. I had several singles mastered this winter thru a ME on fiverr and got a few comments back more than once ("did some cuts in the low-mids, including 480hz, used an M-S EQ to tame some vocal sibilance") which made me pay more attention to those things from the get go. The masters all came back sounding better, but most of those improvements could have been handled better by me in the recording and mixing stage. Again I agree with Gussy: the best sounding mixes don't require much 'mastering' at all.

+2 on GussyLoveridge's post!

There's lots of good stuff out there! I picked up "Brainworx bx_masterdesk" and it (along with things like filtering out unused low end) have gotten me pretty close to what I'm hearing when I do send stuff off for professional mastering.

It's not cheap, but I feel like I paid a lot less for it last year during a sale.

Oh yeah - One more thing. Lots of modern plugins have a thing called constant gain monitoring or something to that effect. Basically I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) it just makes it so that the while you're working with the plugin the perceived loudness remains the same so that you can hear the effects of the compression and limiting without just hearing an increase of volume which of course just sounds better because it's louder. Louder is better right?

I'm a mastering engineer and I do work on stuff like this all the time.

My last ITB Mastering Chain went as follows:

Parametric EQ boosted a little low end 60hz @ 2dB, then boosted the sides at 750hz @ 2dB. Performed a slight notch cut at 160hz because of odd bass guitar fundamentals.

Then Ozone 9 Imager just to bring out the stereo spread in the mids and highs.

Then a Bettermaker EQ boosting a shelf at 10k or 16k by 2dB to open up the mix.

Then a basic limiter to bring up the quiet sections a bit but not go over 0dbfs.

About as much as I would like to do to any song. I did ask the artist to turn down the hihat as it was a little out front.

Just basic moves that make things sound more cohesive.

Thanks for all this everyone. Any thoughts on summing mixers? I ask because last time I sent something off for mastering, the engineer had me send him my mix in grouped stems(drums, Guitar, VOX, etc.) so that he could run them through a summing box when he mastered the tracks.

I read in Eric Serafin's (Mixerman) Zen and the Art of Mixing about summing mixers. He claimed that you get better separation if you come out of the box with buss groups and then go back in during a mix down. Granted that was written years ago so I am not sure if he still stands by that. I've heard it argued that in modern DAW it is not so much an issue. I believe he's released a new version of the book, but I have not read it.