Mastering With Software Part One ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Is there a difference between mastering and mixing? ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Yes! There is a difference. Mastering is the process of optimizing the final stereo data of a song / an album, so that it sounds well on all kinds of different stereo setups. It is the last step before the final production. ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

What does one need to do mastering? ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Semi (pro) sound card consumer cards usually do not have a linear frequency response good & cheap: M-Audio Audiophile 2496, 79 thomann.de/nl/ Near-field studio monitors standard PC speakers have a modified frequency response (baaad!) good & cheap: JBL Control 1 Pro, 135 thomann.de/nl/ Amplifier needs a “direct” option to turn off all equalization (linear frequency response) good & cheap: Yamaha A-700, approx. 200 EUR on eBay ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Compressor / limiter much finer control better sound quality good & cheap: Alesis 3630 (stereo compressor), 135 thomann.de/nl/ Equalizer warmer and fresher sound good & cheap: Alesis QuadraVerb (multieffect with well-sounding EQ), less than 100 EUR on eBay Reel-to-reel tape machine tape saturation creates a warmer and thicker sound results sound well on most stereos (less comparing and adjusting) good & cheap: Grundig TK-248 HIFI, less than 100 EUR on eBay ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

DAW (digital audio workstation): Cockos Reaper good & cheap: Cockos Reaper, 150$ full commercial license, 40$ discounted (profit less than 20,000$ per year), reaper.fm Mastering: iZotope Ozone thomann.de/nl/ Audio restoration: iZotope RX will be explained in part two 325 thomann.de/nl/ ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

The tools explained: iZotope Ozone 4 ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Equalizer (EQ) boosts or cuts frequency shapes tonal character useful to eliminate unwanted noise, e.g. feedbacks ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow start by cutting frequencies instead of boosting dial in required frequency: sweep deep cut (high Q) through the spectrum until the sought after frequency disappears if you don't find the sweet spot: repeat the process with a wider cut (less Q) adjust to requirement ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

EQ presets for common purposes ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Add punch to kick boosts at approx. 45 Hz and 100 Hz (high Q) Clean kick cut at 257 Hz (Q = 12)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Bring out bass boost at approx. 600 Hz (medium Q) cut at 100 Hz (damps the kick; high Q) Bring out (distortion) guitar boost around approx Hz (medium Q)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Bring out vocals boost at approx Hz (medium Q) depends on the singers voice, usually in between 1000 and 2000 Hz More transparency high-shelf boost at approx Hz (high Q)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Warmer sound cut at approx Hz (low - medium Q) Remove mud cut at 300 Hz (high Q)

EQ curves of different music styles ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Drum'n'Bass peak around 45 Hz – sub-kick and one around 250 Hz (possibly snare) the early high-end (~17 Khz) is due to the test file being an mp3 as the format removes these frequencies (which kills transparency, hi-hats are especially affected)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Goa low-end extremely boosted, typical of goa almost flat from 300 to 3000 Hz

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Dance slow decay in the curve, except in between 40 and 100 Hz early reduction in the high end

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four EBM very much evenly distributed up to approx Hz frequencies between approx and 15,000 Hz show prominent peaks

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Industrial emphasis on the low end slight increase between 1500 and 3000 Hz boost in the high end (approx. 10,000 to 16,000 Hz)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Hip Hop strong emphasis on the low end and the bass (500 – 800 Hz) rise in the vocal range (approx Hz) supposedly crisp sound (attenuation of approx – 8000 Hz)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Crossover evenly distributed with a slight attenuation of the low end towards sub-frequencies sub-frequencies themselves are removed with a high-pass (removes low frequencies)

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Rock even distribution, early but slow decay of the high-end

©2010 by Tox, four-O-four Ska strong emphasis kick and snare boosts in the high-end will be the brass instruments

Mastering Reverb adds a reverb to a frequency range while leaving the rest untouched useful to “brighten” a dull signal only apply sparsely (wet less than 15) ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow adjust low and high end of the reverb add a little reverb (just to add a bit of sparkle) define the characteristics of the reverb compare on- / off-state – reverb should be barely audible ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Multiband Dynamics a.k.a compressor with gate only apply a little compression (ratio less than 2) a good compression is almost unheard ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow set threshold for limiter (all sound above is cut) set threshold for compressor (all sound between this and the limiter threshold is compressed) set the ratios a value less than 2 the sound should every now and then hit the range between the compressor threshold and the limiter threshold do this for all bands you want to use be very careful when using the gate too much kills transparency and dynamics ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Multiband Harmonic Exciter adds “analogue” character to the signal use it with small amounts, overdoing will make your audio sound lush four modes: retro, tape, tube and warm ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow choose type increase the amount and listen carefully when you hear the effect, turn it down just a little do this for all bands ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Multiband Stereo Imaging widens or reduces the stereo width of the signal keep low end to the center (the more below zero, the closer to the center) high end can be widened a bit to add some transparency ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow adjust the widening (or reduction) keep the low end towards the center (a spread out kick is a baaad idea!) expand the high end a little (adds transparency and breath) be very careful, at first higher settings sound good, but on other stereos it will sound very differently to what you hear on yours band delay is useful to separate frequency ranges (again only small changes!) ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Phase Tools rotates, inverts or switches the phase of the signal more useful in mixing to solve problems with adding up frequencies ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Loudness Maximizer + Dither essentially a limiter with different algorithms for the attack higher reduction = louder (Loudness Wars) dither converts higher bit rate audio to a lower bit rate ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Workflow set the threshold so that you get the desired loudness (too much mumbles the sound) set the margin to about -0.3 dB (if it's 0 dB you will get peaks) choose a type (brickwall, intelligent, intelligent II, soft) turn on the dither, use default settings and turn on “limit peaks” ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

Questions? ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four

You can download the presentation here: ©2010 by Tox, four-O-four