For Those Who Master Their Own Work

[sansharbour]

Hi All
Just wondering if you master your own material what Plug ins do you use on the Master track.

I find myself experimenting a bit and don't always use the same tools

I use Linear Eq, Mix buss lite, Waves L 3 Multimaximizer and the meters Lcast bx_meter, and perhaps something different
on another project.

I am wondering if you consistently use the same software.

Thanks
Don

[zacnelson]

I keep it quite simple, obviously I compress each element of the mix a lot, especially the drum bus and the lead vocals. Guitars don't need much compression if you play them carefully.

On the master bus, I always start with the Waves SSL Bus compressor, just nibbling at the peaks with soft attack and medium release, no more than about 3dB reduction on peaks. Then I use the Kush Clariphonic to gently do some hi-shelf boost. I follow that with the A.O.M. Invisible Limiter, which is the main workhorse. This is a hidden gem, it's ridiculously cheap and does a phenomenal job. With rock mixes I can achieve far greater volume without artifacts using AOM than any other limiter I've tried, and what I love most about it is that when you limit your mix it manages to preserve clarity and top end, unlike cheaper limiters which make everything sound dull and lifeless.

If I was going to get something professionally mastered I would remove all 3 of these plugins.

[sansharbour]

Thanks Zac for your take on the question.

Yours are an interesting combination. The Invisible Limiter looks good.

I can see we all don't use exactly the same plugs but ones that do similar jobs. In the end I guess the ear is what counts

I have a friend that just uses Ozone and swears by it.

Thanks again
Don

[dzelmusic]

I have been using Ozone 5. But sometimes if I think the mix itself sounds great I will just slap the Slate Digital FG-X on the master bus and call it done. here is a good tip. If your room is not treated very well, use a high pass filter on the master buss, first insert and cut at 35-40 HZ, It will still sound great but it will also get rid of the bass your probably not even able to hear because of the room acoustics. I figured this out after making an EQ cut at 40 HZ and could not even hear anything change. I have since treated my room, but this trick can get you by. Good luck!!

[zacnelson]

Great tip about the high-pass! Do you notice you are able to increase the volume much more by doing that?

[Russell Landwehr]

I try to get the best mix possible first, then when I'm about to finish, I kick in the plugins in on my master buss. I use an EQ, a Multiband Compressor, then the L2. Tweak them to taste depending on the genre. THEN I fix the stuff in the mix that got weird because of it... Listen to that mix in my office, car and three earbuds... fix the mix again... And I'm good to go.

Russell

[zacnelson]

I always mix through the master bus compressors (mind you I don't do anything too severe on the master bus) - and I regularly check that I'm not over-compressing and I occasionally bypass them for a different perspective. The impression I get from my research is that most mix engineers mix through a master bus chain, even if they end up sending it elsewhere for mastering (in which case they will bypass some or all of those master bus effects)

[TheElement]

They say mastering is 95% in the mix. And getting a great mix starts with great instrument selection.

I always cut at 39HZ..nothing much going on below that but rumble. Oh and also cut anything above like 18K. Makes more of a difference on large projects. No doesn't really create more volume. Just cleaner mix. When bringing up an instrument volume I'll first lower the other instruments first. Headroom is importand. you can always use a limiter to bring up volume. and theres compression for that as well.

For me instrument selection and keeping it simple is best. Then I just use LANDR to polish.

You know what they say about a goat wearing a tuxedo.

Mastering can't fix a bad mix.

[zacnelson]

Great advice The Element!

[TheElement]

Great advice The Element!

Now if I can only follow my own advice! lol