Mastering ears? (for FUNK)

[cosmicdolphin]

... these tracks with large amounts of instruments are a lot more challenging for newbs

....and for everyone else too. The more instruments there are, the more care is needed in selecting them for their role in a particular frequency range, and also EQ-ing them and arranging them so they don't mask each other and/or create frequency imbalances. Tonal Balance provides a visual check on whether or not we did a good job.

I didn't really understand the tonal balance thing although I think I do better now.

Tonal Balance goes at the end of your 2-bus and is simply a graph of mix energy across the audible frequency range. The thick band stays static and is a reference target that shows where an ideal mix ought to lie (based on the average across many mixes), and you can select from different bands across several different genres to give you the most appropriate target. The thin white line shows your actual mix energy and continually updates as your mix progresses. If that thin white line sits in the middle of the reference band across all frequencies (and stays there mostly) there's a good chance that you have a balanced mix. The system has automatic gain control so its display is independent of actual mix level, therefore what you see in practice is that reducing the mix energy in one area (by mix or EQ changes) causes the display to increase in other areas and even out.

Of course, Tonal Balance is a visual reference only that doesn't give you any musical information and certainly doesn't tell you whether your mix sounds good. Learning to trust your ears is the ultimate solution.

I hope that helps.

Hey thanks a lot for that, really good info. I will try again now with this tonal balance, I appreciate it

There are plenty of YT videos about the Tonal Balance Control plugin if you want to see it in action, it's part of Ozone which a lot of us use for mastering or you can pick it up by itself. But it can be a big help especially if your mixing room is not ideal.