Advice on mastering classical-style electronic track

[kevinjames011]

Last year I finished a classical-style electronic music project. For a long time I've been mastering it and trying to balance the mix. It's been tough for me because I've been learning a lot of the tricks through trial and error, so it's been slow going. I know it's a different genre than what a lot of people here are experienced with, but I wondered if any of the experts here could give me any advice on mastering. Particularly if any frequency bands are way out of balance, synthesizer design, or anything that jumps out as a serious problem. Thanks.

http://soundcloud.com/kevinjames011/med1

[kevinjames011]

Lots of views and no comments, does that mean is sounds passable? I'm really a noob here, and I'm running on cheap equipment, so it's tough for me to trust my own ears. Any comments would be appreciated.

[itsNano]

I don't know much about classical pieces, but if I were you, I would mix around 0 dB so that you don't have to master much. On your master channel, I would have an EQ, Limiter (to keep master track from peaking), and a Compressor (to put your whole track up in volume). The EQ on the master will only be used to take some bass that is under 30 Hz out because It is just inaudible rubbish that muddies up your mix. The second purpose of having the EQ on the master is to boost or dip any particular frequency in the song (lows, mids, or highs, if you think that you have too much or to little of that certain frequency). So... yep. That's pretty much the basic mastering. If you want to go very deep into the nitty gritty details of mastering, I would check google or youtube for some tutorials on how to master a track. Hope that helped. Good luck!

[james_mcfadyen]

When mastering classical music, you MUST, and I stress MUST very heavily, adhere to strict guidelines:

1) NEVER apply mix buss compression and limiting.
2) Forget about the loudness war. It has no place in classical mastering. EVER!!
3) Never use narrow 'Q' setting on the EQ. The 'Q' should be wide and the overall effect gentle.
4) Dynamics, dynamics, dynamics!!!!!!!!!! I'll say it again, dynamics. Compressors and Limiters are great for EDM because quite frankly they have very little dynamic contrasts. In classical music there is normally huge differences in volume (dynamics), therefore, when using compression and limiting it must be born in mind NOT to even out the dynamics too much, This is key to classical mastering. A little compression and limiting goes a long way. A lot does excessive damage!

Hope that helps a bit.

[IELMusic]

While I agree that any processing used on a classical piece must be gentle, I wouldn't say that you must strictly adhere to a set of guidelines. If you're using any mix buss compression, make sure it's extremely light (i.e. doing very little gain reduction), don't do any major EQ-ing, and don't overdo the limiting. Also, make sure the attack and release times on any compressors or limiters you are using are very slow, and use low ratios and soft knees (in the case of compressors) if possible. With classical music, not much mastering is required (in comparison to pop-rock or EDM). Thus, a good approach is to focus more on the mixing, and then just applying light processing during mastering to polish it up a bit.

[james_mcfadyen]

If you're using any mix buss compression, make sure it's extremely light

I would say this is a pointless process and one that should almost certainly be avoided. It is probably a habit one falls into (when working with EDM) but fails to switch modes when presented with very different material.

There is simply no need for mix buss compression (however light) in classical mixes. The devil makes work for idle .....

Leave any kind of 2-track mastering SOLEY to the mastering stage.

With EDM, it is quite OK to use mix buss compression. My favourite is the URS 1980 Compressor!

[kevinjames011]

I understand the dangers of using too much compression on classical-style music, and I've always valued my dynamic range. I was hoping for more specific advice on this piece of music, particularly if any of the EQ is out of balance. I guess I didn't post the link right in the first place.

http://soundcloud.com/kevinjames011/med1

[stomachache]

Hi Kevin. I think what you can do right away to make the biggest difference is with a few sharp cuts. I hear some strong resonances adding a ringing (some of this will be exaggerated from the Soundcloud audio compression, no doubt). Listen from around 1:35 and on. There's probably a couple spots poking out from 200-400hz? I do the same sorts of tones sometimes, instruments made from voices and I get the same quality.

There's a lot of low mids. The song is pretty much all mids gelling together. That's allright; it's a style thing. I don't think you could push it bigger in mastering, but if you go back to the mix, or better: sound design stage, you could pull some of the tones into different areas, into the lows and the highs and define the parts clearer. It's not bad sounding, but I could see this improved with a warm, rounder sound if you filled out the bottom by pushing into a lower octave, either moving one of the current sounds or as adding another layer. Shifting a sound up or down would serve to clearing out those mids and mellow it. Panning, too.

I'll take the overt dynamic jumps as artistic choice, though I think it could be less abrupt. Just eased into.

This reminds me of a Wendy Carlos song called Orange Minuet. That could be a good reference point for sound, if I remember it right.

This song shouldn't take you so long in the mixing and mastering. It's relatively simple from a sound point of view - there's no big drums or crazy sound layers, so it's just about taking a break then turning it on with fresh ears and handling it in one session.

[kevinjames011]

Hi Kevin. I think what you can do right away to make the biggest difference is with a few sharp cuts. I hear some strong resonances adding a ringing (some of this will be exaggerated from the Soundcloud audio compression, no doubt). Listen from around 1:35 and on. There's probably a couple spots poking out from 200-400hz? I do the same sorts of tones sometimes, instruments made from voices and I get the same quality.

There's a lot of low mids. The song is pretty much all mids gelling together. That's allright; it's a style thing. I don't think you could push it bigger in mastering, but if you go back to the mix, or better: sound design stage, you could pull some of the tones into different areas, into the lows and the highs and define the parts clearer. It's not bad sounding, but I could see this improved with a warm, rounder sound if you filled out the bottom by pushing into a lower octave, either moving one of the current sounds or as adding another layer. Shifting a sound up or down would serve to clearing out those mids and mellow it. Panning, too.

I'll take the overt dynamic jumps as artistic choice, though I think it could be less abrupt. Just eased into.

This reminds me of a Wendy Carlos song called Orange Minuet. That could be a good reference point for sound, if I remember it right.

This song shouldn't take you so long in the mixing and mastering. It's relatively simple from a sound point of view - there's no big drums or crazy sound layers, so it's just about taking a break then turning it on with fresh ears and handling it in one session.

Thanks for the advice, stomachache. I've been working on the track lately, and one of the things I did was decrease the cutoff for the low-pass filter on the bass instrument, making it a lot warmer and mellower. The boosted mid-range on that instrument in the example I posted did make the mix a bit harsh.

I didn't mean that this one track has taken me a year, but I have a project that's 71 minutes long with 25 tracks. That's what has taken me so long to work on. Each track is different and presents different problems, but I posted this one because I thought it presented the difficulties I was having in the most straightforward way.

Also, good call on the abrupt dynamics. I've always had a bad intuition about the part where all 3 instruments come together at once and the volume goes up.

Thanks again.

[kevinjames011]

Well, after a year of production and mastering, I put the final project up on my website. It's 25 tracks long and over 70 minutes. You can listen to 3 complete songs right on the website, along with 30 seconds clips. You can download the whole thing, also. It's available for donation. Here's the website:

http://www.musicbykevinjames.com