Recommended Mastering Tools For Consistency?

[MeteoXavier]

Howdy. For a very specific context and very specific reason, I am trying to build an audio mastering process that just "gets the job done" for less significant audio material I want to master and release with a focus on being quick and efficient. I have never really mastered my own audio material before and sending this stuff off anywhere for someone else to do it would be more expensive than it's really worth to do, so I'm trying to get a low-level, quick and efficient thing going for this stuff myself. I use Ozone 8's AI mastering and reference-matching stuff along with Zynaptiq. I've gotten this process down to where I'm satisfied with the quality that comes back for individual tracks, but where I'm stuck now is trying to figure out how to get bass, mids, highs and sound volumes consistent for an entire set of songs instead of just one.

What kind of tools/programs do you recommend where I can get this last piece of the process done with visual confirmation and data to finish it off with? Tools I'm looking at right now are like Youlean and Ozone's Tonal Balance Control to see where things are and tweak/force stuff to achieve consistency. What along those lines do you recommend?

Please keep answers relevant to program/tool recommendations, I'm not asking or looking for anything else. Thank you!

[jancivil]

perhaps multiband compression. VSL's original Vienna Suite is a full mastering suite, sells for I think 130 euro currently (they have a Pro version for years that costs like that used to), its multiband is very easy to grok, with an analyzer for each band and a very clear GUI.

[MeteoXavier]

I've never really looked at multiband compressors as a way of getting frequencies across multiple songs at roughly the same levels. That could be worth investigating, thanks.

[MeteoXavier]

Any other potential answers?

[Burillo]

I use a preset i made for Ozone 9. The nature of the things i mix is such that there's always roughly the same sonic signature, so bar some tweaks my Ozone preset does the job without me having to do much. You might want to just create an FX chain preset for your masters.

[apoclypse]

I use IK Multimedia T-Racks with a preset I made. I have Ozone as well. Both are pretty good for that kind of thing. I prefer T-Racks as it sounds less "digital" to me but both should get you there.

[Obsolete462444]

Why would you want bass, middle frequencies and treble to be consistent across different songs? Every song has it's own characteristics, unless of course all of your songs sound the same and use the same sounds. In one song the bass might be more in the center of attention, while in another song it serves as a bystander.

The LEVELS plugin by Mastering The Mix, which was free (with any purchase) last month at Plugin Boutique has some metering / analysis tools to make sure none of the elements in your mix / master are completely out of order. Did not try it myself, but looks useful for your scenario. Then of course something like Youlean Loudness Meter, which you mentioned already, to get consistent levels.

Other than that you could use something like TDR Nova GE / Slick EQ Mastering Edition or Kilohearts Slice EQ with a reference file (your Ozone should be able to do this too), to compare and tweak the sound to resemble your ideal.

You could also create a preset in TDR Nova and use it as a 3-band (or more) compressor and make it react dynamically to overshooting content in those frequency bands. However, if you have to use a multiband compressor in the mastering stage, most likely your mix sucks and you are trying to achieve something that should be addressed in the mixing stage.

Just built a mastering chain that works for you, save it and load it whenever you master your tracks as Burillo suggested.

[EdgarRothermich]

I have never really mastered my own audio material before

That is the sentence that pops out in your description with a little bit a of a red flag.

Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to disocourage you to "master" your song, whatever your understanding of "Mastering" is. I just want to caution you. Buying a Plugin and select a preset is not mastering.

Home Depot is full of hammer and nails, they are affordable, but that doesn't mean that everybody is able to build a house or a book shelf. You need knowledge and experience, and that is often overlooked with all the mastering discussions on the Internet.

The most important and least-expensive tool are you ears. You have to train them. If you don't hear subtle distortion or the artifacts a compressor is doing to your audio signal, then tools don't do you any good.
If you master your song to 0dBTP regardless to what LUFS-I but don't know what perceptual coding algorithms in mp3 and AAC can do to your audio, then you might be in for some surprises.
If you don't keep up the complete mess of Loudness Targets for various streaming platforms and all the hidden if-then configurations, then your song might come out quite different at the end user.

And the list goes on and on ...

[_leras]

A pro mastering engineer would have all the different pieces in a single project and will jump back and forth between them all listening, especially to the louder parts of tracks. Primarily this is to get volume consistent, but also to get a feel for consistency of any tracks.

Then, having heard all the variations, would know how much each can be tweaked towards a consistent sound. But, as mentioned above, different tracks WILL sound different. Ears may give a better result than simply spectrum matching, which could turn something into something it is not, if not careful.

If these are your own tracks you should have some kind of consistency anyway. I think 'real world' problems arise when there are tracks recorded and mixed in different places and/or different sessions. Hopefully you won't have so much of that.

[anttimaatteri]

basically the whole tdr plugins line does it. given that the MIX isnt totally borked and i didnt misread your text and your goal is a consistent SOUND.^^
but it takes time. these plugins arent for the one knob honks out there. limiter ge is a damn complex thing

there is even an damn excellent video from tokyo dawn channel about the equal loudness perception issue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPyRek4JPCE

i myself used the old vldag stuff long time and now its time to get the tdr ge versions. slick eq ge for example is imo excellent so far. and next is nova ge or even the mastering bundle which is on sale atm.

[Kinh]

you dont need no plugin for dat, just drag your previous track into ozone and reference it with your ears. Otherwise if you wanna release music, Sage audio master quite cheep, $60.
Bear in mind when you release music independently, you wont get any money back you put into it.

[Coloneltreavy]

You can try the ChowTape (free) for some tape emulation to add some tape saturation to your mastering chain. The plugin developer is a researcher at one of the Ivy leagues and I saw that he published a paper on tape machine modeling. I would assume that his plugin is state of the art, and it definitely sounds like it!