Mastering Chains 2023

[donkey tugger]

Interesting, lot of different approaches.

Tends to vary a bit here depending on the type of thing, but on an average louder indie rokk stylee number usually something like;

Toneboosters eq 4 for minor corrections etc, and cut ultra low frequencies
DC83 Compressor 1:1 ratio to glue stuff together
DC83 2:1 to tame peaks a bit
Toneboosters Reelbus V3 'Glue Tape 2', just a bit, does what it says...
Sonic Anomaly Unlimited (don't use a whole lot usually) - like the sound of this one, quite natural sounding.
If I'm looking for a more 'smoov' sound I might use the HF limiter module to tame some of the upper mids aggro.
SPAN for checking.

[Leo1999]

RenEQ or ReaEQ or UVI Shade
If I have to cut or boost more than 1dB,
then there's something wrong with the mix
Invigorate, whenever I want to
add colour or energy
ReaComp 0.5 dB GR
TDR Feedback Comp 0.5 dB GR
The Glue 0.5 GR
to achieve a total GR of about 1.5 dB
like recommended to do less with more
LoudMax Limiter for Loudness
Waves WML plus loudness analyzing tool

Sometimes I would use Waves Omnisheps and add C1 comp as a module,
it replaces all above mentioned plugins but Loudmax and WML

The final procudure after rendering is getting feedback from AI to make
improvements or adjustments afterwards.
Occasionally AI recommends boosting
bass somewhere between 600 - 1.5kHz
or cutting hh somewhere between 350 and 2 kHz or making vocals a little louder to achieve a more balanced and transparent mix.

[noiseresearch]

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[martiu]

Airwindows Mackity

[noiseresearch]

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[legendCNCD]

The further we go, the less we have on the master as we try to make the production and mix as close to what we would like to hear. I think latest tracks have:
(TDR Limiter 6 clip/peaklimit shaving tops a bit if needed), Elysia Alpha, TDR Kotelnikov GE, TDR SlickEQ M, Ozone9 Maximizer in VI Classic mode just shaving tops if needed at all. Compressors tickle a bit of the signal from different areas and styles, EQ M for tone shaping if needed. I found the ozone9 VI classic mode to be really good.

[legendCNCD]

I like the mentioned TDR tools for a couple of reasons. Let's name three: (1) They have an unified and coherent UI/UX (2) a smart set of great features while maintaining a good balance between simplicity and complexity (3) the "sound" is superb and clean; although if you want to you can dial in "saturation" with TDR Kotelnikov GE and TDR SlickEQ M.

Yes. Clean and very very high quality tools for really reasonable prices. They even offer free versions. Past month I've studied Kotelnikov GE more and found it even better - It can do almost anything

[_leras]

I like the mentioned TDR tools for a couple of reasons. Let's name three: (1) They have an unified and coherent UI/UX (2) a smart set of great features while maintaining a good balance between simplicity and complexity (3) the "sound" is superb and clean; although if you want to you can dial in "saturation" with TDR Kotelnikov GE and TDR SlickEQ M.


To explain a bit further: I master with two tracks in Reaper where I lay out the tracks. If needed I use Nova GE and/or SlickEQ M to EQ single songs. My 2-bus looks like this: [Nova GE], [apshaper] -> SlickEQ M -> FirComp2 or Kotelnikov GE -> Limiter No6 GE or FirComp2 -> Monitoring3, Span, Correlometer, [Loudness Meter] -> Dark Dither | the plugins in bracket are optional and used on case by case basis.

Thanks that's a great run down on the TDR stuff. Always interesting to get the why of what people use.

Does Reaper have per clip FX then, or are you setting up your chain per track and then bouncing it out?

[_leras]

The further we go, the less we have on the master as we try to make the production and mix as close to what we would like to hear.

I think this is definitely the aspiration, or should be

That said... I also think that taking a stereo mix it can usually be improved and polished with some additional post mix processing.

To me there's something about working with the whole mix together, that you can't quite get with just the mix process.

Mixing into a chain can be fine, but going back and revising or improving that chain is very possible. I also think focusing on the stereo mix after the mix is done, can give a different focus than when mixing.

[El°HYM]

EQ8
TheGlue
GMAudio Clipper
GMaudio PentaComp
GMAudio HiFreqLimiter

Interesting. A pure Live/M4L mastering chain! I have some question: what are the reasons for? How do you like the GMAudio Clipper and GMaudio PentaComp in comparison to other (vst) options? How heavy is the CPU consumption with those M4L devices?

My idea was, since most usual suspects were already mentioned (Voxengo anyone?) to take a different route, which would be ITB and using Live.

The EQ Eight is a pretty powerful workhorse, no ProQ or Nova, yet still good, same goes for The Glue. I dont really like the Ableton Limiter, so I decided to go with Max for Live instead. Since the native Compressor (while not being bad) is not that much flexible, I went for the GMaudio PentaComp instead.


As I often find Ableton to be a bit harsh in the upper area of the spectrum, I then also added the superb GMaudio HiFreqLimiter.


Since a final Limiter (M4L) was then needed and most of them I dont really like, the choice fell on the GMaudio Clipper for some final Loudness and proper Oversampling.

https://fixationstudios.com.au/the-best ... leton-live

With that said, Robert from Fixation Studios / GMaudio is also a Mastering Engineer, which I thought would be the right combo for an Ableton / M4L only Mastering Chain.

[noiseresearch]

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[Lbdunequest]

My chain depends on how the track sounds and what needs to be improved/polished/fixed

But usualy its a compressor, clipper, eq, soothe 2 in not a particular order

If you have a standartisized chain, im sorry but you must be doing something wrong because no track is the same.

[revvy]

The chain includes plugins with parameters that can be changed as needed. No need to apologise

[ramseysounds]

If you have a standartisized chain, im sorry but you must be doing something wrong because no track is the same.

Au contraire. If you write the same genre music and you produce in the same fashion, your ‘mastering’ chain is just adding a little polish and getting levels up. Fix any issues in the mix.

[TBlake]

apShaper is an underrated gem. it's comfortable going from subtle to extreme and compares favorably to more well known saturators


I use apShaper for careful saturation / harmonic excitement if needed. But apShaper is not always active in my mastering chain. Especially when I master for clients apshaper is off because a lot of mixes nowadays are anyhow full of saturation and stuff. But when I master my own material or "conservative" mixes I use apShaper a lot.