Mastering Chains 2023

[_leras]

Basslane pro > TEOTE <> Unisum > Limitless

Can I ask, how do you use Basslane Pro on a master? To me it seems too heavy handed for a master

[jamcat]

Don't confuse the "master buss" with "mastering." Really, we ought to call it the "2-buss" to avoid conflating the two.

Buss comps like SSL belong on the 2-buss, not the mastering chain. For actual mastering, avoid the gimmicky stuff that adds distortion, and just use something transparent with a mixed phase mode, like Acon Digital Mastering Suite.

[__Karlo__]

Basslane pro > TEOTE <> Unisum > Limitless

Can I ask, how do you use Basslane Pro on a master? To me it seems too heavy handed for a master

It’s not heavy handed. It has a filter so it only monos out/effects any thing below the selected cutoff frequency.

[nilhartman]

Mixbus ? Currently experimenting with Wavegrove HCL Islander into Goodhertz Good Dither et voilà. Delicious compression action and clipper. It might change though, I love TDR Molot GE and DMG Audio TrackComp2's 2k5 here, as well as Pulsar Modular P11 Abyss. I rarely EQ the mixbus, and now tend to add color at track / group level.

Mastering ? Whole different story. Yesterday I mastered a few tracks with OD DeEdger > MDW-DRC2 > Pulsar 8200 > DMG Audio Limitless > Good Dither and the artist loved the result (me too I must say). Simple yet very elegant and capable combo.

Tone Projects Unisum & Kelvin, DMG Audio EQuilibrium and Pulsar Modular P440 are also used a huge lot in sessions, go-to's really. I love these, amazing sonics at hand.

DMG Audio Multiplicity and Essence too when required. Same goes for TP Basslane Pro. Same goes for Soundtheory Gullfoss Master (sometimes I'll swap it for the Live version). But these don't get used in every session, even though a tiny, tiny bit of Gullfoss can be pretty magic eh.

All marvelous plugins by extremely talented folks.

When teaching mastering, I do it with an all TDR chain that works really nicely too. Don't sleep on Molot GE when mastering, it's immensely capable in such context too (Low ratio, Dual Stage enveloppe and SumDiff can do wonders here). I've used such 100% TDR chain quite a few times and if you know how to operate the plugins and what the tune needs then results can be fantastic.

[legendCNCD]

When teaching mastering, I do it with an all TDR chain that works really nicely too. Don't sleep on Molot GE when mastering, it's immensely capable in such context too (Low ratio, Dual Stage enveloppe and SumDiff can do wonders here). I've used such 100% TDR chain quite a few times and if you know how to operate the plugins and what the tune needs then results can be fantastic.

TDR chain is indeed great! Also "don't sleep" on TDR Slick EQ M colouring options, they're much more complex than one would think . Fabien explained some of this I think on gears.. gearplace. They're not static.

[cantaloupe]

TDR SlickEQ M
TDR Kotelnikov
Goodhertz Midside
Voxengo Elephant
Goodhertz Dither

Elephant usually in clipper mode because i don't like the smeary sound of lookahead limiters. Limiter mode if the material is already soft and gentle or if the clipper adds too much bad stuff.

Sometimes i use SlickEQ GE only for the "low frequency lag" button, this one has a very interesting effect on bass.

Fuse Flywheel sometimes, if the upper treble feels too pointy, but it is not part of the basic chain. Saturation on master buss is a can of worms i try to avoid (i say, while using a hardclipper lol.)

Ghz Midside to mono bass quite high because i like the sound of vinyl lol. Also to control the width if needed, only subtle adjustments here.

Kotelnikov defaults to 1.4:1 and Opto. If mix is muddy, i increase ratio and set frequency dependency to the lower mids - this works great on shitty mixes. Try to avoid compression as much as possible however and see it as a problem fixer and not as sound enhancer or "mojo". The frequency dependent ratio is nice because it leaves the upper-mids open sounding, which is where i think we are most sensitive to overcompression. (Of course, sometimes the mix needs to be compressed only in upper mids, but more often i have better result with leaving bass and upper frequencies open-sounding, while clamping the mud.)

Doubleclicking the SlickEQ M logo creates random subtle stereo differences for each band, and can create a more organic sounding mix at the cost of a slightly smeared and undefined stereo image - usually worth it but not always. Exciters can be used as well - low values can be a nice alternative to the traditional smiley curve. Negative values in the Hardness filter creates dip around 100hz and boosts sub as well as dipping upper mids and creates a warmer softer impression which can work well if the mix is too intense.

I rarely change the frequencies or Q-values in SlickEQ M (with the exception of the high shelf). Spent a lot of time finding good general-purpose settings that i stick to - trading flexibility for predictability, or something like that. Only a hobbyist anyway, so this is more than enough control for me.

TDR are great plugins because they retain fidelity, don't add junk and don't have too many options that makes you shoot yourself in the foot. Very usable parameter ranges and hard to make it sound really bad. I don't like the sound and complexity of the TDR limiter though, so Elephant it is.

[_leras]

Mixbus ? Currently experimenting with Wavegrove HCL Islander into Goodhertz Good Dither et voilà. Delicious compression action and clipper. It might change though, I love TDR Molot GE and DMG Audio TrackComp2's 2k5 here, as well as Pulsar Modular P11 Abyss. I rarely EQ the mixbus, and now tend to add color at track / group level.

Mastering ? Whole different story. Yesterday I mastered a few tracks with OD DeEdger > MDW-DRC2 > Pulsar 8200 > DMG Audio Limitless > Good Dither and the artist loved the result (me too I must say). Simple yet very elegant and capable combo.

Tone Projects Unisum & Kelvin, DMG Audio EQuilibrium and Pulsar Modular P440 are also used a huge lot in sessions, go-to's really. I love these, amazing sonics at hand.

DMG Audio Multiplicity and Essence too when required. Same goes for TP Basslane Pro. Same goes for Soundtheory Gullfoss Master (sometimes I'll swap it for the Live version). But these don't get used in every session, even though a tiny, tiny bit of Gullfoss can be pretty magic eh.

Soime interesting things here - I notice this Pulsar Modular P440 is not yet released. Whats so nice about this one?

And I can't help but ask is the expensive MDW-DRV2 really wortyh the extra cost? I mean it's more expensive that the whole of Ozone and Fabfilter L2 put together.

[groovmekanik]

Shout out to El for mentioning GMaudio devices. I have a multiband peak limiter planned for development to fill the void of limiter and the updates to dynamic EQ & PentaComp will make them both much more suitable for Mastering (Lots of people use PentaComp v1 in mastering but I much prefer the new crossovers plus pretty much everything else is next level). Clipper is 100% mastering grade quality now and HiFreqLimiter is my interpretation of TDR Limiter6 GE HighFrequency Limiter, great on lots of things. Down the track I would like to put all my mastering tools into one nice interface as an iOS AUv3 so it could be used in Live Performance.

I actually use Reaper for mastering as well. It is so much better suited to the job and allows me to keep mastering work more seperate from music production etc. This means I generally only get to use my devices for Mixing, Live Performance & Stem Mastering (which I still do in Live because I have far more tools at my disposal, mostly my own).

For my own music, I’m doing less and less in mastering since using Clipper & PentaComp v2 on tracks and groups (plus other bits that are still in development) and try and have nothing on my master when producing.

My mastering chain in Reaper is something like;
1. TDR Slick M - Balancing and Shaping
2. DSEQ - Peak Resonance Suppression (I’m ditching this soon, I rarely need/use it)
3. Sonnox Oxford DynamicEQ - Control “problem” areas - broader Qs
4. TDR Nova GE - Dynamic Resonance Suppression
5. CraveEQ - Minor Tweaks incl M/S
6. Vertigo VSM-3 - (Oversampled in Reaper) to help fill voids in vibe if there is any
7. CraveEQ - Tweaks
8. LeapWing Dynone - managing peaks, improving balance & glue
9. TDR Limiter6 GE - peak & hf limit and clip
10. Softube Chandler Curve Bender - Tweaks and vibe
11. TDR VOS Slick EQ - final tweaks and sweetening
Then it goes into a sub mixer with;
1. TDR Kotellnikov - Glue Comp
2. Sonnox Oxford Inflator (Oversampled in Reaper) - enhance loudness
3. TDR Limiter6 GE - What ever it needs, normally not much
4. CraveEQ - normally bypassed

Then into the master track which just has Ozone for the final limiter.

This is my template from Memory and ai bypass/enable things as needed. I normally normalize all tracks to -22LUFS in reaper which works with all my presets/template. I’ve done a lot over the years to increase quality and reduce time but theres always room for improvement.

I could talk lots more but I wont.. and my plane just landed.

[dblock]

Pulsar Modular p42 Climax
Pulsar Modular p440Sweetspot
Ikmultimedia Tr5 Tape 80
Softube Weiss EQ1 or Acustica Gold5
Massenberg DRC2 Compressor or Softube Weiss DS1
Acustica Ash Clipper

[MogwaiBoy]

Basslane pro > TEOTE <> Unisum > Limitless

Can I ask, how do you use Basslane Pro on a master? To me it seems too heavy handed for a master

It’s not heavy handed. It has a filter so it only monos out/effects any thing below the selected cutoff frequency.

Do you use the side channel harmonic saturator/generator thingy? That definitely seems heavy handed for a master. But it is quite an interesting effect though.

[__Karlo__]

Basslane pro > TEOTE <> Unisum > Limitless

Can I ask, how do you use Basslane Pro on a master? To me it seems too heavy handed for a master

It’s not heavy handed. It has a filter so it only monos out/effects any thing below the selected cutoff frequency.

Do you use the side channel harmonic saturator/generator thingy? That definitely seems heavy handed for a master. But it is quite an interesting effect though.

I do! Basslane effects only process what’s below the cutoff on the pre filter. It works like a crossover. In relation to the mid/side channel harmonic distortion, if is set on the side channel it only process the stereo difference and leaves the mono’d out bass unprocessed. It adds nice (and subtle) depth to my low end stereo sounds. Basically just my synth bass.

I don’t really consider anything Basslane pro does to be “heavy handed” it’s all very subtle if you dial in the pre filter crossover properly.

[MogwaiBoy]

Don't confuse the "master buss" with "mastering." Really, we ought to call it the "2-buss" to avoid conflating the two.

Buss comps like SSL belong on the 2-buss, not the mastering chain. For actual mastering, avoid the gimmicky stuff that adds distortion, and just use something transparent with a mixed phase mode, like Acon Digital Mastering Suite.

Imagining a scenario where my Mastering Engineer asks me to provide a bounce without my master bus processing, and I say something really smart like "but they're on the MIX bus, not the Master" - and they're like... it's the same thing - it's just semantics.

That said, I am not against "mix bus" processing, especially EQ to get it in the ballpark. A good Mastering Engineer will tell you to use any tool needed and just get it sounding the best you can (without heavy master compression or limiting, obviously) - and leave the rest to them.

But let's call it what it is... mix bus processing is master bus processing.

[jamcat]

But let's call it what it is... mix bus processing is master bus processing.

Yes. But it’s not mastering.

I wasn’t saying “master buss” was wrong. My point was the similarity in terms leads some people to incorrectly conflate it with mastering, so maybe we should use one of the many other terms for it, like the 2-buss or the mixbuss. So people would stop thinking that’s where you master.

[osiris]

Basslane is a must but I've never pushed the Harmonics above 25%.

[MogwaiBoy]

But let's call it what it is... mix bus processing is master bus processing.

Yes. But it’s not mastering.

I wasn’t saying “master buss” was wrong. My point was the similarity in terms leads some people to incorrectly conflate it with mastering, so maybe we should use one of the many other terms for it, like the 2-buss or the mixbuss. So people would stop thinking that’s where you master.

Gotcha! Understand what you mean now - sorry for not getting it sooner.