KVR Audio

PieBerger · Post by **PieBerger** » Thu Jun 22, 2023 8:37 am

Call me old fashioned but I prefer someone else do the mastering for me; the people I use are established producers in my scene/genre, in their own right and have years of experience, better quality monitoring and calibrated studio spaces. More importantly, as some others have alluded to, they haven't listened to the material hundreds of times over, plus they are not as emotionally invested, so they can make decisions from a distance, as it were, when it comes to achieving the best sounding results. I see it as paying (usually the label paying actually) for a qualified second opinion from an experienced professional, vs paying to make my tracks louder, although this is part of the package too!

If I'm able arrange a dedicated studio space for myself, with full range monitoring and proper acoustic treatment, I would feel more confident in getting good enough results with self-mastering, but until then I'll continue making use of third-party engineers. YMMV.

dblock · Post by **dblock** » Sun Jun 25, 2023 3:45 pm

P42 Climax
P440 Sweetspot
Massenberg MDWDRC2
Acustica Audio ASH

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Sun Jun 25, 2023 5:25 pm

PieBerger wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2023 8:37 am Call me old fashioned but I prefer someone else do the mastering for me; the people I use are established producers in my scene/genre, in their own right and have years of experience, better quality monitoring and calibrated studio spaces. More importantly, as some others have alluded to, they haven't listened to the material hundreds of times over, plus they are not as emotionally invested, so they can make decisions from a distance, as it were, when it comes to achieving the best sounding results. I see it as paying (usually the label paying actually) for a qualified second opinion from an experienced professional, vs paying to make my tracks louder, although this is part of the package too!

If I'm able arrange a dedicated studio space for myself, with full range monitoring and proper acoustic treatment, I would feel more confident in getting good enough results with self-mastering, but until then I'll continue making use of third-party engineers. YMMV.

But are you self-producing/mixing?

Because everything you describe here would benefit a lot more by bringing someone in earlier, before the stereo mixdown. That’s really what you’re looking for.

Erik_Lucas · Post by **Erik_Lucas** » Mon Jun 26, 2023 12:39 am

RND 542s, Shadow Hills Vandergraph, two CAPI VP28s, and Ozone 10.

legendCNCD · Post by **legendCNCD** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:53 pm

As said before, and as now its out viewtopic.php?p=8709579#p8709579
Elysia Alpha -> TDR Kotelnikov GE -> TDR SlickEQ M -> TDR Limiter 6 -> Ozone 9 Maximiser

I think limiter 6 clipper did most job here, as I barely touched the signal with the compressors

I'm also not saying its perfect. It never was/is

Nug Wrangler · Post by **Nug Wrangler** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 5:35 pm

TDR Kotelnikov, Voxengo Marvel GEQ, LoudMax

hotmitts · Post by **hotmitts** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:08 pm

Is there a good all-in-one plug-in for the master or mix bus ? Or close to ? I'm looking for a really easy dial-a-preset type solution because all my time goes into lyrics/guitar parts/drums etc. Hope it's Ok to ask on this thread, didn't want to start a new 'what's the best' thread haha

ralfrobert · Post by **ralfrobert** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:11 pm

hotmitts wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:08 pm Is there a good all-in-one plug-in for the master or mix bus ? Or close to ? I'm looking for a really easy dial-a-preset type solution because all my time goes into lyrics/guitar parts/drums etc. Hope it's Ok to ask on this thread, didn't want to start a new 'what's the best' thread haha

IK Lurssen, bx masterdesk, Ozone using the automatic processes. And there are many more.

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:47 pm

hotmitts wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:08 pm Is there a good all-in-one plug-in for the master or mix bus ? Or close to ? I'm looking for a really easy dial-a-preset type solution because all my time goes into lyrics/guitar parts/drums etc. Hope it's Ok to ask on this thread, didn't want to start a new 'what's the best' thread haha

All you really "need" is a decent EQ and a true peak limiter. For example FabFilter Pro Q3 and L2, if you have the money for them. Similarly you can go with a company like Tonebooters Equalizer and Barricade. There are many other companies making similar tools, some are even free.

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:53 pm

"Dial-a-preset" makes no sense for mastering because the changes you're making should typically be smaller than the variation between presets.

In theory "smart" tools make sense but I don't trust the assumptions they make about how the end result should sound.

Octave_Jumper · Post by **Octave_Jumper** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:58 pm

hotmitts wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:08 pm Is there a good all-in-one plug-in for the master or mix bus ?

demo this to see if you like it:

https://www.musikhack.com/products/masterplan/

hotmitts · Post by **hotmitts** » Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:30 pm

Thanks for the help and suggestions, looking like Ozone might be the one to suit my needs anyway.

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:41 pm

hotmitts wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:30 pm Thanks for the help and suggestions, looking like Ozone might be the one to suit my needs anyway.

Ozone is not bad a choice. It has all the tools and more you'd want/need. But it also has a lot of presets as starting points and you can create your own simpler chains as you learn to use the tools. To make the most out of mastering you'll have to learn how to use each tool but that can come with time. You may also find a preset or modified preset that generally does what you want and just have to put it on your track and be done with it. One thing I would recommend is keep your over-all loudness down below -12 LUFS and if not more like -16 to -14 LUFS to get the most over-all quality out of your tracks. Remember louder might be perceived as sounding better but when you AB with a less loud track you'll hear the issues.

PieBerger · Post by **PieBerger** » Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:48 pm

plexuss wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:41 pm One thing I would recommend is keep your over-all loudness down below -12 LUFS and if not more like -16 to -14 LUFS to get the most over-all quality out of your tracks. Remember louder might be perceived as sounding better but when you AB with a less loud track you'll hear the issues.

This is heavily genre-dependent, for example -16LUFS might be good for a country mix, but it will be too quiet/weak for a neuro drum & bass track. I would recommend to analyse the loudness of some reference tracks of the same style and try to match the LUFS to those.

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Tue Jul 25, 2023 4:58 pm

PieBerger wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:48 pm
plexuss wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:41 pm One thing I would recommend is keep your over-all loudness down below -12 LUFS and if not more like -16 to -14 LUFS to get the most over-all quality out of your tracks. Remember louder might be perceived as sounding better but when you AB with a less loud track you'll hear the issues.
This is heavily genre-dependent, for example -16LUFS might be good for a country mix, but it will be too quiet/weak for a neuro drum & bass track. I would recommend to analyse the loudness of some reference tracks of the same style and try to match the LUFS to those.

... and try to avoid excessive loudness, over -14 LUFS if you can. The louder you get, meaning the more you pump the gain on the limiter, more you are introducting artifacts that have a negative impact on sound quality and may even cause distortion on analogue conversion. It's safer to stick with low to moderate loudness. In otherwords, avoid the Loudness War (look it up) if possible. Just because other people are reducing the quality of their audio doesn't mean you have to.

Mastering Chains 2023