As I'm about to start turning a final mix into a master for the first time, I'd appreciate any help...
After I make a mix that I'm quite happy with, what is the next step? Do I export the whole song to an AIFF file, which I then bring into my software to master?
And where does the dither plug-in come into the assembly line?
THANKS.
Drew
Mixing to Mastering Question
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plasticmoonrain plasticmoonrain https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=11457
- KVRist
- 122 posts since 3 Jan, 2004 from Scarsdale, NY
White Castle Studios North
Scarsdale, NY 10583
"Buy'em By The Sack!"
Scarsdale, NY 10583
"Buy'em By The Sack!"
-
- KVRAF
- 7886 posts since 24 Feb, 2003 from Earth, USA
DO NOT DITHER! Bounce out your song in AIF at the highest rate your card can handle. If it's 96khz/24 bit, do it. DO NOT NORMALIZE! If you can give 3 to 6dB of headroom for them to work with, even better.
OF course, most important is ask the mastering facility what they support. Most likely they can work with whatever you give them though.
Devon
OF course, most important is ask the mastering facility what they support. Most likely they can work with whatever you give them though.
Devon
Simple music philosophy - Those who can, make music. Those who can't, make excuses.
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
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plasticmoonrain plasticmoonrain https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=11457
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 122 posts since 3 Jan, 2004 from Scarsdale, NY
What if I'm workiong on mastering it myself?
Doesn't that dithering processing come in at some point?
Drew
Doesn't that dithering processing come in at some point?
Drew
White Castle Studios North
Scarsdale, NY 10583
"Buy'em By The Sack!"
Scarsdale, NY 10583
"Buy'em By The Sack!"
-
- KVRAF
- 7886 posts since 24 Feb, 2003 from Earth, USA
Only dither if you need to, and do it last.
Devon
Devon
Simple music philosophy - Those who can, make music. Those who can't, make excuses.
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
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- KVRAF
- 8705 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
What Devon said.
I see posts on here that imply that quite a few people dither all over the place. I suppose I can see why - I notice in the Cubase manual it says that dither should be used whenever converting any files down from the internal 32bit to your usual 24bit or 16bit. People would take that as meaning you should dither every time you render to anything lower than 32bits, but that's not what it means at all.
Dither does its job by introducing subtle noise - the more you dither the more that's going to build up and potentially get audible. Personally I don't dither at all anywhere - most of my mixes don't have long quiet passages with loooooooong subtle reverb tails etc that might be noticeably uneven at the end of the tails etc. So I don't hear my mixes any differently whether they're dithered or not.
The other thing is that if I ever want to send my mixes off to be externally mastered - they're going to want an undithered version - a mastering house will probably have far superior ditherers than you or I.
For your own mastering...you still want as high a quality as you can get, so it does make some sense to render your mix at 32bit. Personally I don't - I do music nowadays for my own pleasure, and I find a good mix rendered at 44.1/16 sounds perfectly fine to me for my uses. Also your files are going to be bloody huge if you use 32bit and high sample rates all over the place.....that's something for you to decide on.
But if you're going to dither, it should only be done once and it should be done as the last thing you ever do to that particular master. Put dither in the last insert slot AFTER any Eqs, comps, enhancers etc etc etc....
A good idea is to save your mix in various versions.
1 as an 88.2/32 - (your highest quality for if you ever master externally...88.2 is easier to truncate than 96...although if DVD is on your mind, then 96 is the one)
a 2nd as 44.1/32 (if you're going to burn to CD, then keep everything at 44.1 - I see no point in high sample rates and reducing back down - that's just a potential source of degradation) This version is at the right sample rate but if you're going to dither later, it hasn't already been dithered.
3rd one at 44.1/16 - I generally do any fiddling around with my mixes at this level - you can try it..if you feel it's worse quality and audible...then go back to your 32bit version.
If you're serious about releasing it, then I suppose it makes the most sense to work at the highest level throughout until the very end - in which case you'd render all audio even within your recording and mixing stage at 96/32 - but be prepared for a huge sized project. Then final mix at 96/32....then mastering (with headroom as Devon mentioned) and finally reduce down to 44.1/16 right at the end with dither.
I see posts on here that imply that quite a few people dither all over the place. I suppose I can see why - I notice in the Cubase manual it says that dither should be used whenever converting any files down from the internal 32bit to your usual 24bit or 16bit. People would take that as meaning you should dither every time you render to anything lower than 32bits, but that's not what it means at all.
Dither does its job by introducing subtle noise - the more you dither the more that's going to build up and potentially get audible. Personally I don't dither at all anywhere - most of my mixes don't have long quiet passages with loooooooong subtle reverb tails etc that might be noticeably uneven at the end of the tails etc. So I don't hear my mixes any differently whether they're dithered or not.
The other thing is that if I ever want to send my mixes off to be externally mastered - they're going to want an undithered version - a mastering house will probably have far superior ditherers than you or I.
For your own mastering...you still want as high a quality as you can get, so it does make some sense to render your mix at 32bit. Personally I don't - I do music nowadays for my own pleasure, and I find a good mix rendered at 44.1/16 sounds perfectly fine to me for my uses. Also your files are going to be bloody huge if you use 32bit and high sample rates all over the place.....that's something for you to decide on.
But if you're going to dither, it should only be done once and it should be done as the last thing you ever do to that particular master. Put dither in the last insert slot AFTER any Eqs, comps, enhancers etc etc etc....
A good idea is to save your mix in various versions.
1 as an 88.2/32 - (your highest quality for if you ever master externally...88.2 is easier to truncate than 96...although if DVD is on your mind, then 96 is the one)
a 2nd as 44.1/32 (if you're going to burn to CD, then keep everything at 44.1 - I see no point in high sample rates and reducing back down - that's just a potential source of degradation) This version is at the right sample rate but if you're going to dither later, it hasn't already been dithered.
3rd one at 44.1/16 - I generally do any fiddling around with my mixes at this level - you can try it..if you feel it's worse quality and audible...then go back to your 32bit version.
If you're serious about releasing it, then I suppose it makes the most sense to work at the highest level throughout until the very end - in which case you'd render all audio even within your recording and mixing stage at 96/32 - but be prepared for a huge sized project. Then final mix at 96/32....then mastering (with headroom as Devon mentioned) and finally reduce down to 44.1/16 right at the end with dither.