Improve my Mastering Chain

[Caine123]

ok i didnt get any notifications anymore it seems cause i didnt click the mail but clicked the topic as bookmark directly.... sorry! many great postings, thx so much!

besides i asked myself i didnt think about, i have my EQ at first position to cut asap the Lows if any sum up like this.



after comps, enhancers and Monoizer would you maybe add an EQ before the Limiter as well with the same settings?



cause, couldnt it be that the comps/tonal balancers/saturators introduce new low end frequencies?

EQ
Multiband Comp
elysia Museq Master
Gulfoss
SmartComp2
SSL Comp
TEOTE
Inflator
Monofilter
Limiter

Use either SmartComp2 or SSL Comp, not both, and move which ever you choose to the top. This is because the EQ will drastically change how the compressor reacts and you'll end up going back and forth every time you make an EQ change.

Use either EQ or Museq, not both, and move it directly after the buss comp.

Use either Multiband Comp, Gulfoss, or TEOTE, not all three, because you'll get too much phase shift or other weirdness. #3 slot.

Monofilter #4 slot, Inflator #5 slot, Limiter #6 slot. Many people say Inflator should be the last slot but I've always gotten better results from it in the second to last, especially because it allows me hit the Brickwall harder. YMMV.

Don't use Adaptiverb for mastering. Satin can go anywhere before Monofilter.

thx so much Eric, i will need to test it out, cause i played around and really liked to tune in the Multicomp and add Gulfoss only 10-15 % it gave some nice highend and Teote rounded it up also added slightly too, maybe my ears were just tricked.

1. EQ
2. Multiband Comp
3. elysia Museq Master
4. Gulfoss
5. SmartComp2
6. SSL Comp
7. TEOTE
8. Inflator
9. Monofilter
10. Limiter

My worklow is based on dividing up the work into smaller pieces. A track is composed of tracking, mixing and mastering. Let's talk about the mastering piece. I divide that into 3 groups: Overall cleanup, specific problem solving and finalization. Cleanup is pretty much full-bandwidth processing. Problem solving involves whatever specfic plugins working on a specfic aspect of the audio. Finalization can include another group of full-or-wide band processing for final polish, loudness set and ensuring the technical aspects of the track meet quality goals.

With this in mind, I would re-org the OP mastering chain this way, making some assumptions about their use which I will mention. I kept the item numbers from the original list so the re-organizatin is easier to see.

4. Gullfoss - over-all goodizer to get track EQ to built-in target
1. EQ - full band, tone mostly, no narrow bands, tilt
6. SSL Comp - glue

3. elysia Museq Master - medium bandwidth tweek
5. SmartComp2 - transparent track comp to get thing back under control

7. TEOTE - overall tonal balance and resonance control
2. Multiband Comp - get things back under control and balanced

8. Inflator - trackwide vibe
9. Monofilter - centre monoization and MS balance
10. Limiter - final loudness and ISP mitigation

thanksa lot too! very intersting to read another opinion, i expected you would remove some of these plugins as well . i read about 4 - 10 plugins from many places. seems it is nothing 100% of course, cause i totally understand that the Mastering chain shouldnt change the song totally tonewise but the MASTER is where everything flows into so maybe im still a noob with this and should try to change the single elements in the mix instead of add soo many tonal plugins in the mastering chain.

[Uncle E]

i have my EQ at first position to cut asap the Lows if any sum up like this.

after comps, enhancers and Monoizer would you maybe add an EQ before the Limiter as well with the same settings?

The one at the beginning is a good way to go. I would recommend not doing the same cut again later and also would recommend not changing that as you master. Just filter out the sub-sonics, set and forget.

thx so much Eric, i will need to test it out, cause i played around and really liked to tune in the Multicomp and add Gulfoss only 10-15 % it gave some nice highend and Teote rounded it up also added slightly too, maybe my ears were just tricked.

As others have said, there's no hard fast rule and you can experiment, particularly if you're using them judiciously like that. I'm just trying to give you some concrete input based on hard lessons I've learned over the years. When I listen back to my old mixes and masters, one of the things that bothers me the most is when I over-EQ'd, particularly if I can hear the phase shifts.

[Caine123]

new video where i tried it out and which version do you like more? or are both not well? (CRAP i see i cut the right side too much.... so you dont see which effect im toggling, but maybe better? ;D so only by ear then, im going through top to bottom with Gulfoss etc.)
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/e8y8eatf ... 08rcw&dl=0

version A WAV
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jvweus1q ... ku43j&dl=0

and B WAV
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r31an44y ... 4sjvc&dl=0

i tell later which is which

i have my EQ at first position to cut asap the Lows if any sum up like this.

after comps, enhancers and Monoizer would you maybe add an EQ before the Limiter as well with the same settings?

The one at the beginning is a good way to go. I would recommend not doing the same cut again later and also would recommend not changing that as you master. Just filter out the sub-sonics, set and forget.

thx so much Eric, i will need to test it out, cause i played around and really liked to tune in the Multicomp and add Gulfoss only 10-15 % it gave some nice highend and Teote rounded it up also added slightly too, maybe my ears were just tricked.

As others have said, there's no hard fast rule and you can experiment, particularly if you're using them judiciously like that. I'm just trying to give you some concrete input based on hard lessons I've learned over the years. When I listen back to my old mixes and masters, one of the things that bothers me the most is when I over-EQ'd, particularly if I can hear the phase shifts.

thx so much again, i uploaded a video which shows how i set them up and also on and off, i think Teote and Gulfoss are taking out some punch maybe? maybe my ears are tired of my session today

1. EQ
2. Multiband Comp
3. elysia Museq Master
4. Gulfoss
5. SmartComp2
6. SSL Comp
7. TEOTE
8. Inflator
9. Monofilter
10. Limiter

My worklow is based on dividing up the work into smaller pieces. A track is composed of tracking, mixing and mastering. Let's talk about the mastering piece. I divide that into 3 groups: Overall cleanup, specific problem solving and finalization. Cleanup is pretty much full-bandwidth processing. Problem solving involves whatever specfic plugins working on a specfic aspect of the audio. Finalization can include another group of full-or-wide band processing for final polish, loudness set and ensuring the technical aspects of the track meet quality goals.

With this in mind, I would re-org the OP mastering chain this way, making some assumptions about their use which I will mention. I kept the item numbers from the original list so the re-organizatin is easier to see.

4. Gullfoss - over-all goodizer to get track EQ to built-in target
1. EQ - full band, tone mostly, no narrow bands, tilt
6. SSL Comp - glue

3. elysia Museq Master - medium bandwidth tweek
5. SmartComp2 - transparent track comp to get thing back under control

7. TEOTE - overall tonal balance and resonance control
2. Multiband Comp - get things back under control and balanced

8. Inflator - trackwide vibe
9. Monofilter - centre monoization and MS balance
10. Limiter - final loudness and ISP mitigation

i also then reorganized them like plexuss said in the 2nd half

[mystran]

i have my EQ at first position to cut asap the Lows if any sum up like this.

after comps, enhancers and Monoizer would you maybe add an EQ before the Limiter as well with the same settings?

The one at the beginning is a good way to go. I would recommend not doing the same cut again later and also would recommend not changing that as you master. Just filter out the sub-sonics, set and forget.

One thing I want to note is that one should not worry too much about what an FFT analyzer shows at those low frequencies, unless it's very clear that something really awful is going on. The way FFT analyzers work, there's always some bleeding between adjacent bins and at low frequencies those bins tend to be rather wide. The end result is that even if you use an ideal brickwall, an FFT analyzer is likely still going to look like there's some subsonic stuff left and then you can keep adding more brickwall filters and it's still there and you'll go crazy.

For subsonic cleanup, you usually don't need a filter all that steep (and 24dB/oct really is already pretty steep for this) unless something truly awful is going on. All that's going to do is cause more ringing (not audible at those frequencies, but can cause IMD with further processing) and more phase-shift. If there's a true problem, it's better to go back to the mix and identify the offending track and fix it there as you can probably use a higher cutoff frequency (and therefore tighter, faster cleanup) that way... but generally as long as the FFT analyzer shows a downwards trend towards DC and no actual problem is otherwise observed (and bigger problems tend to be quite observable), there's probably no need to keep piling steep filters in a futile attempt to remove what it not truly there in the first place.

[legendCNCD]

One thing I want to note is that one should not worry too much about what an FFT analyzer shows at those low frequencies. The way FFT analyzers work, there's always some bleeding between adjacent bins and at low frequencies those bins tend to be rather wide. The end result is that even if you use an ideal brickwall, an FFT analyzer is likely still going to look like there's some subsonic stuff left and then you can keep adding more brickwall filters and it's still there and you'll go crazy.

For subsonic cleanup, you usually don't need a filter all that steep (and 24dB/oct really is already pretty steep for this) unless something truly awful is going on.

These here people, these here. I usually go with 6dB/oct on mix channels, on master, we haven't needed to cut anything for a long time now.

[martiu]

hi, add bit crusher and sample rate reducer on your master chain for some crisp

[plexuss]

hi, add bit crusher and sample rate reducer on your master chain for some crisp

And a phaser for some girth

[martiu]

hi, add bit crusher and sample rate reducer on your master chain for some crisp

And a phaser for some girth

dont forget the comb filter and the flanger

[egbert101]

Then feed everything into mp3 at 32 kbit/s for that lofi vibe.

[Caine123]

i just added a clipper, clipped all spikes and raised the limiter volume until gain reduction about -6 to -10 db and now all looks like one flat wav without spikes. now im winning the loudness war! please keep this secret for yourself!

[legendCNCD]

Then feed everything into mp3 at 32 kbit/s for that lofi vibe.

Compress & gate this to get great hits happening, then parallel mix it back to original for that finished record sound.

[Michey]

hi, add bit crusher and sample rate reducer on your master chain for some crisp

And a phaser for some girth

dont forget the comb filter and the flanger

Then feed everything into mp3 at 32 kbit/s for that lofi vibe.

Compress & gate this to get great hits happening, then parallel mix it back to original for that finished record sound.

I'm sorry but you guys are obviously noobs.

Every seasoned mastering Eng. knows that one can have ANY processor in their mastering chain as long as they have TWO magic ingredients : STEP ONE at the start of the chain, high-pass @ 22.1kHz. why ? because a legendary mastering Eng. called Nyquest used it... that's why (I heard he was the engineer at ABBA Rude studio). STEP TWO: the very last plug, at the end of the chain should be a Low-pass, cutting and cleaning everything to achieve that analog girthy creaminess, that coarse transparency. I usually LP at 1Hz (rather than 0Hz - because you kno, leaving sum headroo)

I then clip the result to -2LUFS. again - leaving a litta roo, to breeze.

You won't hear anything better in your life - I CAN ASSURE YOU. that's a fact.

[martiu]

as long as you have ring modulator at 432hz on the master it will sound good

[Igro]

as long as you have ring modulator at 432hz on the master it will sound good

Thanks. I will buy it now.

[DCrown]

Route whole mix to a parallel track adding some amp sim to add some more energy to the mix