A mix is never done, it’s surrendered

This has to been said: from all the audio 'studio' content channels, I favour your channel the most.

This may be your best and most important video yet! Solid advice. You listen, then listen again and just do the best you can at that time. I know that I could tinker on a mix literally forever, tweaking things a little here and a little there, but there comes a point when you lose your objectivity and start to overdo things. Learning when to 'stop' and let it go is important.

You mention other people in your building... I’d like to hear more about the soundproofing that went into the studio design so they can’t hear you. Maybe when you do your speakers/acoustics/studio rebuild video.

When my mix studio was in a bedroom, when I wanted to take some distance from the production, I lay down on... the bed! I always heard stuff I didn't notice when in the sweet spot.

Great job! I really appreciate your candor and ability to explain complex and subjective technical subjects.

Your focus on quality is refreshing and inspiring! Thank you.

Quality is in the ear of the beholder as far as I can tell. Love your work.

Overuse of compression in the "loudness wars" ruined the dynamic range of CDs. Good point about genres requiring different loudness levels. I try not to overcompress the mix just because I have room to make it louder. For me, the CD remasters done by Barry Diament in the '80s still sound the best compared to subsequent remasters of the same albums he worked on.

Very happy that I found your channel recently-- seems like you have some great content!

I really like your channel and your work, man. Congrats!

So spot on, about separating yourself from the production. 🙌🏻 Fantastic content. New favorite channel.

I love your channel dude, I'm an 18 and I'm already going to finish my mixing engineer course. :) you motivate me a lot

This is such a helpful video. Thank you 1000x.

Great review Wytse ! I am as enthusiastic as you about AO, had great results with my mixes using the Brit-series of Pre-amp, EQ and Compressor :-)

Great breakdown and tips, my friend!

Great video! Very informative. Thank you :)

Great Videos as Always!

Thanks for this vid - I completely agree with the cafe comment where you then notice that the hi hat needs to be tweaked etc. I thought I was perhaps alone in this technique where I have a fair amount of paperwork that's associated with my audio business and will typically play a mix in the background while doing admin work. I'm always amazed on finding things to help improve the quality of the mix that as I'm "mixing", I'm overlooking. Although I do enjoy all of your tech vids / product reviews, this video for me was probably one of my favorites because you explain some of your process which is not something you can find in a classroom or text book.

So true about mastering studios, it got alot cheaper then they used to be so i noticed for myself that they also don't take it so serious anymore and get lazier and lazier on the job, resulting in better investing in learning how to master yourself instead

Looking forward to you video on speakers, room and acoustics.

-10 integrated LUFS is the happy medium I find. It’s close to cd loudness and streaming services will turn it down as needed and I find no degradation in the sonic spectrum when streaming. Just my opinion based on my experiences. You can drive yourself fucking bananas mastering multiple versions to match each format.

Great demonstration Thank you !!

I've already wrote that somewhere, in an other comment maybe about an other video from an other YT channel, but listenning you mix at physical distance, doors open, in an other room and doing something else is a great tool. Realy. It gives you either the physical distance, the mind distance and the "EQ/bandwidth distance". You hear the music thru "bad conditions" and if the music is good despite thes bad conditions, the music is good. And if there's an issue on a detail you hear it. It's like hearing your favorite piece of music thru a crappy AM radio or when you're in the shower with the noise of the water on your head.

hey man i am a producer engineer and you are right on point with what your saying, def mentioned most of my golden rules!

Super useful informations here! Thank you

you're like the Linus Tech Tips for music stuff ;)

The phase inversion is used in visual effects as a check of the changes and is called "difference matting".

Thanks for sharing this!

When it sounds good, then it's good?! Lovely video Wytse!

Thanks for the information!

So many good tips for mental and sonic fatigue, plus the technical tools that you use!! Thank you Great vid all around m8! As for the phase trick, I think it's called phase cancelling which btw the way you're using it seems really worth trying !!! (ps.: please don't mind my comment but.... 0:10 the correct is arose or rose. 6:13 caught instead of catched. :D)

I master all my music, it sucked for a long time but it’s definitely competitive these days.

That method for checking the distortion looks awesome, great tip! I would insert the same plugin on the duplicate-phase-inverted track to match the delay and just make sure all the parameters are set to zero, that should sort out the alignment issue for perfect 180° phase cancellation - and then dial in some distortion on one track..

Great video. Thank you

Looking forward to this :)

The in-phase out-phase test is called a null test! It's an absolutely useful technique to see what a plugin is actually doing, besides checking differences between masters.

such practical advice! distancing… it is more difficult to do in music than in visual arts (i am a Designer). i can step away from my design ‘process’ easier than i can with sound. it travels INSIDE my skull, and in my skin!

Thx for the tips man. Cheers

... Second pair of ears, never heard any crazy sh.. Like that 😂👍 awesome. Love this guy

This is gold!

called a Null Test for the phase inversion thing I think.

THANK YOU for saying what you did about speakers and acoustics. If it was all just EQ we'd just download the EQ curve for a Neuman U67 and apply it to an off brand sm58. You can't hear what you can't hear; you said it best. Thanks for your scientific approach to the techniques and your artistic approach to the music.

Tight track - great vid.

Thank you Sir 👊🏾

00:41 Well, of course, we can't be satisfy with creativity. As they say, "art is never finish!" 😁

awesome video

Maybe one of your best videos for me. How good is my mix/master in front my hearing perspective, focus and unfocusand metered. Nice inverted phase checking out method as well (complement of your previously video of harmonic distortion about the harmonics that this types of plugins add). Well, use your ears above all.

amazing song

A very important point you made. Quality vs taste.

Difference / Delta - Thanks for another great video

I LOVE THIS GUY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I constantly look at the level plugins and I think theyre very helpful. Its a pain tho and messes up the workflow so im thinking about buying the tc electronics screen so its just in front of me at all times. Would be dope and help speed things up.

Ive always found he name of the game to be tonal balance. Which is usually better done in the mix. Then bring the track to level. Another way to know if your Master is good is if your Mix is good. Then you just dont have to fuck it up.

just smash it against a brick wall at -.01 and you're done!

Great tips dude, I'm just an enthusiastic on music stuff and productions, more on the live shows side, anyway one of my complains about music now in days is the mastering process add a lot of loudness who distroy good albums or good songs, like "Californication" by red hit chilli peppers is a great album but a pain listen on a decent audio equipment also the album "sonic highway" is another case but luckily they released the documental on tv, so the difference between cd released and tv stream is HUGE, the tv stream sounds more natural with great stage and deep field and in the other side the cd sounds so boring plain without live at all, because they Opted for the brick mode, anyway..... so in my constantly music research (buying music on cd or digital media) I always check for the dinamic range, between -10DB And in the worse case -7db more than that is almost sure than going to sound really bad on my system

Always enjoy your uploads. Listening outside your mixing room can give another perspective. But I wonder about acoustic coloration and reflections, even though I do the same thing! Pindrop listening is another useful habit and finally, having a reference track or some sort of eq matching plugin. The inescapable fact is that finalised tracks have to conform to the industry standard eq paramaters (keeping genre in mind!) and that is where pink noise is a valuable ref' plot. There are othets, but p/n is the default. Its what all successful masters are adhering to and why a great mixdown translates. Sadly, most prople are listening on tablets/notebooks/smartfones /mp3 players and earbuds. Mp3 gives a weird low end bump and you have to account for all these deficencies and variables! No wonder people have a nightmare self mastering! But if your mixdown is AOK, finalising shouldn't be such a headache. You can't polish a tutd!

That's interesting regarding FLUX and -24 sub, do these values work with SPAN? I heard not to exceed -30 in SPAN too aggressively. So it should be -24 if I'm doing pure sub without kick?

You have to be perfectionist to do that job!

Thank you 🙏 for your tips, on witch level you have your final mastered track output ?

Polarity switch would technically be the correct term. Phase is connected to the time domain. Though it's very common to use the term phase switch instead, which i also do most of the time.

Best trick I was ever shown was to set your master mix to mono, and A/B compare it to stereo. All the conflicting sounds and frequencies will jump out. If it sounds good in mono, and better, or at least as good when I flip back to stereo, I know there is not much else to do other than keep spinning in circles, or going over board with additional changes. It's a very objective way to get to the point where you just render it out, and call it done. Then play it in the car, and on some shitty ear buds. If that still doesn't bring anything horrible to the surface, I'm usually done done.

Isn't it better to double check with a second plugin? You seem always to use just one plugin (one analyzer, eq etc) for a specific purpose. Maybe you want a little boost on high end to add air, but Fabfilter might give a different result as for example maag eq and you can not compare by using just one plugin and you have a lot of hardware, too. Heavy metal you also make better loud haha Nice video, thanks

Interesting but I'm puzzled. For streaming I'd read the loudness needs to be -14 LUFS, which is what I make my tracks to. So I tried Loudness Penalty (which I'd never heard off) and my track needed boosting by +4/5. I just wish these people (streaming services)would get together and make their mind up what they want and then I can work towards it.

Hey, have you seen the new compressor from denise? It's called Dragon Fire and they call it a tonal compressor although to my "expert" ears it seems like just a multiband compressor with a fancy EQ-esc curve. right up the alley of this channel I would think :)

Can you describe the main focal points when you start to mixing or mastering

Good video ,thx BTW what do you use on your mastering chain ?

Sorry for the stupid question, but what really is the difference between Flux's standalone Pure Analyzer Essential and the subscription version Pure Analyzer System? Would I even need to upgrade to the subscription?

ah! good to hear that I am not the only one that is a bit lost when it comes to master level. a lot of the tracks that I buy for dj'ing are on -10 LUFS. why!? when we finally seem to have a standard we mess it up again.

Hi! Thanks for the content and for changing the treatment of your voice, right now is a pleasure to listening to you, a little bit too much compressed, but just a little bit too much, which in the end is not a problem, but i would give some more personality over some place in the middle range to your voice so your great personality is not lost, the ones that are following you since 2018, we know you, but this voice doesn't let your personality arrive, but be carefull you fixed the ears hurting and changing that could be not very good. QUESTION: I have a question please: How can you record so low having a total of -48 in lets say high frequencies, at that level in each track on Ardour (the DAW i use) you can't see the wave almost, how do you do to record so low, am i understanding right that you are using -48dbs? Then how you arrive to the -16LUFS and -1dbtp for example? Sorry if i missunderstood. Thanks for your content!!!

Thanks for all the information. I have a question on dithering since it’s important in mastering. Why is it important? Sorry if you have somewhere a video on this.

in hardstyle and hardcore we get sometimes -2DB LUFS mastering ^^

Wytse, forgive me if this is a dumb question but could you modify your Neumann components to have stepped knobs so they're always properly balanced? i know you would lose some precision with your settings but you could use a knob with lots of steps so you still had a lot of setting options

I still don't understand how integrated loudness works on streaming services... i thought they rather check for short-term loudness - because doesn't integrated loudness mean if you have an extended quiet intro or bridge but a really loud hook the integrated loudness will still be relatively average?

damn thank u so much

I know little to nothing about mastering - with that said, when I use Ozone 9's Master Assistant along with Softube's Weiss Comp./Limiter I get good sounding mixes!

Good tips. Kinda generalized but you hit on all the top hot buttons

But how many of my LUFS will sound good tomorrow? I heard it was good for the bass?

I can really relate to this. Dont obsess to much on the sound. Give enough time for breaks. Warren Huart of produce like a pro discussed about this. 😎

Phase cancelling. UML Physics 2023. Love your work

My experience is that you can not allways "see" high frequencies. Even if you don't see a lot of highs (amplitude) in the frequency plot, a good mastered track can have a lot of them. The consequence: I turn up the highs (amplitude) in my mix visually to the same amount as in the compared mix and still have less highs when listening. Why? - Probably it's more about the energy not the amplitude alone. The energy you get by compression (less peaks) and the visible amplitudes you get by simply turn it up. Any thoughts on this?

Hey man, I had a very specific question. But idk if its nessecary to make a video on it, but I genuinely would like to have some tips from anyone possible. I have been producing since 1998 and I always had mental difficulties due Autism, ADHD and later on also an anxiety disorder. And lately I have quite some difficulties with producing due anxiety. Anxiety while producing is one of the most frequent moments when my anxiety pops up. I is not triggered by any concious thoughts, but I am pretty sure it is caused by a fear of failure. Even though I am just an hobbyist, and I mainly produce to have fun and to express. Does anyone have tips or tricks on this? maybe Mr whitey white? ^^ I am also from The Netherlands btw. :) I like your vids man! :D

I would just call it an A/B comparison for phase, or a phase A/B comparison lol There's probably a better term but that would be easily understood by most people. Also that's a killer idea, never heard of or thought of it before but it's actually amazing I never knew you could single out the distortion like that, definitely gotta try it in the future

I follow you... ( I don't follow you but I will rewind many times and take screenshots of the eq)

I mix (and learning to master) drum n’ bass and traditionally it’s as loud as can be - sucks for the streaming platforms though, I guess!

Loud Heavy Metal masters do slap though. Great video though!

Wait. What track was that and whom was it by? I must know!

Is that a new 1176 you have in the background?

I use a pro mastering engineer. It’s not that I can’t master, as I have the knowledge and skills; I have several pairs of good monitors, in a well-treated room which provides me with confidence. It’s because the mastering engineer I use is someone who’s ears I trust, and rely on for objective critical analysis, (and he’s super picky) which for me, is necessary. I tend to lose my honed aural perspective after I’ve finalized a mix; and I think it’s because of the time I’ve spent working on a project, where I’m there from the very start with tracking, overdubs, arrangement, editing, to the very end when I’m printing the final mix. During that above process, I’m hearing hundreds of passes of the tracks and the songs, and after the mix is done, I find that I’ve reached a point where I’m too “saturated” with the music (and the overall sonics) to feel confident enough to master them (which we know is a lot more than just making a mix LOUD) with a level of quality that matches the mixes. I’m very fortunate to have used one pro M.E. for nearly 30 years now, (who is not only highly knowledgeable and skilled, but who also has top level analog gear, an incredible room and monitoring). It’s a professional relationship that has been cultivated over that time, where we have become very familiar with each other’s methods, styles, dynamics preferences, and in turn, each one’s expectations. I’m speaking only for myself here; I would never suggest to anyone that they not do mastering themselves, because if what they are doing is working for them, that’s all that matters. IMHO. 🙏

Can I ask what the meter on the left stands for...bass hitting -24 as you say. What measurement? All my meter / eq plugins show db scale, so they would be showing my peak levels. I'm confused what that could be. Thanks!

I don't understand why clients want louder mix… If you want it louder just turn this big knob on your amp to the right!!

How can I make my productions more dynamic? (In terms of mixing). I create electronic music (kind of mixed styles, a bit goth, a bit darkish, kind of movie soundtrack like) mostly synth based but I struggle with making the sound dynamic to my taste. I have recently discovered the youlean loudness meter and it tells me my mixes are not very dynamic.

I read a quote somewhere once, and I seem to think it was attributed to Sting. However, I have not been able to find the quote again, so I’m going completely off of memory. Anyway, the quote goes, “You never really FINISH an album, you just give up.”

Do you have advice for people who only have studio headphone and want to master their own tracks?

isn't it called "zero/null test"? (In that with inverted phase signals should null...) - Hey Wytse, I am really curious - how much electricity does all that analog gear need? Like compared to a household electricity bill, is it a lot more or roughly the same or less? :)

Leerzame video😎👍

Have you ever tryed youlean loudness meter?

What you think about using jbl eon one compact for mixing mastering?

Honesty is the best policy.

null testing, when you phase invert one signal to check the result? i think?