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For any Reaper users, if you want to do that Parallel Compression trick on your master, Reaper puts a wet/dry knob up at the corner of EVERY plugin. So you can use any compressor without having to do any crazy routing configurations.

Mastering my second EP 1.5 years after the first one, and came back to this video again for a refresher. Thanks, Graham!

I can't even begin to imagine how many aspiring musicians you've helped out with these solid, straight forward and fundamental mixing and mastering lessons, Thank you for this series Graham!

Another trick is as soon as you've done these steps, bounce to MP3 and play it on as many systems as you can and take notes. Then go back to the stems and change it up, then repeat. Then use those 2 MP3's as references.

Wow!! Listened to the final version on Spotify and sounds amazing I'm blown away all stock plug ins with budget gear so punchy and up front and LOUD. Great job sir you changed my aspect on engineering for life thank you Graham God is showing off in your life keep it up

Hey, this is a nice mastering Reference ... 4:50 Mastering EQ 6:50 Mastering Compressor 12:06 Mastering Limiter + VU-Meter Thanks for posting, Graham. Tom #BerlinBayBand

I've been watching these videos since the '5 Minutes to a Better Mix' series and this addition shows the consistently excellent quality of his educational content. Thank you Graham!

I've recently begun home recording and have become obsessed like Frankenstein in his lab. After so many hours of research I have to say this series has quelled my anxiety of over saturating my mind with everything I can find. I'm going to go back and re-mix and master all my songs now. Thank you!

Dude Graham, I love this song! It's cool to see you improving as you teach us. I've been watching you since I was 14 I'm 19 now.

I appreciate what you're doing in these videos, I've been recording and mixing and mastering my own stuff for a long time but I'm always trying to get other people's perspectives because you're never done learning, so thank you for all the tips and advice

Graham, you're the best mentor I've ever seen in my whole life. I've been following you for awhile and I've learned very much from you. Thumbs up! Keep up the good work, dude!

Hey man I just wanted to shout and give you a huge Thanks! I've watched so many youtube videos on improving my Mixing and Mastering skills and you do such a great job at actually simplifying and explaining how to utilize the tools you have to get a great mix. I think the first video I watched was your explanation of how a compressor works and after that I was hooked. People always get on KZfaq and like show what they did on a mix with the compressor to get great vocals by setting the Attack at this and Threshold to this but that never seemed to really help me grasp how to use to the tool. Honestly you are the only Teacher out there on KZfaq that seems like you really want people to learn how to get better at being a Producer/Engineer. Even though I make Hip Hop, your videos still help a ton. I don't do a lot of Mic setups and recording live but beyond that point it still applies. Anyways just wanted to say your the man bro! Keep making those videos. Even though I've been making my own beats for a long time and putting somewhat decent mixes of my own stuff. I'm getting out there like you said and offering to Mix anything I can get my hands on for free just to get more experience on other artists music. Hopefully they feel it and I can eventually get a little more serious with it. Thanks again.

Great stuff! Been studying a lot on how to perfect my trade and this is just what I needed. Thanks for the "short" video on mastering (I don't mind watching 30-60 minutes) but to the point and key things to look at is really what I care about as I became even better.

I love this channel. Such important tools for DIY producers and musicians. No bull, straight to the point. Keep it up!!

I have followed your videos on how to mix a song from beginning to end. I must say…You make this a whole lot more easy and interesting than anyone else I have seen!!!! Thank you!!!! This has been very helpful!!! Keep up the Great Work!!!!!

This is incredibly comprehensive, and you did a wonderful job of explaining these concepts. I left this video with enough knowledge to get my first master exactly where I wanted it. Thank you :)

Yes! Thank you Graham for posting this. Been following the "how to mix from scratch" series and this is just what I needed to finish it off! Thank you for all of the value you provide us.

Graham. You have really "mastered" the descriptive terms for explaining sound. You always pick the perfect words. Smack, fizzy, rounded off, love it!

I'm revisiting this video again to get some inspiration and perspective, and I forgot how awesome this song is. This is one of those songs that I wish I would have written and recorded. Great song, great production...this made my day. I must purchase this one.

For those of you looking for the final version of this song, it's available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon, and more. Just look up Graham Cochrane - Bury It.

Its funny how the exact same mix before the limiter sounded okayish... but after the limiting it sounded like a really professional song.... huh... loudness really fools our brains

Thank you for this video brother! It's reassuring to see that almost all the steps I already do when mastering are tried and true for veterans like you :) greetings from Italy, God Bless!

Have watched this full series. Thank you. You're seriously the best at teaching. Maybe not the best producer, but the best teacher. You made sure we understand WHY we use plugins. Unlike other youtubers that just tells us to put something in "to make them sound better" but never goes in depth about why. I've been putting pluggins in and tweak knobs at random to see which ones make an instrument sound better. I mean, it works, but takes so much time. Nothing is more frustrating than KNOWING your song sounds bad but don't know what to do 😥. You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you. You deserve much more subs than this

Like I've been saying since 1961.... "Record it right and the mastering takes care of itself". This presentation pretty much proves my point. I never understood why people need mastering houses.

I downloaded the guide and it really cover everything, really really thank you for everything, you should get more subscribers because all your videos are super complete, and you're helping us (beginners) to reach our goal and learn a little more.

You're doing an amazing work of simplifying the audio production to the world. Congrats!

Thanks Graham. You've clearly shown how some minor processing can have a major impact on the final product. Invaluable video.

I really love this song.

THANK YOU. Never thought i would ever be able to Master a song but after watchng your video, it answered a looooot of my questions. Really grateful. Thank you for sharing your knowledge

Thank you so much, Graham. This is definitely the sort of thing the online music community needs. Cheers!

THANK GOD FOR MENTORS SUCH AS YOURSELF. Blessings

best mastering video ive seen so far on mastering, easy to expand on these ideas and great advice thanks for this

Watched all of these last night, absolutely great guide, really looking forward to improving my mixing now, thanks!

I have seen quite a few persons on KZfaq saying this & that, but your presentation by far was concise, and to the point. Thank you 😊

Thanks Graham this is great, really helpful. I had no idea this could be so simple because of the way people go on about mastering. This explains the process so well.

Hey Man, just wanted to say thanks! Was watching this while sitting on my desk at the office, I'll be trying this once I get home.

This series of Recording, Mixing, and Mastering from scratch is a gold mine for newbies !!

Cool. Watched this because it came through as an email recommend. The explanations of certain features on the plugins, such as the dry/wet feature on the Comp and running the settings on the Klanghelm were particularly helpful. In fact, I'm now gonna get that VU plugin for that reason. Cheers

One of the top ten vids I've seen so far...FANTASTIC

Great job breaking down mastering. I feel like it is something that most overlook(ed), including me.

How to master a song in 30 seconds Load Ozone into the output bus Select the preset that sounds best Grab a beer and say "Close enough!"

Just bought this track on iTunes man. Watched all your videos on the process of making it and wanted to have the final product. Great job and great videos.

I finally got around to trying this out. Just like your song mine changed very subtle with every little step, but in the end sounded marvelous!!

Graham, you are the man. I appreciate you 💯💯

Hi there! Thanks a lot for putting up this tutorial. I really appreciate you made it simple for most of us if not everyone. A lot of videos in KZfaq would give a lot of run-around and not really hitting the spot, and this videos killed 'em all! :)

i know its a bit late but i absolutely love that song!!! i watched your videos slightly out of sequenc and had no idea it was you singing, thanks for the lesson your the only one stopping me loose my mind in my quest to become the worlds best producer and artist!! HAVING NEVER PRODUCED,MIXED OR MASTERED A SINGLE ONE OF MY OWN SONGS TILL A MONTH AGO!! HAHA (DREAMS JUST DONT GO AWAY!! :-)

Really appreciate the simple approach to mastering. Interesting "use" on the compressor. But, it worked. Amazing how some presets can work. Enjoyed and learned as always. Thank you and appreciate the time and dedication it takes to do a channel like this. Thumbs up!!!

Amazing how effective the minimal eq adjustments are.

Great video. I appreciate that you spoke quickly on this video. I am a hands on type of person and videos about recording can be a bit dry. So I really appreciate when someone is concise and to the point.

Loved this clip, very helpful, to the point and I can’t wait to use it on my current projects.

This was VERY helpful. Don't sweat the haters' comments Graham. You do great work and we're happy to learn from you.

HUGE Thanks mate🤩 I didn't knew that a unmastered track sounds sooo different to a mastered one.

Dude, you are the best. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you for the knowledge.

Thanks so much Graham, very easy to understand instructions. Actually the best I've seen so far.

Great lesson... I love that Focusrite compressor, use it a lot. However, more often I grab the TDR Kotelnikov (which is free for everyone).

The information is excellent. The tutorial I have been searching for.

I really appreciate your lessons and skills. I've learned so much from watching your channel over the years

One of the best mastering videos I've seen, thanks for your work! It kinda reminds me of going to the eye doctor, "number1... or number2". Subtle adjustments to bring the mix 'into focus'.

Fantastic video👍 Thank you so much Graham, I trust in everything you share with me in your video's because of how you explain thing's makes a lot of sense. Keep up the good work you're doing😉

imo its vital to get that snare drum clear and punchy enough, that and vox the centre of my music mind or what my ear draws to, esp on small speakers , great work and vid g , respect

"the mixing and the recording are the really in depth places". yes please!! nice graham thanks so much for the great video

Nice and straightforward video for transparent mastering. Thank you Graham. Damir

Your channel is amazing! You've taught me so much about audio engineering. Thank you!!!

I think the skill is in the ears making those subtle EQ edits. Great vid.

Hey Graham. Thank you for the videos. They are all extremely helpful. Much appreciated.

best tutorial that i have seen so far . really liking your channel thank you

Hey, great stuff! My many months of practicing brought me so much into micro-doodling; I learned what NOT to do. It is true, 'less is more'.

Very interesting video and also pretty much all info also contained in it. Thanks for the help, now i know what to exactly do further with my own tracks. They've always been good, but when it came to the DB it always stood outside from what you always hear on other songs. That got the right mix, Appreciate it.

You are one of the best teachers in the world Graham!

VERY HELPFUL!! Especially the RMS metering technique. THANK YOU!!

I enjoyed these tutorials Graham, thanks. This final master theory will help many understand a great approach to getting there mixes as loud/tone from a reference track. Everyone knows a master house will get it even better with there half million dollar room and high end hardware. Great basics that work. Thanks for doing this...Cheers

Thanks. Learned that I’m on the right path. Great video my dude

great job & video. Thanks for sharing & helping artists & music get heard properly

I really enjoy your stuff. Straight forward, easy to follow

You're a good teacher, man. Way better than that "industry guy" who praises every plug-in he uses (well, he's paid to do so). Your example is great too. Keep it up.

I listened to the final version on google play music, it was cool thank you for the walk through I learned a lot

Thanks Graham. I've learned a lot from your videos. Been working on an album now for some time. I just keep plugging away even though it's taking forever. I also started to make some money as an audio engineer this year. I should thank you for that as well because I think one of your tutorials or videos you basically said go for it. I've been a professional musician for 20 years but I'm seeing as I get older, audio engineering will be a better revenue stream for me because I won't want to schlep equipment in and out of clubs at 1 in the morning when I'm 64. Plus it pays better. One of these days I will actually buy one of your products because you have already earned my money with your free tutorials. That will have to wait til my starving musician income makes an uptick unfortunately. But I just want to say I'm grateful form your willingness to share your knowledge. keep it up and ignore any haters you rock!

your song sounds dope. sounds better than a lot of other demonstrations i hear.

hello from Argentina! thank you very much for sharing your videos! you are very pedagogical!! Big hug! Adrian

new & improved masters on the way. thank you

Thanks to you Sir I have become more proficient in regards to music. I have seen a few of your videos and can't believe little things got past me over the past years thinking I am so intelligent.

thank you for your wonderful guide bro...... actually i use to write and record song in my iphone but i don't know how to make a song in a professional way ... by watching your videos (how to record and mix a song from the scratch ) it gave me confidence.....once again thank you

Best mix / mastering tutorial on KZfaq

Liked your comp and eq, brought out background vocals and tightened the bottom end while giving the mix more instrument clarity. Nice work.

Great video, Thanks. Ive heard this on the radio & love it.

DUDE!!! You're the shit. You have helped my studio mixes and songs TREMENDOUSLY!!! THANK YOU!!!

This was very informative and extremely helpful. I am a young producer who originally is a songwriter, this and the guide will help in my finals at Full Sail and in the future thank you.💯

Dude, this is an amazing tutorial. Thank you.

I love what you did with making the guitarsome more punchy. It's like you separated the low in the high-end in a way that makes them more clear. I love it.

Total eye opener my friend 😳 thanks a lot!!!

You are an amazing singer, arranger songwriter mixer. This song and sticks and stones are my faves by you.

Great Video. Very helpful the way you explain and show things. Thanks!

I like your song better. So you EQ and Compress in the MIX stage AND the Master stage. Another helpful video! Thank you

Graham, thank you. Perfect video👏🏻👍🏼

Wowwww! Great demo on this topic..really explained the proper use of vu meter as well..

Awesome song! Great tutorial,always a good lesson to learn with you.

As usual goooood stuff! Thanks a bunch!

This is what I've been doing! Thanks, great vid!

what i saw was a great person doing these things showing others, i appreciate that, youtube and spotify or whatever they do they have a loudness level and they will kind of normalize, (or compress, maybe that more), but you, i dont get it why arent u on the radio ? i mean, man, u have some knowledge here and i just wanna express mysefl how much i listen to your videos and cant wait for another one. this is an old one , im writing now, but this was an interest to me. u gotta be on radio man, cmon, or u are, or what why cant i have a link with ur songs, id love that. i just wanna wish u luck and ur doing a great thing man congrats, all i wanna say