Hey guys! Ever wondered how to add that extra clean shine to your song while mastering but don't want to spend money on third party plugins? Then this is the video for you! Follow along as I teach you how to master your track in Ableton using built-in audio effects. Obviously this isn't the only way to do this and I strongly recommend you experiment and try out your own combinations of audio effects, but at least for now maybe you can get a grasp on what works and what doesn't. Enjoy!

Not even kidding, when he put the reverb on the master i got the "this is a cardinal sin of EDM, right here" ad

"If you don't know what this is, you probably shouldn't change it..." wise words

holy shit!! this is LITERALLY the only video that ACTUALLY helped master my track, out of fricking hundreds of sites ive looked through and videos ive watched. none of them helped AT ALL except this one video that's only 22 minutes long! i appreciate this video at the very most and respect the grind + good explanations! fully love it! :-)

Multi-band dynamics is for compressing certain frequency ranges not just fiddling with the input and output level haha. The input knob decides how loud the signal coming into it is. The bars in the middle are showing you the volume of the frequency ranges and how much they are being compressed. The output knob allows you to increase or decrease the volume of the affected/compressed signal.

Using reverb in mastering is a big no-no. That's done during the production/mixing stage, mastering shouldn't ever touch it - no matter the dry/wet fader, it *will* screw up the mix. There's a reason you don't see it in any proper mastering chain.

Good tutorial, interesting to see your workflow. Just an annotation to the Ableton limiter: you don't control the maximum output with the "gain" knob, you control it with the "ceiling" field above. Gain is to increase your input signal before the limiter kicks in. So you can reduce the dynamic range and increase volume of lower parts. In your example it worked anyway, because preset set ceiling to minus 0.3 db. greetings

Thanks! In case anyone is curious my final ableton chain for mastering is: Compressor Multiband Dynamics Spectrum Saturator (A Bit Warmer) Limiter Everyone probably has their own setup but I just found this to be the simplest and most effective!

this video legit changed my life man idk how better to say it this has been a massive problem for me for so long and this fixed every problem and more bro cant thank you enough

I've watched every single one of these tutorials and this is by far the best one! Much thanks

Incredibly good tutorial. Just turned my mediocre sounding track into something completely different. Not at all "professional", but for an hour of work, its incredible. Thank you!

So far this guide has worked very well for me, I know I’ll eventually have to get better but I do tweak the master effects and details with every different song I make but this is still a great start! 4 years later it’s still holding up for me, I started using it like a year ago so I’m saying the video 4 years later still holds

That epic gamer moment when you only have live intro

You know that expression "lift yourself by your bootstraps"? Well sir, you have provided me with my first boots when it comes to mastering, now all i need to do is lift my self up. Thank you, this really upped my game.

Something you didn't mention that I think is a pretty important factor to take into consideration and that is checking your mix in mono using the utility effect to check for phase issues. This might be more of a mixing step though because if you find phase cancellation in the mastering stage you'll have to go back to fix it. Either way it's an important thing to remember.

Finally I’ve found a decent mastering tutorial 😅 Thanks!

7:54 AM that's the grind

This is a great video, and very logically thought out. Everyone giving hate about the reverb on the master, and while I do agree that in most cases there’s no need for that and could hurt your mix, a smidge acts as a subtle sound net that brightens the sound like an auditorium. I think it’s quite clever if used correctly.

DUUUDE! Thank you thank you! I just applied all this stuff to a few little songs that I had done but wasn't satisfied with the master, cause I am completely self taught but damn! Got a better sound and the overall track louder! Seriously. Game changer!

this was extremely helpful. thank you for sticking to ableton defaults. sometimes you just wanna learn how to do things with what you have without having to download this and download that. and the mastering was phenomenal!!! i truly thank you for taking the time broski!!

Great tutorial. I saved this video in my favourites, made notes, and I now use this as a 'starting point' for mastering my tracks and find this is a really great help. Thanks for the run-through!

I have been looking master my song using only what Ableton gives me, and this video has been the answer to my prayers.. Thank you so much for this. Every other video I have found uses some ones audio effect. Your video explains the effect without getting carried away so that I can understand what its use is for. Im new to this, but it has been driving me crazy. I had made a composition and used effects for each of the instruments, when I came across your video. So I went back in and deleted all the effects then followed how you made one track and added the effects to the master and it worked a whole lot better. Thanks again.

Incredibly helpful video. Thank you so much!

Excellent!! Outstanding work! You have helped me a lot. I've been a long time trying to get that sound. Blessings and thank you for sharing that skills in Ableton. No need to purchase external mastering plug ins actually. Enough with that!

I can’t tell you how helpful this was!! Thank you. I’ll be sending a Patreon payment soon

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH HOMIE. you’ll be the reason why I put out good quality music 😤. Much love 🙏🏾

This video is the butter of audio mastering....

This is gold friend. It really brightens up my music. Thankyou...

Hardly ever comment on youtube videos but I've had this bookmarked and I swear I come back to it at least once a week, this video has really been such a game changer in getting a better sound out of my music, thanks so much

U did a great job of explaining these plug ins thank u!! Been using all of them for a minute but at times I was winging it. Chain made my song sound awesome! Time for the car test now lol...

this is easily one of the best Ableton tutorials

Hi I haven’t really commented on KZfaq videos before but I felt the need to today. I just wanted to thank you for the easy step by step process. It has taken my productions to the next level and made me want to share my work with others. Again thanks for taking the time. Peace

Thank you -- this was a really helpful overview of the process, and I especially appreciated the times when you showed how it sounded with and without various effects in the chain.

Thanks alot! I was trying to master my tracks without knowing enough, just that I needed a compressor. I tried different ways and I settled on something similar to what you did.

Thank you for the tutorial! By the way, You can define your song length by using the "ruler" up there, so all you need is to click on it instead of always shift selecting everything you want to render. ;)

A lot of great tips in there! Had no idea about the low / stereo thing. Can’t wait to experiment. Thanks for the vid!

dude thank you so much, i'm not english but it is super clear and you give us the choice (like for the multiband dynamics, we have to follow our instinct and our ears), and you don't gives like settings already done (such like a lot of youtubers) really cool

This video was exactly what I was looking for. I tried watching so many other videos and turned them all off within minutes. Thank you very much!

I was trying to master my songs with isotope neutron and was a completely mess. The "assistant" function works pretty well but it still a machine, and the interface is not so clear as the ableton live one. With this tutorial I've obteined a very clear and loud sound and I really appreciate it. Maybe is not real mastering as someone said, but for me it's OK!

basic, but crisp clear principles and how-to's.... nice!

Although I tend to agree with some of the comments here regarding reverb (in mixing not mastering) I really appreciated you sharing this tutorial. I know there is a higher level of quality and clarity that professional mastering can give but this really got me to the point of being confident to upload my tracks to soundcloud etc. So a great big thank you for taking the time...

"first thing I like to put on my master is some reverb." ????????????????????

this changed my production game big time, many thanks man this was super helpful. I like how you didnt rush the video, big ups!

This is great! Just used this to master my track: I wish i had watched it before i did the mix, but i'll have a more global view for next time. Thanks so much for making this video.

Hey man, thank you so much for this video! You've single-handedly taken my music from level 6 to 100, now I feel like I have a new superpower lol

Lmao reverb on the master, that's new

my first mix ever had crazy reverb and I didn't know what the compressor did.. Your videos are amazing I come back to this for practice.. My only issue is I keep using the same track for reference so I need to get better but yaaasss this does make a HUGE difference

THANK YOU. I was desperate to understand how mastering with ableton worked, and honnestly this is by FAR the best video I've seen on the subject, all the informations you provided were very easy for me to understand and process, good job sir.

Amazing video InspirAspir. You are doing a great great job in helping people who want to learn something new. Keep going man!

Man it is my first time mastering a song and you helped me so good. Your video is fantastic bro !!! Thanks

Hey thank you! I've seen a lot of people with their tutorials, put none can't explain it properly. I mean I can play a killer guitar, etc etc, but that doesn't mean I can explain how you can play also killer guitars, etc etc.. You deserve a beer! hehe

Best video on mastering that I have seen so far! Bravo :)

I have seen so many tutorials. It’s best 🙏🙏🙏 thank you ✌️

I always refer to this video when I master and it always sounds great. Thanks InspirAspir!

Pretty much the only video that actually helps you mix n master preciate it bro 🙏🏽

Thank you a lot for this clip dude. It gave my bedroom production a new meaning! Very glad i managed to up my track and clean it without having to pay somebody to do it. Thank you for the pointers!

Even if this was not about mastering, I learned new things. Thanks for posting this. You were easy to listen to.

Great mastering technique! It's a good baseline too that you have..thank you for improving my audio sound!!

even tho this video is three years old this video is still super helpful. THANK YOU SO MUCHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

That Helped me a lot, before i saw the video my songs were sounding good but after I master them they sounded compressed... Thank you :)

Amazing tutorial! Everything is super clear and easy to follow step-by-step. Great video!

This tutorial is amazing and you are really good at teaching !! great job sir !

dude, that was fucking deep. what a massive difference, and thank you for explaining things in such a clear way. big ups!!!

very good video defenitly made my over all vocals pop like amazingly thanks brodie

Next Video: How to remove vocals or How to create your own stems. Like if you agree

This was really helpful thanks a lot for showing me how to master my song. I was confused what to start with when mastering. Now I get it.

thanks for posting this video, it was really inspirational and usefull. Whish you all the best with your work & music, Peter.

I’ve actually found abletons plugs to be a lot better than some commercial mastering tools

Thank you for making this video. You made this very easy to follow and I feel like a weight has been lifted. Thanks again. :)

Quick, simple and surprisingly effective. Thanks for this video!

This tutorial help me understand mastering...love you bro

well if you realy want to hear if you made something bettter the A/B mix should be heard at the same output level, otherwise its just bullshit to compare mastered vs un-mastered. louder sounds always "better" even when it's not.

Just used this video for my new track, and hoo boy did it make a difference

Good and easy tutorial! My dude got a new sub!

Thanks for this absolute gem of a video, music sounds wayyy better now :)

Hey Man..... Excellent Video.... This is gonna help me alllllllot in Mastering​ my song!!!!!! Thanks allot, you're the best!!!!! Love your work.!!

Thank you so much for this. My mixes will sound crisper!! Once again, thank you!!

Thank You so much for this informative video; I learned alot! And Man, I think I am going to re-upload most of my songs...lol Compared to the one I mastered following your tutorial, most of them sound bad now. There is a lot of work to do! Thank you again!

Thank you for taking your time to do this, guna help me tons🤙

youre an actual hero inspiraspir

Nice and useful tutorial my friend. Made me think. I find the Live limiter very "mushy" if you push it and also in my experience it does not really catch intersample peaks in a satisfying way. But this is only mho. I would say one should at least fin a better limiter than the stock limiter of live. The best solution i found in the affordable domain is Toneboosters Barricade V4

Why do you export the song only to import it then work on it ? Cant all these effects just be added to the original master track instead ?

This was very helpful, thank you very much

thank you! Watching in 2021. Your videos really help me! I hope you are doing well!

Awesome video right here! Thank you!

Thanks so much, Inspir Aspir, Can't wait to release my song at its best quality!

Thank you! Super easy to follow along with and well explained.

The mastered version was so much louder than the unmastered it's hard to compare. Of course it's gonna sound better being twice as loud. If you really wanted to show what your mastering chain accomplished you should have put the level of the "before" on par with the "after" imo

My master turned out great. Thank for the tips 👍

Thank you 🙏 this was really helpful for me 🎶

what a great video, it really shed light to this topic and made it understandable !!!

Thank you! Love from the Dominican Republic.

thankyou for uploading these tips.

Thank you so much for making this! I am subscribing!

This is excellent and well worth it

Thank You! Uploading my already MASTERED remix of Timmy Trumpet - Freaks to my other channel!

Thanks mate that was a great tutorial and easy to follow. I will be subscribing.

13:13 That's a rough take on Ableton Live's native devices. The native devices are guite capable of doing a great job. If a user is directly going for 3rd party vst's, I'd recommend to get familiar with the stock ones and see how awesome they really are. Simple GUI n right clicking parameter gives fast access for automation/modulation.

Surprised you're suggesting exporting the initial track at 16 bits. Wouldn't that lose clarity before you've even started mastering?

Great video; I have never created music or applied plug-ins with Ableton (I have Live 10 standard), using a single master track as you did here; I prefer to add plug-ins as I go, sculpting and crafting every sound individually as I am creating the various tracks in my Live session mode; it gives me more flexibility to produce the type of sound I want. But I do not create electronic music; I play all the instruments on my tracks live myself, using mics with a USB interface. That being said, I see the benefit of what you are doing, since several of the plug-ins you used are best and most logically applied in an across-the-board fashion to an entire, completed composition. Anyway, one of the problems with these DAWS for a lay person like me -- I've used Ableton for some 2 years now -- is that even basic DAWs are unbelievably complex. I'm an old timer (age 64), and tend to use the DAW as a multi-track tape recorder with sound effects, which is drastically under-using the DAW's potential. I'd like to progress beyond this point and your video helped. Anyway, and again; great video and I am now a subscriber.