The best mastering chain for music production
Рет қаралды 63,195
Күн бұрынBeginners often use mastering presets to make their tracks sound better, but really just end up blindly changing the loudness of their track.
Instead, I propose this workflow for producers: work on your production, mixing as you go with a lot of headroom, and then on the master channel only put a limiter, to eat up that headroom as a final step. That's it! With this almost perfectly transparent master channel, your mix should sound professional already, so the job of mastering will become more about sweetening your song, rather than correcting mistakes.
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Contents:
0:00 What mastering preset to use?
0:55 Mastering won't save your bad mixing
1:38 A diagram to explain the workflow
5:18 Again but in an actual production this time
8:13 Advice for beginners
8:35 Dance outro
@OscarUnderdog Жыл бұрын
Don't fall for the comment section scammers! 🚨🚨🚨 Oscar's video courses ► courses.underdog.brussels 🖤🖤🖤 Underdog Discord channel ► discord.gg/z5N9CTA 👾👾👾 Face the Sun ► soundcloud.com/face-the-sun-be 🍎🍎🍎 Patreon ► www.patreon.com/underdogmusicschool 🌱🌱🌱
@ginkgolanugo5451 Жыл бұрын
Big thanx for your work long time i se you all video .... And right Now i start my chanell with Ableton
@Bthelick Жыл бұрын
As a 15+ year professional, I find most people who are tempted by the 'dark art' of mastering, are really just delaying blame to a later process, because their track doesn't sound good at mix. That's all you need to know, it's a mix problem! I promise you there's literally no difference between a good mix at commercial level and a master. If the mix is good there is no need to master, fact. Many a great mastering engineer has said as much. I have released and engineered thousands of tracks and there are some out there with millions of views that are just mixes that got released, no master at all, and in many cases not even a limiter! The difference is in your ear training not the specific processes or gear/plugins.
@emiel333 Жыл бұрын
I couldn’t agree more. To add something extra: if any song has excellent mixing, the mastering engineer doesn’t apply any extra processing, which is actually the best thing a producer can experience. It’s in fact a compliment for the mixing done by the producer. Thank you for writing your experience as a mastering engineer. ❤
@darryldouglas6004 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for posting this! I’ve wondered what the point was since I’ve already spent hours mixing. Yes I’m inexperienced and slow. The only time I’ve “mastered” a project was when the guy wanted it on CD. This was the way to get all the songs together to burn the CD. I threw on a compressor and limiter because so many KZfaq videos said I needed to. 😃
@NaesLondon Жыл бұрын
Grr
@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY 8 ай бұрын
So I used to be so terrified of audio mastering. But now it's one of my favourite things to do besides creating the instrumental, laying down the vocal tracks, etc. I'm no longer terrified of it because of the SOTA (state of the art) hardware-sounding plugins we have which have just came out in the last 2-3 years alone!!!
@nothority_artist 2 ай бұрын
Question: In that case you put a limiter on every single track in the mix ??? so each track is set to it's max and then bring each track down until you reach -6db one the master???
@Yasha-t1c 16 күн бұрын
This is the best explanation of a limiter, and beginner mastering concept, that I have ever heard! Great work. Short but very informative. Thank you!
@johnghadimi Жыл бұрын
Producing/Mixing into a limiter is the secret sauce. Totally on board with that. I also have a clipper (KClip) before the limiter, to catch the strays before it feeds into the limiter. Keeps things nice and tidy.
@BaddBadger Жыл бұрын
If only someone would have told me this back in the 90's i might be a lot further into this journey than i am now!
@FunDaBounceDJ Жыл бұрын
Thank you for speaking up on this. After more than a decade of mastering my own productions, it really does boil down to working as you described. The sooner this is understood, the better! Thanks again for your insights and great teachings, Oscar! God Bless!
@manmachinemusic Жыл бұрын
Simplicity at it's best! Simply fabulous Oscar. Thank you 🔊
@dreamer-1973 Жыл бұрын
thanks for all the tutorials, i'm not taking this for granted and appreciate all the work you put into it. Merry Christmas and a happy healthy creative new year!
@icncpt Жыл бұрын
You do a great job! Thank you for you work and time you spent to educate us 🤝
@GavinLyonsCreates Жыл бұрын
Thanks again Oscar, I always enjoy watching your videos. I like this simple approach of just a limiter.
@glen3351 Жыл бұрын
amazing tutorials from this man, helped me move from flstudio to ableton, so glad i made the switch, thankyou so much, xxx
@eugenesansvie545 Жыл бұрын
man, you're just awesome. I don't like your music (just not my genre), but omg how much more logical my production has become since I watch your channel! Cheers mate!
@FreehhZe Жыл бұрын
also the loop in the end is such a banger i love it
@bAdorablePeach Жыл бұрын
This pushed me, in the right direction, to remove my mastering chains and actually fix my mix. Spent 5 hours fixing things, but it was worth it. Thank you for the video!
@ivanoleg054 10 ай бұрын
This is actually the most helpful video addressing mastering I‘ve seen so far.
@valdeEDM Жыл бұрын
This is very good and important video. I started producing tracks and even published few without learning even these basics :D I think you explained it very well, thank you for teaching us Oscar :) Few things I've started doing nowadays at the end of a project; 1. Check the mix in Mono to see how all elements are balanced. 2. Listen through multiple different set of speakers (TV, Phone, Speaker, Headphones etc.) to get better understanding of what elements may be off-balance. 3. Using a limiter to eat up the headroom like mentioned. What I'd like to see maybe future videos of would be understanding phasing issues, the importance of key / scales and some other more subtle ''professional tricks / unwritten rules'' that people like myself might overlook when getting into producing. Wish you all the best and looking forward to learn more from you guys =) - Valde
@raymondlesiak Жыл бұрын
good advice Oscar. i have been using this method of late and it really helps to get your mix down correct so that you dont rely on a lot of xtra effects to get your track to sound decent
@amg4160 Жыл бұрын
this actuallymade my workflow 100x better. excellent vid. puts most of the focus on the mixdown
@davidpurple3698 Жыл бұрын
Thanks - complete agree. And great track you're playing
@FrequencyHorizon Жыл бұрын
Dude that is such a sick loop you made! Great tips too.
@EuphoriaMusic1 Жыл бұрын
Always delivering good wealth of info. But oh boy these productions of you lately, OOOOOOOFF!
@vincentkloos63 Жыл бұрын
Super clear and interesting video as always Oscar !
@vivektyagi6848 Жыл бұрын
Many thanks it clears quiet simply what mastering is all about. A tutorial of mixing in conjunction will add to this already awesome tutorial.
@magica2z Жыл бұрын
All of your videos are great. Thank you master.
@Jolland11 Жыл бұрын
Just figure this out recently. Glad to see I'm in the right direction. Thanks Oscar, for all you do ✌
@micmacha Жыл бұрын
Great advice. It's the classic question of whether what we _can_ do, we also _should_ do...
@NDSOart Жыл бұрын
This is great! I usually just have a glue compressor (sometimes), limiter, and EQ for monitoring on the master. Recently I have been wondering how to improve the master chain but keeping it simpler is probably best! Love your videos, they are a big part of what inspired me to work on my own music.
@DaveGouda Жыл бұрын
This is generally what I do as well, minus the glue compressor. But that's definitely a good idea. I've been using Ozone Elements lately because I like how it balances the final EQ. Not sure if it's actually a good idea for mastering though.
@NDSOart Жыл бұрын
@@DaveGouda Glue compressor on the master can be hit or miss and it changes a lot, Ill just often try adding it once everything else is done to see if it brings out some hidden textures. Ozone looks awesome though I do want to try it eventually
@Drinkyoghurt Жыл бұрын
It's good to know I was doing it "right" all along. I usually only put a limiter on my master bus, sometimes adding a glue compressor set to a very light compression. I knew that if it didn't sound right it probably had more to do with my mix.
@rickfrey Жыл бұрын
Your Tips are very helpful, thank you, awesome channel! :D
@diegolowpass Жыл бұрын
I'm feeling a little down today, so not only I thank you for your great advice but also for keeping me company 😊
@OscarUnderdog Жыл бұрын
☺️🙌
@user-mb8rf7qk5q Жыл бұрын
I’m at the beginning of this video and feel like finally someone is explaining this in a way I can understand.
@MichaelTNewell Жыл бұрын
Great video. I feel like there's things here that reassure me that I'm on the right track with my own work. I do something very similar when I feel I'm approaching the end phase of a mix. I put a limiter on my master channel with a utility/gain just after. I set the limiter gain so that I get similar results to yours, then set the utility gain to reduce by the opposite amount. With these grouped I can switch them on and off at the same time to check for transparency (e.g., pumping, distortion, any weirdness in general). This tells me if I can push the limiter any harder.
@Struktur.d.M Жыл бұрын
love your little dance sequences :D
@buzzpsy Жыл бұрын
Good advice bro, really enjoy your videos
@paulonuneesx Жыл бұрын
Great tips like always,thanks!
@paultorbert6929 Жыл бұрын
NICE to see all the Hardware Synths in the background !!!!
@declanfeenan Жыл бұрын
This was so great! Thanks!
@paran0ia7 Жыл бұрын
Great video, mastering really is something you should be thinking about from the moment you begin touching the track faders. It can be tempting to just get everything roughly arranged and mixed, then expect to fix everything "in post", as it were. But if you're mindful of the master output from the very beginning, songs will often kind of just master themselves over the course of production; freeing up more time at the end to drill down into the fun subtle detail work.
@tejibel2800 Жыл бұрын
I'm working on a mixing effect rack. Didn't even include a limiter yet! Nice informative vid again Oscar!
@FreehhZe Жыл бұрын
and another tutorial that massively helped me thanks a lot
@MarMoro777 Жыл бұрын
amazing tutorial. Thank You !!
@TheElliotEquation 2 ай бұрын
Soft lighting looks great in this video
@jamespingel8730 Жыл бұрын
For my master bus, I have 12DB of gain added. I keep all my faders down around half in my DAW template, some stuff like kicks and bass will probably get turned up, some stuff like hihats and chords will get turned down. When I inevitably go over zero, I can turn down that master gain. When its time to render a final mix I turn off that extra gain entirely, I usually have 6-10 db of headroom left, which is plenty. I also have an EQ that cuts out the lows and highs I can switch in to check a band-limited version of my mix at any time. No real processing beyond that as my specialty these days is mastering, I have a separate template for handling that whether it's my project or someone else's.
@alexandre_sangue Жыл бұрын
thank you 🙏🏼 and whatta nice sound ❤️
@kronweed Жыл бұрын
I am on team NO LIMITER! You know you can't resist turning off LIMITER, turning on 4ms LOOK AHEAD, then clicking that sweet "SOFT CLIP" red square on the M-Class Maximizer! Great video btw :)
@ksl8r300 6 ай бұрын
You dancing in the background to your own song was the best part of this video lol Thanks for the vid
Жыл бұрын
Awesome video! Thank you
@oscillatorstorm Жыл бұрын
Awesome video!
@pleggli Жыл бұрын
volume buddy is a great and cheap max for live device that is awesome for previewing compressors, limiters and distortion, etc... effects by adding gain automatic compensation to any device in a effect chain since Live's own devices doesn't do that. It's not somehing to keep on the chain in the finished track because it can change the volume over time but it is still a great tool.
@mangaas Жыл бұрын
I haven't touched music production for 10 years now, an old hobby I picked up back in 2000, and never really new what I was doing. I didn't understand mixing and mastering, so all my amateurish stuff sounded even worse than it already was. I might just start working on something nice and clean, a small loop and go from there - keeping the mixing in mind from the beginning, just as you said, with just a limiter. It's great that random KZfaq channels have all this content, I can actually learn now. Cheers!
@spiritbipolar Жыл бұрын
have fun!
@bricelory9534 Жыл бұрын
That's a great idea to build up ears and instincts for mixing and mastering!
@OscarUnderdog Жыл бұрын
Love reading this. Yeah I got discouraged so often, knowing that my bad mixing skills were hurting my already poor productions :D I'd say one more thing: having bad monitoring systems will also undermine your selfconfidence a lot. Only since I have proper acoustic treatment on my walls do I feel like I can judge my audio with confidence. I look back at things I made just a year ago without the treatment and I cringe. It's wild. So just keep that in mind, in case you feel frustrated again!
@BK-iw1zm Жыл бұрын
Yes, definitely as Oscar said, get a good set of monitors, preferably the flatter response, the better. You don't want anything artificially coloring your sound.
@cibodiitaliano 9 күн бұрын
Very helpful, thank you!
@bitbotrecords Жыл бұрын
awesome thank you sir
@MORRILL_MUSIC Жыл бұрын
Genius explanation
@nowi5064 5 ай бұрын
dude I love you
@beatrpan 3 ай бұрын
Great video!
@djsarumawashi Жыл бұрын
GREAT!!! Thank you for Sharing. Greetings from CABO VERDE ISLANDS. CHEERS
@888berg Жыл бұрын
A lot of producers just start producing in Ableton without setting -6/-12 etc loudness on their tracks.... would love a video about best practise on this :) Amazing work - cheers :)
@b00ts4ndc4ts 8 ай бұрын
I have been mixing for years now and never used a limiter and its always turned out fine. I just use a timer so i never over cook what i have mixed. Yeah it's a chef's life for me.
@gooneybird808 Жыл бұрын
Dude fuck ya thank you for being transparent and to the god damn point!!! I just subscribed
@isabellafoo.m.440 4 ай бұрын
Thank you ❤️
@RTFXmusic Жыл бұрын
😱your video title was my exact search request on the almighty google yesterday
@ilyasilyas8374 Жыл бұрын
Cool man 🌞
@msunrl8577 9 ай бұрын
thank you!
@Rilkir Жыл бұрын
You're the man Oscar. Will you do a video on panning the different elements of a track, or is this included in one of your paid courses?
@RBmusic2000 Жыл бұрын
You have great content.
@justinsaunders1459 Жыл бұрын
One trick I learned is to put gentle limiting on each individual channel before it goes into the mastering chain. That way the master limiter doesn't have to do much work at all, and (to me) there's less distortion overall. Curious what others have tried.
@adriano_sp Жыл бұрын
try clippers instead, way better.
@justinsaunders1459 Жыл бұрын
@@adriano_sp sure. Why are they better? What’s the trade off?
@OscarUnderdog Жыл бұрын
I agree with this - since I saw Conor Dalton doing it I feel it's legit to do it too :D
@xgmode Жыл бұрын
Limiters can potentially color the sound, it's not as transparent as a hard clipper. It's actually a technique you can look up (by Baphometrix): clip to zero production
@sarkany888 Жыл бұрын
This technique is standard for achieving maximum loudness while maintaining clarity. Personally, I put -10 dB on all individual channels and put a +10 dB gain on the master channel's limiter in the mixdown phase. For mastering, however, I deactivate that +10, and put it later back with a clipper on the stemmed groups so each bus has a strong character in itself and not hurting the master limiter. I'm also seeing a trend that for emotional and atmospheric music some producers are going for -3 dB for the low end and let the soul of the mids fluctuate around 0-6-12 for dramatic dynamism and it seems very delicate compared to everything pushed to the maximum in your face.
@Jadenh87 Жыл бұрын
Track sounds nice
@shortcutDJ Жыл бұрын
i feel like this video speaks at me directly,lol merci Oscar
@gigngamer Жыл бұрын
very True, Add analyser plug ing too and Accoustic crrection plug in and NOTHING else, i've ruins so many mix doing so
@nestoroid Жыл бұрын
Te quiero mucho!
@JL_06 Жыл бұрын
Brilliant, Oscar
@OdysseyWorks Жыл бұрын
Great video! I would appreiate more videos on mastering a track :)
@Bthelick Жыл бұрын
You just got everything you need to know! "The best mixes don't need mastering" - Bob Katz. If the track is yours to mix then you don't need to know any more!
@hanky__lanky 3 ай бұрын
Thank you so much ;)
@xgmode Жыл бұрын
I'd think add the limiter to the master after mostly done with mixing to check how it will probably sound compared to reference tracks, to get you in the same ballpark. But remove the limiter before sending your track to a mastering engineer to get the pro treatment.
@seb-zero 6 ай бұрын
so following this teqhnique in the video, what is a reasonable RMS level to aim for just before you send off to mastering?
@xgmode 6 ай бұрын
@@seb-zero After watching several videos on the topic if you send a 32bit audio file, the level doesn't matter. If needed the mastering engineer can turn the volume down, 32bit audio gives enormous headroom.
@envik5474 Жыл бұрын
Yeah man really helpfull think u verry much
@Frbrdt Жыл бұрын
Oscar you're the best!
@marihi8621 Жыл бұрын
good advice
@AlmostHuman_ Жыл бұрын
Always good to remember while Mixing as you go, that when you are going to get your master mix back, your lowest volume level tracks will be brought up in the mix. Sometimes a lot, and never the other way around :)
@TheRafaBStudio Жыл бұрын
Cheers !
@AKAtAGG Жыл бұрын
This is one of the best videos you've ever done. I am a semi-professional mastering engineer and someone following the tips from this video would immediately make my job 100% easier, every time. Amazing work as always.
@bearsdj Жыл бұрын
thank you
@iandeegrees1509 Жыл бұрын
Nice expanation and very nice "WIP"-Loop 🙂
@darryldouglas6004 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for this. I’ve been wondering why I’ve been told I have to re-tweak what I’ve already spent hours tweaking. 😃 I use Studio One which has an annoying habit of clipping even when using it’s own VSTs. My template has a limiter on the main bus because of this. Also I’m pretty sure I’ve wasted several hours putting an EQ compressor etc on a synth VST only to remove it all later because the sound is already good in those respects. 😆
@reverse804 Жыл бұрын
Thank's alot
@renederuiter4786 Жыл бұрын
your great
@Chris-qq7mt Жыл бұрын
It would be interesting with a video on the topic of mastering bus but for live performances.
@lamarthe_headcrab7687 9 ай бұрын
Dude, besides amazing video , you got some crazy beautiful eye color... Some emerald green or some shit!
@EspiriG Жыл бұрын
EXCELENT DEAR OSCAR!! One question, Can I put one Utility in each track with -10db ? Or is your choice better because you use only one utility puglin ?
@twatmunro Жыл бұрын
That's all I do. Ableton Limiter at the end of every chain.
@brucemillar Жыл бұрын
Right on Oscar!
@billpayer3745 Жыл бұрын
Oscar, has no one mentioned your awesome groovin' dancin' easter egg in the background?
@XYETRY Жыл бұрын
Thanks gru 😎🤓 free like for you good sir 😎😎
@thanqol Жыл бұрын
How do you decide on the correct settings for threshold and release?
@Biffmalibunor Жыл бұрын
Can I combine FabFilter Pro-L 2 with the Ableton Limiter? I really struggle with getting the mix loud enough without distortion. Love your videoes 🔥
@lofi-dave Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much! This helps a lot.. I was looking for this advice for a really long time and I have just used Ozone's Master Assistant "to find 0 dB".
@BlanktonMees Жыл бұрын
Great advice! Should i leave limiter on when i send track for mastering? Or is it just for referencing?
@timothyluppes2665 Жыл бұрын
I believe your quote is from Dan Warrol
@RBmusic2000 Жыл бұрын
Hi . Love your videos. Do you have anything on how to fix audio files not being allowed to be dragged and dropped into ableton. IM trying to put a reference track into my project but its stopped letting me do this. Do you know why?
@naturecollision Жыл бұрын
absolute banger of a tune you got going there, make sure do do a 8-10min track of it and release it, I'd suggest a few non-obtrusive buildups and energy releases, but nothing too exciting, all down to earth. idk, maybe a style mixture of mononoid, cubicolor, max cooper, ryan davis and microtrauma, this vibe fits right in with those names :)
@rollinwood9453 Жыл бұрын
Ohh Microtrauma, there’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile. 👌🏼
@OscarUnderdog Жыл бұрын
Such a compliment. Thank you :)
@Bangers_mostly 6 ай бұрын
love you Oscar!
@OscarUnderdog 6 ай бұрын
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