8 Pro Mastering Tricks
"Mastering is art, and there's no question about it. If you're doing mastering just-because, it's not the process you should be doing. Great masters come from heart & soul, not from some numbers..."
With this blog post, our goal is to show some pro techniques we're using to achieve a great sounding masters. Here's a quick list of techniques we're going to cover in this blog post:
1. Phase relation correcting
2. De-essing
3. Shaping the sound using an Analog EQ
4. Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Trick
5. Tight low end in mastering
6. Clipping for loudness
7. Expansion
8. Serial limiting
Please consider that these are not a must or strict processors & values!
Trick 1: Phase relation correcting
Izotope RX9 - Phase Tool.
Using this awesome Phase Tool from Izotope RX9, I'm able to analyze the song and correct the phase on certain parts if there's a need to before I actually start using processors in the mastering chain itself.
It's not necessary to do this process if there's nothing to correct, but it's still worth running your track through something like this and fix if there's a need to.
Bonus tip: Instead of using it on the whole track at once, try zooming in and focus on certain parts. It takes more time, but once you correct the phase, the results are wonderful.
It's not necessary to do this process if there's nothing to correct, but it's still worth running your track through something like this and fix if there's a need to.
Bonus tip: Instead of using it on the whole track at once, try zooming in and focus on certain parts. It takes more time, but once you correct the phase, the results are wonderful.
Trick 2: De-essing in Mastering
Weiss Deess - very advanced and great sounding de-esser for mastering!
Weiss Deess presented some great results in our sessions, so we'll surely recommend it to our audience. Slight de-essing in mastering can help in dealing with too much sharpness and sibilance. Again, it's not necessary to do it in every session, so make sure to carefully listen before using any of the processors in your chain.
As you can see in the picture above, I'm de-essing the top of my master very gently, nothing too drastic.
A very good trick to try is to bypass and enable again this processor to notice if you made any positive differences on your track.
As you can see in the picture above, I'm de-essing the top of my master very gently, nothing too drastic.
A very good trick to try is to bypass and enable again this processor to notice if you made any positive differences on your track.
Trick 3: Shaping the sound using an Analog EQ
Acustica Audio Ivory 5 EQ.
I find that Acustica Audio's Ivory 5 Mastering EQ represents a great emulation of Maselec EQ (analog unit) which works very well in mastering. Some boosts at the top end with this unit can really give a great sounding results. With Ivory 5 EQ, make sure to use "pre-in" option to really get the sound of it and that famous "analog vibe".
As you can see from the picture, I'm implementing one very famous trick old engineers used to do with Maselec EQ and other mastering equalizers. I'm actually boosting around 12kHz for 1dB or so using a shelf filter.
Again, take this as your starting point and work from there to your liking.
As you can see from the picture, I'm implementing one very famous trick old engineers used to do with Maselec EQ and other mastering equalizers. I'm actually boosting around 12kHz for 1dB or so using a shelf filter.
Again, take this as your starting point and work from there to your liking.
Trick 4: Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Trick
Legendary Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor (this plugin emulation is great).
One of my favorite tricks in mastering is to put my Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor in my chain and only run my audio through it since that'll give my sound more tone without actually compressing it. If you don't own this awesome processor, any tape emulation can give some nice analog vibe to your master.
Bonus tip: Try using different modes within this unit (Nickel, Iron or Steel). Nickel offers the least amount of saturation, Iron is like a decent amount of saturation while Steel offers the most saturation. It's all up to your taste. I find myself using Iron mode mostly.
Bonus tip: Try using different modes within this unit (Nickel, Iron or Steel). Nickel offers the least amount of saturation, Iron is like a decent amount of saturation while Steel offers the most saturation. It's all up to your taste. I find myself using Iron mode mostly.
Trick 5: Tight low end in Mastering
A combination of Multiband compressor + Diamond Lift 3 did magic.
For this, I'll use my FabFilter Pro MB (multiband compressor) to isolate the low end only which I'll then compress in order to keep really tight and consistent.
Another thing I like to do is to insert Acustica Audio & Studio DMI's Lift 3 to shelf boost the low end which gives it a really nice weight and sound overall. I really love how Acustica's plugins are sounding on the low end... it's just magic! You can really feel that unique analog vibe coming from them once you use them. They don't sound as any other plugins.
Another thing I like to do is to insert Acustica Audio & Studio DMI's Lift 3 to shelf boost the low end which gives it a really nice weight and sound overall. I really love how Acustica's plugins are sounding on the low end... it's just magic! You can really feel that unique analog vibe coming from them once you use them. They don't sound as any other plugins.
Trick 6: Clipping for loudness
SirAudioTools StandardCLIP is an insane clipper, but... it's not the only one that offer that amount of value! IK Multimedia's Classic Clipper is also insane!
Clippers really serve me well over the years, and the ones I'll gladly recommend are SirAudioTools StandardCLIP & IK Multimedia's Classic Clipper. Those two are the beast I personally enjoy in!
With StandardCLIP, I like to even do serial clipping in order to be able to push the track louder, but be very careful with this since it can destroy the dynamics if used incorrectly.
As you can see from the picture, I'm only pulling the clip fader down until I notice clipping on the waveform displayed below.
With StandardCLIP, I like to even do serial clipping in order to be able to push the track louder, but be very careful with this since it can destroy the dynamics if used incorrectly.
As you can see from the picture, I'm only pulling the clip fader down until I notice clipping on the waveform displayed below.
Trick 7: Expansion
FabFilter Pro G.
Using FabFilter Pro MB, I can expand the dynamic range to my top and low end if needed, but I can also do this using FabFilter Pro G (which is a gate), but it has an option to turn it into an expander which works incredibly great right before my final limiter. Please be very subtle with this and take a good listen before leaving it in the chain!
Trick 8: Serial Limiting
I personally use various limiters, but for the explanation purpose, I used a limiters by FabFilter since it's very easy to explain on them. Great tools!
This is absolutely the key for loudness, but please watch for your dynamics! If you used two clippers or a lot of compression during mixing, be aware of crushing the dynamics too much which will make your mix sound distorted and lifeless.
As you can see, I'm using there two limiters to split the overall gain reduction between them. So instead of using only one limiter to do all of the amount of gain reduction, I'm using two of them to split the job which results in a more natural limiting, less chances of distortion and more loudness.
As you can see, I'm using there two limiters to split the overall gain reduction between them. So instead of using only one limiter to do all of the amount of gain reduction, I'm using two of them to split the job which results in a more natural limiting, less chances of distortion and more loudness.
Conclusion:
Take these tricks for learning/educational purposes and try implementing them in your own work. Don't go for strict values because every master is different.If you want to add a recommendation for the future blog post and get featured on, feel free to reach to our DM on Instagram or use our e-mail address: marko@md3sign.com
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