Hola dear Lords & Lordettes,

Would anyone of you have easy tips on how to get a good master level ? Am very happy with the track I made yesterday, but I still have 1 issue : How is it it's so low and I can't raise the master even a little because I'm at the very limit of clipping?

The only culprit I could see (hear) is the kick, or rather its impact. But everything is linked to it (kinda-bass-like is actually a delay on the kick and some effects, even the different kick note lengths can't be touched cause bass "feeling" relies on it.) So if I touch the kick, the bass changes, the sidechain changes as well and then the overall track feeling changes drastically.

So if you have any tips & tricks on these situations, I'd graciously take them. I've always been very bad with mastering, never really put the effort into it so this time I'd like to push myself a bit more.. but holala, I hate it, not as easy going & fun as the rest can be.. :p

 

The track is a bit dark (unless you intend so), cool overall vibe but laking some highs on everything except pads (may be too high).

You need to clip and clean the mid/bottom end. Send me a small UNmastered .wav sample (15 sec) and I'll show you.

 

Sure, no prob. I like the fact the track goes from dark tones into brighters tones then goes back to more darky ones etc. But I understand what you mean, could most probably be better adjusted ! Thanks a lot

I'll be honest, it already is a unmastered.wav :P. There's only a peak limiter on the master track (just in case, I don't think it even serves any purpose in the end..) : https://we.tl/t-w6NEeSR28b

EDIT: yeah ok, i'm so dumb, dubby plucks low EQ wasn't adjusted. It's already a bit better with a low-cut 4 at 105Hz

 

Last edited: Oct 18, 2022

Sub hold A LOT of energy. You have excessive lows in the kick and lacking bass. They usually work together but here you are lacking bass and the kick is doing the bass' part.
Do you own a subwoofer (in a treated room)? If not, I suggest you get one.
Edit: Is your room acoustically treated? Maybe you are sitting in a null and actually don't feel/hear the sub frequency around 48Hz.

"loudness" lies much around the area where our ears are most sensitive, around 1-3kHz. Presence is around 3k and clarity is around 6k. Your mix is tilted towards the lows, meaning it lacks clarity, detail and...loudness.

Here's a quick example of how it could be fixed in the mastering. I think it's better if you fix it in the production and mixing:

 

Last edited: Oct 18, 2022

As you can hear @Baxter and I came to a pretty similar result https://gofile.io/d/r1rmqQ

 

Thank you ! Indeed, not too shaby !

The kick is the bassline too, as you said. Its delay is what I call the bassline and it's been created from the whole kick so I can't really lowpass it further than 35-40Hz, which already is in the sub area. I'll try and add a subline to this, to accompagny the rest, but from experience I know I'll end up destroying the whole balance of the track :p. Can't manage to get a good punchy sub that is either audible or doesn't suck all power from other frequencies..

I do have a small subwoofer since quite recently actually (KEF PSW 2500), but my current house is definitely not optimal for speakers experience. So I do music with headset (DT770 Pro). My chorus 726 aren't really monitoring speakers either am afraid. I just use speakers to have a listen once done because i'd have to turn the volume freakingly high to hear all intended details, neighbours are nice to me, I'll remain nice to them :p ! When I've a 4-sided house; or a bit bigger one then sure.

Anyway, many thanks I'll see what I can do with a seperate subline ! :D

 

First, too much subs. You may feel like it's POWERFUL, but in reality, it means everything else is too quiet. I suggest upping everything but subs as a first step. Or maybe lowering the subs and then upping just plain everything.
Second, google "Limiter". I think you'll figure it out on your own from here. Godspeed.

 

A more balanced mix could sound like this https://gofile.io/d/9FXBOy

 

Mastering is for final fine tweaks, but this needs a lot more attention. I'd go back to the mix and kill the kick with some soft clipping (saturation) for a start. Personally I hate the pumping four-to-the-floor kicks that seem obligatory nowadays, but tastes differ of course!

Listening on cheapo headphones I can't hear much low bass, and I would guess this is how most people will hear the track. FWIW I generally roll off kick drums below about 150 Hz to give the bass some breathing space; but then I'm a bass player and I'd rather not have any competition in "my" frequency band!

 

Hi,
This is how i would Master Your Track as it is. Cheers https://we.tl/t-LJiCVpaemC

 

Okay. I was working a bit on it when I heard this and I must say, this is pretty close to what I had in head ! I can't remove too much of the low-end even if it overlaps a bit (dubby plucks & kick/bass) because it all renders some very nice eq'ing effects touches, details.
Still, your version is sometimes a bit clipping so I definitely have more adjustements to make somewhere, probably still cut the very edge of the subs in the kick and a bit more with the dubby plucks ; then EQ the master track to brighten up a little bit and, if possible, slightly accentuate the EQ effects in the bass area, but that'd be the "cerise sur le gateau".

Did it go through any hardware? I don't understand how taken from soundcloud, my little 82Ko original file got into fatty 217Ko. It sounds pretty phenomenal, not too sure yet how i'll match this haha :p.

Thanks all for your suggestions and for your interpretation of the track ! I'll pay more attention to these

 

Yep. it doesn't get better than this. Your bass is distorting the channel due to it's volume.

Try the following:

Create a separate output track with the follwing elements:
1. kick
2. bass
3. percussion
4. remaining tracks

Send us the same 15 sec with these 4 stems and see the magic happen.

 

Last edited: Oct 18, 2022

Ok, the quote system is a bit strange.

@Jomexe if you mean the delay on the kick, then okay yeah, if you hear it a lot I'm sure it's annoying. Tbh I felt pretty nice when I came across this while playing randomly with effects, just for fun. All track then came from there, with much more luck than anything. Track is shuffled but didn't use any shuffle tool :p. Couldn't since the rythm is done with a slight delay, on the delay (if it makes any sense). I wanted to add some acid line but couldn't do anything that felt in rythm, even with the internal shuffle tool. So instead, dubby plucks were first set with random clicks, which where in the rythm somehow. Only needed some adjustements but skeleton was there. Rest went pretty fast.

All this to say, I do music for my own & selfish enjoyment :p. As much as it can be sain, I don't really care about any form of competition. Only searching for the "better" title, not "best". Sorry if I sounded otherwise ! But if you're talking in a broader view, there is plenty of competition already I'm afraid, they're freakingly good :p ! If you're competing with that then hats off
It sounds & look easy when they do it in front of you but for whatever dark-magic reasons it doesn't work with me. Probably not working hard enough I guess

 

Last edited: Oct 18, 2022

Ok my bad, i'm just dumb with the quote system.

Nope, no treatment or anything yet and I've only done this with headset, no subwoofer involved. More handwork needs to be done in the house before I can even think about setting up the sound system correctly.

Have a look at the tracks in the arrangements. I can render these, but can't seperate kick bass percu and pluck, these are made out of 2. And drummachine only contains kick and snare


Here's a "more-mastered" version : https://we.tl/t-TA8VLTXBJ9

 

Last edited: Apr 25, 2023

Low end is a lot of voltage. You need to mesure every inch of it if you want to make it impactful, start carving space in the kick drum for the bass and vice versa. Baxandall eqs are good tools if you feel your low end is sucking all the energy, because they can reduce the overall low info in a "tight" way.

 

This is much better. The one in the first post sounds like it is underwater.

Your snare still sounds buried. EQ it correctly but then add a good dose of compression to it so it cuts through this mix. That snare should smack. At busy points, you might as well delete it as it stands because it has no impact.

 

Hi,

Not sure if you replied to my "Master" but if so. The audible clipping is caused by a Limiter you probably have on the Master buss as there is no more headroom because the kick hits the ceiling already and limiter reacting, also the conversion Souncloud is doing is not helpful. If you would bypass the limiter on MB and back off the MB fader so it aint clipping my Master wont have audible clipping.

I always work in 48KHZ 64Bit so thats why the file is larger but with these settings the Plugins sounds better and suits my workflow. I played your track from souncloud and recorded it into Cubase.

Yes i use Hardware. Neve 542's. Neve Orbit, SSL Fusion, Warm Audio EQp's, Drawmer 1976, Art Pro Vla II. I use those in Parallel and let the Orbit Sum it. The rest is all in the Box and Digital. Nice Groove the song has! just too much sub/low end and a bit dull but it can be Mastered...... Cheers

 

Last edited: Oct 19, 2022