Hi all,

First, a heads up - I'm really new to production in general, so if you could kindly explain any super-technical jargon for me, I'd really appreciate it. I've been listening to and making electronic music for some time now, and on a whim recently I churned out a sort of dark ambient/minimalist/modern classical track that I'm actually quite happy with. Mixing and mastering (if you can even call what I do to tracks after I've finished arranging them 'mastering') is something I struggle with, and I feel even more lost with a track like this that's out of my usual house/techno wheelhouse. Of course, some of the general rules of thumb about mastering probably still apply, but I'm worried that I'm going to ruin this track if I do all the things I usually do for house music. For instance, I like to use some glue compression on my masters, but the dynamic range in this track is so crucial and I don't want to flatten it out completely. This track also has more 'acoustic' elements than I typically deal with - two violins and a cello (from the Orchestral Tools Nocturne Violin/Cello Kontakt sample libraries) as well as a sampled VST felt piano vamp that repeats throughout the track. This is all paired with an assortment of more obviously electronic drones and other little FX flourishes throughout.

With all that said, does anyone here have any experience mastering music in a more ambient or atmospheric style? What sorts of plugins (compressors, multiband EQ, limiters, etc.) do you like to use for mastering? Also, if you have any good educational resources - YouTube tutorials, books, whatever - that are more geared towards ambient mixing/mastering I'd love to check those out. Here are some reference recordings of the sort of style I'm working in:

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

Tim Hecker - Chimeras

Djrum - Creatures Pt. 1

Oneohtrix Point Never - Last Known Image of a Song

(couldn't find a YouTube link for this one, sorry about that! It's from the album Age Of if you feel like looking for it on whatever streaming service you use)