Genre : Techno (Luke Slater, Adam Beyer, Dave Clarke ...)
Focus on : bass response, crisp hi freqs, punch, loudness, attacks

What is you best 2024 mastering chain ?

-> Separate VSTs ?
-> Ableton stock plugins ?
-> All-in-one solutions (Ozone) ?
-> Single environement (Waves) ?

Any hints welcome !

 

Hello, I mix and master a lot of electronic music including free party sounds, drum'n'bass, techno, electro and sometimes hip-hop! For a long time I used the T-racks and Ozone suite when I was learning the world of mastering, today I understood that neither allowed me to achieve what I wanted!

Today I work with Ableton by creating my chain from A to Z depending on the cases and the specifications required by the piece. In the most extreme cases, I sometimes do re-recording by going through certain tape or preamp emulation to keep a color in the sound and trying to recover the dynamics or even the loudness sometimes but it's often the opposite when someone gives me tracks for a tekno project I often reduce the maximum level to be able to work behind the refinements!

There is no ultimate recipe or perfect chain! The magic of the digital world is that we are limited only by the capacity of our machine which heats up or tightens at the CPU level when we overprocess a part or a piece, a trick that I learned and which really works it's "less is more" and that was never true to my ears in the mastering it happens that I receive super well defined pieces with a very good balance, stereo, loudness, so well in the master j adapts the music to what it is intended for, streaming, CD, vinyl etc. without too much unnecessary processing.

A good sound card with a good RME type AD/DA converter does a lot on a master also compared to a master made with focusrite Scarlett

 

Last edited: Feb 29, 2024

Agree with @Sapriisty , soooo long ago, i used ozone suite, but one day i have to let it go... is ALWAYS better to analyze and recognize what the track needs and wants...

So far, the 90% of my mastering chain its: (read this backwards, i mean, i START putting my LAST plugin in the chain first, and so on)
-First Pro L-2, to place the LUFS i want to achieve.
-Newfangled audio Elevate.
-Maybe Black box HG-2MS
-Pro-MB if i dont achieve in the mixing stage good balance, cause sometimes i read a tonal balance reference and maybe im a little dbs too far... (not a lot, just a little literally, if its too much, i have to go to mixing stage again)
-Pro-q for cleaning unwanted resonances.

Theres no perfect chain mastering... but this made my day 90% of the time! :D

whats yours so far? @trz303

EDIT: just to be cleaner:
-EQ.
-Some Compressor, gently.
-Saturation.
-Some tool like ELEVATE, which does various things... spectral clipping... limiting.. saturation... etc.
-Dedicated Limiter.

 

I don't use Ableton so I haven't used this but it might put you in the right direction for mastering your own Techno tracks...
https://riemannkollektion.com/colle...-techno-mastering-chain-2023-for-ableton-live

 

Separate VSTs of course but Ozone 11 is damn good too.

How are you doing the mastering for now ? Kinda have to tell how you do it for now, perhaps an area you'd want to improve or maybe problems you are having so others can give better suggestions. It seems like you've been doing music for 15 years atleast, I don't think giving general idea of chain is gonna be meaningful as you probably know them all already.

 

@ELJUNTADERO2022 : I use Ozone 11 for now, seems that all modules are pretty good, but I wonder if separate plugins could do a better job ....

 

In fact, it is only by experimenting for yourself that you will be able to realize whether a given tool does a better job or not. Personally, I no longer use standalone mastering because I cannot or less have access to it. my spectral, phase or LUFS analysis tools and also for the possibility of being able to route my mastering differently (example doing parallel compression with a separate bus to my main mastering chain in pre or post fader with ableton)!

Then personally it is the possibility of having as much range of colored pencil as I want in terms of parametric, semi-parametric, dynamic eq, as well as compression or saturation. I still have Ozone 9 in my computer because in certain cases it is very useful to me and I still often use the stereo imaging of the tonal balance, the exciter and the low end focus, which are to my ears and my eyes are great tools!

I know that the 11 also has great tools, I tested it with a friend and was quite surprised by the tools: clarity, impact, stabilizer!

The advantage that I could give you in using a work station with different tools is the flexibility of intervention depending on the projects, the advantage that I can put forward with Ozone is that once you know your tools and how they work in the chain almost by heart, you know what, when and where to use or not to use! Personally I don't like limiting ozone but I love its EQ MS for example ^^!

In short, follow your instinct and always experiment more! If you ever feel like sending one of your tracks to be mastered, I would be happy to help you or bring you a different set of fresh ears to your project(s)!

 

Um, what does your track need? I find the question weird to be honest.
I'm not a mastering engineer, cause it requires a shitton of very specific knowledge, a properly treated room with proper geometry and multiple sets of monitors, so I can't tell you which plugins are the best for mastering from my own experience, but people whose opinions are usually correct say it's TDR SlickEQ M and TDR Kotelnikov.
In my mixing and bus processing experience, both are extremely great, tailor-made for their mix bus place and just straight-up better than FabFilter at what they're doing. Couldn't find a consistent place for Limiter №6 unfortunately, as it's too quiet (or rather too distorting) to my taste, but its high-frequency limiting module is better than Pro-DS on a more transient-y material and no worse in other mix bus scenarios.
HOWEVER
They all require you to know what you're doing. And you - you put mastering and mix bus processing in the same bin. So maybe take a step back and ask yourself first what you're trying to do. Then look for tools that do what you want.

 

Last edited: Feb 28, 2024

I believe a good master makes much more difference in electronic music than in other genres.
the master could make or break your track. ozone is good, and it's AI probably won't break you're track (although it won't make it either).

from observing others i'd say it's a little bit like mixing vocals, where you could use a strip for everything but picking each specialized plugin usually sounds better
but then again, the user matters the most.

It is not common, but i've seen on youtube people do great masters with stock plugins only.
Unlike this guy on youtube, in my case, i'd probably be better off tweaking ozone's master assistant than starting from scratch with stock plugins only (i don't know them as well as i do ozone);

 

The other way around, actually. Electronic music is rarely ever mastered, as it's mixed to -6 to -3 LUFS already.

 

1) It depends
2) We all do mastering differently and
3) "best" is subjective.

After 25 years of doing this (and now working as a ME) I have a hybrid setup and know every tool and box of mojo that I have at my disposal. My tip is to learn all the characteristics that you mentioned and finding YOUR best chain and processing. Find what you like and what defines you as an engineer. This may take time, but it's well worth it. Serving you "the best chain" on a platter will propably teach you nothing.

Edit: Yeah, you get a good mix in composition, recording, production and mixing. Mastering is basically just quality control and final mojo polishing.

 

Last edited: Feb 28, 2024

Okay guys and gals, there's a need for a clarification.
Mastering is *bringing your track to a playback medium standard*, both technically and sonically. So the track doesn't get undesireable distortion due to pushing too hard and doesn't sound too out of place when played consecutively with other songs. The modern medium is digital, but it's being played in a very wide array of circumstances, from clubs to wireless in-ear earbuds. The goal of mastering is to make sure that your track sounds the same, and good, and in accordance with the usual sonic profile of the genre, in most possible circumstances.
I feel like this is not what OP's even asking about, he's asking what plugins to put on his mix bus. Which is part of mixing process.
Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but again, OP, work on your fundamentals first.

 

Last edited: Feb 28, 2024

cant say better... its always your decision to where u want to go! , quick example/question: Do you want to use your sidechain for that song to make it pumper lets say or to just sidechain the kick from the bass in a not pumpy way... more like a stealth sidechain comp

 

try this:

make a good track then apply a limiter after mixing.

Second part is easy first one less easy.

 

Honestly, there's some right nonsense being spoken in this thread.

Can you provide some stats to back up that particular nugget of wisdom? The Clarett+ pres and A/D are every bit as good as RME. As for the RED, well that's in a whole different league..

Yeah ok...

The initial question is a valid one, to a degree, so long as we remove the words "perfect" and "for techno" from it.

That just leaves us with:
The Mastering Chain?

Let's put a litte perspective on this.

ITB mastering is essentially an attempt to emulate the high-end hardware setups that are used by pro mastering facilities. There is music of all genres passing through those facilities on a daily basis. The hardware rig is hard-wired in and more often than not it's exactly the same hardware no matter the genre. If they have a particularly elaborate setup then there may be a choice of different flavours of compression, EQ etc but that will almost certainly be a limited choice; the purpose being that if a particular job demands a certain process at a certain point in the chain then an appropriate unit can be patched in or out. The point is that when you have Maselec, TubeTech, Manley, Avalon etc hardware sat in front of you, combined with acoustics and monitoring that cost more than most people's homes, you will not be thinking can I master techno with this shitty setup? Because of course you can master absolutely anything with it.

Pay attention to the principals of mastering, more than the specific tools used to achieve it, as almost any of the available tools will give acceptable results provided the appropriate settings are made.

 

mixing is crucial for these genres. a loud punchy mix (bass response, crisp hi freqs, punch, loudness, attacks) equals a loud punchy master.

clip and limit along the way to the master so the master plugins have less to do.

Google clip to zero method if you are not familiar with it.

As far as actual "mastering" plugins.

Acustica Ash - clipper and essential
Acustica Lace - LImiter. its brand new, but my initial test tells me it will become essential. Punchy with excellent bass response
Acustica Cherry - "mastering" EQ - transparent, yet firm and punchy, capable of large moves on the master that most other eq's would fuck up
Acustica Diamond Transient - essential to me, especially for techno type genres - its a sort of saturator / expander combo. VERY punchy.
Acustica Indigo - weighty, colorful saturated Mastering eq. Excellent for oomph and low end shaping. Sweet, lush hi's
Pro MB - useful for taming things
Pro Q - useful for problematic issues
DMG Multiplicity - useful for taming and gluing
DMG Limitless - excellent multiband limiter, a little bit goes a long ways
TDR Special Filters bundle - unique(ish) tools that are intuitive, and handle some simple task very well
TDR Limiter 6 - great to use on busses as well as the final master , the HF tamer is great
Newfangled Elevate - i use it more in the mix, but its made for mastering. Excellent clipper, transient shaper and tonal shaper

Ozone - I rarely use the "ai", but there are many good modules in there. The ai can help as a great starting point at times

Muzikhack Master Plan - newer multi unit thats very simple to use and yields great results. I often use it as the final finisher after some other plugins.

A good meter that shows frequency response, loudness etc, there are many.

 

And you can't not do that with Ozone? You have realized that Ozone can act in more ways than calling up a preset? You can turn and twist knobs in every single module ... surprised?

 

Please excuse my stupidity for not having specified which focusrite scarlett model I am talking about, I should have clarified that I am talking about game inputs 4i4 etc, which does not have or has a converter of lower quality and even when taking sounds we often distinguish problems at the level of high midrange and high frequencies this is an observation made on my side of amateur projects received record on home studio under scarlett, you are not obliged to speak to people of wisdom, you appear haughty like this and I don't think that was the aim, I think that's the biggest nonsense here!


All the people here only speak through their spectrums and their experiences I don't see what's wrong with that, not everyone is a seasoned professional in audio or mixing mastering techniques precisely it's the theme and time to learn from each and or discover working methods.

That said, I agree with your words on this point!

 

Last edited: Feb 29, 2024

Pro-Q 3 -> Flatline -> Pro-L 2 - done