What does your 2022 Mastering Chain look like?

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by Zenarcist, Aug 16, 2022.

  1. Backtired

    Backtired Audiosexual

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    exactly, but did you read the rest of the post? i know that, everybody says that. i just wonder how these tracks were being played in the clubs back in the days... most of them have weird low-ends, pick 5 random tracks from the 90s (european hard trance, etc), 3 of them will have weird side mix, 1 of them will be almost full mono, and another will have some crazy stuff either way
     
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  2. AKAIBOY

    AKAIBOY Member

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    Probably panning/pingpong/stereo techniques! but the club system will force it to play in mono anyway!
     
  3. Amore_de_la_Vida

    Amore_de_la_Vida Platinum Record

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    Hey, thanks a LOT for the analysis and the image! So this setting likely determines the efficiency of the bandwidths' separation... This should mean: first or second order (this, I understand!). In the manual it is said that the slope is up to 12 db/octave, so it should imply that when the switch is not set, the slope should be 6 db/octave... Important!

    They say also: despite the crossover separation, this should not have any consequences on the overall sound, when the settings (levels) are neutral, the sound is too = It's not an EQ, but a stereo enhancer/reducer, they make it very clear.

    For the TC limiter: YES, I like these presets in particular, because - for once, this is an exception which confirms the rules - they sound really great... Just try them and tell me! :thumbsup:
     
  4. RADAR

    RADAR Platinum Record

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    Like This .... :bleh:

    depositphotos_225557474-stock-photo-men-fashion-close-up-portrait.jpg
     
  5. lxfsn

    lxfsn Platinum Record

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    yeah. early 80s (italo disco and subsequently euro house) and 90s were the times where more and more music producers start to make music at home, with cheap gear and not alot of engineering knowledge. In 80s and 90s music happened every fuckup under the sun.

    Anyways, because the dynamic range was looser, mistakes were easier to get by. As the time passed and the dynamic range became more and more tighter to the point we are today, there is no room left for mistake.

    In modern mixes every Hz and every half dB in a mix are accounted for, if an element doesn't sit right, we hear it immediately. Harshness, boomyness, muddyness, everything is immediately aparent when the dynamic range is tight. Some old school mixing knowledge doesn't apply anymore in today's music, this is why many people have so many issues in making their mixes competitive (using old school knowledge for hyper dense mixes).
     
  6. Backtired

    Backtired Audiosexual

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    this is a good answer. it doesn't answer the fact that these tracks were played in clubs (yes, summing to mono or whatever) and we danced our asses to them, with low frequencies on the side.
    what has changed from "yesterday's music" to "today's music"? in this context, we are strictly speaking to music being played in a club. and today they tell us that we need to put everything under X in mono otherwise it sounds like shit in a club. ok cool, then why my fav tracks from growing up are all fucked in the bass, yet they were completely listenable in the clubs?? (don't answer drugs... lol)
     
  7. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    I must admit, hard panned stereo synth basses sound great on headphones and stereo systems and I'm not sure to which extend clubs back then had subwoofers. So it could be that this was no issue at all.
    But as soon as you run them through a sub, phase could become a problem.
     
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  8. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Sadly, that's still valid today.
     
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  9. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    For stereo widening/narrowing I use a stone old 32bit pluggie and I've never tested the TC limiter. If I can get my hands on it, I maybe give it a shot.
    I also checked the phase for 2nd for the DDMF, looks good, no complete tilt.
     
  10. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Tried the TC limiter:
    - adaptive and fixed release time is nice to have,
    - subtle difference between the Profiles,
    - 3 different clippers and LUFS meter are nice to have in the same plugin,
    - sound is good,
    - 60% offer at their homepage, ATM,
    - only drawback, it doesn't support more than 4x oversampling (crashed my DAW, stopped working in Plugin Doctor) which could be an issue with heavy clipping. OTOH, you shouldn't use heavy clipping in the main out, right?
     
  11. Riddim Machine

    Riddim Machine Rock Star

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    Stereo Low Mids are great, you can get really cool stuff with stereo upper bass, but i never let my sub any % stereo (i'm talking about 160hz and bellow). But Stereo Basses are cool, i was an enthusiast until i got pissed BC of the phase and just forgot about this idea :rofl:
     
  12. Amore_de_la_Vida

    Amore_de_la_Vida Platinum Record

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    Thanks for your time and your advice! :wink: For the OS, considering that I don't do nor EDM nor rap, I don't have occasions to experiment with hard clipping / extreme leveling / extreme comp values, so I think x2-x4 OS should be enough for me...

    I have the tendency to stick with the standard -18 Lufs (sometimes -14) and -1db max peak, but as said earlier I try to consider and take into account the kind of music / musician / composer and inspiration, avoiding to mix Pop like Rock or Metal... In other terms I try to adapt, but it's not easy! As we say in French: "Critic is easy, Art is difficult"...
     
  13. Sylenth.Will.Fall

    Sylenth.Will.Fall Audiosexual

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    1 Eliptic Hi Pass Filter
    2 The Glue
    3 Mid/ Side EQ
    4 Dynamic compressor
    5 Saturator
    6 2nd Mid/ Side EQ
    7 2nd Dynamic compressor
    8 Mid/ Side Seperator
    9 1st Limiter
    10 2nd Limiter
    11 Manalyzer
    12 Spectrum Analyzer
    13 WLM Meter

    Although, I don't use everything just because it is set that way. Things aren't always needed, and other times other things will be used in place of.
     
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  14. Chaindog

    Chaindog Producer

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    Tried it too, yesterday. And I really like it.
    Used the -9 LUFS preset, clicked on "set gain" played back the chorus and got quite nice results.
    I put a clipper beforehand to ease the limiting of the Brickwall HD a bit, and that seems to do the trick. :yes:
    Of course, sometimes a little tweaking is required.
    I can recommend to trying it out. :like:
     
  15. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Now here comes the funny part. On a 2.0 system, HP or monitors, everything is played in 'stereo' because there is no center, no mono sub. A sound, perceived as centered, is just identical on the left and right side. So basically even everything 'monoed' below xHz is 'stereo', we're just not able to recognize it. :winker:
     
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  16. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Then I recommend the Smooth type clipping. It produces the least harmonics and behaves even more gentle than the Soft type. :yes:
     
  17. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    I still haven't tried the presets. :rofl:
     
  18. droplet

    droplet Rock Star

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    stereo is a mindset it exists only with two ears.
     
  19. Vader

    Vader Platinum Record

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    Compressor, Eq, Limiter
     
  20. arsch

    arsch Noisemaker

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    a limiter
     
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