And "whoops" we do not need the 150 bucks for a stupid mastering engineer anymore .

 

sure lieglein...its only black and white in this world...rofl:
whats so funny bout his chain ?
tell us pls...give us the lieglein enlightment...

 

The funny thing is that it's premade / fixed. Begs the question, are the mixes he's gonna be making also always going to be the exact same, with premade instrument types and the same vocalist/rapper etc? If so, that's no longer funny,that's highly efficient music making right there.

 

i say he just use this on one specific genre which he produce in....
it should be clear that you cant use that on whatever xy

 

I use the same chain everytime and the same amount of reduction as well My master chain is specifically for loudness and I need my mixes to reach a certain loudness level to be played on commercial radio...I do all my eq, colouring etc according to source material on parallel chains (these change according to taste and requirements) Side note I also said I have a mastering engineer that i send my finals to 99.99% of the time. I even said his name a few comments ago...As far as using generic presets for my compositions it’s true I use some presets sometimes but I also hire musicians to play instruments live over my compositions. The last project was for a group from Jamaica and I hired a flute player to play live on it lol it was a freggin dancehall/trap song with live flute and percs...It turned out pretty damn cool sounding!! Anywho...Enjoy making music ;)

 

Also I used this chain for an audio book project for a Berkeley grad (a good friend of mine) Ulrich Dorig a published woodwind player ;) I do many genres and all music...

 

IM CLIPPING TILL BOB KATZ SCREAMS AT ME THROUGH THE DISTORION XDXDXD
PS: Im always 3Db above, cause i dont give a fuck

 

LOL

 

That there is no technical reason why we make a 30 Hz boost instead of an 25 or 35 Hz boost everytime. No technical reason for any other song as the one which it's made for at at least. Not even genre specific. It's specific for one song. I do not know what people think a mastering engineer is doing all the time? It seems nothing really relevant hm ? He just takes a genre specific song sends it into one "mastering" chain and "how shocking, it fits again?". Then he creates an ddp, sends it to the press plant and a hard work day is done.
Is life so easy ?

I don't have one. There is no lieglein enlightment because I do not have a fixed mastering chain. I do not have a mastering chain at all, because there are people which can finalize a song way better than me. This is why they are there . Of course there are some audiofoo...audiophiles under them, but you have to detect them with a methodic procedure .

Edit: The word "finalizing" is also something that should make some people think. There is one motto that native english speaking people have what says "first things first" and this makes sense because otherwise it would say "last things first" and this would be strange.

And a tip: If we take a look at the signal path of a mixing console



we'll see that the first component in one channel strip where our signal goes thru is the "Input Gain" or at least a "Pre Amplifier" and the last component is the "Channel level" or "Fader" and if we think about this we're going to get a method how our mixer won't look like a sinus curve anymore . And of course the last component of the mixer is the "Mixer Output" or the so called "Master Channel".

 

Last edited: Mar 7, 2019

Hey bro, I’m not trying to take credit away from anyone, mastering engineers, mix engineers etc...Everyone works extremely hard to get to a point where they can make a living from what they enjoy myself included! I just answered a question that was asked. Take my answer with a grain of salt! Some like apples, some like oranges etc...That being said every mastering engineer I know has a set chain they use with specific hardware units and numbers and frequencies they boost and/or cut! Hence Neve eq’s frequency specific...Some frequencies just sound a certain way that is common in all music...I like how 30hz on that particular eq feels when boosted tbh I don’t hear it... I feel it...whether it’s bullshit in my head or real I don’t care lol I like the way it impacts my mixes all of them (so far)...Perhaps one day I will enjoy something else and change it. No disrespect intended if you are a mastering engineer!! I definitely value good ears!! Dave McNair get’s all my work because he’s amazing and always seems to make my mixes sound better!

 

I do not have a problem with anything that people do. No one has to change his methods because of what im saying. But I always try to be clear in the technical aspects because everyone should at least accept them. No one has to do it in this way but they're important for a reason.

And I also still do things where I do not know if it makes sense or not because it's just the way where I know this is going to be good even if the method isn't doing enything relevant at least. But I'm always aware of that it shouldn't be that way .

 

Put a limiter and that's it!

 

You do like the 30Hz bump but every song is different.Different instruments,differents drum samples or live recordings.Some songs have more low end,while others have more mids or highs.
Me too I find your method strange.
I wonder how you're mixing your tracks if they are reduced by 5 to 10 db by your master chain since the beginnig.And it must difficult to mix your different tracks without being to hard or too quiet into your master channel.Even with VU meters.
For me,each song has its specific chain.I don't enhace the stereo imaging everytime,some instruments or busses need it,and/or others don't.Same thing for the limiter,saturation,eq,etc..

 

I think we are misunderstanding each other...I mix into my master chain, and the parallel chains...How much low end is in the mix is up to me as the mix engineer, as well as the high frequencies and stereo imaging...I am not applying this chain to a 2 track file that was sent to me for mastering...I keep my master chain setting the same on all my mixes but I mix the individual stems differently...I process the single instruments (or vocals) in parallel then send them to my master chain which has the loudness settings already on so essentially I am mixing and basing my balance and colour on the loudness of my master chain from the start...Not applying the loudness afterwards...for me in the past when attempting to make my mixes loud after balancing and processing, the mix changed too much...That's pretty much why I have adopted this method. I can see how keeping my settings the same on a 2 track all the time would be ridiculous lol...as I have no control over the individual sounds in the 2 track...But this way I can achieve the loudness and impact at the same time with no unwanted surprises at the end.

 

No problem man,that's what I understood.

I think it's why we need to limit the dynamic range on the different instruments or busses and not simply put a limiter on the master channel.
If we don't limit the different instruments/busses and just hit a limiter too strongly on the master your mix balance is totally modified.
Multiband compressors may be usefull on your master channel too,instead of full band compressors,if you're aware to lose your mix integrity.

just my 2 cents,I'm not a mix or mastering engineer.

 

I assume, that if I crank up the volume and limit first, that I am going to Master at around -4 to -1 dBFS.

Which reduces the virtual "headroom" of the software mixer. Many of the plugins work best not the equivalent of 0 VU which is -18dBFS.

Not leaving the headroom for the virtual math to take place may reduce high-end definition. And give your mix a less clear sound.

Or am I missing something here?

 

If you put ANYTHING other than dithering downwind of your limiter you're in "butt fork my track with an over" territory.

There's two ways to learn this. The easy way and the hard way.

Enjoy.