yet another producing question: mastering

[(val)Liam]

just a question... when you're mastering your tracks, do you master each part seperately then record or master the entire track after recording?

[mux]

"mastering" is the act of taking the finished mix and doing some finalizing EQ, compression, and limiting on the single stereo WAV, turning it from the "final mix" into the "master". Usually you master it for the intended listening media, ie a "radio master", "cd master", "vinyl master", etc.

Anything you do before that is mixing and eqing, and yes, you want to spend time on each part making it the best it can be before mixing it all together. :)

(I'm just learning this stuff myself, I'm in no way an expert!)

[~god~]

mastering is a fucking art!
I've been practicing it for atleast a year now. I'm quiet good, but like mux said, no way an expert still.

What do you people use?
I personally use the 002's.

[Royal_Phunk]

Originally Posted by Liam

just a question... when you're mastering your tracks, do you master each part seperately then record or master the entire track after recording?

if im doing a bit of a mstr, i do multiband compression and equing always on the 2 channel wav file makes it easier on the compressor to only have to react to 2 channels in stead of 10 up its ass. Personally i do the final mix and then pay to have the song mastered those guys know what theyre doing. When mastering i use the Pro Tools HD96 or 192 at my school.

[ill-esha]

i can't rival mux's definition - nicely concise and clear. big ups to mux!

for mastering, there are two "mastering suite" programs i'd recommend. you could always just add several plugins, but a mastering suite is more convenient.

if you're a novice (and most of us who don't specialize in mastering definitely ARE) a good program to get ahold of is called t-racks. it's got a lot of nice mastering presets that you can select from, picking the one that sounds closest to what you want.. and then you can fine-tune from there. it's a great way to learn.

once you get slightly more advanced, you can grab the isotope ozone. ozone is a great program as well, you can edit each individual parameter (making the sound more "3d", maximizing the loudness, editing the compression, etc). to tell you the truth, i'm lazy, so i usually just select something from t-racks, but ozone is GREAT.

Mastering is probably best left to a mastering engineer.

If you're a newb like me and wan't quick results send your mixdown through the Waves L3 (multiband compressor/limiter). Makes things loud and punchy.

Individual tracks should recieve individual attention before the mix down though i would think. (slight compression, exciting, and eq'ing)