I am looking for techniques to improve my sound during the mastering process but I am extremely troubled by some of these tutorials because they make it look so easy and the sound sounds so nice. I bought some Waves Plugins, in regards to this tutorial I followed for Wavelab just to get my hands on mastering but I am still having a lot of trouble trying to create a more “snappier” and “louder” sound without having a Clipping massacre.
Everytime I hear a db mistake, I tried to modify my plugins without too much luck. I even tried to modify my midi tracks by bringing down the velocities to see if it helped. It did but then it messed it up in other parts. According to this tutorial the RMS is suppose to be between 7- and 8 for competitive midi tracks, but I can’t even get it down to 11 without a db problem.
I have Ozone, and now Waves Plugins for mastering but I find it incredibly difficult to make it sound clean. I moved to Waves cause Ozone couldn’t seem to do what I wanted to do in regards to cleanliness of a track, and I thought I would be able to improve the track.
I looked up this “how to make drums snappier” and I got information oh use decay. But for some reason I look through cubase, I look for some waves plugins, but I can’t find a decay plugin. I thought that it would make it more snappier and sound fuller, without db overload. Can anyone direct me to a Cubase plugin that might help me. I thought Compressor contained decay cause in a nother search they talked about Attack, Decay Susstained Release Envelop but I see no decay just sustained and release.
I spent all day trying to figure out this mastering process out and I am not too happy with the results. I originally went to Ozone cause I followed a tutorial that made the sound reasonably well. Its pretty extensive cause some reason I can’t hear videos on youtube regarding mastering when I am in a file.
I can’t even bee in my Notation program Finale when I am in cubase and vice versa if anyone could help me with this issue too that would be great.
Note these are the plugins I used in this order:
- The Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ
- Waves Linear Phase Multiband
- Stereo Imager S1
- Waves L2 Maximiser Limiter
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This is the process I followed for a video I will attach the message below:
WaveLab Mastering Tutorial
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☒ Statistics
a. ☒ Global Analysis > Loudness
b. ☒ Click Analyze
c. ☒ RMS Power Average Output > Adjust to type of music
i. ☒ GET RMS Level to -7 or -8
ii. ☒ Subtract RMS (-15 –(-10)=5) / RMS –(- 10) = Absolute Value
iii. ☒ Use this number to feed the limiter
iv. ☒ REMEMBER. RMS LEVELS THE LOWER THE NUMBER. The Louder the Sound. -
☒ Export the file as a wav and load into Har-Bal (Didn’t download)
a. ☒ NOTE: Reason why there is a huge cut from to 10 is because our ears are more sensitive in this area. There for a fletcher –munson curve has been applied over the spectrum to make the listener of the song not suffer from harsh sounds. Wis mix and mastering engineers monitor at levels 85- 90 db SPL range, where our hearing is particularily flat.
b. ☒ Unselect average powerpoint, playback, and reference (lower right hand corner)
c. ☒ Click the Paragraphic EQ Cursor (upper right hand side)
d. ☒ Examine Peaks and Holes > Remove peaks and valleys
e. ☒ NOTE: DAW = (Digital Audio Workstation) Software running on a Mac or Windows computer that is used by professional sound engineers to record and mix digital audio tracks
f. ☒ Export as Wav and Save Harbol File -
☒ Place Plugins into the channel in this order and save as a preset.
a. ☒ The Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ
i. ☒ Change layer 1 to High Pass
ii. ☒ Adjust your high pass filter between 40 and 60 hz to get rid of low rumble (Left Side of the wave line)
iii. ☒ (Waves plugins, fabfilter, crysonic, wavearts and iK multimedia when i work with mixing and mastering here)
b. ☒ Waves Linear Phase Multiband – Use Present for too much limiting
i. ☒ Turn on monitoring point (Upper left hand corner square box)
ii. ☒ Use any preset: Common one is: Adaptive Multi Electro Mastering
iii. ☒ Allow Song To Play To The End. Observe number at the bottom of each end. These are the peaks.
iv. ☒ Now after the song has played to the end, you should get numbers for each band to make the new peak numbers… So change the threshold for each. -
Set Range of Yellow Numbers as the Threshold numbers
v. ☒ Click the Makeup Button on the right and change it to manual. This will keep the volume the same while you are pulling down the master threshold.
vi. ☒ Grab the master threshold button and pull it downwards until the orange dynamics line is in the middle of the blue range.
vii. ☒ Grab the master attack button and slowly move it upward until there is some stability in the first two bands of the orange dynamics LINE. ATTK Arrow 4th.
viii. ☒ Grab the master release button and slowly move it upward until the first to bands are almost horizontal in movement.
ix. ☒ Click the TRIM button to set your faders to 0.0 decibels.
c. ☒ Insert a Stereo Imager S1 into the mastering chain.
i. ☒ Open up VU Meter & Spectrascoe in Cubase (Meters? “Meter Name”
ii. ☒ Correct any phase issues and RMS mismatches if you have two different
iii. ☒ Note: If you have 2 different volumes for each track. Do not normalize to correct it. Just use the rotation button while paying attention to the RMS LEVELS IN THE VU METER (Meters > VU Meter) -
☒ These are the RMS Levels: The two in the center of the meter.
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☒ The other meters are LEFT and RIGHT channel Meters
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☒ The RMS Meters should be balanced (Change the Assymetry)
d. ☒ Insert a Waves L2 Maximiser Limiter
i. ☒ Set the OUT –Ceiling for -0.2 to prevent digital clipping, even on faulty speaker systemes.
ii. ☒ As you pull down the threshold fader, slowly look at the RMS level in your meter.
iii. ☒ If you no longer see activity in your Out Ceiling your song is too squashed.
iv. ☒ Remember this rule. Always listen to your song at 85 Decibel while mastering. This is not loud and it enables you to hear your music almost flat. You can pick up a level meter from any radio shack. If your song is too bassy and trebly you will know it!
v. ☒ Use the Threshold Slider to Adjust the Limiter to the desired RMS LEVEL OUTPUT
vi. ☒ Aim for -7.8 DB RMS(continuous power = The higher the RMS figure, the louder and cleaner your music sounds)
e. Check out the Phase Scope in Cubase.
i. ☒ Should be mostly vertical. Upright activity with a little body to the east and west
ii. ☒ Check the peak and RMS levels constantly. Keep your listening levels at 85 decibels.
iii. ☒ NOTE: 1. RMS between -10 and -12 RMS is great for most commercial music. RMS between -16 and -12 in level meter for softer compositions
f. Spectrum Meter in Cubase Analyzer
i. ☒ Use it to check for sudden spikes and overall patterns and adjust with your EQ
ii. ☒ Tonal Balance Colors – Bass in Red, Snares in Yellow, Leads and Vocals from green to light blue, Crash and other percussion is in purple color
g. Fix DB problems in Cubase.(Make Sure Velocities in Cubase are not above 75)
h. Insert a Linear Phase Multiband [Alternative]
i. ☒ Find a Music Frequency Chart
ii. ☒ Find the note that is Clipping
iii. ☒ Hear the note, and determine its frequency
iv. ☒ Set Scale to 30db
v. ☒ Set Method to Accurate
vi. ☒ Adjust the frequency to the closest dot to the Specific Note on the LPM
vii. ☒ Adjust the Q to 6.50
viii. ☒ Adjust gain down to appropriate number.
NOTE:
- Open Master Project> Right Click > Master Project
- Save File
- To Save Master Section Preset go to Edit > Store Master Preset Along with Audio File
Red Yellow Green Light Blue Purple
Bass Snares Leads / Vocals Vocals Crash & Other Percussion Instruments.