It's good to know i can leave off things like compression out of the chain altogether if they're not strictly needed.īy the way, I've just bought that Bob Katz book that is always mentioned, and just flicking through that I can see there's no quick fix! :wink: I guess I was after some sort of guidelines - like you have EQ charts telling you the important frequencies on certain instruments - but if such general guidelines don't exist, I can stop worrying that I'm not following procedure, and start deciding what sounds good or not. Even after using Ozone for a short time, and A/B ing a few mixes with/without, I can't see myself going back to not mastering tracks. I'm just looking to increase loudness a bit (I'm currently setting the maximiser threshold at -2 or at most -3 db - this gives very subtle a effect, but at the same time does seem give the tracks more "power"), and also give it a certain sheen that mastered tracks seem to have (a bit of harmonic excitiation for example or subtle EQ).
![compression settings for mastering compression settings for mastering](https://www.aulart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/rough-rider-compressor-mastering-tips--1024x337.png)
COMPRESSION SETTINGS FOR MASTERING HOW TO
Thanks for the advice, this is all very useful in helping me figure out how to approach the whole process.Īs for what my intentions are when mastering, I'm not really looking to fix anything in the mix - I haven't bothered with mastering for years, so I'm used to getting things sounding right instrument by instrument.
![compression settings for mastering compression settings for mastering](https://musicianonamission.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Fig_2.png)
There are a few great resources as well as courses you can take to get better at it. This information is readily available online. Owning mastering gear is only the first step really - knowing what to do with it (and what not to do) is essential. If the intent is to master and mix your own music, take the steps needed to learn from the best to achieve the best result. You can see what its doing to your sound by taking a look at the resulting wave or aiff file in an audio editor. Peak limiting when carelessly applied basically lops off the transients - basically flattens them mashing them to the ceiling. To add insult to injury, many just starting out with mastering tools do make the mistake of arbitrarily slapping a peak limiter on top - not as a way to stop overages but to drive it in an effort to increase volume further. Band mixes are a bit of a different story but even there its possible to squash the living daylights out of it to where there are next to zero perceived dynamics - just a wall of sound flat across the surface where the valleys are little to no different than the peaks. This is doubly true for orchestral mixes because the inherent instrumentation has so many dynamic shadings and subtleties. It is far too easy to get squashed, lifeless mixes as a result of trying to win the loudness wars.
![compression settings for mastering compression settings for mastering](https://miro.medium.com/max/1000/1*s1poIessICXz58nxIE8KtQ.jpeg)
You want to preserve your transients and a heavy handed approach will essentially eliminate them.
![compression settings for mastering compression settings for mastering](https://www.sageaudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Image-1-1.png)
If you do use multiband compression, great care needs to be applied. eg, at roughly what frequencies would you set the bands, would you typically apply more gain to the middle band, a higher compression ratio to the bass band etc etc? Not after anyone's secrets here, but any tips to get me started on the multiband compression settings much appreciated!Īlso, if there are any other Ozone 4 users out there, what do you make of the "symphonic mix" preset? It's the only preset that seems vaguely suitable for soundtrack stuff, and having tweaked it quite a bit (got rid of the downward expanders on the compression curves and reduced gain on the mid slightly, changed maximiser to intelligent 2, changed mode of harmonic exciters to mid side and put the emphasis on the side) it seems to be delivering good results. So my question is, would anyone care to share any general guidelines (or links with any guidelines) for setting up a multiband compressor for mastering orchestral soundtrack type tracks, especially ones of a more bombastic nature. As warned in many places, the presets are not really to be trusted (eg the "symphonic mix" setting has downward expanders which completely ruin any low dynamics fade ins/outs) - but in terms of the quality and versatility of the various modules I'm very impressed so far. After many useful suggestions in another post, and a whole load of reseach and trying out demos, I've invested in Ozone 4. I'm currently trying to get my head around the whole mastering process, not an aspect of music production I've spent much time on until now.