Is it better to master before or after mixdown?
Is it better to master before or after mixdown?
Is it better to render the track first and then open the rendered file in a new project and to put themastering plugins in there, or will it be the same result if i just put the mastering plugs on the master channel of my track before its rendered?
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Michael-SW
- Posts: 2054
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:05 pm
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
If you have CPU to spare, there shouldn't be any difference. Personally, I prefer to do my feeble attempts to do "mastering" on a rendered file.
Partially to have as much CPU as I want, partially because it is much easier to set up A/B listening with approximately equal levels (important!) when I work on a rendered file.
This is how I do: Open a empty live set, create two audio tracks. Import rendered file in both tracks (no warping!) in Arrangement. Set up plugs on one track. Assign to each side of cross fader, assign crossfader to midi knob. Fiddle around with plugs. Adjust volume on clean track so it is at least as loud as processed track. Close you eyes. Twist midi knob and try to forget which track is mastered and which is not. Listen. Fiddle with plugs. Listen. Etc. Even better if you can get someone else to twist the knob so you can do true A/B listening.
Remember that louder always sounds better, so overcompensate on the clean track a bit.
Partially to have as much CPU as I want, partially because it is much easier to set up A/B listening with approximately equal levels (important!) when I work on a rendered file.
This is how I do: Open a empty live set, create two audio tracks. Import rendered file in both tracks (no warping!) in Arrangement. Set up plugs on one track. Assign to each side of cross fader, assign crossfader to midi knob. Fiddle around with plugs. Adjust volume on clean track so it is at least as loud as processed track. Close you eyes. Twist midi knob and try to forget which track is mastered and which is not. Listen. Fiddle with plugs. Listen. Etc. Even better if you can get someone else to twist the knob so you can do true A/B listening.
Remember that louder always sounds better, so overcompensate on the clean track a bit.
Either way is fine. I tend to like using a seperate app, for reasons I will explain in a new thread shortly.
tarekith
https://tarekith.com
https://tarekith.com
Different purposes require different approaches:
1. If I'm doing a on-off...meaning that the song I'm outputting will go on a site as a single, and I've got CPU to spare, I'll just put the mastering plugs on the master bus and just render it straight. Careful not to do this until the end of production because good mastering limiters will add latency, so you'll have to deal with delay, as well as inaccurate levels of what you hear if the mastering limiter is in the mastering chain before you're ready to mix down. I tend to do a lot of experimenting and adding stuff to my mixes, then when ready to mixdown, I add the mastering plugs, but only after I've got a reasonalby good mix already. Always always fix in the mix when possible, rather than doing broad sweeps in the master.
2. If I do a bunch of songs, then I usually render with just gentle limiting on the master bus, just to catch any really big peaks. Then I take all the songs I need to master for the album/ep/compilation, and I get them to sound fairly similar in their loudness and overall timbre. Meaning you don't want the listener to have to reach for the volume knob as they listen to the project, and you don't want them to turn the brightness down or up from one song to the next...and of course, you don't want the user to get hearing fatigue with overly compressed audio. I usually do this in a seperate session with all the mixdowns. I can do this in Live or any other app. If in Live, make sure warping is off when you import the files into your Live session.
1. If I'm doing a on-off...meaning that the song I'm outputting will go on a site as a single, and I've got CPU to spare, I'll just put the mastering plugs on the master bus and just render it straight. Careful not to do this until the end of production because good mastering limiters will add latency, so you'll have to deal with delay, as well as inaccurate levels of what you hear if the mastering limiter is in the mastering chain before you're ready to mix down. I tend to do a lot of experimenting and adding stuff to my mixes, then when ready to mixdown, I add the mastering plugs, but only after I've got a reasonalby good mix already. Always always fix in the mix when possible, rather than doing broad sweeps in the master.
2. If I do a bunch of songs, then I usually render with just gentle limiting on the master bus, just to catch any really big peaks. Then I take all the songs I need to master for the album/ep/compilation, and I get them to sound fairly similar in their loudness and overall timbre. Meaning you don't want the listener to have to reach for the volume knob as they listen to the project, and you don't want them to turn the brightness down or up from one song to the next...and of course, you don't want the user to get hearing fatigue with overly compressed audio. I usually do this in a seperate session with all the mixdowns. I can do this in Live or any other app. If in Live, make sure warping is off when you import the files into your Live session.