How do you master your remix?

[Brian]

Mastering is a crucial step in mixing, and it is usually the most difficult part to do given the limitations of your system. Something that sounds good on your system may sound bad on other systems so this nullifies "what you hear is what you get." Not all of us here can afford studio headphones and monitors for mixing and mastering. What do you guys use? Consumer headphones, computer speakers, home theater system, hi-fi speakers, monitors, studio headphones? Any tips on what kind of monitors I should buy?

Then there is the "psychological effect", at least what I call it. It's when you, the remixer, can hear what goes on in your mix, when in actuality it's just your brain creating false information giving you the illusion that it "sounds good". Basically you've gotten too used to the way it sounds (since you have the power to mute tracks and check them individually) in which by playing it over and over, you've become accustomed to it. Have you ever agreed with your remix, took a break, come back a couple hours later, disagreed with your remix, and decided to change it because it didn't sound good the second time? The only suggestion I have is to take breaks, but even breaks alone won't help overall imo. Something that may sound perfect to you, may not sound perfect to others. And there really is no "perfect" mastering.

So how do you guys master?

[dannthr]

Sometimes, for many reasons, it's just a good idea to step away from a project for a while and try to listen to it later with new ears.

Hiring a mixer/masterer is about hiring someone with all the right gear who will give your work a very objective listen. This is important.

If you can't afford one, no worries, you're probably not on a deadline--so give yourself a break and/or get some buddies who will give you some objective feedback.

You WILL get higher with a little help from your friends.

[zircon]

I've always used headphones. My belief is that unless you have a set of very good monitors, a finely-tuned room, proper monitor and chair placement, and perfect posture (even moving your head slightly can affect phase relationships), it makes more sense to use a pair of nice semi-open or open headphones. Closed headphones are not the best idea because they tend to emphasize bass response. Fun to listen to, but not good for accuracy. I personally use Beyerdynamic DT880s which were a bit pricey, but have served me very well for several years now.

These days, the first thing I do in a new project is turn my headphones up about 6db then put a fader on the master track turning it DOWN 6db. This gives me more headroom to work with. After I have a lot of parts in the mix, usually WELL before it is completed, I'll add mastering effects to the master track and bring my listening level down to a normal volume. This is always how I've done it, too. I can't fathom how anyone could produce an entire song and only master it at the end.

[Gario]

Zircon's the man, in this department, so if he says use headphones, then use headphones... Actually, I can't fathom trying to do it any other way, due to how finicky monitors can be. It is interesting, however, to sit back sometimes and listen to your piece with common speakers, just to hear how it sounds.

When I write my music I try to mix and master while writing the piece as much as possible. I think of mastering as a part of the composition process, myself, so I can't just leave it at the last minute (I use to wait until the end to do that stuff... bad idea ).

Then there is the "psychological effect", at least what I call it.

Hah, I've had that happen a lot. One way to diffuse it somewhat is to write it into the music. If it sounds better, great! Otherwise, take it back out, and it shouldn't bother you anymore. Your brain now has a proper aural image in it, and because didn't sound right in there, you won't be singing it to yourself... Of course, you've got to catch yourself doing it, in the first place. I tend to sing to myself when I write, so when I sing something that isn't there, it's pretty obvious...

[Brian]

Thanks for the tips. Ok I gotta admit, I was going to master towards the end, but seeing how that sounds bad, I should deal with it as early as possible. Feedback is the best way to improve your mix, but having a real person with you in the studio is better since you get real time feedback.

Zircon, I envy you lol. I thought I was the only one who was insane, at least to other people, when I was looking at headphones that costs hundreds of dollars, which I saw as normal (audiophiles see 3-4 figure price tags as normal for mere headphones while average consumers see it as outrageous). Beyerdynamic makes good headphones, so as AKG and sennheiser. I hope you're using a headphone amplifier to drive your Dt880's?

Ok back on topic... My room is fairly large, has few furnitures, and non-boxed shape. However, it creates a slight reverb, which would be a problem if using monitors or speakers. I don't have the budget to buy acoustic dampening materials, and it's too much work. I'll go with headphones.

However there is a disadvantage when using headphones. It's because everything is crammed into your head where the left channel is entirely focused in the left ear and the right channel is entirely focused in your right ear. The drivers in this instance is much closer to your ears than loudspeakers. This is where hard panning may give you headaches whereas playing them from speakers won't since they'll blend, known as "crossover." Overall, Headphones won't translate to speakers very well. Any solution to this? I've heard about software/hardware that simulates speakers.

It's also great if you use different systems for playback ranging from all types of audio playback equipment. That's a rule of thumb.

[Rozovian]

When it comes to the issue of hardpanned tracks and headaches, you gotta remember that we live in the ipod era. ppl have music pumped straight into their ears all the time, so if you get a headache from it, others might too.

[Palpable]

Yeah, you definitely want to be mixing for both. I mix on monitors and test my mixes on headphones and my not-as-great system in the living room, which all emphasize slightly different elements.

As for the objectivity issue, after I call a track done, I like to give it a break of a day or two and relisten and see if anything jumps out. Also, listening to other music around that time can help you regain some objectivity.

[Sole Signal]

I do the majority of my mixing on headphones, the ATH-M40s. Once you get to know how good mixes sound on a certain set, you can start to compensate for the issues that people have brought up here. Running the track through several different monitoring systems to simulate the usual listening environment is always a good idea (i.e. standard car system, home entertainment system, earbud headphones).

As has been mentioned several times now, coming back to listen to a track after a day or so can help, although most times one night of rest is enough for me. I'll work on a track late into the night and force myself to keep adding material. The next morning it is a lot easier to assess what needs to be tweaked and has enough freshness to give me inspiration to keep working. I tend to mix and "master" while I move through the mix so that once I get to the end, the track is usually done.

[Brian]

How would you master a trance genre? I'm really not good with mastering or using effects (yes, I'm a newbie at it). I'm good at arranging though. tips? Or should I just give someone the source file and they tweak and master it for me?

[Yoozer]

Mastering is mastering. It doesn't just suddenly become different because it's another genre of music, so you're working with the same tools.

See http://www.vimeo.com/808485?pg=embed&sec=808485

[Rozovian]

Put your near-finished song in a playlist together with two or three songs in the same genre. Listen to that playlist for a while, compare their production with that of your song. If they're vastly different in loudness, energy, frequency balance, clarity (etc) you probably need to fix something in yours.

[Tensei]

I do most of my mixing on headphones but when I move on to mastering I tend to switch between headphones and consumer grade 5.1 speakers (with subwoofer) for every significant change I make.

Even cheapo speakers will give you a different impression than headphones and make some things more noticable while covering up others. As an example, what happens to me often is that I spend hours getting a big snare sound with the exact right amount of reverb, then I switch to speakers and notice the snare sounds way too dry due to the reverb signal getting masked by other stuff.

Indeed the best advice for mastering I've ever had was from zircon; turn down the master track -6 dB or so before your mastering plugins, then use a combination of (multiband?) compression, maximizers and limiters to bring the track up to the desired level and fullness.

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

Even cheapo speakers will give you a different impression than headphones and make some things more noticable while covering up others. As an example, what happens to me often is that I spend hours getting a big snare sound with the exact right amount of reverb, then I switch to speakers and notice the snare sounds way too dry due to the reverb signal getting masked by other stuff.

iirc, wasn't the tendency to slap on too -much- reverb when mixing with headphones?

Indeed the best advice for mastering I've ever had was from zircon; turn down the master track -6 dB or so before your mastering plugins, then use a combination of (multiband?) compression, maximizers and limiters to bring the track up to the desired level and fullness.

I used to slap on a limiter/soft clipper/compressor FIRST THING and then mix while it was on. Nowadays I mix at -6dB so I can actually MIX without getting everything compressed and having the balance messed up by maximizers and such. I've actually been mixing without mastering plugins turned on, though every so often i'll stop and turn the maximizer back on to hear how the track sounds when it's turned up.

I'm no mastering expert so for me "mastering" basically consists of, slapping on a maximizer (my mix should still be at -6dB before this), and fine-tuning the gain until it's loud enough without introducing too much compression/distortion/killing dynamics/etc.

edit: and cutting inaudible freqs below like 20Hz, though I doubt it actually helps in a significant manner.

[zircon]

Nah, the lowend cut trick is a classic that is good for anyone. Use a really steep highpass filter that doesn't bump up at the resonance point. For the mixing process, I throw EQs on every sample and synth I use, rollowing off the lows on pretty much all of them except bass/kick. Works wonders.

[Palpable]

iirc, wasn't the tendency to slap on too -much- reverb when mixing with headphones?

It varies for me. With headphones, the reverb is easier to hear so I can tell exactly how much I want to add. With monitors, it's a little more masked and sometimes I go over, or less often, under. I'd say my tendency is to get it right with headphones.

Nah, the lowend cut trick is a classic that is good for anyone. Use a really steep highpass filter that doesn't bump up at the resonance point. For the mixing process, I throw EQs on every sample and synth I use, rollowing off the lows on pretty much all of them except bass/kick. Works wonders.

Word for word what I do. It made my mixes a lot clearer and will definitely help in mixing/mastering. I usually start at 50Hz and drag up until I get an un-muddy sound.

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

For the mixing process, I throw EQs on every sample and synth I use, rollowing off the lows on pretty much all of them except bass/kick. Works wonders.

ah yeah, -this- is something that I've definitely found useful.

[GarretGraves]

I take recording arts and sound designing classes. They tell us that mixing with headphones is a BAD idea. I guess this isnt the case for most of you people since you guys seem pretty good at this.

I have a set of 50 dollar Logitech headphones. They sound ok. Not top notch but ok. Then I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system on my computer. In the headphones it sounds ok but then listening to it on the speakers the bass can get a tad overbearing.

Mastering is a pain-in-the-ass process that I can't seem to...well, master.

[Rozovian]

One word of advice: compare.

[Sole Signal]

I take recording arts and sound designing classes. They tell us that mixing with headphones is a BAD idea. I guess this isnt the case for most of you people since you guys seem pretty good at this.

Every music forum I've ever been to, there are always folks railing against mixing with headphones. It's all about results; different methods for different mixers.

[po!]

One word of advice: compare.

i always compare my EQ to other tracks to get a ballpark balance of frequencies. for me getting the right brightness on the high-end is always the hardest, so i make sure to compare with several tracks with similar sounds. personally i don't like those cutting ear piercingly bright cymbal sounds, so i'm always careful with EQing that

[Yoozer]

I take recording arts and sound designing classes. They tell us that mixing with headphones is a BAD idea.

Headphones simply don't sound like speakers.

Because there's one speaker per ear, stereo effects tend to work differently. There's no ambience to blur the sound, headphones are positioned in the same fashion for everyone (while speaker placement depends on the room). Because the speakers are small, there's a different frequency response.

In the end it all comes down to making a mix you can translate. The reason these little 5.1 PC speakers suck is because they have a subwoofer and a set of small satellites - and nothing in between. This means high and low frequencies come out emphasized, for which you compensate in the mix by either turning the mid up or the low and high down. Which means that if you listen to it on someone else's system, your mix sounds like complete crap.

However, if you can prevent this and compensate for it (it does mean making things more difficult for yourself), you might get something that works.

[Dafydd]

I always mix using headphones only because that's the only thing I use when listening to music anyway. I'm not good enough at this to make something that sounds good in both anyway, and I'm struggling to make something that doesn't make headphones people cringe. So I guess whatever I do can be taken as advice for what you shouldn't do.

EDIT: Haha, there is no highpass filter in Reason! Most the individual synths have them, but to filter the whole song you need to use EQ, which is also a real pain in Reason. Unless you're routing everything through the BV512, in which case you'll have no idea which frequencies you're adjusting the level of. What were they thinking?

[Tensei]

Another thing I like to do during the mastering phase is adding the high-end 'air', which, if done correctly, will give a mix more high-end shine and a perceived higher quality sound (of course it comes down to taste, I prefer mixes quite trebly in general). I usually either use a subtle high-end shelving filter or harmonic excitation to achieve this, but it's REALLY easy to overdo so it's absolutely necessary to keep a point of reference.

The "roll-off the low end on everything but the kick and the bass" wouldn't really be mastering, would it? Since you're doing it for each instrument individually, I'd call it mixing.

[Dafydd]

Could you elaborate on this high-end "air" of yours? I don't understand how it's done.

[Cyril the Wolf]

Personally I don't always turn the master down before doing my duty. The main reason I have for this is becuase some of my tunes are already quite quiet (my acoustic tune that I was doing recently was barely getting above 2 db on some occasions.)

On the other hand it works in 99% of cases so I just wanted to add my two cents.

I do agree with Tensei-San about doing a sort of A/B test with your crappy speakers and a sub. Personally I think mixing and mastering without a sub (at least part of the time) is ridiculous, becuase I have some fairly high quality headphones and they do NOT have the bass response to help me hear if the low-end is that crowded or not. Similarly, on my headphones I may goose the bass in the mastering EQ but when I listen with a sub it sounds far too boomy. So yea.

Also, when I mix I tend to have a Multi-band constantly present on the master, at least after I have most of hte main parts written/recorded. The multi-band stays on the entire time, I only tweak it after I have finished and decided what frequency range needs to be more compressed and stuff.

After that I use an EQ on the master track and then put it through a limiter clipper AFTER exporting. The reason I do this is becuase the multiband is good, but it doesn't get the track up to the "commercial" volume (which you really can't get to unless you have at least $1000 in equipment in general anyway, but I just use that as a perceived volume level) so I usually put it through that as a final step, once again always A/B testing it the entire time.

That's what I do, and there are certainly differences in the methods, but I've found that mine work, so experiment a little. There is a lot of room for that in the world of home studio tech.