Mastering is the highest discipline in creating a song. The song needs to be loud, clear, present and still have the feel of the mix. That is, almost everything is as it was, only much better? This is not easy to achieve. However, with the advice from EKmixmaster studio, you will be able to cope with this task.
When listening in silence, the room component has much less effect on the sound, and therefore the material can be heard more neutrally. In this way, the transparency and density of the mixture can be better assessed. And at the end of the day, you should definitely listen again. You will hear annoying frequencies that have not been noticed with quiet listening until now.
Use parallel compression for mastering. With this method, compression of the entire sum signal and severe audio compression can be avoided. This allows you to keep the punch of the bass drum, especially in bass-heavy productions.
Don’t overdo the compression. The compressor on the master track shouldn’t interfere with the material too much. Ideally, it captures only signal peaks. If the compressor only kicks in on one element (often a kick, snare), this may be perfectly normal, but it may also indicate a mixing error. If a compressor with a high threshold and low ratio only jumps on one element and interferes heavily, this is a sure sign of an unbalanced mix.
Don’t let plugins override. In today’s world of 24-bit and more speakers, everyone has enough dynamics to create a distortion-free yet loud master. The important point is that no plugin overloads your signal chain. The best way to get rid of the lack of volume is to use a distortion-free limiter.
The dynamics are great and give the song a feel. However, even with professional masters, you often hear the intro is very quiet, and once the song actually starts, everything screams at you. This is because quiet material plays unnoticed by the threshold. However, it must be so, otherwise the loud part will be extremely depressing and not dynamic. To avoid this, you should definitely use automation for quiet passages and add a few more dB to noticeable quiet parts so that the song sounds more balanced, as they do in https://ekmixmaster.com.
In order to be able to evaluate your material as reliably and accurately as possible, you should listen to as many different monitors as possible. Of course, amateur or semi-professional musicians don’t have the same opportunities as big studios. However, almost everyone has access to at least 2 other music systems. And you should use it when working with your mixes. At first, you will be amazed how a song can sound so different. But with a little practice and experience, you will know how to deal with it.
Use the minimum 24-bit waveform when mastering. This advice is actually already valid for the record. Always work with at least 24-bit, preferably 32-bit.
You should definitely compare your song with other works of this genre. This greatly simplifies the understanding of the outcome of the process. Use mixes of famous authors as a reference. Compare volume, bass, voice and all important factors.
Use fades at start and end points when mastering. They will help to avoid clicks.
