10 Tips For Louder Masters (Without Distortion)

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  • Опубліковано 13 чер 2024
  • Get the free Mastering Compression Cheatsheet here: go.mastering.com/mastering-co...
    Check out the artist featured in this video: / spencer-handley-169230504
    Here are 10 tips for louder masters WITHOUT distortion. Most people think you can have a loud mix OR a clean/dynamic mix. But with the right techniques, you can create masters that are both loud AND distortion-free.
    One of the core themes of this video is avoiding heavy limiting, and instead relying on techniques such as clipping and automation to tame transients. Using a limiter isn't the only way to get your masters loud, and there are a lot of downsides to using a limiter aggressively.
    If you find this video helpful... go to mastering.com/ to learn more about our full 28-week producing, mixing, and mastering program.
    #mastering #masteringengineer
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 296

  • @masteringcom
    @masteringcom  11 місяців тому +2

    Get the free Mastering Compression Cheatsheet here: go.mastering.com/mastering-compression?el=10-tips-for-louder-masters-youtubeorganic&htrafficsource=youtubeorganic

    • @daen446
      @daen446 10 місяців тому +3

      Hey, Sonox Inflator is just one of the simplest waveshaper shapes/functions. You can easily create it yourself with any waveshaper and even null it.
      Interesting that not many people know this

  • @underworldwarlock
    @underworldwarlock 10 місяців тому +82

    Why do audio engineering tutorials pick the most annoying tracks imaginable to demo 🤣

    • @oompapompaa6543
      @oompapompaa6543 Місяць тому +4

      I swear man

    • @FinnJain
      @FinnJain Місяць тому +8

      The reality of being a mastering engineer I suppose; you are going to come across some terrible songs that need mastering

    • @Dr_App
      @Dr_App Місяць тому

      Im vibing bro✌️

    • @RexVanCandy
      @RexVanCandy Місяць тому +6

      Ahh Human music

    • @underworldwarlock
      @underworldwarlock Місяць тому +3

      @@FinnJainman that’s when you know your worth and don’t mix for garbage tracks. You’ve gotta pick and choose what and who to work with. I wouldn’t want my name on something like this and neither would most self respecting audio engineers 😅

  • @HamedEmine
    @HamedEmine 11 місяців тому +184

    The song playing in the beginning is just hilarious to me for some reason

    • @masteringcom
      @masteringcom  11 місяців тому +6

      The background song? Or the before/after demo?

    • @MrCool144
      @MrCool144 11 місяців тому

      From this to this😂😂😂 and it sounds shitty af 🤣🤣🤷🏻‍♂️

    • @exin7778
      @exin7778 11 місяців тому +25

      That's what it sounds like in a microwave. 😂

    • @beigela
      @beigela 11 місяців тому +26

      Hahahah like a robotic seizure

    • @MOSMASTERING
      @MOSMASTERING 11 місяців тому +16

      Its a very wobbly melody with loads of pitch bending.

  • @pinkenbajedi2119
    @pinkenbajedi2119 11 місяців тому +10

    The fact that compression can make transients loader is totally overlooked in most tutorials, it took me years to figure this out, wasted so much time. This video would be great for beginners, still great with 15 years up my sleeve.

  • @barrycole5930
    @barrycole5930 10 місяців тому +14

    That fast compression visualisation just helped me understand something i have been struggling to understand for a while now. Thank you!

    • @MarcusWolfMusic
      @MarcusWolfMusic 5 місяців тому

      Hey you seem to be very knowledgeable for this subject. Why did you choose this track?

  • @prodbyrobe
    @prodbyrobe 11 місяців тому +14

    Just one thing. Thank you. After watching this I've increased the loudness of a track from -11 luvs to -7 luvs without any dist.

  • @Ryan-rn3cf
    @Ryan-rn3cf 11 місяців тому +31

    I think reference plugins like Metric AB and others were the biggest game changer for home mastering. The ability to instantly flip back and forth between your mix any song instantly make using your ears everything.

  • @marianomartinez9763
    @marianomartinez9763 11 місяців тому +3

    This is one of the best audio related videos on UA-cam so far. Thanks!

  • @NaymitMayne
    @NaymitMayne 11 місяців тому +4

    Amazing video. No clickbait title and full of real useful information based on experience.

  • @vestanpance99
    @vestanpance99 16 днів тому

    I’d started applying a lot of transient management within the mix just because I felt it made sense. Even though I run into CPU issues and feel like I’m breaking all sorts of mixing “rules”. Very comforting to know it’s a thing.

  • @abrotherinchrist
    @abrotherinchrist 11 місяців тому +22

    Wow, this is the way I thought of mixing and mastering when I first started recording. This kind of advice is not very typical, at least not in many videos I've watched. When I started learning about audio engineering I got in the mindset that you pretty much always needed some compression on just about everything. It's simply not the case, and I'm glad you took me back to my roots to start looking at both mixing and mastering with fresh eyes again (or rather, ears).

    • @sub-jec-tiv
      @sub-jec-tiv 11 місяців тому

      Add parallel compression to this and you have a great tool kit for mixes that retain a sense of their original dynamics

  • @davidhamilton6298
    @davidhamilton6298 6 місяців тому +1

    this has got to be the most helpful mastering video I've ever watched thanks a ton mate my masters are loud and competitive now i really appreciate it!!!!

  • @BobbyCrane
    @BobbyCrane 8 місяців тому

    This is the BEST mastering video I have seen in awhile. No gimmicks... and very useful info!

  • @DubZedProducer
    @DubZedProducer 11 місяців тому +1

    one of the best videos i have seen on this subject, thanks a million really helped :)

  • @dizeezbiz4505
    @dizeezbiz4505 11 місяців тому +2

    Clear and useful discussion, especially about clipping; thanks.

  • @garyjames473
    @garyjames473 11 місяців тому +1

    Thanks My Teacher Rob for a lot of information~ A lot helpful and always respect 🙏

  • @SecretCailev
    @SecretCailev 10 місяців тому

    Just WOW. What a Video! I've learned so much and will put all of your tricks to good use. Thank you super duper much. Lovely guy

  • @KeepAnOpenMind
    @KeepAnOpenMind 10 днів тому

    These videos are gold.

  • @BobbyLaneProductions
    @BobbyLaneProductions 11 місяців тому +2

    very good explanations and tips.. thanks!

  • @sheltersonic5499
    @sheltersonic5499 11 місяців тому

    Thank you,your videos are always help me

  • @sylvainlamo
    @sylvainlamo 11 місяців тому +4

    Amazing video, finally understood things i couldnt wrap my head around! THANK YOU

  • @monkmusic5994
    @monkmusic5994 11 місяців тому

    Great and complete explanation mate, great!!!

  • @tumpperi3891
    @tumpperi3891 10 місяців тому

    This was very insightful, thank you

  • @philipmuller6519
    @philipmuller6519 11 місяців тому

    This is a super helpful video. Thanks man!

  • @waliddeui6725
    @waliddeui6725 8 місяців тому +1

    this is a complete course, thanks mate

  • @art.allisone
    @art.allisone 10 місяців тому

    Thank you, that was just excellent!

  • @andrexerife
    @andrexerife 8 місяців тому

    Best mastering video on youtube. Period.

  • @imno1_tekno
    @imno1_tekno 2 місяці тому

    I always thought that learning mastering first would make you better in mixing. I've realised it when I started mixing and noticed how that improved my production. However you are the first person I've heard talking about this reverse engineer concept. Thank you, great video!

  • @MrDry2009
    @MrDry2009 Місяць тому

    this is SO HELPFUL thank you

  • @alvarezgamers
    @alvarezgamers 11 місяців тому

    This is a goldmine! Thanks bud!

  • @souletunes
    @souletunes 11 місяців тому +1

    Thank you Rob, this edified my process and then, once you got to the sonnex inflater, it showed how much I still have to learn, lol. Appreciate all you guys do! 🙏🤛🎶

  • @crttom8413
    @crttom8413 11 місяців тому +1

    Thank you for your insight and tips.

  • @btomas.
    @btomas. 11 місяців тому

    This is Incredible!

  • @post-man23
    @post-man23 11 місяців тому

    Thanks for clear explanation!

  • @victorarrudadj
    @victorarrudadj Місяць тому

    Amazing content!

  • @daynemin
    @daynemin 11 місяців тому +2

    Nice video, even helps influence choosing samples early on. Loudness over time vs short transient knocks that will affect headroom and processing etc...

  • @seb6690
    @seb6690 11 місяців тому

    Perfects explainations, thank's !

  • @Grillvogel91
    @Grillvogel91 3 місяці тому

    Serial limiting was the big “AH-HA!” moment for me. It’s been a long road over the years but it’s all coming together now. Thank you!

  • @CrisLopezVlogs
    @CrisLopezVlogs День тому

    excellent video. Very informative. Thanks!

  • @n-spired
    @n-spired 10 місяців тому

    Such a helpful video. Thanks

  • @cheery-hex
    @cheery-hex 11 місяців тому

    thanks to your visualization at 8:40 I finally understand what threshold means! learned a lot here thanks

  • @E-1K
    @E-1K 11 місяців тому +1

    This was really interesting. 👍

  • @LloydMajor
    @LloydMajor 4 місяці тому

    Thank you for the class!

  • @SharigramaOfficial
    @SharigramaOfficial 11 місяців тому

    Thanks for sharing the knowledge... 🤟

  • @lightningmusic17
    @lightningmusic17 9 місяців тому +1

    This really helped me out, tysm!

  • @joelarmendariz8876
    @joelarmendariz8876 5 місяців тому

    good insight and info

  • @runa_wayra
    @runa_wayra 11 місяців тому

    Uohh, really loved today's song. Actually the first time you work with music in the same genre as mine, Love it!

  • @JamesPatricioMusic
    @JamesPatricioMusic 7 місяців тому +3

    That lead drove me crazy.

  • @awardwinningcritique6895
    @awardwinningcritique6895 11 місяців тому

    Holy crap I haven't seen this guy in about 5 years on UA-cam. Damn, algorithm!

  • @AlfValan
    @AlfValan 11 місяців тому

    Really good video! Easy to follow!

  • @djmag4u
    @djmag4u 11 місяців тому

    Thanks for this

  • @HappyMixingStudio
    @HappyMixingStudio 6 місяців тому

    Thank you so much,
    this video contains a lot of knowledge, thank you for sharing ^^

  • @MarkVank
    @MarkVank 11 місяців тому

    Golden video

  • @BuddhaB123
    @BuddhaB123 11 місяців тому

    awesome video

  • @MutebeFrank
    @MutebeFrank 11 місяців тому

    Thanks

  • @jamiestew
    @jamiestew 11 місяців тому +1

    the attack times with compression blew mind, seems so obvious but i never saw it that way!

  • @spidif2544
    @spidif2544 11 місяців тому

    I like the musical example. More interesting than most

  • @MR_Cellarpop
    @MR_Cellarpop 11 місяців тому

    Thanks.

  • @jeremydbjbjbjb
    @jeremydbjbjbjb 11 місяців тому +1

    Hi, beautiful work, thanks for your dedication! Two nitpicks/suggestions on this one: your logo is wonderful AND it's in the way up to 72Hz and just in general I don't want it there while I'm working. Perhaps an option to disable it would be nice. Second, it would be great if we could mouse the output level up/down on the horizontal lines, rather than needing to turn the output knob. Thanks again!

  • @joeycovington4681
    @joeycovington4681 10 місяців тому

    Thanks!

  • @DiLionMusic
    @DiLionMusic 11 місяців тому

    #1 Tutour💯

  • @markushassel2737
    @markushassel2737 3 місяці тому

    Great video!! And bonus point for staying true to mixing/mastering tutorials and having the weirdest songs lol

  • @panorama_mastering
    @panorama_mastering 10 місяців тому +1

    Appreciate the shout out on the final pointer; I will say credit to where the origins of that technique is from; are the passages on "manual limiting" in Bob Katz' Mastering Audio book;

  • @cekirdekci32
    @cekirdekci32 7 місяців тому

    one of my fav loudness videos on youtube. this guy is such a good teacher. only issue, that beat with tune glides. different beat, a couple of different ones would be nice. but its ok i m here for the top tricks. and definitely in good hands. than kyou

  • @craigburton4447
    @craigburton4447 11 місяців тому

    That bit about compression and dynamic range was worth the watch alone, so obvious once explained, but I'd never considered it.

  • @SkinnEmannProductions
    @SkinnEmannProductions 4 місяці тому

    Shout-out to youtube to knowing when i need what video... perfect timing

  • @FitzonDai
    @FitzonDai 11 місяців тому +1

    Rob This Great 🔥🔥🔥

  • @TheOriginalKendo
    @TheOriginalKendo 11 місяців тому

    Great information :)

  • @JeffGriswold
    @JeffGriswold 3 дні тому

    I love this tutorial and this channel. Any insight on what you would do differently mastering for vinyl? Are there any specific videos for vinyl mastering?

  • @trayoibry8246
    @trayoibry8246 8 місяців тому

    Finally some doing it the right way...👍

  • @anthonylouis1189
    @anthonylouis1189 11 місяців тому

    Great video! BTW How did you create the visualization in the compression piece?

  • @echosynthe5i5
    @echosynthe5i5 4 місяці тому

    From my experience, Sonnox Inflator is a soft-clipping saturator with a small volume boost. I achieved similar results with the soft saturation on the Logic PHAT FX but unfortunately, it doesn't do oversampling and introduces aliases in the upper frequencies. That was an ABSOLUTELY GREAT mastering tutorial by the way!!

  • @KeatingJosh
    @KeatingJosh 11 місяців тому

    Thanks! Really useful and helpful tips.. one thing tho is the demo song is very grating

  • @jeffroberts_tunes
    @jeffroberts_tunes 11 місяців тому

    Super helpful post -- just as good as the gain staging one. Thank You!!! I do wish the reference track were a bit more musical--with the electrochirp stuff it's hard to hear the effects in a meaningful way.
    I've always thought of clipping as the hard, square wave distortion resulting from volume going past the capacity of the system to reproduce accurately. And here you're using 'clipping' to refer to an activity which might be better described as trimming. Am I just old and out of touch? Regardless it's a practice I hadn't seen before and will be trying this with the Standard Clip.

  • @DeiNostri
    @DeiNostri 2 місяці тому

    Good video, learnt some new stuff while using some of my skills better

  • @kirillreznik3546
    @kirillreznik3546 5 місяців тому

    Great video! It was so useful. On a side note, is the song you're working on out anywhere?

  • @moce727
    @moce727 10 місяців тому

    Speaking about mastering this video has a great balance... between very great and useful tips that I'll for sure implement from now on, but explained on a horrendous song. Never heard a melody this irritating sound so clean lol, just my liking tho I'm sure other people would love this.

  • @Vanaves_FR
    @Vanaves_FR 11 місяців тому

    it's more usefulll than my 10 years of searching the perfect sound

  • @vancenichols9490
    @vancenichols9490 11 місяців тому +2

    This is VERY insightful and empowering content! Thanks so much for presenting such! I've come away from this with a better grasp on how to plan transient management further upstream before the mastering phase of audio production. Therefore, I have 2 questions:
    1. As it regards the order of the 10 Tips you've presented, is there an implied order of plugin placement in the mastering chain based upon your presentation of these tips? Or is there another, better suggested approach to the chain plugin placement?
    2. As it regards using multiple limiters in serial to tame transients, is there a best-practice to follow related to the optimum number of plugins to employ? Also, do I employ multi-band limiting before or after "whole-band" limiter processing? I've used this serial approach before but never employed such with multiband processing.

  • @NarendraU23
    @NarendraU23 10 місяців тому

    Funny story. I used compressor like ReaComp and TDR for years, but I only understand ratio and gain reduction/addition. I finally understood what the attack/release speed does after using Airwindows compressors, which doesn't have any fancy GUI or indicator lol. It forces you to listen on the result instead of watching numbers appear.

  • @GrvMUSIC4U
    @GrvMUSIC4U 11 місяців тому +1

    Video that is worth watching

  • @dystonic
    @dystonic 11 місяців тому +1

    8:15 I have always wondered about that, it was so simple and logical and yet no one ever points that out. How am I supposed to get a more consistent level when I let an initial transient pass through, and level down what follows 🤷‍♀🤷‍♀ thanks for clarifying. Well, thanks for all this video, I am already putting your advice into practice.

  • @flyoverfredusa
    @flyoverfredusa 11 місяців тому +4

    really really well put together video, lots of great tips and superb explanations. I'd disagree on the 9 ish LUFS for club music though, needs to be much louder than that (sadly). Glad you mentioned the inflator, superb tool

    • @masteringcom
      @masteringcom  11 місяців тому +3

      8-9 should be competitive enough - good data here to back this up: www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/mastering-trends-for-2023

    • @masteringcom
      @masteringcom  11 місяців тому +1

      Glad you liked the video, thank you for the kind words!

    • @Jaymendezofficial
      @Jaymendezofficial 11 місяців тому

      I produce club music so this is very helpful indeed!
      I got a question tho, How would I set the master on my tracks to upload to different streaming services since some require a certain db limit? Like 9 lufs ain't too bad, but I know some have strict requirements for uploading to their servers! I don't know if I would have to make numerous copies of each song with different volumes for each upload to apply with each streaming service requirement tho....that's what confuses me frfr

    • @bankal1442
      @bankal1442 10 місяців тому

      @@masteringcom na man, loud music is now 3 LUFS, even below for Hardcore. Yeah, yeah :)

    • @jorriffhdhtrsegg
      @jorriffhdhtrsegg 9 місяців тому

      ​​@@Jaymendezofficialpeople have really made something very simple and unimportant this massive complicated issues.
      - Master it above -14LUFS or whichever is the loudest service.
      -loud tracks get turned down so unless your limiters or clippers improve the sound don't bother going excessive.
      -tracks being turned down through normalisation just turns tracks down, they aren't limited or changed.
      -tracks being turned up, through normalisation? You can guess what happens to your peaks, they get clipped or limited...its actually more problematic keeping things below the recommended LUFS if your peaks are hitting near the top still.
      -no...you can't just set each track to average -14 or album dynamics between songa will be way off, mellow tracks will blast out of speakers and loud ones will be weak...not to mention dynamica within song structure too
      -loads of tracks at "club volume" on streaming services that isn't suffering. No they don't make loads of masters, except perhaps the necessary thing in vinyl pressing

  • @liz369
    @liz369 6 місяців тому

    Which Podcast Mic are you using? Video was very awesome!

  • @stevemcnamara2584
    @stevemcnamara2584 11 місяців тому +10

    Good video, but a quick note: @ ~29:48, in the Ozone Maximizer module, those sliders on the right are not "left and right" but "transient and sustain, and while they can be unlinked it appears they affect the stereo signal -- no L/R specific effect.

  • @773Currency
    @773Currency 11 місяців тому

    You made it to the front page of google 💪

  • @Rizzlyricist
    @Rizzlyricist 10 місяців тому

    YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. I went to school for audio engineering, but the market isn't acfepting of "fresh meat." Why is it so competitive? 😂. God be with me.

  • @precursor4263
    @precursor4263 11 місяців тому +7

    I think this has been singlehandedly the best mastering tutorial I've seen to date. I will say this though. I think in modern mastering one of the most important and 'new' things are the mid/side limiting and multiband limiting. I would really love if you could/would go more in depth on those topics because this is often not really explained well.
    Then one small thing about Saturn: the default settings are with the entire plugin on -1dB. This is also the case in your video. So if you want to understand why the LUFS go down with a dB mostly it's because you're literally turning down the thing as a whole with 1dB. And the reason you're lifting the transients mostly is because you are not affecting the bass/kick as you're working mutiband (above 530hz), so you're saturating the top end more, hence affecting more the transients of for instance the percussion as you mention.

  • @dimensiontv5634
    @dimensiontv5634 11 місяців тому

    I am a not mastering engineer but this is a very interesting video 😊

  • @Shred_Rocket
    @Shred_Rocket 11 місяців тому +3

    When using saturation, typically it adds harmonics which has an impact on perceived loudness. In other words, in simple terms, adds more information to the affected frequency range.

    • @sub-jec-tiv
      @sub-jec-tiv 11 місяців тому

      And better have some good oversampling happening. Unless the specific track you’re working on sounds great with bizarre aliasing.

  • @pinkenbajedi2119
    @pinkenbajedi2119 11 місяців тому +2

    I only figured the value of clipping for masters recently, had to go back to all my old projects and scrap the 5-6 tools I was using for 1-2 and everything is so much louder now 🤦‍♂️😂

  • @Sacredriver1008
    @Sacredriver1008 11 місяців тому

    Thanks for the insights.
    But aren't those dutch and dutch 8c's placed now that the cardoid part doesn't function properly?
    The yamaha's seem in the way to me.

  • @protocolmystics2818
    @protocolmystics2818 9 місяців тому +3

    Good tutorial. Would have been much better had you used a less annoying track to demo everything.

  • @sasarash
    @sasarash 11 місяців тому

    Thank you for the interesting video 🎼🎵🎶

    • @ilusions4
      @ilusions4 11 місяців тому +4

      The video was posted 47 minutes ago. It's 43 minutes long..
      Your comment was posted 33 minutes ago..
      must've been an interesting 30% of the video

    • @chromezify7182
      @chromezify7182 11 місяців тому

      ​@ilusions4 Congrats? What's the point of this comment.

    • @ilusions4
      @ilusions4 11 місяців тому +2

      @@chromezify7182 Op's comment is spam and this fact isn't obvious now that both the video and comment are over an hour old. What's the point of this comment?

    • @sasarash
      @sasarash 11 місяців тому

      @@ilusions4 yes you are right I have seen only 30m and I am going to watch it when I have time

    • @chromezify7182
      @chromezify7182 11 місяців тому

      @@ilusions4 Lol spam bot replies too

  • @martijn_nl
    @martijn_nl 11 місяців тому

    Awesome video! I use the RX phase tool as well but in the adaptive mode instead of using the suggest button. Is there a reason to avoid the adaptive mode?

    • @jadedragon469
      @jadedragon469 10 місяців тому +1

      Did many blind tests on adaptive phase. It somehow made my correlation worse 9/10 and just sounded plain terrible. Maybe its just me but the adaptive phase seems to readjust the balance of the original mix rather than just adjusting the phase correlation

  • @jadedragon469
    @jadedragon469 10 місяців тому

    The way you were shaking when the high pass filter modern issue came up 😂

  • @cekirdekci32
    @cekirdekci32 7 місяців тому

    guys that perception plugin mentioned in this video, for ableton users we have a max 4live device called volume body. it does exactly the same thing and i believe its 14-15 bucks. just letting you know before you jump on buying the plugin. i know its useful but we are on ableton we got m4live devices to save us money LOL andyou dont have to put one inthe end one at the end. its just one m4live device. just group all your effects and put a volume body at the end so you can A-B it.

  • @mttlsa686
    @mttlsa686 11 місяців тому +4

    Actually the attack parameter in proL2 controls the amount of time before the beginning of the release and the release parameter is an actual and classic release so i think that the actual attack of the limiter is always 0. Being a limiter, it would make sense.

    • @happylittlesynth
      @happylittlesynth 5 місяців тому

      Correct, if the limited audio sustains longer than the attack setting, then the release setting is brought into the process.

  • @EdPettersen
    @EdPettersen 9 місяців тому

    Oxford Inflator is great now and then but it does alter the stereo image somewhat and not necessarily always in a good way.

  • @ChaceBonanno
    @ChaceBonanno 11 місяців тому

    Is there a way to do the phase rotation in real time with a plugin instead of using RX?