To achieve more fidelity & clarity today there are many tools at your disposal to master your music. Whether you are unsure how to achieve a good quality master or a complete beginner to the trade – we explore some of the best ways to expand and develop your skills with all the information we have at our fingertips.
| Effect | Purpose | When To Use | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equalizer | To highlight specific frequencies | When you want to improve and highlight the sound in general. Also, good to use M/S EQ to elevate your sides and mids where it’s needed | The EQ plugins are often placed at the beginning of your master chain, but it’s not a condition |
| Multiband Compressor | To make your sound more smooth, natural but also dynamic at the same time | When you are looking for transparent and natural sound | Usually at the second position right after EQ |
| Mastering Compressor | Glue your song together and add the pressure | In case you want to increase the loudness, do it slightly by using compressor. Also, if you feel like your song has “no soul” in it | It’s individual but typically right after Multiband Compressor |
| Saturation | Adds more warmth and excitement | By using saturation effect on your master bus will mostly have positive impact on sound, you can’t break your master if you use it wisely | After Mastering Compressor |
| Passive Equalizer | More fidelity & Clarity | If you want to shape your sound even more | After Saturation |
| Imager | Enhance Your Stereo Width | To add final stereo touch and increase your high frequencies | Usually at the end of master chain |
| Limiter/Clipper/Maximizer | Limit the level of your audio to a specific threshold | It’s the matter of sound. If it’s clipping too much, Use the limiter to smooth things up. If it’s nice and smooth already, use clipper to not destroy the character of your song | Very last |
What Is The Process of Mastering a Track?
Mastering is the process of adding the finishing touches post-production. Sonically adjusting the track to fit either your liking or a client’s liking – in practice, this means adding effects such as:
Equalization (This will shape what frequencies you choose)
Typically you would use an EQ to boost or cut certain frequencies within your track; for example – the track might have some very high frequencies that are ringing in your ears; you know you don’t need these so you would use an EQ to cut or boost frequency ranges.
You may also use the Mid/Side setup on your EQ. This will allow you to manipulate what frequencies are going to the middle of your speaker and then what frequencies you would like to go to the sides.
When mastering, use only subtle doses of EQ – until you achieve your result. Overdoing EQ can make your master sharp or dull.
Compression (Reduce dynamic range)
Compression can be used in your master to dynamically alter the track, for example – you might have a drum pattern that is much louder than everything else, adding a compressor reduces the overall dynamic range – that is, the difference between the loudest and quietest sections of a song.
Heavy compressors can take away your dynamics most of the time, always have a reason for adding a compressor, and do not just add it for loudness. Be sure when using compressors to reference the original signal with the signal after compression to ensure you understand and can hear what the different elements of the compressor are doing.
Many different types of compressors are effective for different tasks – you may find that one compressor is better for loudness and punch, but you have another compressor that is good for higher harmonic control. This is where you will have to try and test what works best for your results.
Saturation (applies non-linear compression and distortion)
Saturation is when the frequencies added have some sort of harmonic relation to the original sound – so in practice, your master might need some brightness or even color. Saturation is a great tool that can add a lot of ear warming harmonics, but it can also bring out the wrong frequencies if not set up correctly.
You may link this with an EQ to saturate a certain frequency range – or linked with a compressor to sonically reduce the dynamics but add some color back into the mix.
Exciting (adds warmth, sparkle, and shine)
Harmonic exciters give you sparkle in the high-end frequencies, and you can also use them in the mid/low end to boost or add presence.
Most exciters will have a selection of bands for you to precisely excite different frequencies – in some cases with different types of excitement per band.
Using an exciter can give your track the edge you want – use them lightly as when used on a full mix-down, they will bring out strange harmonics, sometimes resulting in a worse result.
I would recommend these plugins – Open Stomp Guitar Effects or Izotope Exciter.
Stereo Imaging (used to create a sense of space for the listener)
Stereo Imaging is typically used to manipulate the audio signal in a 180-degree stereo field –
For example, once your track is ready for mastering, it may have a sub-range that is in stereo, causing you issues. You should ideally have your sub-range in mono, to solve this issue you can apply a stereo imager that is set up to just take your sub-range and make it sit in the middle of the speaker, making it mono.
Alternatively, this process can be used to add more life and width to other frequency ranges.
Limiting (Allows levels to be brought up without peaks clipping)
Limiting is typically the last thing your master will run into. Making sure you have set up your limiter to your track is greatly advised. You will find that by adjusting some simple settings on your limiter (depending on which limiter is owned), you will be able to get a few more -dB out of your master, meaning overall loudness.
You may also be pushing your master very heavily into your limiter, causing it to become very overloaded – this will ‘brick wall’ limit your track, taking away dynamics and depth.
With all of these audio effects we have discussed, they should be made to work alongside each other – always bear in mind that when mastering, you are only adding or taking away to benefit the overall listening experience of the track.
Mastering is to make your track sound like artists you may listen to every day – you want to achieve a clean, loud, and balanced final track.
Before we move on it is also important to remember that getting a second opinion in mastering can be key, for example – if you have been mixing down a track for the last few days your ears will be accustomed to the track, meaning you won’t hear as many imperfections as a second pair of ears could.
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