ya The Mastering Guide Everything you need to learn in order to octet -leole ale llal° MALLEIntroFirst of all, we would like to thank you for purchasing this PDF. We hope it answers some of your questions about mastering. In this guide, you will get a general idea about the mastering process, the tools, and their uses. Our goal is to make this topic clearer and easier in no time, so that you can focus on making music. Get the rough idea, and be creative on your own For the infographics, we will be using iZotope Ozone 9, since it has all the tools needed to get a professional master. But you can apply the same concepts with the tools you already have. ASETable Of Contents Lea isc} Rls Naa eS ciaiale a BC EScutte RCs The Mastering Chain Mastering Tips Ill - Perceived Loudness ONT Le Pacuarens ale SCM ig LUFS Audio Normalization Example lo yitenend IV-EQ oN fal Colmn bY econ Corrective EQ Additive EQ Post EQ Dynamic EQ EQ Tips & Tricks Eile ene Peery Tea) Guidelines Parallel Compression eRe Reo omaie Aug er nom ATMs Peace Teese elena Conte Sere meaey ATT clad) oN Naeem Ian tol o Sede Master Assistant Master Rebalance Stereo Modes Wa aele sa) Nisei) Ieee N nal eis Multiband Processing ee ee TUES Cur X - OutroThe WorkflowThe Workflow Content In this chapter, you will have a rough idea about the mastering process before you dive deeper into the details. This chapter contains 4 sections : - What is Mastering ? - The Mastering Steps - The Mastering Chain - Mastering Tips wasThe Workflow AW aE MUS EE ae rid 5 po ri co f - » PA Core iad Core od ES A ES ES oo 1 aa IS ord od This trick consists of having two limiters in series : A - The first one to tame the loud peaks, and make the waveform more oKolaiCclale B - The second one to add more loudness This way, instead of having one limiter with hard settings and doing all the limiting, you will have two gentle limiters working in series. This helps you to add some extra input gain before distorting. CeleIVI DistortionDistortion (ola aie In this chapter, you'll learn how distortion works, and how it's used in mastering. This chapter contains 3 sections : - Overview - Vintage Tapes - Multiband Exciter worPITA elaereya} Overview Distortion is all about changing shapes. When you drive the input, instead of going above the ceiling into the red, the waveform is shaved off, its shape changes, and new harmonics are added to the signal. The most basic example is a sine turned into a rounded square. But, if the input is more complex (more notes or different waveform ...), the distorted output gets more complex as well. Clean Bre 0] When they say distortion, all you can think about is heavy metal guitars, but in fact, distortion can range from subtle saturation into heavy amp guitar fuzz. In mastering, all you need is subtle saturation and a bit of soft clipping in order to: A - Limit the signal by shaving off the transients and the spikes B - Add harmonics to the sound and increase the perceived loudness C - Make the track warmer, brighter, thicker, and denser ChowneDistortion Vintage Tapes Soe -- — Most modern songs are made in the box, which makes them sound precise, digital, and cold In order to make your tracks sound warm, experiment with tape emulation plugins. The tape nonlinearity will add subtle saturation to Nele mantle It rolls off some of the harsh high frequencies, and adds some low mid warmth to your track. These imperfections and unpredictabilities added to the signal sounds warm to the ears. CaeDistortion Multiband Exciter a : — | n | Saturation helps you increase the perceived loudness of your track without messing with the dynamics. It excites the track by generating upper harmonics. You get a fuller and thicker master. Ozone 9 Exciter multiband option allows you to add different types and amount of saturation to up to 4 separate bands. aT - Take your time to experiment with all the saturation types before ic) ial meal -Milal-1 Mele (ela] - Multiband saturation helps minimize intermodulation. You will be able to add harmonics, but still preserve the clarity of your master. Canoe