The Master Bus - What do you put on it?

[the4thImpulse]

Simple question, when you master your tracks what tools do you use?

Compressors, Limiters, EQs, Distortion, ect..



Bonus points for explaining why you use what you use and how you use them!

[soultensionbenjamin]

isotope

[bartekko]

Overdrive, EQ, Limiter

Overdrive with like... 7% dry/wet ratio will spice up the sound a bit, and add fill out the frequency spectrum but i don't always use it, as often my songs are busy enough as is.

EQ, i sometimes lower the midrange by about 1dB to give the track a bit more accent on the low and high ranges, and more often I bring the highs up by about 3-4 dB (I try to less) to add clarity.

And Limiter, which is the only thing that i always use, I use to bring up my mix (which because of my mixing technique usually goes to the master with about 8 dB of headroom) and keep it from clipping, while retaining decent volume, and not brickwalling.

[Navron]

I have 2 busses on my final project. The first is the track with the actual wav file. On that one, I'll do some very minor EQ adjustments (anything requiring more than a 2.5dB increase for any frequency and I'll reopen the mix itself, tweak individual instruments there, and create another mixdown. Assuming all is good with EQ, then I'll add a little stereo expansion to the wav track itself, just after the EQ, and a little bit of reverb after that.

From there I'll move on to the main master track, which I utilize specifically just for raising the gain to a standard level. I'll start off with a multi-band compressor, tweaking the crap out of it until I get the levels where I want them, without overcompressing it.

Next I'll throw on a limiter with a long release time, and no more than 2.5dB of gain.

Lastly, I'll add a maximizer (last in the chain). If all goes well, I won't need to use more than 30% on the maximizer. Anything more and stuff like the kick and snare start to get mushy behind the rest of the track.

Then I'll export the mp3 and listen to the final result on multiple systems to make sure I got it right.

[Applejinx]

Huh, I have a fresh project open. Let's see.
Compression
spatial expander (sort of complicated to explain)
Tape emulator
Elliptical EQ and highpass
Acceleration limiter
Final clipping stage
Dither (yes, I dither to 24 bit from the 32-bit buss)
Voxengo SPAN (only one that's not my own plugins )

That's what's on all my recenter stuff (got to get some of it up on YouTube)

[Raddons]

Maximus

[ChromaticChaosPony]

Comb filters, bandpass filters, bitcrushing, chorus with really weird settings, EQ, compression, more comb filters, Massive, vowel filters, sample and hold, Ohmicide, noise generators, Harsh Digital Noise (awesome VST), beat repeat, dBlue Glitch (though not very much, I perfer to have more control)...

I've been trying to produce some really glitchy and robotic music recently, so I'm doing whatever I can to make everything sound like a mentally (or CPU-... fuck, I suck at jokes) dysfunctional Transformer.

[colortwelve]

I don't ever actually put any of my DAW's effects on my master track, I export without mastering, then handle that in Goldwave.

I use a compressor to tame my drums a little, but try not to fuck too much with the dynamic range I have, then boost the sub-bass just a little. My highs tend to come through clearly enough from how I EQ the sounds that make them up in FL, so I usually don't touch them in mastering. I don't use a maximizer or stereo shaper/enhancer or anything of the sort, just boost the volume as much as I can before I start clipping.

I'll admit, I'm probably awful at mastering, but I've definitely ironed out a general method since the days when I put compressors and maximizers on the master track before exporting, and never did any post-render EQing

[Friv]

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - if you know what you're doing.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

Comb filters, bandpass filters, bitcrushing, chorus with really weird settings, EQ, compression, more comb filters, Massive, vowel filters, sample and hold, Ohmicide, noise generators, Harsh Digital Noise (awesome VST), beat repeat, dBlue Glitch (though not very much, I perfer to have more control)...

I've been trying to produce some really glitchy and robotic music recently, so I'm doing whatever I can to make everything sound like a mentally (or CPU-... fuck, I suck at jokes) dysfunctional Transformer.

Oops. This thread is about mastering, isn't it?

Well, I personally would use this same setup anyways. It sounds good for mastering.

[Lavender_Harmony]

This thread is depressing.

Firstly, delete Ozone from your computer. You didn't buy it, and you don't know how to use it. No, you don't. Now mix your track to at least -4dB, if not lower. Your mix should sound good with NOTHING on your master channel. If your piece has a lot of dynamic qualit you want to retain, you should balance out the instruments with loud attacks using EQ and compression so that everything can be heard. If you want your mix in a modern style, with a high RMS/perceived volume, you should even out the dynamics and isolate everything so the drums cut through without pushing the peak value too high. Once you're at this point, and only at this point, bounce out your project, import it into a stereo track in your project, solo it to mute everything else, and start your mastering with an EQ, then a compressor. If you touch that stereo widener, you're crucifying your mix, so don't do it. A limiter stops errant frequencies spiking above 0dB, useful when bricking your mix for a high RMS.

TL;DR: Nothing. I master properly.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I know this is a bad idea, but...

Using a gating effect on the master channel for certain sections of the song. If you want to make that segment of your song sound glitchy or broken by removing the sound completely from some sections (that stutter effect). I think Liquid Stranger did this in the second drop of Destroy Him My Robots. I don't know. I just thought it was a cool effect involving the master channel, and definitely worth experimenting with a little.

As to not ruin the entire song with it, just automate the Device On so that it only affects that small segment of the song.

Please don't hate me. I just thought it was a creative idea to set your track apart from others.

[Thyrai]

A limiter. Nothing else.

Using crap like multiband compression, gel compressors, sonic maximizers, aural exciters, EQs and (lol) 'mastering reverb' is the wrong way to do things. If you find yourself needing those, then your mix is bad. Your song should sound 100% exactly how you want it.

Those tools are for professional mastering engineers for the once in a blue moon that they need them.

[Beetie Swelle]

This thread made me feel bad for not knowing how to master.

All I usually do is Maximus and then a limiter in front of it just to be safe then putting the slightest bit of reverb in that isn't even noticeable.

[Mingus]

Pretty much what Lav said. =P

I don't put anything on the master, except a spectral analyzer. But even then, I only look at that like once or twice throughout the whole project. When I master, I export the project to wav, open a new project and put it in that. Then I use some free EQ, compressor, and limiter I got off Google. That's pretty much all you really need.

[phantomignition]

Maximus, because I have no idea how to master. Not to say that I wouldn't like to learn... I just have no idea where to start, and it's something I'd like to learn when other aspects of my music is more to my liking than it is now.

Also Parametric EQ, but honestly I just try to make things sound better and I'm not even sure if what I'm doing is helping at all.

Edit: It seems that the necromancy is strong with this board lately... anyways, now I've just been using Fruity Limiter's compressor for genres where loudness isn't a huge factor like chillout or ambient, and I used Maximus once with an electro house track I did with results that sounded good to me. Then I still put Parametric EQ on it with and try to make things sound better.

[Raddons]

I guess my Maximus joke would have been funnier if I would have said soundgoodizer.

But really, I put a VERY LIGHT soundgoodizer on the master... because glaze does...

it sounds good

[Stars In Autumn]

2 EQs. One for cutting off low and high ends. The other for final Eq adjustments. Multi-band compression for filling any sound spaces I don't have completely filled. Finally a limiter for any possible sound louder than 0db. I also remove most stereo separation, or don't mess with it at all, depending on what kind of song it is.

I have no idea if this is good, but it sounds better than an unmastered track.

[XXDarkShadow79XX]

A soft clipper.

And the occasional XBass 4000.

I suck/I master everything later.

[Peak Freak]

^ This...

Jk, Lav xD

[zorg]

since i more often than not already have the individual instrument inserts sound how i want them to, and since i use sub-mixes (dedicated inserts that have certain groups of the solo ones routed to) to make instruments sound nice with each other in their own categories, at most, i put one limiter on the master and only adjust the gain so it won't clip.

oh, in fl, inserts are buses i believe. stupid non-standardized words.

(in short, what lav & thyrai said)

on the other hand, using anything on the master is basically altering the sound of the whole track. i mean, if you want it to sound like it comes from an AM radio circa 1900, then using an EQ on the master is the obvious thing to do; granted, these things are more important to folley artists and other sfx artists than plain and simple musicians/composers and whatnot.

in my opinion, that is

[natsukashi]

Usually nothing. Except if I deliberatly am trying to make noisy/loud stuff in which case I slap on multiple EQs, Maximizers and stuff, and top it off with a limiter that overcompresses it all.

But yes, altering the master, or mastering the track is superflous if the mix is good. >_>

[Applejinx]

*sigh* folks, I could point you to a lot of A-list guys who are mixing into compression. Yes, a lot of the other stuff is to save time in my example (not all: some's a fundamental part of the summing) but where I could get away with leaving the mid/side highpass and such to a separate mastering stage, you cannot leave 2-buss compression to mastering.

If you're working it properly, it's a part of how the mix moves and breathes. This type is not related to loudness maximizing and is probably neither a high ratio or a low threshold- sometimes it's very subtle, but what you do in mix is so heavily affected by how it hits the compressor that it's gotta be built into the 2-buss IF you are doing it right.

EQ is the one I'd tend to leave off the 2-buss. I tend to think generally that's better applied to individual tracks and groups, as a rule.

I'd also point out there's no big conceptual difference between building your mastering into the 2-buss and doing it in a separate pass, if it's you that is doing both things: part of the concept of mastering is that someone else does it that's not you, and that they don't do exactly what you tell them. They're a second opinion.

[Kopachris]

This thread is depressing.

[snip]

TL;DR: Nothing. I master properly.

Two things:

1. If you're doing your own mastering, you're not doing it properly.
2. It's music. There is no "properly" in music, so don't worry about it.

[Lavender_Harmony]

*sigh* folks, I could point you to a lot of A-list guys who are mixing into compression. Yes, a lot of the other stuff is to save time in my example (not all: some's a fundamental part of the summing) but where I could get away with leaving the mid/side highpass and such to a separate mastering stage, you cannot leave 2-buss compression to mastering.

If you're working it properly, it's a part of how the mix moves and breathes. This type is not related to loudness maximizing and is probably neither a high ratio or a low threshold- sometimes it's very subtle, but what you do in mix is so heavily affected by how it hits the compressor that it's gotta be built into the 2-buss IF you are doing it right.

EQ is the one I'd tend to leave off the 2-buss. I tend to think generally that's better applied to individual tracks and groups, as a rule.

I'd also point out there's no big conceptual difference between building your mastering into the 2-buss and doing it in a separate pass, if it's you that is doing both things: part of the concept of mastering is that someone else does it that's not you, and that they don't do exactly what you tell them. They're a second opinion.

Final stage EQ is good for two things: Fixing the unfixable, ie if your project is long dead and its a simple fix, or colouring your mix.

And as a rule I'll do a separate pass because my projects tend to get rather CPU heavy. Like, 100+ tracks CPU heavy. That kidna happens when you work with orchestral stuff.

I personally don't like mixing into a compressor, while it does make it easier, it can lead into severe problems when trying to deal with peaks in your mix when trying to smooth out the dynamic range by altering volume alone.