Easy way to see when you are being taught by someone who knows the craft inside and out, is by how simple they can explain it. So many good pieces of info in this video.
gotta say, that's an amazing sounding mix. each stage just needs to add a little kiss...he doesn't have to work too hard to make it sound amazing! the slate fg sounded really nice.
How could you possibly tell? 😂 They're at completely different peak levels - i have no idea why he wouldn't just normalise the original file... leaves the comparison completely useless.
NOTE: To ensure the Low Frequencies are focused in Mono/Mid, The High-Pass/Low-Cut Filter has to be the Side. That leaves the region below exclusively in Mid/Mono. Even though the human ear can only hear the frequency spectrum between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, to ensure the crispness and clarity of the Low Frequencies, I'll set my High-Pass/Low-Cut at 30 Hz vs 27 Hz, which in essence isn't that much of a difference, per say, yet I want to ensure accurately anything below 30 Hz will be filtered out to remove unnecessary headroom and rumble since the lows create the most level of dB. I can understand the Oct/Slope is rather steep (looks like 48 dB), yet 24 dB/Oct would've been a better choice and recommendation. However, the Slope/Oct at 63 Hz is too steep IMO. I would've set it to 24 Slope/Oct instead of 36, which emphasizes the Low end in exclusive Mono/Mid down to the 27 Hz Low-Cut Filter. Definitely using the Pro-Q 3 is the digital EQ of choice, probably the best and most used Digital EQ Plug-in in today's Music Technology. Even more so, Instead of EQ'ing sounding the same from beginning to end. I'd make the emphasis and de-emphasis bands "Make Dynamic", which would only trigger the band when it reaches the threshold for expansion and compression (subtle, that is). I also noticed another High-Pass/Low-Cut at 63 Hz with a +1.2 dB amplification/emphasis. For me, being even more subtle is best, since less is more. For that bass to cut through today's consumer-based audio products, especially on smartphones, laptops/notebooks/etc., I'll boost/amplify subtly between 100 to 120 Hz, depending on the sonic in question. If I can get away with +0.5 amplification, that's a total win-win. If more boost is needed, my rule of thumb is, don't go above +2.0 dB. If it calls for more, I'll contact the artist/engineer to see if he/she can render another mix with less low end frequencies. The Side Emphasis at 125 Hz makes the track sound muddy on the sides, IMO, the Sides should be left for more clarity, especially when you want the Lows specifically focusing in the Mid Region. Also, there will be phase cancellation in that region. If you want that Side region more warm, use the emphasis/de-emphasis technique by creating another Band at the exact same Hz, Make it Mid, and de-emphasize -0..49 dB. That way, you avoid phase cancellation, and the lows at 125 Hz will sound more cleaner with perceived clarity, and both emphasis and de-emphasis bands would be made "Dynamic". From what I hear It sounds like the Lows are expanded into the Sides, which in my opinion, you don't want, since it adds more dB headroom, even if with the subtle emphasis. it also interferes with the Lead Vocal and Background Vocals region if the panning is hard, in-between, or soft. You can really hear the boom/mud/boxy sonic in a LCR Mix/Master. Another thing I would've done is use the Harmonic EQ Technique when necessary using the Pro-Q 3. By knowing the key of the track, EQ harmonically, especially at its Fundamental (including High-Low Pass Filters. Therefore, for example, if I create a High-Pass at 30 Hz, it might not necessarily be at the key of the track, yet anywhere close to where you want to cut will totally make the track more musical, and actually help psychoacoustically the perceiveness and preciseness, This particular EQ setting (Initial) has an extreme problem/issue: Your High-Pass/Low-Cut Filters are 100% OUT-OF-PHASE. That's because the Phase Setting is incorrect. Anytime those types of filters are being utilized, set the Phase Mode to Low-Level Linear Phase. Run it through an EQ Analyzer, and you'll see why using Zero Latency or Natural Phase will constitute Out-Of-Phase. Every DAW will compensate for Latency, that's why using the Lowest Level of Linear Phase creates a 5-second delay. The higher the Linear Phase level, the longer the delay time. If the systems are high-end, they will be able to compensate for the higher level of linear phase delay, in turn, allowing the DAW in question to run seamlessly as if no linear phase delay is taking place. Once all plug-ins were in place, the track sounds wonderful. For me personally, I would've added just a tiny bit more low frequencies via Saturation (Clean Tube from FabFilter Saturn 2) Fantastic Job Mr. John Mayfield!!! Subtly is the key to Mastering Success. Less is More, keeping it as simple as possible.
Was curious about the choice of slope as well (the high cuts @ 48db / oct) I would have thought such a deep slope would have caused some eq changes at the cut off point.
Thank you for this. Absolutely soothing for the ears listening to the end result. Really the sound, dynamics, differentiation and clarity I'm working to get in my work. A really inspiring lesson and walk-through...
I'm just loving this: loads of great insights throughout the 6 Masterclass episodes -- I've been wondering about attack and release times in the low frequencies and you gave me a great sense of where to head with that -- great tips on multiband compression! You got me thinking about the API 2500 again since it was surprising how full and musical it sounded in this instance: I'm used to it removing some tone from transients and sounding pretty percussive overall, but it wasn't like that at all here; this was very enjoyable and informative to watch -- thanks!
Wow, this is fantastic, 30 minutes well spent! The music is far from my genre of choice but it's easy to recognise the skills of a master at work. What's also revealing is the number of stages involved in John's processing chain.
one of the very very very very few of "mastering" video in youtube that when you compare the original and mastered version in the end you could tell the track move up a level, not just volume with 0 audible distortion or any sign of the track being crushed, not even a little. 👍
This is awesome, but why didn’t you level match the before and after tracks for the comparison? If you don’t level match, you can’t tell if the mastered track is better or not. Love the content though! Keep it up!
Hello John, Thank you so much for this wonderful series on mastering, from an actual ADULT. I threaded my first tape machine in 1961, and I have been involved with the process ever since. I 'marvel' at todays youngsters pretending to do this with a whopping 13 years 'experience' and a seemingly endless chain of plugins on all 80 tracks. It is so refreshing to see someone deliver stellar results with minimal use of only a few plugins, while retaining the craft of the original piece. Thank you again for proving that less is more, and there's no 'plugin' for CRAFT. Best regards, Bill P.
One of the best content I have ever heard and seen about mixing...Thanks Adam Audio for this great video and thanks to john sir for sharing his years of creative wisdom and experience with us
Hi hope you can reply to this message. However when I master songs I normally run the sound to a single track or mix bus with all the plugs on it. But looking at your setup it seems that you are running the song thru multiple tracks or probably aux tracks that have certain plugs on them which all then leads to the master fader. Is this correct? If so this is game changing for me. Please respond thanks 😊
All stock compressors in LogicX have parametric mids in the sidechain. Now, I get it. 32-Bit ... and then control it before you go to the real world! Got it.
Another excellent video in the series - loads of useful information. I found the one on Fixing Phase Rotation particularly enlightening. BTW I highly recommend trying Ian Shepherd’s Perception plugin it really helps when comparing before and after. (I’m not connected with him in any way just use the plugin and find it very useful)
such a great video on the benefits of small wins all along the way! I love the non-exaggerated and balanced focus of the work and that it isn't smashed to death....very nicely done! one small caveat that I have though, is that I don't necessarily agree that the mid and side signals can be processed completely independent of each other....Mathew Weiss proves this in his video called "The Truth About Mid Side Processing" where he shows that they are actually inter-dependent to some degree, and that changes to one, indeed affect the other.
Man that Oxford inflator really brought some more life out of that mix. I’ve never really understood the intended use of expanders or felt the need to experiment with them but I’m going to have to change that
I noticed the maximizer was redlining on the source. Is that not a problem, or is it something you just have to listen for rather than trust the meters?
Isn't the side information governed by phase differences between left and right, not pan position? Even mixes done with LCR panning have their elements present in the mid channel, although those panned left and right will be quieter. Think he suggested if you panned something far left or right it would appear only in the sides, which is misleading. Enjoying the videos still!
I've found this a bit misleading as well! When you hard-pan a signal it will appear both in the mid as in the side channel. Hard panned elements just are half as loud in the mid channel compared to center panned elements. The mid channel is a sum of Left and Right. So basically a signal that is panned center will be present in both left and right, and therefore will be louder than a hard panned signal that is only present on one side. Elements that are panned dead center do not appear in the side-channel though, as this is indeed calculated by Left-Right, or indeed flipping the phase of either left or right. Elements that appear equally loud in both left and right will be cancelled out.
No, its ANY difference. Or ANY sum. mids = L+R thus hard panned are present as signal plus nothing equals signal. Sides = L-R and R-L thus its also present as signal minus nothing is just signal So just think of the mids as mono. And sides as opposite phases summed. So if its only in one ear, then no change when summing either together as its n +/- 0 = n
This is such a great tutorial! I find Fabfilter Pro C 2 handles sidechain EQ input incredibly well; IMHO better than the Waves TG which has some limitations.
Question: Are those plug ins in series or parallel? And if parallel how are they distributed, ie: is each channel receiving the same amount of signal via a send (and how much) or duplicates of the original track? Thanks.
For anyone who cares I think I've got it figured out but it's important to note where it isn't stated explicitly. It's in series but he's using the Ozone multiband only for bass and light de-essing as noted but the Slated FG-X is only doing transient emphasis. The Shadow Hills has the compression turned off and is adding only the transformer effect. The API is set very low and is also adding transformer effect. The Inflator can mess with the stereo image and it may be why he's using the Ozone Imager. For God's sake don't just slap 5 compressors and three limiters on every track. There's a lot of subtlety going on here. Hopefully that's obvious to most.
@@EdPettersen Watching now for the first time and was asking myself the SAME question as to why there are so many tracks. I've only really seen everything in a single channel and not as inserts like this. It's quite interesting and does make sense.
Okay, gonna be the first negative comment here. I'm sure this guy has excellent ears and delivers great masters, but he seems to have very little idea what his plugins are actually doing (and in one instance not actually using them properly), which is an issue in an educational 'check out my plugin chain' style video. - He has no idea what the Oxford Inflator is doing beyond making things feel louder (he keeps just saying 'it really does "inflate" the signal'). For those interested, it's an saturation / soft-clipping device with an 'elastic ceiling', which means the closer the input gets to 0db, the more it will add subtle harmonic distortion and soft clipping to peaks (hence things seeming louder and a touch brighter). It adds overtones and rounds out transients, but proportionately more on louder signals. - When he uses the Shadow Hills compressor, he claims the Iron setting adds high frequency saturation / boost - it doesn't. The Nickel setting emphasises highs, the Iron emphasises mids, and the Steel emphasises lows (and they also get increasingly intense in that order). Notice how when he sets it to Iron and takes the plugin out of bypass you hear the lead vocal move forward in the mix? That's because it's saturating the midrange the most, so the vocal's presence area (roughly between a sort of 500hz-3kHz zone) gets emphasised. - This is the big one - when he 'uses' the API 2500 compressor, it is doing essentially nothing. He incorrectly says 'this is one of those plugins that doesn't give you a digital readout of what you're doing' - what he means by this is the plugin doesn't show you how much compression (gain reduction) you're doing... except that it does. See up the top where there are meters, and next to the meters he has the GR metering option selected? That means the plugin will show you how much Gain Reduction is happening. So why aren't the meters moving? Because my dude is literally not even hitting the compressor's threshold. You can see next to the threshold knob, there's a red LED which ISN'T lighting up - that means the signal isn't going over the threshold. There is a fraction of second (19:10) where one transient makes the plugin do between 0.1 - 0.2db of gain reduction, which is so small that he might as well not even be using the plugin - that is almost an imperceptibly small amount of compression, and if the compressor weren't there that signal would be hitting the final limiter and getting gain reduced anyway. You can also tell that he doesn't know the compressor is essentially inactive because he plays an audio 'example' that lasts for over 20 seconds, turning the plugin on and off throughout, and there's maybe 0.3seconds where the plugin does anything at all (which again, is borderline doing nothing). - Finally, and most important of all, he compares the final master to the original mix and says 'the master is gonna be louder... deal with it.' We inherently hear things as better when they're louder, because we can hear the quieter parts of the mix more, our ears hear proportionally more low and high frequencies at louder volumes, so everything feels fuller and richer and more detailed. Because of this, it is almost impossible to tell if his mastering has ACTUALLY improved the song sonically beyond adding gain. For him to just say 'deal with it' means one of two things: either he isn't that confident in his master, so he wants it to be presented to us far louder than the mix so that we can't compare them properly, or he's just too lazy to turn the master down to the same RMS as the mix in order to compare apples to apples. In either case, he isn't being a good educator. This comment brought to you by my young guys and girls starting out as mastering engineers who are absolutely grinding to be good at this craft as well as to earn a living, who have guys like this to look up to who are, at best, poor educators. I'm sure he turns out great masters because of his ears, but having a video about plugins that says heaps of really incorrect stuff about them isn't helping anyone.
Thanks for the comment, I learned a lot. I think for some guys, they have so many plugins to choose from, they find one that gets what they want done at a easier/quicker pace than others so they choose that plugin for that application even if that plugin has way more it can do. But from what you're saying, the plugins he's using aren't being applied correctly. I'm kinda surprised the sponsor would let this happen, no? I think for many starting out (I am regarding the recording, not performing) we'd just like to see someone going through their process start to finish. Something that can be applied to all tracks that will make them better. Like picking out little artifacts and phase tilting etc those things will make a track better. Some other things are subjective to final product and what you're actually listening to the song on. I live in Uganda now and most people just crank up their phones or bluetooth it to some knockoff JBL speaker. Will they hear any change he's done? Anyway, is there someone else out there that has a better walk through educational vid/series you'd recommend?
@Big Teddies finer details like knowing when a compressor is doing compression? And that’s fine if his priorities are making masters, but he sure as shit shouldn’t be making educational videos then
Just a note on the api ‘s meters - they’re vu meters. As I’m sure you know, vu meters are by design very slow. This means you very well could be doing a few dB of gain reduction before the needle moves at all. This is likely what’s going on here. Also worth noting is that the 2500 will add some color just by passing the signal through it.
Another argument for not smashing the loudness on a master is that, when the music goes through a broadcast compressor chain, it sounds much cleaner and more punchy than an over-compressed master, without sounding quieter.
Hi simon! That depends on many factors. For example the listening position, room size, shape and treatment. There is no point in investing in high-end monitors without any acoustic treatment. Depending on your budget there might be several good options. If you are talking about a small home studio, you should probably look at nearfield monitors, in addition to a sub for example. I would advise you to order several pairs of monitors and test them in your room, if possible with acoustic measurements. In the end, you have to decide with your ears what works best for you. Hope that was helpful. Let us know if you need more information. Have a great day all the best!
Thank you Sir. But please fire the soundie who is recording mastering session and doesnt know how to place a lav mic. Nonetheless. This is incredible view into the mastering mystery. Its an eye opener. Thank you so much for sharing yours years experience with us. Greetings from Namibia.
He says he hasn't seen a limiter with an internal sidechain w/ a parametric adjustment setting along with hpf/lpf but technically you can use Pro C2 as a limiter and it has it in there. Graphically at that. Also he says to "Just deal with it" referring to the dynamic range between mix/master when all he'd need to do it clip gain it up to just below the mastered file? And a number of ther ways?? Is dude a noob kinda? Like a Noob Goat?
a Master Giving Class With Years Of Experience 😃Thanks Adam Audio For Great Content 🙂
Happy you're enjoying it, and thanks to John for letting us spotlight his wisdom!
paji tuc v pa do hun tutorial yr pichle Saal post Payi c hun tak nhi upload kitte
What a wonderful perspective from Mr. Mayfield and such an honor to have a pro like him reveal some of his process.
Easy way to see when you are being taught by someone who knows the craft inside and out, is by how simple they can explain it. So many good pieces of info in this video.
Thanks for watching 👍 all the best
What a wonderful man with passion for his job. I truly enjoyed watching this video. Made me a bit emotional actually.
gotta say, that's an amazing sounding mix. each stage just needs to add a little kiss...he doesn't have to work too hard to make it sound amazing! the slate fg sounded really nice.
Subscribed ... this is the best audio tutorial on RUclips
Hi Andy!
Thank you for watching 🙏
I appreciate the message at the end. Spoken well by a true professional.
Hi @brandonwatkins9003! Thanks for watching! :)
Amazing! Each stage and step is so subtle, but all added up, the print is night and day.
How could you possibly tell? 😂 They're at completely different peak levels - i have no idea why he wouldn't just normalise the original file... leaves the comparison completely useless.
@@who_is_dis This particular song didn't need to be smashed.......proceeds to mix it to -6rms.
One of the most useful contents Out there…this type of content is rarely available for free 🥰🥰🥰
Thanks for tuning in, Jerry!
Very true.....
This is one of those videos where I wish I could hit that like button more than once.
Thanks man This videos helps a lot
Boom! I’m going to watch all these videos. Felt like I was there with him. Great teacher
I am so happy with your mastering on my mixes here from Norway / Himlalyd... Mvh. Roy
this video is the number one hidden mastering gem on youtube! This is how you get a radio quality master, no doubt
Just what I needed for the night, thanks a millions times John.
This was a gem. Thank you Sir, John Mayfield and ADAM Audio! Subscribed!!
Thank you for watching, we're happy you found the video helpful 🙏
Sage advice given by a true master of the craft. Excellent video!
What great insight and experience. I gained so much knowledge from this :)
i came to leave my gratefulness, great class man, it gave me quite some tools
@ClaudioRowe! We're glad you found it useful ❤️🙏
Wow what a treasure of knowledge!
@Shimmernut! 🙏🏼❤️
Iove your style of speaking and explanation, all clear and concise, nicely done, so well done!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Hi Ayhann!
Thanks for watching !
Love this thanks dude 🙏😊
Thanks for watching 🙏
Thank you John. I really enjoyed this vid.
Glad you enjoyed it 👍 all the best!
Great job and great explanation! Thank you very much.
Thanks for watching 😊
What A Good Video, Its' alwasy Good to learn from the Masters. Mayfield's Knowledge helped me a lot to improve My masters
Hi @kingaya.3124! Thanks for tuning in! So good to hear you learned something useful from him :)
Thank you for this very informative and educational video!
Thank you for watching 🙏
NOTE: To ensure the Low Frequencies are focused in Mono/Mid, The High-Pass/Low-Cut Filter has to be the Side. That leaves the region below exclusively in Mid/Mono.
Even though the human ear can only hear the frequency spectrum between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, to ensure the crispness and clarity of the Low Frequencies, I'll set my High-Pass/Low-Cut at 30 Hz vs 27 Hz, which in essence isn't that much of a difference, per say, yet I want to ensure accurately anything below 30 Hz will be filtered out to remove unnecessary headroom and rumble since the lows create the most level of dB. I can understand the Oct/Slope is rather steep (looks like 48 dB), yet 24 dB/Oct would've been a better choice and recommendation. However, the Slope/Oct at 63 Hz is too steep IMO. I would've set it to 24 Slope/Oct instead of 36, which emphasizes the Low end in exclusive Mono/Mid down to the 27 Hz Low-Cut Filter.
Definitely using the Pro-Q 3 is the digital EQ of choice, probably the best and most used Digital EQ Plug-in in today's Music Technology.
Even more so, Instead of EQ'ing sounding the same from beginning to end. I'd make the emphasis and de-emphasis bands "Make Dynamic", which would only trigger the band when it reaches the threshold for expansion and compression (subtle, that is).
I also noticed another High-Pass/Low-Cut at 63 Hz with a +1.2 dB amplification/emphasis. For me, being even more subtle is best, since less is more. For that bass to cut through today's consumer-based audio products, especially on smartphones, laptops/notebooks/etc., I'll boost/amplify subtly between 100 to 120 Hz, depending on the sonic in question. If I can get away with +0.5 amplification, that's a total win-win. If more boost is needed, my rule of thumb is, don't go above +2.0 dB. If it calls for more, I'll contact the artist/engineer to see if he/she can render another mix with less low end frequencies.
The Side Emphasis at 125 Hz makes the track sound muddy on the sides, IMO, the Sides should be left for more clarity, especially when you want the Lows specifically focusing in the Mid Region. Also, there will be phase cancellation in that region. If you want that Side region more warm, use the emphasis/de-emphasis technique by creating another Band at the exact same Hz, Make it Mid, and de-emphasize -0..49 dB. That way, you avoid phase cancellation, and the lows at 125 Hz will sound more cleaner with perceived clarity, and both emphasis and de-emphasis bands would be made "Dynamic". From what I hear It sounds like the Lows are expanded into the Sides, which in my opinion, you don't want, since it adds more dB headroom, even if with the subtle emphasis. it also interferes with the Lead Vocal and Background Vocals region if the panning is hard, in-between, or soft. You can really hear the boom/mud/boxy sonic in a LCR Mix/Master.
Another thing I would've done is use the Harmonic EQ Technique when necessary using the Pro-Q 3. By knowing the key of the track, EQ harmonically, especially at its Fundamental (including High-Low Pass Filters. Therefore, for example, if I create a High-Pass at 30 Hz, it might not necessarily be at the key of the track, yet anywhere close to where you want to cut will totally make the track more musical, and actually help psychoacoustically the perceiveness and preciseness,
This particular EQ setting (Initial) has an extreme problem/issue: Your High-Pass/Low-Cut Filters are 100% OUT-OF-PHASE. That's because the Phase Setting is incorrect.
Anytime those types of filters are being utilized, set the Phase Mode to Low-Level Linear Phase. Run it through an EQ Analyzer, and you'll see why using Zero Latency or Natural Phase will constitute Out-Of-Phase. Every DAW will compensate for Latency, that's why using the Lowest Level of Linear Phase creates a 5-second delay. The higher the Linear Phase level, the longer the delay time. If the systems are high-end, they will be able to compensate for the higher level of linear phase delay, in turn, allowing the DAW in question to run seamlessly as if no linear phase delay is taking place.
Once all plug-ins were in place, the track sounds wonderful. For me personally, I would've added just a tiny bit more low frequencies via Saturation (Clean Tube from FabFilter Saturn 2)
Fantastic Job Mr. John Mayfield!!! Subtly is the key to Mastering Success. Less is More, keeping it as simple as possible.
Was curious about the choice of slope as well (the high cuts @ 48db / oct) I would have thought such a deep slope would have caused some eq changes at the cut off point.
Thank you for this. Absolutely soothing for the ears listening to the end result.
Really the sound, dynamics, differentiation and clarity I'm working to get in my work. A really inspiring lesson and walk-through...
I'm just loving this: loads of great insights throughout the 6 Masterclass episodes -- I've been wondering about attack and release times in the low frequencies and you gave me a great sense of where to head with that -- great tips on multiband compression! You got me thinking about the API 2500 again since it was surprising how full and musical it sounded in this instance: I'm used to it removing some tone from transients and sounding pretty percussive overall, but it wasn't like that at all here; this was very enjoyable and informative to watch -- thanks!
Thanks for watching 😊🙏
16:20 I think logic pro stock compressor has that too.
Thank you John, this is very informative 👍
Thanks for watching 🙏
That was awesome! Thanks John Mayfield & Adam Audio!
Happy you enjoyed it!
Wow, this is fantastic, 30 minutes well spent! The music is far from my genre of choice but it's easy to recognise the skills of a master at work. What's also revealing is the number of stages involved in John's processing chain.
Hi Grant! Thanks for your kind feedback, all the best! 👍
What a wonderful video about philosophy, feel and craftsmanship.
Glad you enjoyed it, Ray!
Fantastic video! Watched it front to back!
Awesome, Zach thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for the valuable knowledges! 😇🙂
Adam muchas gracias por el tiempo que dedica a transmitir conocimiento tan valioso, saludos desde Barranquilla, Colombia.
Great video, thank you!
Thanks for the great content!🤙🏾
Thank you for watching, Crews 😊
This is AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!
one of the very very very very few of "mastering" video in youtube that when you compare the original and mastered version in the end you could tell the track move up a level, not just volume with 0 audible distortion or any sign of the track being crushed, not even a little. 👍
Thank you for a great series.
Thank you for watching, Joey!
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing
Thank you 👍 Glad you enjoyed it
Great video, an amazing song, and such a nice engineer explaining the whole process. Thanks!
This is awesome, but why didn’t you level match the before and after tracks for the comparison? If you don’t level match, you can’t tell if the mastered track is better or not.
Love the content though! Keep it up!
He did say "Deal with it" ;)
@@theelephantofsurprise8564 x)
@@theelephantofsurprise8564 ha ha
Hello John,
Thank you so much for this wonderful series on mastering, from an actual ADULT.
I threaded my first tape machine in 1961, and I have been involved with the process ever since.
I 'marvel' at todays youngsters pretending to do this with a whopping 13 years 'experience' and a seemingly endless chain of plugins on all 80 tracks.
It is so refreshing to see someone deliver stellar results with minimal use of only a few plugins, while retaining the craft of the original piece.
Thank you again for proving that less is more, and there's no 'plugin' for CRAFT.
Best regards,
Bill P.
He mixed it to -6rms
Great Masterclass! Also sounds amazing!
Literally a masterclass 😉 thanks for watching!
One of the best content I have ever heard and seen about mixing...Thanks Adam Audio for this great video and thanks to john sir for sharing his years of creative wisdom and experience with us
Thank you, Vishnu! Glad you enjoyed it 👍
Thnx, but sec. Last ozone maximizer got 2.8 db input which is above 0db input, thts why we can hear some ringing or peaking distortion.
Fascinating!
Thanks for watching 🙏
thanks for sharing this great great tips best for 2021 so far for me
Glad to hear that 🙏 thanks for watching
Hi hope you can reply to this message. However when I master songs I normally run the sound to a single track or mix bus with all the plugs on it. But looking at your setup it seems that you are running the song thru multiple tracks or probably aux tracks that have certain plugs on them which all then leads to the master fader. Is this correct? If so this is game changing for me. Please respond thanks 😊
A little bit here and there. Nice and subtle. Thanls for sharing.
Great approach, thanks for watching!
All stock compressors in LogicX have parametric mids in the sidechain.
Now, I get it.
32-Bit ... and then control it before you go to the real world!
Got it.
Another great video, thank you Adam Audio and John Mayfield
Thanks for tuning in, Vadim!
Thanks for this greate video .......Awsommeeeeeee!
Thanks for watching 👍
Outstanding job. Thanks Adam Audio!
Another excellent video in the series - loads of useful information. I found the one on Fixing Phase Rotation particularly enlightening. BTW I highly recommend trying Ian Shepherd’s Perception plugin it really helps when comparing before and after. (I’m not connected with him in any way just use the plugin and find it very useful)
Thank you for watching 👍
such a great video on the benefits of small wins all along the way! I love the non-exaggerated and balanced focus of the work and that it isn't smashed to death....very nicely done! one small caveat that I have though, is that I don't necessarily agree that the mid and side signals can be processed completely independent of each other....Mathew Weiss proves this in his video called "The Truth About Mid Side Processing" where he shows that they are actually inter-dependent to some degree, and that changes to one, indeed affect the other.
Thank you soooo much to Adam and John Mayfield. What a kick the course was !
Thanks for watching!
Thank you, for this…
Beautiful sounding song after mastering! Does not sound distorted or over compressed at all. To the naked ear it just sounds louder lol
It really does! Thank you for watching 👍
Thank you!
Man that Oxford inflator really brought some more life out of that mix. I’ve never really understood the intended use of expanders or felt the need to experiment with them but I’m going to have to change that
Bro Sonnox Inflator is probably on the 90% of records you heard in last 20 years. 😅
Thanks for sharing John.
Thanks for watching 👍
Great to see in the box mastering in practice.
We are glad you like it, thanks for watching 👍
I'm still trying to figure out quite hard using one compressor for a mixer track while this guy does like 5 and it's perfection😂
WAWWW.........I HAVE ADAM P11A LOVE ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!-----THANKS FOR THE VIDEO
Don’t you have the red light mastering version of shadowhills compressor? Or have I got myself confused and the greenlight is the mastering version…..
I noticed the maximizer was redlining on the source. Is that not a problem, or is it something you just have to listen for rather than trust the meters?
32 bit float
Nice song❤
Obrigado pela aula, espetacular...
👏👏👏
This helps a lot
Amazing
🙏
Thank you!! Loved this video!!!
Happy you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Great stuff. 🔥👍🏾💯
Glad you enjoyed it!
Pyramix pro, wavelab 11 or protools for mastering ? I've just got the merging anubis pro interface so thinking pyramix!
Thanks🥰
It's Very Helpful! Thanks🙏🙏🙏
We're happy you found it helpful!
Isn't the side information governed by phase differences between left and right, not pan position? Even mixes done with LCR panning have their elements present in the mid channel, although those panned left and right will be quieter. Think he suggested if you panned something far left or right it would appear only in the sides, which is misleading. Enjoying the videos still!
I've found this a bit misleading as well! When you hard-pan a signal it will appear both in the mid as in the side channel. Hard panned elements just are half as loud in the mid channel compared to center panned elements. The mid channel is a sum of Left and Right. So basically a signal that is panned center will be present in both left and right, and therefore will be louder than a hard panned signal that is only present on one side. Elements that are panned dead center do not appear in the side-channel though, as this is indeed calculated by Left-Right, or indeed flipping the phase of either left or right. Elements that appear equally loud in both left and right will be cancelled out.
No, its ANY difference.
Or ANY sum.
mids = L+R thus hard panned are present as signal plus nothing equals signal.
Sides = L-R and R-L thus its also present as signal minus nothing is just signal
So just think of the mids as mono. And sides as opposite phases summed. So if its only in one ear, then no change when summing either together
as its n +/- 0 = n
Thanks Adam
Thanks for watching!
This is such a great tutorial! I find Fabfilter Pro C 2 handles sidechain EQ input incredibly well; IMHO better than the Waves TG which has some limitations.
Great video!
Thank you for watching 🙏
Thank you so much
Thanks for watching, Sha! 👍
awesome thanks
Thanks for watching 🙏
Pretty cool you got to do a Taylor Swift song. How'd you swing that Adam Audio!?
Я тоже говорю СПАСИБО,за полезный материал!
Thank you for watching 👍
Question: Are those plug ins in series or parallel? And if parallel how are they distributed, ie: is each channel receiving the same amount of signal via a send (and how much) or duplicates of the original track? Thanks.
For anyone who cares I think I've got it figured out but it's important to note where it isn't stated explicitly. It's in series but he's using the Ozone multiband only for bass and light de-essing as noted but the Slated FG-X is only doing transient emphasis. The Shadow Hills has the compression turned off and is adding only the transformer effect. The API is set very low and is also adding transformer effect. The Inflator can mess with the stereo image and it may be why he's using the Ozone Imager. For God's sake don't just slap 5 compressors and three limiters on every track. There's a lot of subtlety going on here. Hopefully that's obvious to most.
@@EdPettersen Watching now for the first time and was asking myself the SAME question as to why there are so many tracks. I've only really seen everything in a single channel and not as inserts like this. It's quite interesting and does make sense.
@Ky Olsen I figured out after watching a few times it all must be parallel, however it's key how you blend those six channels.
@@EdPettersen of course! It's a really interesting way to do it!
@Ky Olsen interesting and semi complicated! 😁
wonderful
Thank you, Robert!
Okay, gonna be the first negative comment here. I'm sure this guy has excellent ears and delivers great masters, but he seems to have very little idea what his plugins are actually doing (and in one instance not actually using them properly), which is an issue in an educational 'check out my plugin chain' style video.
- He has no idea what the Oxford Inflator is doing beyond making things feel louder (he keeps just saying 'it really does "inflate" the signal'). For those interested, it's an saturation / soft-clipping device with an 'elastic ceiling', which means the closer the input gets to 0db, the more it will add subtle harmonic distortion and soft clipping to peaks (hence things seeming louder and a touch brighter). It adds overtones and rounds out transients, but proportionately more on louder signals.
- When he uses the Shadow Hills compressor, he claims the Iron setting adds high frequency saturation / boost - it doesn't. The Nickel setting emphasises highs, the Iron emphasises mids, and the Steel emphasises lows (and they also get increasingly intense in that order). Notice how when he sets it to Iron and takes the plugin out of bypass you hear the lead vocal move forward in the mix? That's because it's saturating the midrange the most, so the vocal's presence area (roughly between a sort of 500hz-3kHz zone) gets emphasised.
- This is the big one - when he 'uses' the API 2500 compressor, it is doing essentially nothing. He incorrectly says 'this is one of those plugins that doesn't give you a digital readout of what you're doing' - what he means by this is the plugin doesn't show you how much compression (gain reduction) you're doing... except that it does. See up the top where there are meters, and next to the meters he has the GR metering option selected? That means the plugin will show you how much Gain Reduction is happening. So why aren't the meters moving? Because my dude is literally not even hitting the compressor's threshold. You can see next to the threshold knob, there's a red LED which ISN'T lighting up - that means the signal isn't going over the threshold. There is a fraction of second (19:10) where one transient makes the plugin do between 0.1 - 0.2db of gain reduction, which is so small that he might as well not even be using the plugin - that is almost an imperceptibly small amount of compression, and if the compressor weren't there that signal would be hitting the final limiter and getting gain reduced anyway. You can also tell that he doesn't know the compressor is essentially inactive because he plays an audio 'example' that lasts for over 20 seconds, turning the plugin on and off throughout, and there's maybe 0.3seconds where the plugin does anything at all (which again, is borderline doing nothing).
- Finally, and most important of all, he compares the final master to the original mix and says 'the master is gonna be louder... deal with it.' We inherently hear things as better when they're louder, because we can hear the quieter parts of the mix more, our ears hear proportionally more low and high frequencies at louder volumes, so everything feels fuller and richer and more detailed. Because of this, it is almost impossible to tell if his mastering has ACTUALLY improved the song sonically beyond adding gain. For him to just say 'deal with it' means one of two things: either he isn't that confident in his master, so he wants it to be presented to us far louder than the mix so that we can't compare them properly, or he's just too lazy to turn the master down to the same RMS as the mix in order to compare apples to apples. In either case, he isn't being a good educator.
This comment brought to you by my young guys and girls starting out as mastering engineers who are absolutely grinding to be good at this craft as well as to earn a living, who have guys like this to look up to who are, at best, poor educators. I'm sure he turns out great masters because of his ears, but having a video about plugins that says heaps of really incorrect stuff about them isn't helping anyone.
Thanks for the comment, I learned a lot.
I think for some guys, they have so many plugins to choose from, they find one that gets what they want done at a easier/quicker pace than others so they choose that plugin for that application even if that plugin has way more it can do.
But from what you're saying, the plugins he's using aren't being applied correctly. I'm kinda surprised the sponsor would let this happen, no?
I think for many starting out (I am regarding the recording, not performing) we'd just like to see someone going through their process start to finish. Something that can be applied to all tracks that will make them better. Like picking out little artifacts and phase tilting etc those things will make a track better.
Some other things are subjective to final product and what you're actually listening to the song on. I live in Uganda now and most people just crank up their phones or bluetooth it to some knockoff JBL speaker. Will they hear any change he's done?
Anyway, is there someone else out there that has a better walk through educational vid/series you'd recommend?
@Big Teddies finer details like knowing when a compressor is doing compression? And that’s fine if his priorities are making masters, but he sure as shit shouldn’t be making educational videos then
Just a note on the api ‘s meters - they’re vu meters. As I’m sure you know, vu meters are by design very slow. This means you very well could be doing a few dB of gain reduction before the needle moves at all. This is likely what’s going on here. Also worth noting is that the 2500 will add some color just by passing the signal through it.
You are so right. Plus that DAW he is using... Looks straight out of 2003 haha 😂
grande profissional!
Another argument for not smashing the loudness on a master is that, when the music goes through a broadcast compressor chain, it sounds much cleaner and more punchy than an over-compressed master, without sounding quieter.
Adam can you tell me the best speaker for mastering in a home studio
Hi simon! That depends on many factors. For example the listening position, room size, shape and treatment. There is no point in investing in high-end monitors without any acoustic treatment. Depending on your budget there might be several good options. If you are talking about a small home studio, you should probably look at nearfield monitors, in addition to a sub for example.
I would advise you to order several pairs of monitors and test them in your room, if possible with acoustic measurements. In the end, you have to decide with your ears what works best for you.
Hope that was helpful. Let us know if you need more information. Have a great day all the best!
How many of these plugins do you already have? Let us know 👇
Hi what is the software holding all the track waveforms that the gentleman is using?.
@Self-Law Hi! John uses Pyramix for his mastering process 👍
@@ADAMAudioBerlin Thanks.
Happy user of all! However, I tend to prefer Limitless to the Pro L2.
@@maximboe Nice, thanks for tuning in Maxim!
Amazing one!!
Thanks for watching!
Very nice.
Thank you Sir. But please fire the soundie who is recording mastering session and doesnt know how to place a lav mic. Nonetheless. This is incredible view into the mastering mystery. Its an eye opener. Thank you so much for sharing yours years experience with us. Greetings from Namibia.
What DAW is he using?
He says he hasn't seen a limiter with an internal sidechain w/ a parametric adjustment setting along with hpf/lpf but technically you can use Pro C2 as a limiter and it has it in there. Graphically at that.
Also he says to "Just deal with it" referring to the dynamic range between mix/master when all he'd need to do it clip gain it up to just below the mastered file? And a number of ther ways?? Is dude a noob kinda? Like a Noob Goat?