Mastering - Mainly for Streaming

Stuck in a loop? Reach out. Share ideas.
Post Reply
User avatar
Flunked Outta NASA
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:49 am

Hey there,

I consider myself OK at mixing, have learned a lot over the years, but mastering is really where my knowledge tops out. I was wondering what people are doing for mastering of their releases? I’m getting near the finished stages of a 5 track EP That will likely find a home on Band Camp and Spotify.

Of course I can get it mastered by an engineer but the whole project has been low cost/ DIY. I was wondering if people have good experiences with LANDR? I also noticed there are a couple of other AI options out there. I also see TC Electronics has Finalizer and there is also Izotone. Are these options that work if you don’t have much background in mastering? Interested to hear peoples thoughts.

Thanks all,
Statistics don't make storms.
User avatar
SkeletonBeach
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2019 3:30 pm

Hey! I love mastering and would absolutely love to answer any questions you may have!

I have heard tons about LANDR and heard samples, and honestly, it isn't a terrible thing for what it is, however, it's done algorithmically, and when it comes to sound shaping, I personally don't trust an algorithm to master my tracks to perfection!

I use Ableton Live 10 Suite to record/ track everything, however I leave my MASTER BUS in Ableton completely dry and THEN I master my tracks in Adobe Audition. It is an extremely powerful tool, especially once you learn it!

Feel free to hit me up and send me a track, I will do an Adobe master on it and shoot it back your way and see what you think, I am always happy to help a fellow Space Lounge Cosmonaut!

X.
User avatar
Flunked Outta NASA
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:49 am

SkeletonBeach wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:55 pm Hey! I love mastering and would absolutely love to answer any questions you may have!

......

X.
Thanks so much. I wondered about LANDR, so that's interesting . I actually uploaded and listened to my mastered track on E-Mastered this week, it's another algorithm driven mastering service similar to LANDR. Generally it sounded ok, but it did add some color and emphasize some frequencies in ways I didn't like. It also showed I probably have a few problems in my mix I need to fix.

I'd be stoked to reach out when it's ready and have you master it. That would be amazing.
Statistics don't make storms.
User avatar
Shelfblack
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2019 12:57 am

To piggyback off this...What's a good basic, easy to understand beginner's guide to mastering that anyone would recommend? My thing is I make my songs dawless, all in one track. I know that this is definitely going to handicap my mastering ability, but what is it that I can do to make these songs sound their best?

Right now, I usually just throw it into audacity and run a few plugins over it.
iamazari.wav
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:19 pm

Hello Shelfblack,

a good guide that i would recommend is the free mastering guide by izotope.

you can find it here:

http://downloads.izotope.com/guides/iZo ... hOzone.pdf

It doenst matter that you dont have that specific software, this is kind of an mindset how to listen and go about it - you can use any software u wish.

The Thing is that you dont have the single tracks to mix them prior to mastering which kind of limits you alot. You still could get a decent Master if your balance is good enough, but the quality would be much better the other way around.

Much greetings,

Azari
Post Reply