Once you have recorded and mixed a song you will most likely need to master it. Mastering makes mixed music suitable for whatever streaming service or format you wish to use for delivering your music. There are a growing number of ‘in-the-box’ mastering tools and outboard processors available, as good as these tools are they will be useless to you unless you understand the fundamentals of mastering.
In this article we’ve collated several of our own mastering tutorials as well as mastering videos produced by our partners to help you take your skills in mastering to the next level.
Roundup - Expert Reviews Of Top Mastering Tools You Can Buy Today
If you are considering a new mastering tool for your studio then check out our reviews roundup in which we brought together 30 products that you can buy today that were designed for mastering
Mastering Tutorials
Our friends at iZotope have produced a useful, comprehensive tutorial about how to master for streaming platforms. Whether or not you own iZotope’s mastering plugins such as Ozone, RX and Insight, there’s some great advice to be found here.
No matter what genre you're mixing, you've probably encountered an unruly low end that can mess up the whole mix. In this free video tutorial, Geoff Manchester walks you through some techniques to help you manage low end in a mix.
Paul Drew shows how to get a polished mix in Studio One using Presonus Plugins and effects.
In the first video in our Mastering In Studio One series, session guitar player and producer Paul Drew of Studio One Expert shows how to get a polished mix in Studio One using Slate FGX.
You don’t need to be a mastering engineer to learn how to master a song. In this video, from iZotope, discover how easy it is to take a track from first to final master with the intelligent tools available in Ozone 9 including the improved Tonal Balance Control, Master Rebalance, Low End Focus, and more.
How loud should a song be? What is considered is loud? In this article, iZotope Education Director and professional mastering engineer, Jonathan Wyner discusses loudness. From how perception influences loudness mastering audio, to best practices for loudness in a variety of formats—streaming, vinyl, CD, and beyond.
The third episode of Are You Listening Season 2 covers metering. We've all heard the phrase "Don't use your eyes, use your ears," and there's some truth to this. Yet, the visualizations from a loudness meter give crucial confirmation that we're hearing what we think we're hearing-allowing us to address audio issues at the edges of our perception. Meters help us make better decisions regarding levels, frequency content, stereo spread, and dynamic range.
Are You Listening? Season 2 is a free video tutorial series from professional mastering engineer and iZotope Education Director Jonathan Wyner. Episode 2 covers track referencing as an invaluable mastering tool that provides an objective opportunity to check whether your track is closing in on the ideal dynamics and vibe you’re going for.
Are You Listening? Season 2 is a free video tutorial series from professional mastering engineer and iZotope Education Director Jonathan Wyner. Though this series Jonathan will guide us through audio mastering principles like critical listening, how to set up your room, and using techniques like EQ, compression, and limiting in mastering.
Mastering a collection of songs can be challenging, especially if there are a variety of musical genres to balance together. In this premium video tutorial, we show how Dan approaches balancing together songs together in his typical mastering workflow. We address loudness, tone and overall album vibe using a combination of a control surface, outboard EQ and compression along with the power of plug-in processing in Pro Tools.
In this free video tutorial, brought to you with the support of Plugin Alliance, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers uses the Alpha compressor on the output of a mix using the M/S mode to introduce width. To audition more easily when setting up the mid and sides channels Julian uses bx_control V2 which has mid/side solo functions to help set up the Alpha compressor.
In this free video tutorial, brought to you with the support of Plugin Alliance, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers tries out the HG2 Black Box across the mix bus using subtle treatments from the presets with an example using acoustic guitar, Bass and upright piano.
Mastering Sounds "Overproduced"? - How Wide Is The Bottom End In Your Mix? PureMix and Brian Lucey Might Have The Answer.
In this free video tutorial, brought to you with the support of Plugin Alliance, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates how quick the new bx_masterdesk plug-in is and how quick it is to use.
In the recent release announcements for iZotope Ozone 8 and Neutron 2, a lot has been made about the new Tonal Balance Control plug-in that can also link these two tools together. In this free tutorial, from iZotope contributor Phillip Nichols, they explore this area of tonal balance.
There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now. In the last of our 3 part series on Overview - Loudness Metering Plug-ins And Resources we focus on loudness metering plug-ins aimed at the music mastering sector.
In this free video tutorial, with the support of our friends at Nugen Audio, Production Expert team member Peter Barter demonstrates how to use the MasterCheck Pro plug-in to quickly A/B loudness and dynamics levels between your own tracks and trusted reference sources.
When a sound source increases in volume our ears and brains instinctively prefer the louder signal, so in the past it was difficult to accurately compare and make an objective assessment as to what the compressor or limiter was actually doing to the sound. Mastercheck from Nugen Audio solves this problem with a neat and easy solution that should help your decision-making process when added loudness may have clouded your judgment in the past.
In this Introduction to Mastering from our friends at PureMix you can watch this free tutorial and learn the secrets & history of mastering audio from Fab Dupont. You can also learn why it is such a vital step in the record making process.
In this free video tutorial, Tom Frampton from Mastering The Mix covering how to use LUFS in music mastering and the need to create more than one master for different platforms. Over to you Tom..