using wavelab for mastering

[brandondrury]

mixdown is finished and you want to master. what do you use and how much of each?

I pick the mix that is the "home run". It's the reference. It gets nothing done to it accept may be a hint of brickwall limiting to make it louder. If there is no reference mix, then I'm not ready for mastering.

I then load up all the tracks in Cubase and space them as if I had the entire album loaded up. (If I hit play, it should play the first song, then the second, etc). All of these are individual tracks.

I toss a limiter as the final insert on the 2bus. I get the reference mix up to the desired level. From there I move on to a different song. I bounce back and forth between the reference and the current mix at hand. If there are notable differences I pull out an EQ and start to play. The rule is never more than 2dB of EQ or it's time for a remix.

I repeat this process until bouncing around from track to track does not sound distracting. All songs should have a common "sonic theme" and level. I render each song down, burn, and move on to the next project.

It needs to be said that this process is probably about 0.5% of the process. I think if a real mastering engineer does it, it's about 2% of the process...give or take.

Brandon

[ouvrotpoep]

thanks for the info. i'll definitely use some of this when i have more than one song down

[teknospc]

Originally Posted by ouvrotpoep

does anyone have any thoughts on wavelab and how it compares to other mastering programs. i read here people suggesting cubase. i kind of find cubase more streamlined to use as it is non-destructive editing..

I record in Sonar and mastering in Wavelabs, very usefull and easy to use

[billy flack]

thanks for the tips guys
i will take everything on board
billy
from scotland
uk

[Soundview]

General mastering:
In this age of making every mix as loud as possible may I suggest that you leave a couple of db for the mastering engineer. Getting a mix that has been normalized to zero db leaves that poor soul, maybe yourself, with little room to process the file. TM

[audiocurry]

If you're using Sonar to mix, try and output at least at 32 bits. That's better than 24 bits. Then when you load that into Wavelab, and start the mastering process, the processors there will need extra bits (often 8 bits of data). The way it usually works is that a file which has been mixed out to 32 bits, then processed at that 32 bit rate and then dithered down to 16 bits will certainly sound better than a 24 bit file which has been mixed out at 24 bits, converted to 32 bits and then dithered down to 16 bits. The reason is simple: going from 24 bit to 32 bit is fine, but really what you are doing is simply adding a bunch of 0's to complete the extra 8 bits, which increases file size, but doesn't add any more definition. Whereas, when you mix out to 32 bits, there is higher definition, as there is info till the last bit. Hope that makes sense. Bob Katz talks about this in his "Mastering Audio" book, which I refer to a lot.
(With the latest versions of Sonar, you have 64-bit precision, which I think is always helpful to enable while processing a mix out of Sonar).

[billy flack]

thanks guys for the mastering tips
billy flack

[fortyseven]

The difference between mixing and mastering has always been vague to me. However thanks to this thread I now clearly understand. Something that still confuses me a bit though is the term '2bus' which I see Brandon using quite often. Can someone please explain?

[Electriclight]

2 BUS is the final stereo output. That's where you would put a limiter to guarantee no clipping. Effects on this bus will alter the entire mix. In Cubase it's the fader on the far left of the mixer, usually. It's handled a little differently on different versions of Cubase. (I don't think the Cubase Manual ever calls it 2 Bus.)

[fortyseven]

Right thanks dude I know what it is. It was just the term '2bus' that got me. Thanks again!