My Video about Mastering Music in a DAW is well received, so let me amplify some of the most important messages from that video here.
It doesn’t really matter whether you load the Final Stereo Mix into a DAW or into a specific software (like Wavelab, to stay in the Steinberg/Cubase world) that was made for mastering. Of course, Wavelab features more specific tools that e.g. help with the track locators for CD/Vinyl and alike. But for Online Distribution this is pretty irrelevant.
And soundwise there’s no difference at all. You can totally master your music in a DAW. In case of Cubase and Wavelab they even share the same stock-plugins.
Mysterious Mastering Magic – Plugins
Mastering plugins are being promoted very aggressively. This makes it hard to believe that you can get great results from stock-plugins. But it’s true, at least in the Steinberg World 😉 Anyway, a good Equalizer is doing the main job, but…
…before we talk about plugins, get to know your monitor system, trust your ears and switch into a “mastering mindset”. Easier said than done, i know 😉
Don’t fix IT
In the video i forgot to mention that mastering isn’t for fixing anything. In the same way you cannot fix a bad recording in the mix. So if somethings wrong during mastering, go back. It’s a big advantage of being able to open the project file with a few clicks and make corrections on the fly. No need to “repair” it in a later step.
I generally believe that Mastering is simple, it’s not easy, but it is simple.
Ian Shepherd
Fake Loudness
I came up with the term “Fake Loudness” which describes the odd behavior of making a track much louder than it originally is, which comes with many negative side-effects those “mastering engineers” weirdly don’t seem to care about.
I personally go for -14dB integrated LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale), which is 1) the standard for streaming, and 2) kind of a natural level. The way i produce my music i kinda automatically get to -14, more or less.
It’s still a recommendation, though. I’m sure i will talk more about the “Loudness War”-Topic in the future.
Mastering Steps
My mastering steps as mentioned in the video (and after finishing the mix/taking a break) are:
- Quality Check:
Set up a proper Start and End of the track
Read the Statistics if you want
Look at the Spectrum Analyzer to get an idea - Mastering:
Beautify the sound, whatever that means to you
Push to the loudness level you’re aiming for - Exporting:
For streaming 44.1kHz/16bit is enough
Interleaved Stereo, Lossless .wav
mp3 for personal use only, mono downmix for fun
Mastering Chain 2024
The effects in my Cubase Mastering Template 2024 are:
- Frequency EQ
- Stereo Enhancer (optional)
- Multi-Compressor (optional)
- Raiser Limiter
- SuperVision
Make subtle changes that, in a good way, have recognizable impact.
Me
The results
The easiest way to check my music out is via the The Ground Noise Spotify Channel. There are also public playlists with my other projects.
About Ian Shepherd
Ian Shepherd is a professional mastering engineer, founder of the “Dynamic Range Day” and host of the “The Mastering Show” Podcast.
Check out his productionadvice.co.uk website and learn from the best.