There's no two ways about it, mastering is a dark art, but there's no reason why you cant lean how to get great results at home. 

It's extremely important to know your speakers and environment, and by testing your results with commercially mastered tracks you can understand what you are aiming for.

Stranjah will show you what he has learnt with his 2 months of studying mastering. He demonstrates his understanding by mastering his own track while comparing his results with professionally mastered music.

The featured techniques include, frequently referencing against other tracks, using multiple VST's to add character or even colour to the sound, and making very small adjustments with stage of processing.

The tutorial covers  the following points

  • Audio File types, sample rates etc
  • Monitoring using a variety of meters, including VU meters, peak meters, and a LUFS meter.
  • Achieving tonal Balance with EQ and multi band compression
  • Coloration and character to the signal using analog simulations 
  • Dynamics, using different plug ins for multiple levels of compression before the signal hits the limiter.


Video Breakdown:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 1:59 1 - Listening Environment
  • 3:46 2 - Audio Platform
  • 4:07 3 - Premaster File
  • 5:16 4 - Gain Staging / Metering
  • 7:16 5 - Limiting
  • 9:54 6 - Tonal Balance
  • 15:13 7 - Tonal Control
  • 17:43 8 - Coloration
  • 22:43 9 - Dynamics
  • 28:37 10 - Exporting
  • 29:18 Review
  • 29:48 Final Thoughts

VST's used

  • Plug in alliance
  • Waves
  • IZotope