Mastering: Fallen at the first hurdle

So, I finally finished my first track and a small independent label is interested, happy days. I take in as many videos on mastering from youtube as I possibly can, I am excited and I am ready. I begin by Bouncing all the tracks to audio, it takes a bit of time, but this is the first stage.

I then play it, and the sync is all out, the vocals are delayed and the sounds a bit sluggish???? WHAT did I do wrong? HELP

Why are you bouncing all the tracks to seperate audio files? Try this guide for nice and simple home mastering:

http://tarekith.com/assets/mastering.html

Thanks, interesting guide, but I am still wondering why the bouncedowns of my track didnt sync?

I was happy with my mix, so was bouncing down the tracks in order to do a final mixdown, which I then planned to export as a AFF file, import back then apply the mastering - yes my main aim was to end up with a louder MP3

So, I finally finished my first track and a small independent label is interested, happy days. I take in as many videos on mastering from youtube as I possibly can, I am excited and I am ready. I begin by Bouncing all the tracks to audio, it takes a bit of time, but this is the first stage.

 

I then play it, and the sync is all out, the vocals are delayed and the sounds a bit sluggish???? WHAT did I do wrong? HELP

Sounds like you're confusing mixing and mastering.

While mastering can be done with stems, it's usually a stereo job on the final mix.

For mastering you will need to bounce your entire song to a stereo file. There's no need to export to separate tracks first.

If you have external MIDI instruments (hardware) you will need to either record those first into your arrangement or simply realtime bounce those at the same time as the rest of the mix.

For the rest of the procedure you can read this PDF about mixdown for mastering: http://www.onlinemastering.dk/pdf/mixdown-for-mastering-tips.pdf

Did you fix the sync thing ?

I guess it's perhaps cause you had a plug-in without delay compensation on it.

A few related questions:

I'm preparing my mix for mastering and had all of my mixes adjusted so that nothing clipped over zero, and then I started reading suggestions on mastering service sites that recommend keeping all tracks under -3dbfs (others say -3dbs). -3 seems very quiet--does this really mean -0.3 (a few decimal places below the red zero clipping point) or are they actually wanting the stereo output to be 3 whole numbers below the clipping zero that shows up in red?

Lastly, looking around on the internet, I'm seeing that there is indeed a difference between dbfs and dbs. It seems like logic's read outs are in fact dbs and not dbfs. I felt like I was very close to sending these tracks out to be mastered, and I now am filled with lots of doubt.

Quick summary of my questions:

1) Do they want: -3dbs, -0.3dbs, -3dbfs, or -0.3dbfs?

2) Is logic's readout showing dbs rather than dbfs?

Thanks!

I don't know where you found dbs, but I don't know it as an existing unit. I do know it as Doctor of Biblical Studies or Deep Brain Stimulation, but as a decibel derivative unit it is unknown.

dBFS is what you are (only) looking for. deciBel relative to Full Scale. Full scale being zero, so any dBFS value will be negative. To answer your question: most mastering engineers like the mix they are going to master to peak at or under -3 dBFS. The levels of individual tracks are (theoretically) irrelevant, as long as the main stereo output stays under -3 dBFS.

Thanks, Eriksimon.

I've read both -0.3 and -3dBFS--but you're saying that it is in fact -3. I'm actually quite surprised, but I guess that gives the mastering engineer plenty of room.

I guess I could use some of that Deep Brain Stimulation now, since I've got to go back through all of my mixes.

Thanks for your time!

Thanks, Eriksimon.

 

I've read both -0.3 and -3dBFS--but you're saying that it is in fact -3.

The -0.3 dBFS is sometimes using for the final master provided by the mastering engineer. Using an output ceiling -0.3 dBFS can take care of most small inter-sample peaks that happen during MP3 conversion for instance, but it's not completely safe. If the signal is already massively compressed, limited and clipped during mastering, then the amount and amplitude of the inter-sample peaks are likely to be much higher though.

You're mixing, so you so go for somewhere between -12 dBFS and -3 dBFS on your stereo output during mixdown, i.e. the mix you'll be giving to the mastering engineer. Leaving some headroom allows the mastering engineer to avoid unnecessary digital attenuation if the first processing in the chain changes the peak level. This often happens in any type of minimum phase processing.

If you read the PDF document I linked to in my earlier post you'll find all the information you need on how to mixdown correctly.

The -3 dBFS is not related to all your tracks in the mix as you wrote, but the stereo output only. However, there are some workflow benefits to keeping your levels from overloading internally, especially if you're using plug-ins that aren't able to input a 0 dBFS+ 32 bit floating point signal without internal clipping. This is covered in this PDF: http://www.popmusic.dk/download/pdf/levels-in-digital-audio.pdf

Got it, Lagerfeldt. That makes sense and explains why I've seen both -3 and -0.3.

Creationcollective, I had read somewhere that whenever possible I should try to reach the desired stereo output level using the individual track faders, and that whenever possible, I should always keep the master fader at zero--I assumed it somehow changed the algorithms in a less than desirable way. But maybe that's not the case. I did read it on the internet--so there's a high probability that I've been misinformed. Thoughts on this, anyone?

Thanks all.

as a lady resort.

I've tried years and years to do that, so tell me what's the secret, please?

Creationcollective, I had read somewhere that whenever possible I should try to reach the desired stereo output level using the individual track faders, and that whenever possible, I should always keep the master fader at zero--I assumed it somehow changed the algorithms in a less than desirable way.

I'm afraid that's bollocks. Logic Pro uses floating point calculations so the scaling is lossless.

There are some advantages to keeping your levels in check, but that's explained in my article.

as a lady resort.

I've tried years and years to do that, so tell me what's the secret, please?

Lossless, eh? Wow. This will be much easier, then.

I really appreciate everybody's clarity and time. I'm going to read your PDF article now. Thanks for sharing.

and really.. Eddie..just sent your 'final mix' to Mr. L with plenty of headroom, and let him master it. Worth the $

Check's in the mail, thanks.

I'm ALL for learning and getting better at ones craft and all that, but, I'm also a BIG fan of paying a Pro to do the last little bit of something. JUST MY OPINION, but I think if you write and mix your own music, you should NOT master it yourself. *unless your Prince*.

Just me..but by the time I'm done, I'm sure I've lost perspective.. That's one additional thing a great mastering engineer brings (along with every thing else). Fresh ears are good.

I'm ALL for learning and getting better at ones craft and all that, but, I'm also a BIG fan of paying a Pro to do the last little bit of something. JUST MY OPINION, but I think if you write and mix your own music, you should NOT master it yourself. *unless your Prince*.

I so agree with everything you just wrote. Unless you're Prince, you should come to term that your music will most probably benefit from not being you playing guitar, singing, programming drums, playing keys, recording, mixing, and mastering. It takes talent to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, and to find the right people to help you where you need it.

I'm ALL for learning and getting better at ones craft and all that, but, I'm also a BIG fan of paying a Pro to do the last little bit of something. JUST MY OPINION, but I think if you write and mix your own music, you should NOT master it yourself. *unless your Prince*.

 

Just me..but by the time I'm done, I'm sure I've lost perspective.. That's one additional thing a great mastering engineer brings (along with every thing else). Fresh ears are good.

 

Irecently sent a track to Tarekith for mastering, great overall experience, and a great result. Not having the gear/experience it makes sense to pay a pro to master tracks....

Irecently sent a track to Tarekith for mastering, great overall experience, and a great result.…

Where can we hear this track Andy?