Welcome to sage audio. Today we’re talking about How to Setup Your Mastering Chain
But first If you have a mix that you need mastered send it to us at sage audio . Com
to receive a free mastered sample of it.
Import Your Stereo Mix
The first step to any stereo mastering session is to import your stereo mix into a DAW - this
is how you’ll adjust, process, monitor and export your master. Despite the mix’s sampling
rate and bit depth, create a session with a minimum of 24-bits and 96kHz.
It’s typical to use the sample sampling rate as your mix when mastering; however,
by using a higher sampling rate you’ll reduce the effect of aliasing created from your processing.
Create Enough Headroom
Before you being to process your signal, you’ll need to ensure that you have enough headroom
for your processing - if mastering multiple tracks at once, you’ll want to roughly match
their headroom. The best way to affect the headroom of your master is to alter the clip
gain.
I like to have about 5dB of headroom, but how much you start with is up to you.
Understand your Routing
When you start to consider what processing you’ll use, it’s imperative that you understand
how your signal is being routed, and where to place each processor. Your signal starts
with the file or waveform, then your inserts, then to any auxiliary sends or busses, and
finally to your stereo output.
Place each form of processing in the order you want to affect your signal - and keep
in mind that the signal will travel from one processor to the next in that order.
EQ Your Master
I typically like to have my first insert be an equalizer, with which I’ll attenuate
any aspects of the signal that I don’t want to amplify later on in my chain. This attenuation
can be stereo, left and right, or mid and side, depending on where the offending signal
is.
I’ll typically use additive equalization later in my chain, but some engineers combine
both forms as their first insert.
Saturate Your Master Saturation is a combination of distortion
and compression, and can be used to control your masters dynamics while simultaneously
adding harmonics. Saturation is often thought of as the tone of a sound, and comes in multiple
forms like tape, tube, transistor and more, which provide extra clarity or fullness.
When mastering, saturation should be used subtly to avoid unpleasant distortion. Additionally,
if you use saturation, use one with oversampling and enable 2x or more.
Compress Only if Needed
Whether or not to use compression in a mastering session is often debated, but it seems to
be a form of processing that should typically be used only if needed. Compression will let
you control the dynamics of your master and change it’s timbre by adjusting the attack
and release.
Optical compression is great for creating a smooth master is used subtly, while digital
compressors are used for more aggressive genres.
Limit Your Master
The last form of processing that you should use on your signal chain is a limiter, with
which you’ll increase the loudness and protect the signal from peaking or clipping distortion.
The limiter you choose and the settings will greatly affect the timbre of your master,
and all previous processing.
Like saturation, limiting, especially aggressive limiting can cause aliasing, so be sure to
use oversampling if the limiter offers it.
Monitor Your Levels
After limiting you’ll want to use a metering plugin to measure both the LUFS and dBTP - the
LUFS can be considered your master’s loudness, and the dBTP its level. If you notice that
your dBTP is above 0dB, you’ll need to revisit your limiter and reduce the output ceiling.
If you plan to release your music on a streaming service a good range for the LUFS is -14 to
-8. Your dBTP should be between -.5dBTP and -2dBTP.
Export Your Master
When exporting a master, I like to make multiple versions - the first is a high resolution
version with the same settings as the session. The second is a version for the streaming
service I’ll distribute the song to, and will be set to the highest settings they accept.
The last is a 320kbps MP3 which is helpful for sharing and radio promotion.
If you have a mix that you need mastered, send it to us at sage audio.com to receive
a free mastered sample of it. Also, subscribe to stay up to date on all of our latest videos.
Thank you so much for watching.