# Mastering plugin for scores?



## passenger57 (May 2, 2012)

Hi, I'm curious what composers here use for mastering plugins, if any?
My music budgets are low I can't afford a mixer or mastering house for the final mix, so I do it all myself. Sometimes the end result after it goes to DVD seems to be much less dynamic then how it sounds in my studio, particularly in the low end dynamic range. I was wondering if there are plugins available that could add a final 'polish'? I have izotope and vsl plugins, etc. I know this is a very broad subject with many variables, but I thought I'd ask to see if I could pick up a few tips. 
Thanks!


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## mark812 (May 2, 2012)

iZotope Ozone is everything you need.


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## Arbee (May 2, 2012)

+1 it sounds like you have the basic tools - what is your listening environment like in your studio. Just thinking out loud but are there possibly any conversion/dithering issues in your transfer to DVD?


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## Jeffrey Peterson (May 2, 2012)

Can Ozone get it to sound like this.... 

http://soundcloud.com/8dawn/adagio-burn ... ls-folmann


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## RiffWraith (May 2, 2012)

Hello,

Please be aware, that mastering is not about the plugs, but the engineer. If you are self-mastering in a non-mastering enviornment, on inexpensive speakers*, any 'mastering' plug is going to yield the same results. Ozone will do you no better than x or y or z. Why? Because Ozone does not _sound_ any better than x or y or z. No plug has a * press this button for that polished, finished sound!*



passenger57 @ Thu May 03 said:


> Sometimes the end result after it goes to DVD seems to be much less dynamic then how it sounds in my studio, particularly in the low end dynamic range.



Then there is something else going on there which NO plug is going to rectify. Ozone is not simply going make your mix more dynamic on DVDs as opposed to how it sounds in your studio. No plug will do that. 

I recommend first that you figure out why the DVDs sound diffferent. There are a whole host of Qs to ask, from how and where you are are monitoring the DVDs vs your studio, who makes the DVDs and how, how are you exporting your mix, and on and on and on.

Cheers.

*Sorry, I dont know what you have, but if your music budgets are low and can't afford a mixer or mastering house for the final mix, I am assuming you haven't spent thousands of dollars on speakers.


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## rayinstirling (May 3, 2012)

Don't just read the review, buy the book.
The plugins are just tools we have to learn to use.

Mastering Audio


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## wst3 (May 3, 2012)

Pay attention to Riff's and Ray's posts!

Mastering is not about the tools (although there are certainly specialized tools, hardware and software for mastering)!

Mastering is about polishing a mix in a room designed for that purpose, with tools designed for that purpose.

And the single most important tool is the mastering engineer! His experience, his ears, and his knowledge about his environment are invaluable.

The other advantage is that the mastering engineer did not just spend countless hours on the mix. They bring a fresh perspective, and that too is invaluable.

That said, of all the plug-ins I've used, I find Izotope Ozone to be one of the most musically useful suites. I can't put my finger on it exactly why, but they do work really well for mixing and pre-mastering.

Katz's book may not teach you to be a mastering engineer, but it will teach you a TON about the practice!


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## passenger57 (May 3, 2012)

I have a killer setup, great gear - thats not the problem. It sounds like london symphony orchestra in here. I goto the movie studio, and it sounds great in their mixing studio. Then when it goes to TV/DVD/Netflix, it just looses some dynamic range from the compression that is placed on it after it leaves the studio. I know that this is a very broad topic with many variables, but I'm just trying to cover the bases and make sure it's not me - or if there is anything I can do with a plugin that could help with something I'm not hearing that is affecting it somehow. I know this seems pointless to even post this without being too specific. 
Thanks for the input.


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## wst3 (May 3, 2012)

AHA!

OK, I understand better the problem you are trying to solve. And it is not easily solved.

As a general rule, your material will sound best in your control room, followed closely by any other critical listening space that is well designed and well built.

It will probably sound pretty darned good in your living room as well...

But after that all bets are off!

The answer is to limit the "real" dynamic range of your master to something that will fit, or almost fit into the TV/DVD/Netflix channel.

Which sounds easy, but it isn't. In fact it is counter to all that most of us hold dear!!!

So what's a person to do?

There are ways to limit the overall dynamic range of a recording while preserving the dynamics of specific sections or instruments.

This is easier to do if you know what processing is going to be applied after it is out of your control, but that's nearly impossible. Even if you worried only about broadcast television the range of processing options is huge. Add in cable distribution or DVD replication and the range increases exponentially.

So you have to do some reverse engineering.

Take a production that you find particularly bothersome and compare it to your final mix. Where did they compress it, and by how much. What total dynamic range did they squeeze it into?

What you'll discover is that all these folks depend heavily on multi-band compressors, so some bands may be left alone while others are squashed.

You then need to apply processing that allows some peaks (and lulls) to get through that processing. Maybe an entire orchestra is limited to a 30 dB dynamic range but the trumpets are allowed to cover 50 dB... that will add quite a bit of liveliness to the finished product - meaning after the bad guys get their hands on it.

You also have to accept that there is very little you can do to prevent someone from destroying your best efforts. Even the best mastering engineers are unable to combat this.


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## gsilbers (May 3, 2012)

passenger57 @ Thu May 03 said:


> I have a killer setup, great gear - thats not the problem. It sounds like london symphony orchestra in here. I goto the movie studio, and it sounds great in their mixing studio. Then when it goes to TV/DVD/Netflix, it just looses some dynamic range from the compression that is placed on it after it leaves the studio. I know that this is a very broad topic with many variables, but I'm just trying to cover the bases and make sure it's not me - or if there is anything I can do with a plugin that could help with something I'm not hearing that is affecting it somehow. I know this seems pointless to even post this without being too specific.
> Thanks for the input.



mastering sure has its tricks. 

try mixing with mastering plugins in the output channel. have one feed with and feed with out. or bypass the signal chain. that way you can compare with or w/o "mastering". of course each setting will vary but a general mastring setting from ozone or whatever plugin will work for references purposes.


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## germancomponist (May 3, 2012)

Yeah, it is very cool to have the master effects "on" while mixing. You can learn a lot then how they work, and in this way you can get much more out of them...! 

Start with only one plug, for example with the sonnox inflator.... .


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## deniz (May 16, 2012)

In my mind, izotope is awesome but , spend a few minutes an visit the Homepage of. Har-Bal.com .

This is an very interesting Matering Suite.Unfortunately there is no Demo Version, but u can use Youtube for Tutorials.

Available for Windows & Mac .

Cheers.


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## mikebarry (May 16, 2012)

Mike and I have hired professional masters and in the end gone back to our own Ozone - it really is that good.


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## bryla (May 16, 2012)

The Fabfilter plug-ins themselves comprise a very good mastering suite!


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## germancomponist (May 16, 2012)

mikebarry @ Wed May 16 said:


> Mike and I have hired professional masters and in the end gone back to our own Ozone - it really is that good.



Opsssss o/~


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## ghostnote (May 16, 2012)

mikebarry @ Wed May 16 said:


> Mike and I have hired professional masters and in the end gone back to our own Ozone - it really is that good.



I'm a Ozone 5 user and saw this the other day in Mike's videoblog. I really was surprised that he's using it too. It seems that a good pair of monitors + time and training can bring you very far.


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## MichaelL (May 16, 2012)

mikebarry @ Wed May 16 said:


> Mike and I have hired professional masters and in the end gone back to our own Ozone - it really is that good.




Ozone 5 or _Ozone 5 Advanced_?

I have Ozone 5. I'm wondering if I should upgrade. (or save the money for CineWinds :wink: )


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## mikebarry (May 16, 2012)

Ozone 5 is just fine, and I think it is the closest one can get to one button solution. Another good investment, something I have done 4-5 times, is to hire an engineer to come over for 2-3 hours and set up a few templates for you style tracks and then you can use those as starting points. 

If in LA i suggest Adam Michalak. The 100/hr is truly worth it because it then becomes a Do it yourself situation.


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## MichaelL (May 16, 2012)

mikebarry @ Wed May 16 said:


> Ozone 5 is just fine, and I think it is the closest one can get to one button solution. Another good investment, something I have done 4-5 times, is to hire an engineer to come over for 2-3 hours and set up a few templates for you style tracks and then you can use those as starting points.
> 
> If in LA i suggest Adam Michalak. The 100/hr is truly worth it because it then becomes a Do it yourself situation.




Thanks Mike. Great suggestion. I'm east coast. But, I've got someone in mind.


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## John Rodd (May 16, 2012)

I do a lot of mastering work in all music genres.... (in addition to recording, and mixing...) and I'm the first to admit - mastering can be tough sometimes!

:shock: 

the most important thing to keep in mind is.... the ear always prefers the louder mix, regardless of quality.

What I mean is.... say you took your unmastered mix and slammed it thru Ozone (or similar) and got a _*very very loud mastered file.*_

Then say you gave the unmastered file to a great mastering engineer (who is familiar with the genre of music you are working in) and he or she does a fantastic, beautiful, awesome sounding master for you.

If the RMS (overall volume) of your Ozone (or similar) mastered file is louder than the professionally done version.... you WILL prefer the louder (DIY) version, without question.

It is how the brain works.

You just really need to be aware of this... and make sure levels are exactly matched when comparing two different things. 

The reason that this is important... is that to really gain an understanding of mastering, and how to make a great sounding master.... is the fact that we always prefer the louder thing.... even if it sounds crappier.

~o)


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## ghostnote (May 17, 2012)

mikebarry @ Wed May 16 said:


> Another good investment, something I have done 4-5 times, is to hire an engineer to come over for 2-3 hours and set up a few templates for you style tracks and then you can use those as starting points.



That's a very nice suggestion. 



John Rodd @ Wed May 16 said:


> the most important thing to keep in mind is.... the ear always prefers the louder mix, regardless of quality.



That's soo true. Our ears are used to tv/radio maxed-out in-your-face mixes. I really get surprised (negatively) when I'm hearing/seeing a commercial that doesn't sound as powerful as the others. It just pops out and sounds out-of-date, 
so everyone is trying to max it out. The other point is that "louder music" gets more attention. It simply feels closer and warmer.

Back to topic:

What I like about Ozone is that it can keep a good amount the audioquality if you don't overdo it with the maximizer. What i don't like is the exciter (non-advanced), there are definetely better ones out there.


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## jamwerks (May 17, 2012)

No love for the Slate plug ?


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## John Rodd (May 17, 2012)

jamwerks @ Thu May 17 said:


> No love for the Slate plug ?



it is VERY easy to distort your mastering with the Slate plugin - if you have the wrong settings dialed up - and the controls are complicated....

I would strongly recommend against the Slate plugin for non-professional mastering engineers usage.

ie for 99.999999% of composers.... i'd suggest something else.

just my 2c.

john


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## germancomponist (May 17, 2012)

John Rodd @ Thu May 17 said:


> I do a lot of mastering work in all music genres.... (in addition to recording, and mixing...) and I'm the first to admit - mastering can be tough sometimes!
> 
> :shock:
> 
> ...



+100!

So true!


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## Resonator (May 27, 2012)

bryla @ Wed May 16 said:


> The Fabfilter plug-ins themselves comprise a very good mastering suite!



+1 for the Fabfilter plug-ins.
Check out PSP MixPack2 as well.
A very reasonably priced alternative is MixControl Pro.
Plug-in Alliance have some excellent mastering plug-ins too.


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## reddognoyz (May 27, 2012)

i (over) use ozone


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## devastat (May 27, 2012)

I highly recommend also trying out Cytomic The Glue (compressor / buss compression).


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## marcotronic (May 27, 2012)

I love my Vienna Suite for mastering:

http://www.viennasuite.com/

Marco


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## EastWest Lurker (May 28, 2012)

Fo me, it is the UA mastering plugs.


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## LTSF (Aug 10, 2012)

With all this talk about dedicated mixing/mastering software like Izotope and HarBal, what is the difference between these and the stuff that comes with your DAWs?

Many DAWs now come with spectrum viewers and eq matchers, unlike in 2004.


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## mark812 (Aug 10, 2012)

Regarding DAW-bundled plugins, Studio One Pro has fantastic mastering (and mixing) plugins. Waiting for the improved MIDI..


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## dannthr (Aug 10, 2012)

Plus 2 on the Fabfilter Plugins.

After getting their Pro collection, I haven't really looked back to iZotope.


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## Peter Alexander (Aug 10, 2012)

marcotronic @ Sun May 27 said:


> I love my Vienna Suite for mastering:
> 
> http://www.viennasuite.com/
> 
> Marco



And highly under rated, too.


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## spectrum (Aug 11, 2012)

Just wanted to jump in and share a wonderful Mastering tutorial that I've gotten so much out of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY4UFEZFRpg&list=UUFKiR17K_wEj5OAVOF2KiUw&index=4&feature=plpp_video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY4UFEZF ... plpp_video)


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## Tanuj Tiku (Aug 11, 2012)

Eric,

The tutorials by 'YEAH Dubz' have been a life-altering for me. Thank you so much for posting it! 

Haha!


Tanuj.


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## P.T. (Aug 11, 2012)

It could very well be the mastering that is killing the dynamics of your music and why it sounds less dynamic on DVD.

There is no reason for this.

Just burn it at a reasonable level, or at the same level as you listen in the studio (No maximizing).
If you are playing with making it louder you are having to use compression or limiting which reduces dynamics.


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## muziksculp (Aug 11, 2012)

*Ozone 5* or *Ozone 5 (advanced)* are great mastering plug-ins. 

Also... For a mastering class compressor/Limiter you can't go wrong with :

*Slate Digital FGX * http://www.slatedigital.com/products/fgx

Cheers,
Muziksculp


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