Ok, before you all start telling me anything about Mastering or my process, this is just what I do, it works for me, it will work for you. It's not perfect by any means, no I don't have a "tuned" room with kazillion dollar true-flat monitors, no it's not "proper mastering", nope none of that ish! If you're looking for that, stop reading now and start googling, cause this ain't for you. That said, none of this is engraved in stone, feel free to test or tweak any setting that you see fit. Use whatever tools that you prefer. If you have Waves, consider this a great start, if you don't try to follow along and make adjustments to whatever you use. This is basically the Har-Bal International Mastering Process with a few of my little tweaks.
Here goes...
1. After completing my song, I check my Avg. RMS Level. I want it around the -3 to -5 mark with normal bass (not too loud, not too low...(think of it as being 0 decibels)
2. I open Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ, I set #1 to high pass by clicking the drop botton under type and choosing Hi Pass. Then I input my freqs & Q values...
Gain Freq. Q
0 31 3.0
0 86 3.0
0 171 2.8
0 341 2.8
0 672 1.4
0 1297 1.4
0 2594 1.4
0 5187 1.4
0 10079 1.4
0 15000 3.0
*Remember too much on the low end will prevent you from increasing your overall volume*
3. Then I open Waves LinMB, right click the <> button and I choose "Too Much Limiting" (but you can choose anyone you wish because the process is the same). Now I play my song from start to finish without touching a thing. Now, I look at the numbers at the bottom of each band. These are my peaks. I input those numbers in my THRSH all the way across so that my peak values match my threshold values. Now I play my song again. Then I click on the MAKEUP button changing it to AUTO. I "grab" the MASTER button and drag downwards until the squiggly orange dynamics line is in the middle of the blue range. Then I "grab" the Master Attack button (4th button down) and drag it upwards until the first 2 bands of the orange dynamics line starts to stabilize. Then I "grab" the Master Release button and move it upwards until the first 2 bands move together horizontally. *Make small adjustments to the attack and release buttons only if needed to get the first two bands horizontal.* Then I click the TRIM button.
4.Next I open my Limiter, I'll use Waves L2, L3 or L6 Ultramaximizer it doesn't really matter which. The key here is for me to set my Out-Ceiling at -0.1 and slowly pull my threshold down to my desired level while checking my RMS Meter, if I don't see any activity (music playing) in my out-ceiling then I know my music is too compressed.
*I always keep 3 meters open for referencing...
1. My Phasescope to check my stereo image, the image should be mostly vertical with a little body to the sides.
2. My Level Meter to monitor my peak and RMS levels constantly, making sure that I'm building up the song without clipping, and I keep my volume at 85db (I use a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter for that).
3. My Spectrum Analyzer to check for spikes and overall patterns so that I can compensate with my final EQ'ing.
Thats it! I hope this helps and encourage you guys with Waves to try this out. Test, Test, Test!
Good luck!
EDIT: Here's a quick sample flip using these exact settings...Arabic Luv
Here goes...
1. After completing my song, I check my Avg. RMS Level. I want it around the -3 to -5 mark with normal bass (not too loud, not too low...(think of it as being 0 decibels)
2. I open Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ, I set #1 to high pass by clicking the drop botton under type and choosing Hi Pass. Then I input my freqs & Q values...
Gain Freq. Q
0 31 3.0
0 86 3.0
0 171 2.8
0 341 2.8
0 672 1.4
0 1297 1.4
0 2594 1.4
0 5187 1.4
0 10079 1.4
0 15000 3.0
*Remember too much on the low end will prevent you from increasing your overall volume*
3. Then I open Waves LinMB, right click the <> button and I choose "Too Much Limiting" (but you can choose anyone you wish because the process is the same). Now I play my song from start to finish without touching a thing. Now, I look at the numbers at the bottom of each band. These are my peaks. I input those numbers in my THRSH all the way across so that my peak values match my threshold values. Now I play my song again. Then I click on the MAKEUP button changing it to AUTO. I "grab" the MASTER button and drag downwards until the squiggly orange dynamics line is in the middle of the blue range. Then I "grab" the Master Attack button (4th button down) and drag it upwards until the first 2 bands of the orange dynamics line starts to stabilize. Then I "grab" the Master Release button and move it upwards until the first 2 bands move together horizontally. *Make small adjustments to the attack and release buttons only if needed to get the first two bands horizontal.* Then I click the TRIM button.
4.Next I open my Limiter, I'll use Waves L2, L3 or L6 Ultramaximizer it doesn't really matter which. The key here is for me to set my Out-Ceiling at -0.1 and slowly pull my threshold down to my desired level while checking my RMS Meter, if I don't see any activity (music playing) in my out-ceiling then I know my music is too compressed.
*I always keep 3 meters open for referencing...
1. My Phasescope to check my stereo image, the image should be mostly vertical with a little body to the sides.
2. My Level Meter to monitor my peak and RMS levels constantly, making sure that I'm building up the song without clipping, and I keep my volume at 85db (I use a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter for that).
3. My Spectrum Analyzer to check for spikes and overall patterns so that I can compensate with my final EQ'ing.
Thats it! I hope this helps and encourage you guys with Waves to try this out. Test, Test, Test!
Good luck!
EDIT: Here's a quick sample flip using these exact settings...Arabic Luv
