Master channel

[Steven_Blair]

Would anyone be willing to post up a picture of how their typical Master channel looks once they have finished a track?
My master channel is 99% empty (I did a few tracks using Elephant to squeeze more volume but don't any more).

I am fairly happy with my tracks overall sound, but a music site I like of Facebook is always full of articles on people comparing their Master channels (unless that's a Euphemism for something else!) and which plugins and settings they use.

[knechtodawas]

This is the master channel of one of my last tracks. Very weird .

Master.png

[Kriminal]

I never put anything in the busses or master channel.

[Vitaly]

Only Breakwall limiter (sometimes Saturation)

[balistic]

Just a limiter.

The EQing and levels of your individual instruments matters much more than anything you do in the mastering chain, in my opinion.

And you're far more likely to ruin a track by attempting a convoluted mastering scheme than you are to improve it with one.

[Solid Technica]

Even with a simple limiter I don't like the effect it has on the sound. Maybe it's because some elements are clippng a few db and I usally try it add it later in the mix. Will try adding it early on and see if that helps. Usually I live the master completely blank and apply some simple eq in wave editor. I've never had a mix where a compressor makes the mix sound better. But I should probably spend a few days learning more about this, ie mixing early on with master channel inserts or adding them post production. Let's see some more pics though if you have them, and some audio samples pre and post could help alot.

[Steven_Blair]

I really felt sticking Elephant on the master bus just kinda gave me some extra volume for free (as long as track had the space).
Apart from that my knowledge in this area is pretty slim.

[Solid Technica]

Seems like alot of people are using elephant. Will check it out. I also heard bx limiter would give you alot of headroom too. From what little I know I hear increasing volume with a compressor with 1:1 ratio is best then adding a limiter afterwards for atmost 5 db. Also if you plan to get the track mastered its best to leave 3-5 db head room anyways and never normalize any audio..

[Solid Technica]

This is the master channel of one of my last tracks. Very weird .

Master.png

How about pics of the vst settings and some audio examples

[knechtodawas]

Will post a sound example tomorrow or later this week (maybe also a screenshot of the settings). Although there are many plugs involved the settings are very subtle at each stage.

[Christophe]

Camel phat, a brickwall limiter and voxengo SPAN

[HYPNAGOGIA]

A low cut filter, a meter and analyzer (SPAN, Sonalksis FreeG) and Brickwall Limiter as last in the chain merely as a prevention just so I don't get any nasty clipping when trying an instrument out - some tend to be too loud. And that's it.

Used to use Dynasone, but it changed the sound so much that rendering individual channels was impossible to maintain the same sound of them. After that I used to use Digital Fish Phones plugins (Endorphin, specifically), but I stopped using that as well. I've started discovering that what Orion gives out is the only way to maintain perfect control over the sound you get. So, now I'm down to minimal effects use (I mostly use sends effects - 2 X-Delays panned differently, a reverb and another delay that's set to either 6 or 8 steps timing), a few selected inserts across the entire mixer, and nothing more.

[ufo]

Best to do an agonisingly perfect mix with care on the channel levels and eq.

I always use a brick wall limiter and a low cut @ 30Hz on my master, and I do the progressive mixing with this on, not added post mix, this way I can hear the end result during my work.

I too used to use compressors, eqs and limiters and dicked around endlessly, only to find very different sounds on diff systems.
I used to to low cut @ 20hz as this gave me a nice meaty bottom end in the studio but shit at other systems, so I took on some advice and started low cuts @ 30Hz and this has made all the difference for me, and the tracks are sounding better on all playback systems.

[Solid Technica]

Has anyone tried using ozone or the like on the master channel. Is it me or do all the presets totally ruin the mix, seriously not a single one made the mix sound better, just squished and slightly louder. I know judging by presets is a bad idea, especially for mastering plugins, but couldn't they get at least one right? How about t-racks any better for out of the box presets. It's probably a necessity though to create your own

[dmassive]

Has anyone tried using ozone or the like on the master channel.

I've got Ozone 5. The presets mostly will destroy the mix adding a lot of mud, distortion, low frequencies, etc... but for people like me, some presets are enough for quick preview results.

I also tried T-racks and Maximus and sounds good but... I don't like the interfaces, not too much "inspiring" for my taste, specially the Maximus Envelopes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0IHyGtY0TE