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NOIZ-LAB

7-STEP MASTERING SUITE

QUICK-STARTMANUAL

Master your music like a pro in 7 easy steps.A complete plug-in suite for anyone mastering at home.

WWW.NOIZ-LAB.COM

Introduction

Hi, my name is JD Young. I am the founder of Noiz-Lab as well as the author of this quick-

start manual. I have been producing music in my home studio from the age of fifteen, and

later on I decided to start producing music professionally. From the beginning of my career,

I’ve always felt drawn to the mysterious art of mastering. I wanted to master my music my-

self, in spite of any advice against it.

I read all I could find about mastering and talked to as many engineers as I could. Over the

years I managed to optimize my mastering workflow, overcoming the challenges of wor-

king in a home studio. I wrote everything down in my book Home Studio Mastering, eager to

share my experiences with other home studio producers. But I wanted to take it one step

further. With a small but talented team I began to develop a method for mastering at home:

a complete workflow consisting of 7 easy steps. A workflow that shortens the learning curve

dramatically and brings consistency to the mastering chain by providing 7 plug-ins with

matching visuals and functionality. Looking back, developing this plug-in suite is one of the

most exciting things I’ve ever done.

I sincerely hope you’ll feel inspired after going through the 7 steps and mastering your first

track with our suite. If you have any suggestions or questions, don’t hesitate to contact me

at [email protected]. We have lots of plans for the future, and your feedback is more than

welcome.

JD

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| 7-STEP MASTERING SUITE | QUICK-START MANUAL 3

Contents:

Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Getting started

Step 1: High Pass Monomizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5High pass filter & low end stereo imager.

Step 2: MS Equalizer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Mid/side equalizer with solo-option.

Step 3: Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Parallel compressor with peak and RMS mode.

Step 4: Enhancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Analog-style tape and tube enhancer.

Step 5: Stereo Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Warm-sounding stereo equalizer.

Step 6: Transient Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Kick and snare-targeted transient designer.

Step 7: Brickwall Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Intelligent brickwall limiter & dither.

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23What’s next?

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Preparations

This quick-start manual will guide you through our 7-step mastering suite. Once you have

everything set up, mastering your first track shouldn’t take more than one or two hours.

You’re probably eager to get started, so let’s get ready for your first mastering session!

I assume you are a musician or engineer working in a home studio. You’ve finished mixing

one of your songs and it’s time for the final step: mastering. Before we can start we need

a high resolution mixdown of your song. To make the most of our mastering session, your

mixdown needs to meet certain criteria. Follow the steps below:

• Switch off any limiters or loudness maximization plug-ins on the master bus. In general I

recommend that you take everything off your master bus, except maybe for some subtle

processing: some people like to mix with a little compression or enhancement on their

master bus, and that is fine.

• Make sure that your mix does not exceed 0dB on the master bus, otherwise it will start

‘clipping’ and this will cause distortion. It is good practice to have your mix peak at a

maximum of about -3dB to -9dB. If your mix is clipping, just turn the master fader down.

• Render your mix as a high resolution stereo .wav or .aiff file. This will make the proces-

sing you apply during mastering more accurate. I recommend rendering your file on a bit

rate of 24-bit for resolution, and a sample rate of 96kHz to improve the performance of

the plug-ins.

After rendering your song, open a new project in your audio editor1 or sequencer2 of choice

and import your high resolution file. Some sequencers will automatically convert the bit

rate and sample rate of imported files to their current settings. If this happens, make sure

your project is running at 24-bit and 96kHz before importing your file. This is the project we

will use for our mastering session, so don’t forget to save it.

1 Audio editor: software dedicated to mastering (e.g. Wavelab, Soundforge, DSP Quattro, Bias Peak)2 Sequencer: software dedicated to recording and mixing. (e.g. Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper)

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To prevent some common issues when mastering in a home studio, I strongly recommend

that you select one to three reference tracks to compare your file to while going through

the 7 steps. Choose tracks that you know inside out and that have a high production value.

You will be listening to them a lot, so make sure you like them as well! It’s best to import

the reference tracks into your audio editor or sequencer as well and put them on separate

tracks. This way you can switch between them instantaneously using the solo and mute but-

tons, which allows you to easily and clearly hear the differences. A sequencer is sometimes

more convenient than an audio editor in this respect. If this setup is not possible, you can of

course load your reference tracks in a separate player on your computer. When comparing

your file to reference tracks during a mastering session, it is very important that all tracks

have the same perceived loudness. You need to judge this by ear. Adjust the volume of the

reference tracks, not that of your own file.

Since you only want to process your own file, and not the reference tracks, it is advisable

to direct your file to a bus or group track. On this track you load the 7 Noiz-Lab mastering

plug-ins, so you don’t affect the reference tracks. If you’ve only imported your own file to

your project, just load the 7 Noiz-Lab mastering plug-ins to your master bus. After loading

the plug-ins, make sure they are in the right order and save a preset with all plug-ins set to

their default settings. This way you can load all seven plug-ins at once at the start of your

next mastering session.

Finally, make a cup of tea or coffee and listen to your reference tracks for 10 to 15 minutes.

This is very important, because the way you perceive sound changes depending on what

you listen to just before. Calibrating your ears (and brain!) before a mastering session is

therefore essential. Alright, time to finish your drink and proceed to step 1.

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HIGH PASS MONOMIZER• Cleaning up low end

• Increasing potential maximum loudness

• Stabilizing the stereo image

We’ll start off our mastering ses-

sion by balancing out the very

lowest frequencies in your file, also

known as sub-bass or just sub. After

all, we want the low end of your file

to translate well to the broadest

possible variety of audio systems.

This is particularly important for

sub-heavy genres like hip-hop

and dance, because well-balanced

sub-bass gives these genres their

powerful sound. I won’t lie to you: balancing out the sub-bass can be challenging for two

reasons. First of all, most home studios usually have some acoustic problems in the low

end. And secondly, even if you have a decent pair of near-field monitors in your home

studio, they probably won’t reproduce any frequencies below 40Hz. This can be problema-

tic because human beings are able to hear frequencies down to about 20Hz. So if your file

contains problems below your speaker range, you won’t be aware of them at all. To avoid

these problems I’m going to give you a few tips:

• Find out the range or frequency response of your speakers. This way you will at least know

how big your problem is.

• Double check everything you do on a professional pair of headphones which has a fre-

quency response down to 20Hz. Using a pair of headphones will also eliminate possible

acoustic problems of the room you’re working in.

• When working on the low end, crank up the volume. This will make it easier to detect

problems in the low end and compare your file to the reference tracks.

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Ok, let’s get to work. First, we’re going to filter out the lowest frequencies to clean up your

file. We’re just using the top two knobs on the plug-in for this part. As we can’t hear any-

thing below 20Hz, this might seem like a good frequency to start rolling of the sub-bass, but

because learning the ‘sound’ of a plug-in is essential for making the right decisions during

mastering, we’re going to take a different approach:

• Play your file and slowly turn the frequency knob all the way up to 320Hz and back a

few times. You’ll notice that the lower frequencies disappear. Double check this on your

headphones.

• Then, with the frequency knob at 320Hz, slowly turn the slope knob all the way up to

100% and back. This knob controls the angle of the slope by which the plug-in rolls off

the low frequencies, and will have a much more subtle effect, if you’re able to hear its ef-

fect at all. When you press the solo button on the bottom part of the plug-in, a portion of

the high frequencies will disappear, making it easier to hear what’s going on.

Now, for the actual settings of the top two knobs.

• If you are somewhat experienced and have a nicely treated room and a good set of

speakers or headphones, I recommend being conservative at this point, especially with

sub-heavy genres. Set the frequency between 20Hz and about 30Hz and keep the slope

at 0%. This way you will gain a little transparency and increase the potential maximum

loudness of your file by removing the lowest frequencies, which have big amplitudes

(and which you’re not able to hear anyway). Besides that you will also reduce any DC-

offset problems in a subtle way.

• If you’re not that experienced and don’t know what to listen for exactly, I recommend

being a little more aggressive to be on the safe side. Set the frequency between 30Hz and

40Hz and bring up the slope to about 50%. This will make sure you won’t encounter any

problems when playing your music on bigger systems. For tracks without (kick) drums

and bass guitar, like singer/songwriter for example, you can even go a little higher, say to

about 50Hz. Make sure you don’t eliminate the warmth of your file though. Don’t worry

about any remaining uncontrolled low end in comparison to the reference tracks, as

we’re going to have a few more opportunities to compensate for this. NOIZ-LAB


Now, for the bottom section of the plug-in: this part is designed to make the lowest

frequencies more mono, which makes them appear more centered in the stereo image.

This will stabilize the stereo image and add a little punch to your kick drum and bass.

• First, let’s explore the sound of the monomize section. Turn up the volume of your track,

set the frequency knob to 320Hz and turn the monomize knob slowly to 100%. Press the

solo button and use your headphones to hear more clearly what’s going on. You’ll notice

that everything gets more centered in the stereo image.

• If you like your mix in the low end, and you want to be a little conservative, set the fre-

quency knob to 100Hz and the monomize knob to a maximum of 50%. Frequencies

below 100Hz are generally perceived as mono anyway, so this will just add a little more

stability to your file.

• If the low end sounds a bit messy compared to the reference tracks, you could go up to

about 150Hz and 75%. But be careful not to lose any power or punch. Check this both on

your headphones and your speakers with the volume turned up.

As I said before, balancing out the sub-bass and low end can be difficult. But don’t worry,

it gets easier from now on, and we’ll revisit the issue a few times in the following steps. So

even if you’ve chosen to be conservative because you don’t want to do any damage, we’ll

get there in the end.

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MS EQUALIZER• Optimizing frequency balance

• Increasing transparency

• Improving stereo image

During this second step, we’re

going to make sure that your file’s

tonal balance has no inaccura-

cies and will sound great on small

laptop speakers as well as on huge

PA systems. To accomplish this,

we’re not using a regular equalizer,

but instead we’re using a so-called

mid/side equalizer that splits your

stereo file in two parts, a ‘center’

channel, and a ‘sides’ channel. Play your file and press the solo button to hear what I mean.

Select ‘EQ center’ to hear everything that’s centered in your file. Select ‘EQ sides’ to only

hear what’s on the sides. Using this type of equalizer can glue your mix together nicely and

can also enhance the stereo image in a very natural way.

First of all, let’s compare your file to the reference tracks. Listen to the lows and highs. If

your track sounds overly dull or bright, you can use the shelves of the equalizer to create a

general balance.

• Let’s start with the ‘EQ center’ portion. Put it on solo, and adjust the high and low shelf

(handles 1 and 6) by manually moving the handles in the window, or by clicking and

dragging in the edit boxes. If you click underneath the handle and move your mouse

sideways, you can manually adjust the shape, or ‘Q-value’, of the filter. Using the mouse

wheel has the same effect. You want a smooth curve, so try not to change the shape too

much, if possible. So, adjust the shelves and make sure there is enough low end, and no

excess high end, in the center part.

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• Then solo the ‘EQ sides’ portion and make sure the opposite is true: enough high end,

and no excess low end. If your mix is decent, a boost or cut of 2dB to 3dB max per shelf

should be more than sufficient to create a good overall balance. Un-solo the equalizer

and compare your file to the reference tracks. Remember to turn your volume up, and

double check your settings on your headphones while setting the low shelves.

Secondly, let’s check if there are any problem frequencies in your file. Compare your file to

your reference tracks and listen for differences in tonal color. Your file might sound muddy

or boxy, or nasal or harsh in comparison. If you run into a problem like that, you have to find

the corresponding frequency area.

• Find out if the problem is in the center or in the sides (or both). Then press solo and

choose a peak filter (handles 2 through 5). Manually create a boost by raising the handle

to the top of the window. Now move the handle slowly to the left and right until the pro-

blem frequency becomes louder. This is called focusing the equalizer. If you have trouble

finding the right frequency, widen the boost by decreasing the Q-value and try again.

• Once you’ve identified the problem area, set the final Q-value. Keep in mind that you

want a smooth curve, so a Q-value of 1 or less is generally appropriate. If you have a

more specific problem, like a resonating frequency, try going a little higher to a maxi-

mum of about 3.

• Now, manually enter the amount you want to cut. This way you avoid moving the handle

sideways accidently. Pressing Ctrl and dragging the handle or using the mouse wheel has

the same effect. Again, if your mix is decent, you shouldn’t have to cut more than a few dB.

Actually, cuts of about 0.5dB to 1dB are probably the most common in mastering.

And finally, let’s see if your file is lacking anything. Compare your file to the reference tracks

and listen to the overall sound.

• Does your track lack power or warmth, or fullness or definition? If so, use the same focu-

sing technique as before but apply boosts instead of cuts after finding the right frequen-

cy and setting the Q-value.NOIZ-LAB


• Often you can improve the stereo image of your track by adding some extra high fre-

quency content to the sides. This can give your file a very wide sound.

Listen to your reference tracks once more, on your speakers and your headphones, and

revisit your settings if necessary. Keep in mind that this is only the second step of our mas-

tering session, and that you are comparing your file to a fully-mastered reference track. So

don’t worry if your file doesn’t match up yet.

COMPRESSOR• Controlling dynamics and dynamic range

• Adding punch and impact

• Increasing potential maximum loudness

Using a compressor appropriately can help you get

a modern and punchy sound, but understanding

the workings of a compressor can take some time.

For now, it is important to know that the reasons

for using a compressor are quite specific and can

differ greatly. If you’re turning the knobs without

knowing what you’re aiming for, you probably

won’t get very far. In fact, you’ll probably do more

harm than good.

Below, I’ve listed the four most commonly used

compression techniques during mastering. Try

them all and do a before-and-after comparison. As

I hinted at earlier, be aware of the perceptual bias

that comes into play when you’re making adjust-

ments to your file that can influence loudness. Let

me explain. If you turn up the volume of your file,

your brain will exaggerate the low end and high

STEP

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end. This will make your file sound more powerful and clearer. If you turn the volume down,

the opposite happens and your file will sound less powerful and less clear. Conclusion: lou-

der sounds better. Avoiding this problem by comparing compression settings on the same

perceived loudness is therefore extremely important. It is one of the secrets of professional

mastering.

1. Using compression as ‘glue’ This technique will help to glue your file together and add some subtle fullness and warmth.

It’s a very basic technique, but it can add a nice bit of stability to your file. If you hear some-

one talking about general mastering compression, this technique is probably close to what

they mean.

• Set the attack to 30ms, the release to 300ms and the ratio to 2.

• Play the loudest part of your file and pull down the threshold until you get about 2dB to

3dB gain reduction. Turning on the soft knee will smooth the compression a little, giving

the compressor a more subtle character.

• Adjust the make-up gain by ear and bypass the compressor a few times to hear the dif-

ference.

2. Using compression for balanceThis is a parallel compression technique that will bring out the softer parts of your file,

which can be very helpful if you want to subtly reduce the dynamics of your file without

making it sound unnatural. It is especially useful for guitar music and other acoustic genres,

like singer/songwriter.

• Set the attack to 0ms, the release to 250ms and the ratio to 2.

• Play the loudest part of your file and pull down the threshold until you get a max of

about 5dB gain reduction. If you feel that the compression is too obvious, you could set

the compression style to RMS and adjust the threshold until you have about 2dB or 3dB

of gain reduction. This might sound more subtle.

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• Then turn the mix knob to 0% and slowly add the compressed signal to the original. De-

pending on how much you want to bring out the softer parts of your file, you’ll probably

want to set the mix knob to about 30% to 60%.

• Adjust the make-up gain and compare to the uncompressed signal.

3. Using compression to add punchThis is a subtle technique to add some more punch to your file by giving the transients3 -

like the kick and snare - a little boost. It works very well for pop and rock music with a drum-

heavy mix.

• Set the attack to 15ms, the release to 50ms and the ratio to 1.15.

• Play the loudest part of your file and pull down the threshold until you get a max of

about 1dB to 2dB gain reduction. Everything except the transients will be brought down

a little.

• This will change the perceived loudness and can be misleading, so adjust the make-up

gain before you compare to the uncompressed signal.

4. Using compression for impactThis is a parallel compression technique based on the New York compression principle. It is

far more vigorous than the previous compression techniques and is perfectly suited to give

loud and powerful music more impact and a modern, ‘produced’ sound.

• Set the attack to 15ms, the release to 150ms and the ratio to 8. Set the compression style

to RMS.

• Play the loudest part of your file and pull down the threshold until you get an overly com-

pressed sound where the transients begin to sound explosive.

3 A transient is a very short sound with a relatively high volume, like a hard-hit snare drum.

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• Turn the mix knob down to 0% and slowly add the compressed signal to the original.

Depending on how extreme your settings are, you’ll probably want to set the mix knob to

about 20% to 40%. You can try 50% if you are aiming for a louder and grittier vibe.

• Adjust the make-up gain and compare to the uncompressed signal.

It’s not uncommon to use more than one compression technique in your chain. Sometimes

it’s best to use two or three different subtle techniques consecutively instead of one more

vigorous technique that sticks out too much. After all, you don’t want to over-compress your

track and drain all the life out of it. You can just load an extra instance of the compressor in

your chain if you want to experiment with this setup. Apart from all that, it’s helpful to know

that your brain will automatically compress loud sounds in real life. This principle makes

compressed music actually sound louder. So a tad too much compression can even be a

good thing if you’re aiming for a loud master.

Before choosing the final settings of the compressor, listen critically to your file for a few mi-

nutes to determine which technique is best suited in your case. For loud and electronic mu-

sic I recommend increasing the impact or the punch of your file; or both. Turn up the high

pass knob if the compressor is reacting too strongly to your kick or bass. For softer music

with acoustic instruments I recommend choosing a more subtle approach and adding some

glue or improving the overall balance a little; or both. It can’t hurt to try adjusting the attack

and release knobs a little to see if you can find a more musical setting, where the ‘rhythm’

of the compressor fits the tempo or BPM of your file. On a final note: if you’re aiming for a

really loud master, consider being a little more vigorous during this step to give the limiter

some more room to breathe during step 7.

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ENHANCER• Adding tape and tube harmonics

• Increasing warmth

• Softening digital harshness

In contrast with the two equalizers - which amplify existing fre-

quencies - enhancers create new frequency content by adding

harmonics and creating phase differences. Our enhancer emulates

the pleasing sound of an analog tape machine and the warm and

subtle distortion of a tube amplifier. We have provided two tonal

balance knobs to adjust the tonal color of the added content if

necessary. Let’s turn the knobs and get to know the sound of this

plug-in.

• We’ll start with the Tape section: turn the saturation knob all the way up to 100% and

listen to the difference. You will increase the density of the file, and make any harshness

disappear from the higher frequencies. Your track will sound a bit warmer and more

listener-friendly. Bypass the plug-in a few times and listen carefully. Now, with the satu-

ration knob set to 100%, turn the tonal color knob all the way to the right and then all the

way to the left. This knob will only affect the added harmonic content, but you should be

able to clearly hear your file getting a little brighter and a little duller respectively4.

• Return the knobs to their initial position and repeat the above with the Tube section. You

will again increase the density of the file, and this time add power and maybe even a hint

of guitar-amp-like crunch. When turning the tonal color knob you may notice that the

tube saturation is easier to distinguish from the original signal than the tape saturation.

Ok, put everything back to neutral so we can decide on our settings. Let’s start with the

Tape section.

STEP

4

4 The tonal color knobs are a combination of a high pass filter (HP) and a low pass filter (LP). So you’re actually removing frequen-cies from the added harmonic content, not adding.

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• Turn the saturation knob to 100% and decide if you want to change the tonal color. If you

think it sounds too muddy, turn the tonal color knob to the right until you’re satisfied. If

you think it sounds too bright, turn it to the left.

• When you’re happy with the coloration, turn the saturation knob back to 0%, and slowly

increase it again. You’ll probably want to set it to a value between 10% and 25%.

• For more extreme music like metal or dubstep, you might want to go a little higher -

maybe up to 40% or even 50% - to soften any harshness that will occur later during the

limiting stage in step 7.

Now for the Tube section. Because of the amp-like character of the tube saturation, this

kind of enhancement works particularly well for music with loud drums and distorted bass

guitars, base guitars or synthesizers. For more quiet music genres like folk, singer/songwri-

ter and guitar-pop, I recommend using only the Tape section and not the Tube section.

• Turn the saturation knob up to 100% and adjust the tonal color knob to your liking. You

can be vigorous here if you want, and remove most of the high or low frequencies for a

more frequency-range-specific effect.

• When you’re satisfied with the coloration, turn the saturation knob back to 0%, and incre-

ase it again. Don’t hold back if you find a sound that you like. We will compensate for this

during the next step. If you want you can use the solo buttons to set the two saturation

types independently of each other.

As you’ve probably noticed, so far we’ve just been making small improvements with every

step. This is typical for a mastering session, and there are several reasons for this appro-

ach. First of all, you want your processing to be as transparent as possible, meaning that

you want to get the intended results without the plug-ins themselves being noticeable.

Secondly, several subtle adjustments will almost always sound more balanced than one big

adjustment. And finally, applying all these different techniques, and listening to the track

in different ways, will make you more aware of the impact of your production as a whole,

as opposed to listening to the separate instruments like you do while mixing. Being able to

experience a song as a whole is essential for a mastering engineer.

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STEREO EQUALIZER• Correcting frequency balance

• Increasing warmth

• Increasing psychoacoustical loudness

During this step we’re going to take

a final look at the tonal balance

of your file. Since compressing

and enhancing have changed the

frequency content of your file a bit,

we’re going to compare your file

to the reference tracks again and

compensate for that difference.

Also, we’re going to see if we can

make some more general impro-

vements to the tonal balance. And

last but not least, we’re going to boost certain frequencies that are important for loudness,

without disturbing the overall balance. This time we’ll use a regular stereo equalizer to

affect the whole signal at once. Using this type of equalizer after doing a series of other

adjustments can really glue your file together. So let’s get to work.

• Compare your file to the reference tracks and listen carefully for differences in tonal co-

lor. Start with the shelves, and make sure your file matches the reference tracks in terms

of dullness and brightness.

• I can’t safely predict what further issues you will find in your file, but there are several

problem frequencies I keep encountering myself again and again. I regularly find that I

have to make a little cut at around 180Hz and around 360Hz to make my files sound less

muddy and less boxy. Usually no more than 1dB, with a Q-value up to about 3. The same

goes for 2700Hz, which can cause harshness, especially in the case of powerful vocals. A

little cut can go a long way here.

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• Besides cutting these problem frequencies, I find that making a small boost of about

0.5dB at 250Hz with a Q-value of about 0.35 can give your file more warmth. A similar

boost at about 750Hz can increase fullness. Again, these examples are all situational, so

don’t copy them blindly. Listen to the reference tracks and use the focusing technique

described in step 2 to find the relevant frequencies in your file.

At this point the tonal balance of your file should sound pretty natural. If you have encoun-

tered big problems frequency-wise that you can’t seem to fix, it’s probably best to make

some adjustments in the original mix. If you only change in the mix what feels necessary

at this stage, you can just make a new high resolution mixdown and replace the file you’re

currently using. This may happen once in a while. Even professional mastering engineers

sometimes ask their clients for a specific remix to benefit the final product. You listen to the

file in a different way during mastering than during mixing, so don’t worry if you run into

this scenario now and then.

Ok, let’s talk about loudness and perception of loudness. There are certain frequencies that

we as humans are more sensitive to than other frequencies, a principle which is known as

psychoacoustical loudness. If you want a really loud-sounding master you should take advan-

tage of this. Be careful, though, not to disturb the overall frequency balance too much while

applying these techniques. Here are a few things you can try to create more psychoacousti-

cal loudness:

• Make a boost at 1800Hz with a Q-value of about 0.5. Increase the gain to hear what

you’re doing. This frequency is often boosted in rock and metal productions, for a loud

and edgy sound. For the actual setting you’ll want to go to a maximum of about 1dB,

maybe 1.5dB if you want to be a little vigorous, but make sure your file doesn’t sound

thin and sharp.

• Make a boost at 5000Hz with a Q-value of about 1. Increase the gain again to hear what

you’re doing. This frequency is where the intelligibility of speech is found. Boost this

frequency by 0.5dB to 1dB, but make sure your file doesn’t become overly bright. Bypass

the frequency bands to see if you experience an increase in loudness. Then compare

your file to the reference tracks to see if you didn’t take it too far.

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• One last trick to make your track louder, is to cut some of the low end with the low shel-

ve. While it doesn’t actually do anything at this stage, it will give the limiter some more

headroom in step 7, as low frequencies are generally the first to reach the threshold.

TRANSIENT DESIGNER• Increasing low punch

• Increasing high snap

• Compensating for transient loss

during limiting

Transients are very important in modern music. They can

make a track sound snappy and in-your-face. The problem the-

se days is that music gets mastered so loud that transients get

reduced too much. This can drain the power out of your file

and make it sound weak. To compensate for this, we will try to

give the transients a little boost, concentrating on the kick and

snare drum. For softer, more acoustic music, you might want

to be really subtle or even skip this step, as lifting out the transients in a file can sometimes

sound a bit intrusive. First, let’s get to know the sound of the transient designer:

• Play your file and turn the low punch knob all the way up to 100%. In most tracks this will

lift out the kick drum nicely while adding some power and a little warmth. If there’s a lot

going on in the low end however, the transient designer may pick up more than just the

kick drum and a little bass. In that case you’ll have to be subtle in applying this function.

• Turn the knob back to 0% and try the same thing with the high snap knob. You will initi-

ally hear the snare become more powerful, but if you go to 100% other elements in your

file might get affected too. As this can sound very un-musical, be careful not to take it too

far.

STEP

6

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Because at this point you don’t know yet how much limiting you are going to apply during

step 7, it is difficult to decide on the exact settings of the transient designer. But don’t wor-

ry, we will go back to them during step 7 if necessary. For now, it is a good idea to decide on

the maximum values you’re prepared to set. The limiter will only bring out the imperfecti-

ons in your file during step 7, so it’s good practice to know how far you can go here without

running into trouble. Turn the knobs and listen carefully for unwanted side effects, especi-

ally with the high snap. You might find a nice balance right away, with a punchy kick drum

and a snappy snare. If not, don’t worry about it too much. Make sure you don’t do any harm

and proceed to the 7th and final step.

BRICKWALL LIMITER• Maximizing loudness

• Preserving psychoacoustical loudness

• Applying dither

During this last step we’re going to use a brickwall

limiter to maximize the loudness of your file. The

brickwall limiter will cut off the highest peaks of your

file in an intelligent way, minimizing distortion and

other side effects. Because of the headroom that

this creates, we can then lift the overall volume of

your file without clipping. During this process we’ll

try to preserve the frequencies that contribute to the

psychoacoustical loudness as explained in step 5.

Finally, we will add a dither signal to your file, making

it possible to convert your file back to 16-bit for CD

while preserving the high resolution 24-bit sound and

preventing quantification distortion. This last part

may sound difficult, but in practice it’s just a matter of

flipping a switch.

Before we proceed, I have to say that achieving

competitive loudness is becoming less and less im-

STEP

7

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portant because of the equal loudness functionality that is included in many audio services

like iTunes and Spotify. These services will adjust the volumes of the tracks in their playlist

to each other, so everything has the same perceived loudness. This will actually make con-

servatively limited tracks sound more dynamic and lively than competitively limited tracks

with squashed dynamics. I recommend that you take this into account when setting the

brickwall limiter, because limiting is a very destructive process. It can really harm your file

if you’re not careful. If you do want to achieve competitive loudness, you might have to do

some damage.

Ok then, the fast and easy approach to using the brickwall limiter is as follows: play the

loudest part of your file and slowly bring down the threshold slider. Keep an eye on the gain

reduction meter on the right and make sure it doesn’t exceed 6dB gain reduction, allowing

only incidental higher peaks of about 7dB. As a final step, flip the dither switch, and you

might just be done mastering.

However, for a seriously loud master, I recommend that you get a feel for the possible

harmful effects of the limiter and explore the other knobs on its interface. This way you can

make a much more informed decision about your settings. So let’s take a more detailed ap-

proach in setting the limiter:

• Pull the threshold slider back up and flip the link switch to on. This will keep the volume

at the same level while you adjust the threshold slider, eliminating any loudness bias.

Play the loudest part of your file. Now, if you bring the threshold all the way down, you

will clearly hear the damage it does: your file will distort and you will hear the typical

breathing and pumping effect. Pause the music for a second and pull the threshold slider

back up again.

• Now, take a deep breath, press play, and very slowly bring the threshold down again,

carefully listening for signs of degradation. If you hear any distortion or breathing and

pumping, back up a little. If competitive loudness is not an issue, be conservative. You’ll

probably notice that if you stay between about 3dB and 6dB gain reduction, you won’t

cause any audible damage to your file. On the other hand, if you want it loud, find the

maximum value you’re prepared to go up to. If you notice you are squashing the tran-

sients too much, go back to step 6 and try to compensate for this.

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• There are two ways to minimize any damage. Firstly, turning up the release knob can

make the limiting more subtle and prevent distortion. Longer release times will cause a

decrease in loudness, though. Secondly, turning up the smooth knob will widen the built-

in soft knee and will scale the release time according to the height of the peaks that have

to be cut off. Although this will subtly smooth out the effect of the limiter, higher values

can sometimes sound ‘un-musical’.

• Finally, turning up the distribute knob will preserve the frequencies associated with psy-

choacoustical loudness. This might just give you the edge you need if you’re aiming for a

loud master. Be careful not to overdo this, because you don’t want to change the tonal

color of your file too much.

As you see, brickwall limiting is all about compromise and trial and error. It can’t hurt to lis-

ten again to your reference tracks to see how far they took it. Once you have decided on the

final settings, set the link switch to off, and raise the output volume slider to maximize the

volume. Set the output volume slider to -0.3dB to make absolutely sure there won’t be any

clipping5. Now compare your file to the reference tracks set to their initial volume. You’ve

probably come a long way in terms of matching their loudness, but for truly loud music gen-

res you might need another dB or two to be commercially competitive. In that case you can

make some strategic tweaks to some of the earlier steps, aimed at gaining more loudness.

After these adjustments you can probably bring down the threshold slider of the brickwall

limiter some more, due to the extra headroom you’ve created. Try:

• cutting some more sub in step 1;

• applying some more compression for impact in step 3;

• applying some more enhancement in step 4;

• boosting the high and low shelf a little in step 5;

• giving the transients a little additional boost in step 6.

5 This will also prevent inter-sample clipping during D/A conversion.

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When you have chosen your final settings, flip the dither switch to on, and that’s it: you’re

done mastering your first track! Render your file with all processing included and save it as

a 16-bit and 44.1kHz (stereo) .wav of .aiff file. If you want to be thorough, listen to your mas-

ter on as many audio installations as you can. Every installation sounds different, so don’t

forget to bring your reference tracks to calibrate your ears!

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Conclusion

I am very curious about the results you’ve achieved after completing the 7 steps for the first

time. If you are excited about your master, I’d really appreciate it if you send me a before

and after mp3 of your file at [email protected]. I’m looking forward to hearing what you’ve

been doing with the suite. The same goes for any suggestions or questions you might have.

I’ll do my best to reply to you personally and I will incorporate any good ideas in future up-

dates and upgrades of the suite.

In my opinion, mastering is 50% creativity and 50% technical skills, so it will take some

time and experimentation to attune your workflow to your specific taste. Besides that, you

should view our 7-step mastering suite as a basic method on which you can expand as

much as you like. In the coming years we hope to provide you with a series of additional

plug-ins that you can include in this basic method. We are thinking of plug-ins like de-

noisers, convolution reverbs and compressors, and enhancers and transient designers with

mid/side and multiband functionality to address specific issues with your files. Let us know

what you need.

Of course, mastering is not only about quality plug-ins. In this course we have not discussed

monitors, room treatment or studio arrangement. If you are interested in learning about

these things in detail, you can find my book Home Studio Mastering on Amazon worldwide.

The book is detailed but very concise; only 84 pages long. It will help you solve many pro-

blems you may encounter in your home studio and provide you with lots more mastering

techniques. Please visit www.homestudiomastering.com for more information.

Finally, I’d like to thank you for using our 7-step mastering suite, which helps Noiz-Lab grow

as a brand. We are a small company, but we have big plans. I will keep you informed about

our progress at www.noiz-lab.com and on our Facebook page. Good luck mastering. And if

you like our 7-step suite, please tell your friends!

All the best,

JD Young

Founder of Noiz-Lab

NOIZ-LAB


https://www.facebook.com/NoizLabMastering?fref=ts

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