Category Archives: Mastering

Self Mastered Music: A Common Tale of Triumph and Tragedy… But Mostly Tragedy

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music mastering

"Mastering Hell"

So, you’ve actually recorded your own music and gone through the arduous, though fulfilling, process of mixing it yourself… “so far, so good” you think. But now for the finishing touches, the dreaded MASTERING phase of your recording. Ah yes, the arcane yet fine art of polishing a, hopefully, already good sounding mix (rather than polishing a turd, one hopes?). The one stage of the recording that, rumor has it, even the most hardened DIY masters don’t dream of doing themselves. Dr Dre, Tiesto, Trent Reznor – none of them even come close to grappling with the mysteries of mastering, favoring instead to hand off their carefully considered mixes to, often, an anonymous engineer – crossing their fingers while putting their baby in the arms of a stranger. “WOW!” you exclaim to yourself, “If producers of that calibre don’t trust their ears at that stage, it must involve some kind of dark magic that a lowly unknown producer like myself shouldn’t even attempt!”
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Tutorial: Mixing With Separation EQ & Compression

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In this tutorial we will look at blending all of the elements that make up a track by using some basic EQ separation between individual tracks in a mix. We also touch upon using sidechained multiband compression to further distinguish parts in the mix which may otherwise conflict with eachother.

In particular, we look closely at separating the Kick Drum from the Bass Instrument so that each can stand out and be clearly defined in the mix.

Tutorial: Compression Settings Explained

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In this tutorial we look at the basics of compression, and how to effectively use the different compressor settings common to all compressors. Attack, Release, Ratio, and Threshold are explained and our example shows how to properly listen for the changes produced from these settings, focusing on the importance of Attack and Release settings in particular.

Quick Look: Compression Limiting Individual Tracks & Mixes

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In our latest video tutorial, we take a quick-look overview of using limiters in audio mixing, explaining what the separate sections of a limiter do (threshold, release, dithering, etc) as well as the exact changes it does to your audio when contrasted with ordinary compression.
We also look at the somewhat controversial technique of using a limiter on individual tracks and busses versus applying it only as a final stage mastering effect.

Spoiler alert: in mixing, don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do. Because what sounds good to your ears is what matters most.

♫ Doo Dee Doo Doooooooo ♫


With that said, it’s important to understand the limits of using a limiter in this way (nice pun, huh?) and its potential for ruining your mix when overused.

Combating Listening Fatigue

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Listening fatigue is a concept familiar to almost anyone with longterm mixing experience. Even if you are not familiar with the term, chances are you have experienced it in your music making journey. It is often subtle (you have trouble determining what is wrong with your mix) and insidious (you think your mix is going great only until coming back to it with fresh ears, realizing the balance is way out of whack). But, no matter the case the result is always the same: lost time and energy, and shitty sounding mixes.

Listening fatigue is technically considered a physiological “problem” with the inner ear or the brain while being exposed to constant, repetitive frequencies (especially those with loud amplitude, percussive envelopes, or saturated mids). Due to the nature of music mixing, there is no escaping the fact that you will have to keep listening to looping portions of your recorded material over and over again, although determining the precise moment you reach diminishing returns, despite the more time spent, is difficult to gauge.

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