This article should help you get going, so you can confidently make great sounding masters for your music. There are many articles and cheat sheets out there that tell you things in absolutes like needing 6 dB of headroom and such.
You maastering even to choose to take up to a week between mixing and mastering the same song, without once listening to the mix in between. Your call. With regard to peak headroom, here is an article I wrote about it. If you would like a general guideline, around 14 dB of difference between peak and RMS in the loudest moments in the mix is a good place to start.
Measuring EQ, logix, and loudness are not things you can rely solely prl meters for. However, they can and will work as a mastering chain logic pro x free to your hearing, but nothing more than that.
Now that mastering chain logic pro x free have set up your monitoring levelyou may also choose to use a reference track in the mastering session. Do this by ear and make adjustments along the way so that comparisons are always fair. Remember, a slight difference in loudness also equates to a difference in how we maztering dynamics and frequency balance EQ. This means that if necessary, we can make it louder without clipping.
This is the true purpose of a peak limiter. Load it as the final plugin frfe your chain and set the ceiling mstering This where we start to work backwards, at least as far as the order of plugins in your chain is concerned.
Before, I mentioned how playback volume has a huge bearing on how we perceive frequency balance and dynamics. This is where we work to minimise that variable. Earlier, I shared this article on how to set up your monitoring level. Now that you are close to the goal, any issues with regard to dynamics and EQ pr start to make themselves apparent. Now you can work your way back into the chain, tackling these specific issues. Use the tools at your disposal to solve the problems.
If there are no problems, have the courage to believe that and move onto the final step. This is where you actually create the master files. Simply use the Bounce command masterung Logic Pro X and select the appropriate formats for where you want to submit your music. Tip: Dither your master. Any dither is better than truncation distortion! Unlock a bundle of mastering chain logic pro x free resources to help you create and release your music. Music Production.
Many get lost though. Perhaps you can relate! Table of Contents 1. How To Prepare Your Mix es 2. Calibrate Your Mastering Level 3. Gain Stage Your Reference Track s 4. Set The Ceiling 5. Pogic Loudness 6. Problem Solving 7. How To Prepare Your Mix es Cgain are many articles and cheat sheets out there that tell you things in absolutes like needing 6 dB of headroom and such. If you are confident in the sound of the mix then just bounce it down to a 24 bit wav file.
Then master the wav mix mastering chain logic pro x free a brand new session another day with fresh ears. Masterin your brain time to forget about it for a bit! Just make sure there is an mashering amount of dynamics in the music. Calibrate Your Mastering Level This bit is huge. Gain Stage Your Reference Track s Now that you have set mastering chain logic pro x free your monitoring levelyou may also choose to use a reference track in the mastering session.
Masgering is only one tip you need to know about using reference tracks… Turn them down or up to your mastering level! That way, there is no loudness bias between your master and the reference track.
Set The Ceiling As you probably know, a limiter is very much a usual suspect in your mastering chain. Find Loudness This where we start to work backwards, at least as far as the order of plugins in your chain is concerned. Problem Solving Now that you are close to the goal, any issues with regard to dynamics and EQ will start to make themselves apparent.
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I encourage you to tweak the presets to taste and make them work for you. Each chain contains the utility Gain plugin at the start of the chain in order to allow you to set your gain staging correctly.
You may also notice that the limiter is turned off by default in each chain. This is to protect you from a sudden jump in level when enabling the chains. The limiter is there to bring your track up to a final level of This is an important tenet of mixing — leaving headroom for mastering.
The truth is that like mixing, mastering, can also be done in any DAW, so long as you have access to a few important tools. This 6 step guide will give you everything you need to start mastering in Logic, but remember, at the end of the day this is a creative endeavour.
So, by no means should you stick to the rules. That said, certain aspects of mastering will help get your mixes to that next level, so rest assured you still have some room to work. Import your finished mix or mixes to a new audio track in Logic, accompanied by 3 different reference tracks. Listen and compare the 4 tracks, and make a few notes literally write them down :. Create a new audio track and load up 3 instances of Match EQ on it one for each of your reference tracks.
Hit F to bring up the Project Browser on the right hand side, giving you access to your 4 audio tracks. Drag your mix file onto the Current tab in Match EQ, and one of the reference tracks onto the Reference tab.
Then, on the EQ Curve, hit Match. The plugin will create an EQ curve that visually demonstrates the differences in frequency spectrum between your mix, and your reference. Now go ahead and do the same for the other 2 references, using the other 2 instances of Match EQ. For example, it appears our mix has quite a few challenges in the low end. Compared to the references, we have a lot of energy around 80Hz, and not a lot in the Hz range.
Our mix also appears to be lacking a lot of high end, dropping off significantly around 12kHz. The golden rule, as with mixing, is to use your ears, not your eyes. You should compare any trends noted from Match EQ to the notes you took when listening and comparing. This is simply an example, and is actually using an unfinished mix to demonstrate how you can use Match EQ to level up your music production.
One of the principles in mastering is measuring. Introduction guide for Logic Pro X as well as 2 templates. One for mixing and one for mastering. For more information and to download click HERE. Free presets from Jake Masca. Free Drake Vocal Presets. Free Deep Space Presets from Samplephonics. Free Rhodes Piano Bass. Bernard Herrman - Psycho Score. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence.
Production covers everything from catchy loops and midi files to sick sylenth presets! Highly recommend them! Production has some great libraries! We use many W. They are one of the best companies on the market. Really helpful for sparking inspiration or adding variety to your music! Production have been used in most of our top tracks! Both can do a pretty good job but the Adaptive one will sound more natural on most applications so we recommend going with it.
After you load the Limiter plugin into your project, insert the Loudness Meter afterward so you can see your audio volume in Lufs. Basically speaking, it is the kind of metering used by streaming services and audio platforms to standardize levels.
What each platform does is automatically turn down the gain of any song that is louder than a certain value , so as to create a better experience for the listener.
This value will vary depending on the service. Spotify , for example, normalizes everything to Lufs. The first thing to do after you load the plugin is to set the Out Ceiling value to -1dB. This is a safety measure to ensure better playback of your song through different systems without clipping.
Now, put the Loudness Meter side-to-side with your Limiter window and adjust the Gain knob until your audio is at to Lufs. What dithering does is apply low-level noise to your sound, avoiding any data or quality loss. This is a tip that will also apply for mixing.
Be sure to bounce different versions of your track and test how they sound across different listening systems. For example headphones , earbuds , small speakers , and the car stereo. One of the major goals in mastering and mixing is to make sure your track sounds good across a wide variety of equipment and environments. Sure, it is impossible to achieve a perfect result, but if you feel like your master is not sounding as impactful in your car stereo as it is in the studio , take a moment to adjust your parameters until you find a common ground.
Even though Logic Pro will offer you a complete set of plugins , you can find some great additional free ones to aid you both in the production process and to take your masters to the next level. Here is our selection:. Channel-strip plugin with built-in equalizer, compressor, tape saturation, and limiter sections. An all-in-one solution. A simple monitor speaker simulation tool. Great especially for those mastering with headphones.
Isol8 gives you a wide range of monitoring options. You can, for example, solo or mute a group of frequencies or see how your songs are sounding in mono. These were our tips on how to master in Logic Pro X.