Cubase Mastering Tips

1) Most are Aiming for an Integrated Loudness of -11 to -14 LUFS

2) When the Stereo Main Out Meter in Cubase Shows Zero or Even Clips, Reduce the Overall Gain Before the Master Chain by -6dB with a Gain Plugin

• thus Make Sure that the Meter Shows Around -6dB Before Starting Mastering, i.e. the Track Meter Shows Not Really More than -6dB

3) Usually Compress / EQ / Limit (Dither)

• Compress to Make Transients Smoother and Not Become Overbearing

• Use Multiband More on Rock / Pop Stuff that Contains Excessive Transients from Percussion / Drums etc.

• Use Vintage or Other 1 Band Compressors More on Less Transient Material Such as Classic / Jazz

4) Use Cubase Pre Fader Slots for Creative Master Tools

• i.e. Cubase Pre Fader Inserts Come First and then Go to the Internal Cubase Channel Strip —> Internal EQ —> Fader —> Post Fader Inserts

5) Use Cubase Post Fader Slots for the Mastering Limiter, Saturation, Brickwall Limiter, Dither and for Meter Tools

• Probably Use a Maximiser /  Creative Limiter First Followed by a Brickwall Limiter that Handles TP

• but Always Put the Dither Tool (when Going to a Lower Bit Depth than Project Such as 32Bit Down to 16Bit) as the Last 

• Remember that you Do Not Need to Dither when you Export to Mp3 (as Mp3 can Handle a 32 Bit File in Opposite to CD)

• When Enabling “High Quality Mode” in Cubase Export Codec Settings, it will Always Write a 44.1 File (Even when Project is a 96)

6) If you Consider to Use a Tape Saturation Plugin, Put it to the Post Fader Slots Before Creative Mastering Limiter but After TP Limiter 

7) If you Consider to Use a Stereo Enhancer Plugin, Put it to the Pre Fader Slots After Comp / EQ

8) When you Add a Reference Track, you can Use the “Play” Icon to Check it Against your Mix

• i.e. even when Track is Disabled you can Hover Over the Disabled Track and Snapshot the Frequency Spectrum Against Yours

9) Notice that you can Copy / Paste a Specific Master Chain to Other Tracks in 1 Step

a) Highlight / Select Specific Track with the Master Chain in the Mixer Console Window and Press Command “C” (Copy)

b) Then Select All Tracks in the Mixer Console Window that Want the Same Master Chain and Press Command “V” Paste

c) Be Sure to Press “Ctrl Z” to Undo the Copy as Command Z is Not Suited for that and will Undo Things in the Project Console

10) To Export a Numerous of Mastered Files from Cubase as Individual Clips, you Could Create Cycle Markers Before Export

a) Make the Song Order as Intended 

b) Select Song 1 and Press “P” to Set the Cycle Around that Clip

c) On the Marker Track, Press the “Add Cycle Marker” Icon which Creates a Cycle Marker Around that Clip

d) Optionally Rename the Cycle Marker 

e) Now you can Export “Between Cycle Markers”