EDM Advanced Mastering

General

• When Mastering Yourself, Know the Room and Listen to as Much References as Possible in that Room

• When Let Mastering Professionally but Not Satisfied (Including 3rd People Opinions), Send it Back to the Engineer with the Comments and Ask for a 2nd Copy

Stereo Mix

• Remember to Disable the Limiter (and Compressor) Inserted on the 2-Buss Before Exporting the Mix (you can Leave the 2Buss or Tape On Though)

STEM Mix

• In this Case you Leave Any 2-Buss Chains Intact but Render Material to Small Composite Stems

• in EDM in Maximum:

1. Kick Drum
2. Sub-Bass
3. Bass
4. Snare
5. Melodic Elements (can Typically All Live Together)
6. Chords (can Typically All Live Together)
7. Lead Vocal
8. Background Vocal
9. FX

Listening Volume

1) Fixed Monitor, Ideally 80 to 85 SPL for Most Linear Listening Experience and Best Decisions

2)  Never Switch Monitor Levels Constantly

3)  But Listen from Time to Time Louder and Check if the Mid Range is Not Too Excessive

4) And Listen from Time to Time Very Quiet to Check Frequency Masking, if Low Frequency Gets in the Way of Distortion and Disappears (i.e. Listen to the Amount of Distortion)

Mastering Workflow

1) Although the Limiter is the Very Last Instance in the Chain, Start by First Setting the Limiter into the Zone of Commercial Loudness

• this is Crucial, Make the Track Really Loud to Hear Artefacts and be Able to Address the Issues First 

• When Checking Loudness Against Your Commercial Reference Tracks, Play the Loudest Part of Your Song (e.g. Chorus Part or “Drop” in EDM) and Consider 3 Things to Match the Energy:

a) RMS Level = Compressed Loudness, in Fact Compressed Bass

b) Perceived Loudness = Typically Distribution of Mid Range Power

c) Dynamic Range = Distribution of Quiet to Loud Elements

2) Use a Clean EQ (Reductive Only)

a) Low Cut Side Signal to Around 200Hz with a 12dB Slope

b) Low Cut Mid Signal to Around 30Hz with a 12dB Slope

3) Make Use of Small  / Creative Compression via a Coloured and / or Technical Compressors

4) Apply a Little Master Reverb with a Plate Type

• No Depth is Required but Ambience and Shine, therefore Plate will Do the Best

• Low Cut the Reverb to 1kHz, i.e. Only Above 1kHz 

5) Use a Clean Post EQ with a Medium Q Bump to Find Different Sweet Spot for Subtractive and Additive Tasks

• i.e. Add 2dB, Sweep Around the Frequency Spectrum and Adjust Here and There Small Things

• Typically 4 or 5 Spots can Already Make a Huge Difference to Your Track

6) Use De-Esser to Tame Harsh Frequencies

• Usually Around 2kHz to the 3kHz Range there is Something to Do , as well as 12kHz to the 14kHz Range

• thus Use a Multiband De-Esser or then Multiple Single Band Compressors

• the Idea is to Dynamically Clear Up the Image Frequency Dependent and Correct Small Zones that Destruct the Mix

7) Use Saturation to Add Non Linear Energy Based on Material

8) If you Do a STEM Mastering, this is the Time to Decide if there Should be Done Changes on the Individual STEMS

• Turn Up/Down Volume of Individual STEMS

• SC Individual STEMS Against STEMS 

• Add Reverb to Individual STEMS

• De-Ess Individual STEMS

9) To Match the Overall Experience of a Whole Album or Series of Songs, Use Either the Lead Singer or the Lead Melodic Instrument as the Guide

– i.e. Lead Singer or the Lead Melodic Instrument Must be at a Consistent Level Throughout the Album

10)  Export