“Mastering is the last creative step in the audio production process, the bridge between mixing and replication” (Katz, 2022)
The main goals in my mastering process were to provide balance and enhance the frequency content of the tracks, the mixes together to feel more like a cohesive whole and to balance the loudness of the tracks against one another and to bring the loudness to an acceptable standard for distribution.
The tracks were mastered to between -14 and -11 LUFS which I felt was a good balance between loudness and dynamics. This loudness range is also generally the range used by online music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. (Cornell, 2017)
All were mastered to 44.1 KHz uncompressed .WAV files.
One of the main tools I used for mastering was equalisation. I used the dynamic equaliser plugin Gullfoss to subtly balance the frequency content of the tracks. (Ltd., 2022)
[Gullfoss EQ plugin used during mastering]
I also made use of saturation to introduces harmonics to the program material making it sound harmonically richer while also increasing perceived loudness. (How To Use Saturation, 2021)
I made use of the Fabfilter Pro Q3 equaliser to shape the tonal balance of the tracks, attenuating some of the mid-range frequencies to clean up the overall sound. I also high pass filtered the tracks at 30Hz to clear up unwanted sub-bass, as headphones will not be able to reproduce bass frequencies that low. (FabFilter Pro-Q 3 - Equalizer Plug-In, 2022)
[Fabfilter Pro Q3 EQ plugin used during mastering]
Next, I used the TDR Feedback compressor plugin for a very subtle -2dB gain reduction. This small dynamic range reduction here is meant to subtly glue the tracks together and make them feel more cohesive to the listener. (TDR Feedback Compressor II | Tokyo Dawn Records, 2022)
[TDR Feedback Compressor plugin used during mastering]
Finally, I used the Fabfilter Pro-L2 limiter plugin to apply limiting to the tracks and prevent unwanted volume spikes which would cause the tracks to clip and distort.
[Fabfilter Pro-L2 Limiter plugin used during mastering]
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