Audio Mastering
Is Simpler than Audio Mixing
January 19, 2022 by Adrian Milea
Audio Mastering is still believed to be like some sort of rocket science by the majority of music producers.
And I don’t blame them.
You see, over the years of my music production journey, while searching for more information on it, I also felt that there’s some magic voodoo around mastering.
And information on this craft - makes a lot of music producers and even mixing engineers believe that they should not touch mastering.
Luckily I was stubborn enough to actually learn this craft and art.
In case you want to learn audio mastering, in this article I am going to help you, hopefully, by giving you some directions.
And to make you even more curious, I will say that Audio Mastering Is Simpler than Mixing, but not easier!
Free Download: How to Improve Your Mixes and Masters in less than 10 Minutes...
Without Expensive Plugins or Hardware!!!
Some background…
My first ever experience with mixing music was when I was about 16 years old.
That’s when, with a buddy of mine, we formed our first band.
We had an 8 channel mixer, and usually we plugged in that mixer, a keyboard in two channels, two microphones - in other two channels, then when necessary we would plug in some instruments.
We also plugged a reverb which had a delay option.
The cool part of that old mixing console was that, while there was an EQ on each channel that we used to make changes on individual channels, there was also a Graphic EQ on the mix buss.
We always used that mix buss EQ to bring more lows and highs on the entire mix.
So, my first experience with music mixing was on an 8 channel analog mixer.
However, I didn’t know that what we were doing was called Audio Mixing.
We just tried to make things sound the best they could, in different scenarios and events.
About 5 or 6 years later, in 2005-2006 - I started to try different DAWs like Reason, Nuendo, Cubase.
That’s when I started to get in contact with more info online on the concept of music mixing.
In 2007, I created my first ever Pro Tools session.
That was the exact moment in time when I started to understand that - the thing I was doing on analog gear, but also on my keyboards - was called audio mixing.
Also, that’s when I started to pay attention and learn that there are other processors than EQs, reverbs and delays.
I was so excited to try different effects like compressors, flangers, saturators, and so on.
However, I must confess - it took me a couple of months to understand what a compressor was doing, and how to actually use one.
Now that I’m looking back at those particular moments, I realize that’s when I actually learned my basics in my audio production journey in the Digital World... by lots of trials and errors...
I did have some previous experience in producing musing on keyboards and sequencers, but I took my audio production game to the next level when I started using Pro Tools 7 LE.
Of course, it took me a while to learn how to actually use Pro Tools.
That story is for another time…
But... what I knew was that my third album - should be produced, mixed and mastered by me!
How?
I didn't have a clue :D
I remember it took me months to understand the importance of the samples you use in your mixes, in order to produce decent songs…
And the next big challenge was to make those songs actually sound decent on different systems.
Man…
...it took me hundreds and hundreds of days, and reviews until I got some decent mixes….
And when I thought that I finished the songs, I discovered that in Music Production there is this thing called - Audio Mastering.
Play the video, I dare you :D
When I started asking around about mastering - people were avoiding talking about it.
They would share with me more mixing tips than mastering.
And until this day I do not understand why the secrecy...
After months of struggling to achieve decent sounding mixes, I discovered that audio mastering is the stage that you can - unfortunately discover that you still have lots and lots of work to do on your mixes.
Why?
Because when I started applying limiting on my mixes, in order to increase the overall volume and finish them, my mixes started to sound boomy and harsh.
Plus, I didn’t know so many things like the Fletcher-Munson curves, the existence of so-called True Peaks, and the importance of having a good audio interface…
... and audio monitors…
But the most important part was that - I didn’t know how crucial it was to have a good quality limiter.
Years later when I put my hands on the MD3 Bundle from TC Electronic, everything changed for me.
And by the way, they recently released the native version of the MD3, but also the MD4, so if you’re in search of a good multiband processor - you should check my reviews on them.
I hope they will help you…
After lots of experiments, I found out - the hard way - that audio mixing and mastering are interconnected and they should work together, if you actually want to have a good sounding song.
But there’s more to this…
I believe that...
A good quality sounding song actually begins with the very first sample you put in your session!!!
It took me years to finally understand - why some audio productions sound professional, while others sound weak.
Nowadays, I see every song I produce like a house I’m building.
- You start with the foundation.
- You learn what tools you need.
- You learn how to use them in order to build that song.
Next, depending on the song, in case you want your song to include vocals, you will actually need to design the Songwriting stage to work with the Production stage.
Then, I discovered why the Recording stage is crucial if you want to have great sounding vocals or instruments.
Only after you take care of these steps, you can actually move to the Mixing stage which also has to work seamlessly with the Mastering stage.
Image: Music Production Masterclass Roadmap
By the way this is the Music Production Masterclass Roadmap - that I use to help audio producers finish a song from an idea to a finished mastered song, in less than 14 days.
Check out the Music Production Masterclass for more information.
Why Is Audio Mastering Simpler than Mixing?
My band’s second album was mixed and mastered by an awesome audio engineer.
However, since 2007 I composed, produced, mixed and mastered every song I ever produced, plus those of my clients.
What I’m trying to say is that, I touched every part and stage of music production, and to me - Mixing is more complex than Mastering.
Let’s actually take an example of a session of mine so that I can explain what I mean.
Image: Music Production Masterclass Pro Tools Session
I composed this song, specifically to show in the Music Production Masterclass - every single step and audio production stage - from putting the very first note in the DAW up to the finished master.
In this particular session there are like 60 audio tracks - that I had to make sound great together at the audio mixing stage.
So, I have a session of 60 tracks…
The main mission is to make these tracks work together in terms of balance, equalization, compression, saturation, and so on.
Plus…
I have to identify which tracks will need reverb and delay, and also the amount.
Plus…
I need to identify which types of Reverbs I should use for the best results.
In this session I have:
- 60 Audio Tracks
- 6 Effects Busses
- 6 Stem Busses
- 1 Mix Buss
So, in this particular case and session, in total we have about 72 tracks!!!
Our mission is to make these tracks work together, so that they end up as the best stereo mix we could possibly achieve.
And in this article, I won’t get into details about the different types of plugins we need to use on different types of tracks…
Again, in this session, at the mixing stage we have about 72 tracks that we have to watch out.
However, at the mastering stage we only have:
- 1 Stereo Track
That’s it!
And to put things some more into perspective, at the mixing stage, in this particular case I have:
- 72 total tracks
- More than 100 instances of different plugins on different tracks to take care of.
While on the Master Buss for the Mastering stage I have only a stereo track to take care of:
- 1 Left Channel
- 1 Right Channel
… plus 3 plugins:
- 2 EQs
- 1 Limiter
And that is because I took care of the heavy lifting at the mixing stage.
Free Download: How to Improve Your Mixes and Masters in less than 10 Minutes...
Without Expensive Plugins or Hardware!!!
Of course, you can have simpler sessions than this, like a single piano track for example.
However, most of the time, in your mixing sessions, you will have more tracks to mix and make them sound the best they can - together.
This is why I say that Mastering is simpler than Mixing.
But not easier...
I still believe that these stages have their particularities and they should be approached differently.
However, in the end they should work together.
I also believe, to some extent, that if you have experience in audio mixing, audio mastering can be a lot easier to learn.
In fact I know audio engineers who started audio mastering after they focused only on mixing.
And if you want to learn mastering, the cool part is that I’m about to show you how you can start.
Audio Mastering is an art in itself, plus a science if you will, and should be approached with a different mindset than mixing.
If you want better results, and better masters - you still need to learn about the foundation…
You need to know what tools you need to use in different scenarios and I talk about this in detail in my Pro Audio Mastering program.
We also dive deep in the EQ and Dynamics because, I believe, from my experience - 80% of the results in a great master is achieved by using Equalizers the right way.
And if you wonder, in the PRO Audio Mastering I also show you exactly how to master a song step-by-step, plus how to release that master with the world, so if you are interested - go check the program out.
PRO Audio Mastering Roadmap
CONCLUSIONS
To summarize this article, I created it because so many music producers still believe that Audio Mastering is like rocket science, when it is actually a really fun stage of Music Production.
If you get the essentials right, plus the right mindset, this combination can help you in achieving better results and faster than years of trial and error, like it was in my case.
Hopefully, I helped you a bit in demystifying mastering, by showing you why Audio Mastering is simpler than Audio Mixing.
If I did help, smash the Like button, and if you know someone who would benefit from this article, please Share it.
In case you want to work with me further, check out the Pro Audio Mastering program, and I’ll see you on the other side.
Until next time, Stay Cool and Make Great Music!
-Adrian Milea
Adrian Milea is the owner of Adoriany Music and co-founder of Adoriany. Since 2000s, Adrian has been producing, mixing and mastering music, while also helping audio producers to upgrade their skills. In 2013, Adrian with his brother Vlad - were part of the finalists of the Academy of Electronic Music. Their music was released by Armada Music, and they were featured in Dj Mag.
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