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Author Topic: Losing Brightness when mastering  (Read 9403 times)

futry

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Losing Brightness when mastering
« on: December 10, 2016, 03:51:24 pm »

I've made this track but when I try to master it, I feel like it loses the brightness I hear when I listen inside my DAW.

When I try to treat the highs, it ends up sounding compressed as fuck.

I really suck at mastering, would appreciate some tips on how to solve this.

Thnx.
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hennyhuisman

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Re: Losing Brightness when mastering
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2016, 05:29:46 pm »
Don't know if you're having Ozone. But you could use the hamonic exciter in there to give the highs some more prescence (it gives the high end some kind of subtle distortion). After that you could widen the highs to the sides to give them more space. It also helps to treat the high end with the same caution as you would mix the low end (make sure freq's are not overlapping each other etc.). When I mix down my tracks I always want the click of my kick to stand out, so I try to mix the rest of the high frequency material around the click of the kick so to speak. Another issue that could be dulling the high end is an incorrect frequency balance of your mix which can change your highs massively when limiting or compressing the total mix. Check out the spectrum of a track where you like the high end and compare it to your mix. Hope this helps!


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Marrow Machines

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Re: Losing Brightness when mastering
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2016, 05:52:17 pm »
This sounds good dude.

If you're doing bedroom stuff, this actually is really enjoyable to listen to due to the fact that it hits my ears in a non invasive way that other more professional masters do.

I can see how there's a lack of high end, but man.....this feels really good to me.

I had a question about EQ that i asked one of my padnas, and they said that it's a very specific situation on a per track basis.

I would suggest, if you want more top end you're going to have a make a compromise in the low and mid range section. If you're pushing every thing as it is with balance, this is the result you're going to get. Because this is really balanced.

If you want to bias your mix, you need to alter in relation to the frequency content.

It's a balance of sub traction and addition based on frequency range.
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futry

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Re: Losing Brightness when mastering
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2016, 06:21:56 pm »
Quote from: hennyhuisman on December 10, 2016, 05:29:46 pm
Don't know if you're having Ozone. But you could use the hamonic exciter in there to give the highs some more prescence (it gives the high end some kind of subtle distortion). After that you could widen the highs to the sides to give them more space. It also helps to treat the high end with the same caution as you would mix the low end (make sure freq's are not overlapping each other etc.). When I mix down my tracks I always want the click of my kick to stand out, so I try to mix the rest of the high frequency material around the click of the kick so to speak. Another issue that could be dulling the high end is an incorrect frequency balance of your mix which can change your highs massively when limiting or compressing the total mix. Check out the spectrum of a track where you like the high end and compare it to your mix. Hope this helps!

I'm using FL's Maximus and Fruity Limiter to do my mastering. Never used Ozone, but I heard great things about it, gonna try out the demo.

I'm starting to think also that it has something to do with my mix, going to try to redo the mixdown and see what happens.

Thanks for helping. :)
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futry

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Re: Losing Brightness when mastering
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2016, 06:31:02 pm »
Quote from: Marrow Machines on December 10, 2016, 05:52:17 pm
This sounds good dude.

If you're doing bedroom stuff, this actually is really enjoyable to listen to due to the fact that it hits my ears in a non invasive way that other more professional masters do.

I can see how there's a lack of high end, but man.....this feels really good to me.

I had a question about EQ that i asked one of my padnas, and they said that it's a very specific situation on a per track basis.

I would suggest, if you want more top end you're going to have a make a compromise in the low and mid range section. If you're pushing every thing as it is with balance, this is the result you're going to get. Because this is really balanced.

If you want to bias your mix, you need to alter in relation to the frequency content.

It's a balance of sub traction and addition based on frequency range.

Thanks Marrow! :D

I also didn't think it sounded so bad. But I really wanted the little square arps to shimmer like I hear in some of my favorite songs.

I'm going to try redoing the mixdown as a practice exercise now, and then compare it to this version and see which one is better.

Thanks for helping. :)
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manducator

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Re: Losing Brightness when mastering
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2016, 05:40:13 am »
This sounds bright enough to me.

But if you want to add brightness, you could double your hihats and add any exciter (something like Fabfilter Saturn) on the doubled tracks and blend it very gentle with the original. Parallel processing.
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