10 Essential Tips for Mastering at Home | Are You Listening? Season 6, Ep 3

Getting a great sounding master in your home studio can be easier than you think. In the third episode of Season 6, professional mastering engineer and Berklee professor Jonathan Wyner shares tips to consider when mastering your audio at home, including using high fidelity references, improving your listening environment, digital room correction, mastering with headphones, and more. By the end of this video, you’ll have a better understanding of what you need to master music effectively at home.
Watch all seasons of ‘Are You Listening?’: www.izotope.com/en/lp/are-you...
Get 50% off mastering tools used in ‘Are You Listening?:’ www.izotope.com/en/shop/deals...
Learn more about Audiolens when Referencing without a digital or physical copy of the song: www.izotope.com/en/products/a...
Learn more about Tonal Balance Control: www.izotope.com/en/learn/how-...
Learn more about mastering with free tutorials:
www.izotope.com/en/learn.html...
Learn more about Jonathan Wyner:
www.izotope.com/en/learn/jona...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:10 1. Mastering your own mixes
03:27 2. Use high fidelity references
07:15 3. Mastering where you mix
11:47 4. Evaluating speakers for mastering
15:32 5. Improve your listening environment
19:50 6. Benefits of digital room correction
22:06 7. What digital room correction can’t fix
23:47 8. Will listening environments always matter?
24:50 9. Don’t lose perspective
26:41 10. Knowing when you’re done
28:55 Outro
#iZotope #AreYouListening #Mastering
SYNC ID: MB01QRY9JEJXCJR

[@aricunono6272]

Thank God, for the good stuff on the internet. This series is worth millions.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Thank you!

[@jjjjjjjjjjonathan]

Yup. Jonathan is such a natural teacher. I can only imagine how good his student feedback must be. 😊🎉

[@morbidmanmusic]

God had nothing to do with it. Try thanking the actual creators rather than shifting it to a fake entity

[@MegaSoteris]

So truth.well done to izotope

[@davidfiori9031]

@@morbidmanmusicfacts

[@etcot8220]

Dubstep / Riddim is alive and doing very well btw.

[@davidathay3680]

Paraphrasing that last thing you said... "If you can make it sound different, but don't know if it's 'better,' you're done. Send it off into the world." Thanks! That's exactly what I needed to hear.

[@connelljacintorealestate4361]

Thank you. Excellent Video.

[@FrederickLewisDeAngelis]

Thank you Jonathan

[@Skimatik_DnB]

Been here since season 1 episode 1 😎 theses videos have helped me improve and grow 🙌 Iv implemented many of the mindsets and strategy’s and am truly thankful 🙏 to anyone reading this I’d say work threw the seasons , watch an episode then practice the lessons of the episode …. Also find people on line , Iv used Facebook groups to find producers or rappers or singers and worked with them to improve my skills and theirs 🎯 I now have a client Iv been working with for 2 years ! I still class myself as a beginner after 4 years of learning but I’m also confident I can offer people a good service 😎💚 work with people , keep learning (we will never know it all so embracing a student mindset is helpful in many ways !including keeping us humble) do work for free , and enjoy the proses 💚 thank you to the isotope team ✌️💚☯️

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Happy to hear we've got to be part of your journey 💚

[@I_am_bhmgthelabel]

Preciate this game. Your the only guy I pay attention to on youtube when it comes to Mastering...

[@bassManDavis1953]

What a gem of a episode, my home studio was described just as you said, so I’ve done something right! The books didn’t cost that much either, but great tips, brilliant presentation and throughly enjoyable.thank you so much.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Hope you can put these tips to good use with your home studio. 🤘

[@SolarMumuns]

Fantastic info and delivery -thank you!

[@JockStud]

Great info!! Thank u

[@patterry730]

Great stuff, I always enjoy and learn from your talks! Shouldn’t we recognize or mention that the general public never really listens to professional mixes in the same environments we mix in? Which simply stated means our entire listening experience is never PERFECT. It’s always compromised to some small degree or growing degrees of imperfection on multiple levels from multiple environments we listen in. I guess what I’m getting at is, we can all get way to addicted to seeking perfection we can never attain too.

[@joyemojiiboy]

I definitely follow this

[@Ownsongwriter]

Inspirational ..thank you😊

[@TheRealJPhillips]

Great video sir. 💯

[@blakethealien1395]

I learn a new word every 5th video. Love love love the content man. Very helpful

[@mrfleamino9350]

thank you so much

[@PaddingtonSquare]

lol dubstep caught a stray

[@alexanderweingard1390]

Thank you, Super!

[@piquesegue]

Jonathan, thanks a lot for these great videos. You didn't talk about music exported from a CD, can we use it as a reference?

[@philipgraves7303]

Thanks for great video Jonathan & Izotope. Is so useful for small music producers like me, working with local musicians, to get all these tips. And also confirm some of things I am doing correct too! Thanks again. Phil

[@RapperRemedi]

So much valuable info here! My new mix finally survived the mastering stage. Changes so subtle but so big in a mix or master. If it sounds good leave it. That's one important thing i can say. Switched to vintage Auratones 5C & NS 615 Yamhaha's. Pure and honest mids was what i needed in my studio. And room treatment especially for low end. The focus thing on music goes way beyond what we think in the beginning 🧠🎶

[@onetwo3088]

I use Realphones and it's pretty impressive, much better than sonarworks

[@QueMusiQ]

11:50 I have the wrong speakers (Yamaha HS 80M’s) in the wrong room (a bedroom in an attached apt in a new house with the absolute worst dimensions after my entire audio production/mixing/mastering existence was a less bad room with the same speakers on a different inappropriate desk for like 11 years). So personally, I got custom tuned senn HD 600’s from Sonarworks which were flatter than the 650’s. Stopped using those when Slate dropped his VSX’s. I don’t like using those because my autism doesn’t like switching? But I mean, I gotta be real. Every single time I HAVE used those at the end of my arranging/mixing instrumentals in maschine AND/OR at the end of (hilariously badly) mixing in my linear DAW? It works the FIRST TIME. No more uploading to SoundCloud, grabbing my consumer bluetooths, listening, being laughably embarrassed, reopening everything, adjusting, repeat, repeat, repeat. To those listening, just get something like Slate or Sonarworks. In fact, ONLY slate or Sonarworks. To my ear, they’re the only ones that have a legit offering. To Izotope: you’ve GOTTA be working on your own iteration, I just know it. And it’ll probably give slate and Sonarworks some serious competition. It’d be awesome to add that to the already unparalleled “all-in-one” modular Ozone solution.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Are you mastering your music at home? Share your tips for a great sound in the comments! Explore deals on Ozone and other iZotope tools: www.izotope.com/en/shop/deals.html?

[@morbidmanmusic]

Like many these days, I mix into my mastering chain.

[@DMS8410]

Thanks

[@RonBaker456]

Great info. Changing camera angles does not make it better though...

[@MLaudio20]

Great video and I appreciate the series. Tonal balance could benefit from more profiles and or the ability to make your own. Hope to see that in the future :) For those mixing and mastering at home (in headphones), Toneboosters morphit for headphone correction and goodhertz can opener for headphone crosstalk are great additions that help a lot.

[@myxom4647]

you alrdy can create profile for tonal balance control in the plugin or with audiolens

[@johanmard5043]

Me starting out making music: 'I shall defeat the laws of physics!' Me five years later: 'I want my mommy…'

[@anointed_ndking]

😂

[@nethercords]

i bought a $700 pair of adam audio sp5's and my mixing skillshave doubled based on what i can perceive and stop from happening. tie that with neutron 4 and their eq sidechaining capabilities and tonal balance, i would recommend this over trying to perfect inconsistent listening environments at home.

[@poeticgeenetikstv4672]

Hello John! Quick question, I have Nuetron 4/Ozone Advanced/Ozone 10 Advanced... I want to master a whole album. Should they all be open in one session? If so, how do the tempos blend ?

[@craegenics]

Always informative and helpful… would love to know what brand of headphones that mastering engineer uses to do most of his mixing and mastering with 🙌🏾

[@nethercords]

Most likely Audeze

[@guglielmonigro]

Thank you for another very useful video, I've learnt so much from Are you listening. I have a question for IZotope. Is it possible to have and updated version of Tonal Balance Control to import the audiolens analysis? It would be very important for a complete integration of your great tools.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Hi! Unfortunately only Neutron 4 and Ozone 10 can import tonal curves captured in Audiolens at the moment.

[@guglielmonigro]

@@iZotopeOfficial Thank you for your answer. I know, I use both on a regular basis. But I find myself using TBC in every step and It would be very useful. Another update for Audiolens could be the possibility to have an average analyses of the audio that I have already imported in It. So that I could actually have the average of my personal reference pop tracks, for exemple.

[@QueMusiQ]

17:18 is almost impossible. Most desks you buy that CAN fit into a spare room won’t let you space the speakers properly to be an equilateral triangular arrangement. And good luck being far enough away from the back wall. But it’s “doable” to have those limitations and yet still get a good result. Another one of y’all’s vids was with an audiologist who suggested lower volumes at which to judge the mix. That does help. Prevents the impact of early reflections and that back wall. And then mixing headphones solutions.

[@QueMusiQ]

10:40 As for crosstalk and sound bouncing off your heads: we pretty much all have a LiDAR on our phones, right? Maybe Sonarworks or Slate could implement us creating our own sound profiles of our HEADS using the LiDAR scanners, and add that to their physical models of speakers in both (and the listening environs in Slate VSX) to better tailor how that crosstalk would present. Would be doable in a point level update. Wouldn’t even need new hardware. Same with the mics from Slate and UA. 🤷🏽‍♂️ Like, we already have the hardware to do the scans. I’m thumb-typing on it right now.

[@SharigramaOfficial]

Greetings and hugs !! =)

[@DBicakci]

What if we mix in a mastering environment and then try to master the project on the same setup?

[@dafingaz]

Gems

[@JahBreed]

Everytime I ask someone about this stuff, I get the argument that it's Art and there are no rules. I'm okay with not being considered an Artist in exchange for not wandering in the dark for who knows how long.

[@SOLODDACHIEF]

THANKS..#RAWNUNCUT

[@justin.johnson]

SoundID Reference y'all 🚀

[@maxdishaw]

Jesus Wyner

[@kurtcameron7562]

Yo where can I get that shirt???

[@imnetec]

👍

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

this guy knows his stuff. Not a youtuber clown trying hard

[@morbidmanmusic]

That comment makes you a bit of a clown.

[@vitaminfian]

JW is cool as f**k

[@daveycrockett9447]

I was hoping this would be a hands on approach to mastering showing it being done in an example. Disappointed to hear a dissertation

[@WhiteHeat-yd6zm]

Ha, this episode cost me $100 bucks at HD tracks. Can hear the difference through

[@Andres-sp2go]

I am assuming that you assume that I assume while I am assuming everything that I assume …

[@maxbiery15]

“i dont think anyone makes dubstep anymore” oh sir you are very incorrect 😂

[@Realliedoe]

Yes!!!!!

[@Realliedoe]

Things at Soundwide are quiet. That’s usually an indication something big is coming.

[@QueMusiQ]

Soundwide? What’s that?

[@iZotopeOfficial]

www.soundwide.com/ 😬