How to Master a Song - Beginner Tutorial

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Get my music production course for beginners: bit.ly/3Dwmv83

[@BlackGhostAudio]

@Music Media Production thanks! I hope it helps.

[@frescoakash]

Thanks for the timestamps, Knew some of it but there's always soo much to learn.

[@BlackGhostAudio]

This was a pretty long video so I felt like the timestamps were necessary. There's definitely a lot to learn but I'm hoping this helps folks get started!

[@Jisooee]

This must be a HIT!

[@waywardambience]

Immensely helpful, thank you!

[@MadDoggEntertainment]

Love your videos, bro. You’ve got a new fan.

[@isaiahmaze95]

Really great video! Question, when you are mentioning that drums will get less punchy when you are limiting, if we apply clipping and take away some of the peaks, couldn't we push the signal more into the limiter without it affecting the drums or is that just to make the limiter more transparent without artifacts? Thanks!

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Some people like to clip their mix before limiting it to increase loudness slightly (be careful not to add too much distortion), but I actually prefer to clip my mix after limiting it. Although, this isn't something I do unless I'm working on an aggressive song like a dubstep track. If you want to see how I clip my masters, I have a video about it that you can check out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpnWZmR_nrmGhdE

[@ianbaker3701]

But what song is this?! The link you provided is STMBLZ and the link to Apple Music goes to Ruiz, who I assume is the same. I can’t find THIS song. Is it out there in the world?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

I’ll hit him up to release it 👍🏻 STMBLZ changed his name to Ruiz!

[@vipulvishwas4960]

Hello It's very helpful video Can u make video on Gainstaging leveling What volume shd we start producing and after mix how much we shd hit master before mastering Hope u get it

[@unsorted97]

How to avoid distortion while limiting. New tutorial on this will seriously help.

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Don’t drive the limiter too hard. If you’re having trouble achieving the level of loudness you’re looking for with a limiter, it means that the levels in your mix aren’t tight enough. Loudness is prepared for at a mixing level and executed at a mastering level.

[@unsorted97]

@@BlackGhostAudio that must be case, thank you.

[@Iceshrooms]

I dont know if its just me but I hate the way that limiters affect my drums. It gives loudness which is what I'm looking for, but it flattens my kick and 808s even if I dial back the settings. When i use a soft clipper, my drums SMACKK hard, but I don't get the loudness I want. What is the best way to get both results?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Awesome question. The issue is that your drums are likely mixed louder than they need to be, causing your limiter to engage prematurely. However, if you turn your drums down, they probably get lost within your mix. One way around this is to use sidechain compression. Bus together your entire mix, but omit your kick and snare. Keep them a part of a separate group. Then, apply a sidechain compressor to the giant instrument bus you just made and set the compressor's input to the kick/snare bus. Instead of masking the kick and snare, everything will duck out of the way for the kick and snare, meaning your drums won't need to be as loud. Ideally, you want to dial in the compressor's setting so that you don't get weird pumping effects. You probably want to use pretty fast attack and release settings for transparency. This will buy you some extra headroom, allowing you to pump up the loudness without sucking the life out of your kick and snare. I'm going to make a video about this actually because it's a great mixing technique. Thanks for the idea!

[@Iceshrooms]

@@BlackGhostAudio I actually dont use a kick all the time. In fact a lot of trap/hip hop producers have ditched the kick and now use 808s with a nice transient. I have tried leveling my instruments and then cranking up the gain on my limiter, but I just cant get the right loudness, while avoiding distortion. If its ok, i would like to show u a reference track so that you can understand exactly what im talking about

[@BlackGhostAudio]

@@Iceshrooms Most of the time this is a result of a level adjustment issue or a sound selection problem. Although, there are some other tricks you can use to squeak out some extra loudness. I wrote an article on the topic that might help you out: www.blackghostaudio.com/blog/how-to-make-your-music-loud

[@ATULGUPTAMUSIC]

Should I use clipper after I have applied limiter on the master chain?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

If you want to. It will increase the loudness slightly and add a bit of grit. This tends to work best with more aggressive songs. I explain how I go about clipping masters in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpnWZmR_nrmGhdE

[@moula0202]

did you use makeup on your face?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Nope. The color correction in this video might be a little funky, though. The yellow hue is probably what you’re referring to, haha.