How to Master a Song (in 10 minutes). Warning: FAST! 🔥

[@hellcat5music]

step 1 - get reference step 2 - gain match step 3 - EQ step 4 - compress step 5 - expand step 6 - spatial stereo bam all done! ty for video!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad you found it helpful! 🙂🙌🏻

[@RobertUWL]

i have been making music for years and watched an aweful lot of videos and also did classes, but i have to say THIS IS THE BEST practical and easy to follow video about homemastering i have ever come across. u are a true master and thanks for your amazing free videos and givin away your hard earned knowledge !!!

[@EDMTips]

Thanks so much, man! I really appreciate the kind words and support :)

[@RobertUWL]

@@EDMTips i have to thank you !!!

[@NormanTiner]

Totally. Sometimes it's better to have a simplified approach, especially with such a complex topic with infinite variability. If you can do this 10 minute practices on your own you can gain experience which is by far the most important thing to have, THEN you can get outside the box and get creative.

[@yomoney2871]

Snapple Facts

[@yokelectronic]

Huge difference you made there mastering this. Impressive work and thank for putting this up Will.

[@EDMTips]

I am stoked to hear that! Glad my videos have helped you so far 🙂🙌🏻

[@Tooblessedtobestressed]

Thanks man for sharing knowledge using stock plugins and not trying to look smart ass with third party plugins as others would do. Starting for the basics is good and then build up from there, thank u again.

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome!

[@bronxho]

Eventhough this video is 5 years old its still pure gold. Thanks

[@EDMTips]

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel! 🙂

[@rafaelrubio3616]

Bang; bang; bang. Straight to the point. Man, we should take more credit cause you are gold!

[@EDMTips]

Thanks! Please spread the word :)

[@johnathantyrer6077]

superb guide ,really made my mix today sound waaaaaay better ,your videos are invaluable,thankyou

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad it helped! 🙂🙌🏻

[@johnathantyrer6077]

@@EDMTips have you any videos that focuses on Multiband compression ?

[@pryncss]

I finally understood what Makeup does! :D This has opened a whole new world of music production to me and it finally feels possible. With so many other videos I felt like I just wasn't capable of getting mixing & mastering done right, but your videos have helped me a ton! Thank you so much for your work!

[@EDMTips]

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching and for the kind words of support! So glad it was helpful!🙂

[@hammy14O]

Just discovered this for some quick mastering. Knocked it out of the park again Will 😍👏👏👏👏

[@EDMTips]

Thank you so much, I am really glad you found it helpful! 🙌🏻

[@pyabhashoart-design4920]

One of the best and simplest explained video on final mastering. Thank you very much.

[@peterelfman]

There are remarkably few videos on mastering out there, thank you for adding to the pool.

[@EDMTips]

Glad it was helpful! Do you still have any questions about mastering you'd like me to cover in future videos?

[@peterelfman]

@@EDMTips Well, since you mention it... when you A/B'd the target track with the reference, you said you could "hear' compression. My baby producer ears can't even fathom how that's possible, so if you haven't covered that in a video, it would be very helpful if you did so. Thanks for responding to me!

[@s_ms865]

Can't believe i just found this .. love you man and all the Videos .. thank u so much ❤

[@EDMTips]

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching :)

[@guilhermelimasatolep]

you can use a dynamic meter (bx_meter - brainworx) to match the compression of your reference track and use in your track. ''one million dollar tip!'' ;)

[@EDMTips]

Nice idea! Gonna try that tomorrow!

[@guilhermelimasatolep]

split your track and your reference in 5 bands (i use fab filter pro mb in linear mode for this) and put bx meter later. check how much dynamic has your low frequency and your reference track, use a glue compressor to compress or a transient shaper to increase the dynamic of each band. works like magic! I never see this in any tutorial on web. seems like mixing/mastering secrets. Let me know your result. contact me, my email is: [e-mail]

[@EDMTips]

Awesome tips, man! Definitely trying this out later :)

[@ReiHerrera]

match compression? how =O i cant understand by reading it. i need to see it. do a tutorial please!

[@heyro2680]

Do u guys know any multiband envelope shaper like the one that cubase pro has??

[@christopherrehorn6644]

thx for the tips. i think the main thing is here is your mix-down sounds really really good before even going into this process.

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, man. That is absolutely number one; get a good mix-down first. Many people think problems can be fixed in mastering (and they can, to a degree), but having a great mix-down to start with wins every time.

[@christopherrehorn6644]

tbh liquid and neurofunk drum and bass being released today has a dynamic range of like 6 or 7 dB at the loudest sections and i can never figure out how to get a mix down that can be crushed that hard without it falling apart. and honestly i think these mix downs sound pretty good, even at that limited of dynamic range.

[@knetixdnb]

old video, but thanks! this really helped explain basic mastering down to a t! legend!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, stoked to hear it helped you!

[@electrictardigrade]

I’ve shared this with friends. This is the clearest tutorial yet. I use Reason 12 and watched videos. It was hard to follow. Watching on an Ableton tutorial and this was WAAYYYY more clear. Thanks for this!

[@EDMTips]

Awesome, thank you for watching, sharing it with your friends and supporting the channel! 🙌🏻

[@sammiller9855]

Helpful. Loudmax is great free limiter, doesn't distort as easily as Ableton's.

[@EDMTips]

Great...thanks! Will check it out

[@neonvoid]

Super useful, simple, straightforward, thank you

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙌🏻

[@EDMTips]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lightfrequencies2930]

Thank you. Your explanation was to the point and understandable. You are a very good instructor.

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂

[@briancase6180]

I just watched this again after a while. It's still very good and usefu and helpfull. One thing I realized this time is that when you're starting out, no one tells you why something is called just a compressor while something else is called a glue compressor (e.g., is it just because it has a mix knob?). It would be helpful in a future version to talk about that and maybe even the range of compressors, how some impart their own distinctive color or sound....

[@paultudman8183]

Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial, so many great insights into mastering. Your explanation of each step was fantastic, keep up the good work!

[@EDMTips]

You're very welcome indeed!

[@NIGH.NE.]

Man, you teach me so much, I'm so grateful. You're really helping someone whose been in the game quite some time really change the quality of my mix downs and such. I hope I can give something in return for all your amazing effort.

[@frederickbouari2625]

Wow what a difference,, thank you so much!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, Frederick! Glad it was helpful! 🙂🙌🏻

[@1funkyangel]

Dude,.. this is a killer track !! (Take Over) 😉🎤🎧🔊

[@EDMTips]

Thanks :)

[@oliverhulsmann5677]

Very clear and helpful like all of your tutorials. Thanks a lot ! Keep on going 👌

[@EDMTips]

Thanks, will do!

[@franksilval]

This is a fantastic tutorial....l was looking for this...thank you a lot

[@Shiniobi]

Love your videos. Straightforward

[@EDMTips]

Thanks :)

[@aryrupp]

Hi! Excellent tutorial, many thanks :) Question....How should the pre-mastered mix be exported? 32 bit, 48kHz, no dither, with normalization? Many thanks

[@ibrahimay124]

Thanks for the generous information. ❤

[@TheWizardArtist]

Very well explained, greetings from Argentina

[@EDMTips]

Thanks, and hola!

[@rayhoodoo847]

Small tip - if your reference track for some reason is set to lower track volume, the vuMeter will ignore it. So always set reference track volume the same as master track or your track.

[@vishalsnayak]

Could you make a video on mid-side processing in ableton? Also when to do it? In the mix and/or Master. Thank you so much for these videos.

[@justsurrealist1533]

I personally do it in the mixing stage cause it let's me get more specific with where and what and how I wanna bring things to the sides

[@darrylfunkyz.fields8118]

Well done sir!! Thank you!!

[@mukinha]

Great video! Thanks for sharing! Cool song btw ;)

[@EDMTips]

Thank you very much!

[@nathanhatter]

Nice straightforward advice, thanks for sharing.

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome

[@yllw.r]

The song is fire🔥🔥 And thanks for the mastering tips🙏

[@ivomatos336]

Thanks a lot once again! Just made my 1st rough master of one of my tracks, all thanks to your video! :)

[@jimvid5183]

Really great video! Thanks for breaking it down so clearly.

[@EDMTips]

You’re welcome!

[@yogasiva2009]

I'm about to master my track ... Thanks for great advice will ...I have been searching for this how to A-B tracks ...

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome!

[@EDMTips]

Awesome :)

[@matejsykora8129]

Thanks very much, nice straight forward tutorial. God bless you ♥️

[@EDMTips]

You're very welcome!

[@DjSimplyNice]

Thank you Will. The tips in this video are a tremendous help. 👍✌️

[@officialmalidon]

You’re a good teacher 🤝

[@EDMTips]

Thank you!

[@minleemusic_]

Hey will thanks for great video ! Could you make a mastering tutorial with not stock plugins if possible?

[@EDMTips]

You’re welcome, and great suggestion!

[@ashleygillespie9883]

Binge watching your channel at the moment Will , really awesome work , can’t wait to try it out for myself. Was wondering what you would do differently for a club master ?

[@EDMTips]

Glad you're enjoying it, man! I'd push the LUFS value higher for a club master

[@ashleygillespie9883]

Thanks mate

[@EDMTips]

@@ashleygillespie9883 No worries :)

[@mottdnb8214]

Nice video..easy to follow , liked and subscribed !

[@EDMTips]

Cheers! Welcome aboard :)

[@FranciscoAbeonis]

Excellent as usual. You mention once more Ozone. A brief Ozone tutorial would be welcome.

[@RocknRollkat]

Very well thought through presentation, thank you. I've been recording since 1961, best of success to you.

[@EDMTips]

Thank you for watching and supporting the channel! 🙌🏻

[@RocknRollkat]

@@EDMTips Sure thing !

[@onamaddeningloop]

What a cool video! Thanks dude. This really come along at the right time. I used to just send it to LANDR to be mastered. But that’s now £11.99 per wav!!! Fuck that, do it myself

[@AislingBlack]

This has been amazingly helpful.

[@EDMTips]

Stoked to hear that! Thanks for watching and support the channel 🙂🙌🏻

[@clifcody]

Extremely helpful! Thanks

[@catzaudio4902]

Great tutorial for beginners! Love your videos! :)

[@EDMTips]

Thanks! :)

[@neiljb1975]

This is an awesome guide, thank you so much.

[@EDMTips]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jamies9083]

Wow this is PERFECT.

[@EDMTips]

Thank you so much, Jamie, I am glad you enjoyed it!

[@kouitman]

thanks you so much

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad to hear you found it useful!

[@michaeldiks1817]

Hi Will, what a great video again! Your video really makes me a better mixer. There’s also so much content, still a lot to watch and learn what is great. Oh yea, it will be still great if you can do a video on Matt Sassari - Honda 😎! Damm I love that style. Let me know how I can support you in some way. Michael from the Netherlands 👍

[@yomoney2871]

THANK YOU!!!!!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad it helped :)

[@deepsoul585]

I don't think it's easier to explain, thank you for this video.

[@alexanderkritsek]

Very nice tutorial.Thank you for sharing.i personally use a dynamic eq or an ssl channel strip as an eq to the master channel,the saturn 2 from fabfilter for saturation,the same meter or the vum one,and for compression maybe brainworx vertigo or the ssl plugins.what do you think ?

[@varindersinghbhinder4524]

I am thanking you for great tutorials your really good in explaining how it’s done keep doing what your good at. Ps do you tech one to one classes as I would like to hire you to learn more if possible

[@EDMTips]

Only in my EDM Accelerator program: www.edmtips.com/masterclass

[@robin_miller_music]

Hey Will, can you give us some details on how you have Ableton set-up before you start. i.e. where are the fader positions on the reference, your track, and the master? anything else?

[@sl2125]

Hi Will, great channel, watched stuuf a million times.. quick Q, Once rolled in glitter, do i need to record to another track or just export to save as.?? Many thanks

[@FlyFlicks]

Tutorial starts at 2:33

[@MikaKotikoski]

Very well explained 👍

[@EDMTips]

Thanks!

[@minukaasel]

Thanks!!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome :)

[@Spaced_Invader]

thank you so much for this.

[@EDMTips]

No worries!

[@therhinoceros1]

Excellent!.....And I Love the track......where can I listen to the full song?

[@EDMTips]

Thank you! The full track is available here: www.beatport.com/release/take-control-2016/1905869

[@darrenhirst9900]

I put a limiter on my wife and its been heaven 😂 Thanks for the brilliant videos.

[@woody9862]

Any tips on mastering individual channels? 👀

[@pheymee88]

There's no such thing as mastering individual channels, because mastering is about puting effects on master channel =D What you mean is just mixing. But if I understand you want your mixing stems fat, be sure you watch some tutorial using compression and limitation as well :)

[@woody9862]

@@pheymee88 Thanks Katy, appreciated :D

[@voltagezibi1970]

Hi. Love your educational videos. Question according this mastering video. is it different EQ beetween radio edit and club edit, I mean lots of club edit mastering contain M/S eq at the beginning cutting low end accordingly 20/30 hz mid and 120,150 even 200hz side. thanks

[@nekroreaper6348]

subbed as fuck bro. helping me get my metal mixes down more than any tutorials ive seen and youre doing EDM but the same rules apply. Thank god for you bro Lmao.

[@EDMTips]

Glad I could help, man!

[@Funk-Schwey]

Does it matter if you do the mastering on the channel or the master channel? I noticed your doing the processing on the channel strip and not on your master bus?

[@EDMTips]

I put the mastering on the channel so the reference track doesn't go through the mastering strip, too

[@Hamburg0]

great video!

[@EDMTips]

Thanks!

[@3RDEYELOVE]

that was great. thanks

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome!

[@hiteshk9233]

Gotta admit, the master turned out better than the reference track

[@EDMTips]

Awesome!

[@tomaskosco3510]

good

[@arisparrein986]

thanks man!

[@EDMTips]

No problem!

[@joedelarco6673]

Does this work also to mix pop/rock?

[@dj_kik]

sometimes is good to review some tutorials ;)

[@EDMTips]

Absolutely! I do that all the time :)

[@АртёмКоченко]

Is mastering has something to do with the good quality sounding on all kind of audio systems . Or it must be achieved on a mixing stage?

[@АртёмКоченко]

*good quality sounding must be achieved on a mixing stage?

[@hazhardmusic995]

In your previous video on mixing, you talked about having your mix around -18dbu before master. Is your mix in this video mixed as such? It seems pretty loud for -18dbu

[@lleytonsimpson2952]

Do you turn your utility off at the end or leave it on?

[@an4461]

How do you master to get the same wavelength size. Yours appears very small just like mine

[@Hamburg0]

I've seen several videos of you and I really enjoy them! However, I am new to production so I don't have any special synths or plug ins but I have so many ideas of melodies and chords... I am always stuck with my "piano version" because I don't know how to shape sounds and don't like the presets (logic pro x via alchemy) and I can't afford to pay so much money for synths like nexus,etc. ... I would really appreciate a tip of you! thanks and have a nice day

[@mickeydavenport6955]

Logic has tons of great presets but if you want nice plucks leads etc invest about 100 and get Spire definitely worth it if you're serious about music. Massive is awesome as well

[@EDMTips]

Thanks for the message! I haven't done any videos on sound design yet, but will do soon

[@Hamburg0]

Thanks @mickey! nice, i am excited for that one :) @EDM tips

[@Nenko_Music]

you could get the Reason rack

[@JordanTelezino]

very nice simplified and explained well tutorial

[@EDMTips]

Thank you :) Glad you enjoyed

[@dariuszkotarski3052]

Very usefull

[@EDMTips]

Glad I could help! :)

[@mcdenial7392]

❤️🔥👌🏻

[@EDMTips]

👌

[@johnqpublic4662]

In my experience, this VU meter shows a 0DB at a much lower level than comparable meters.

[@bobrobertsNotUrBob]

I found with the glue compressor, that at those 5db settings you used, it kinda ruined the sub bass, I still can't figure out why or its just that tool

[@pheymee88]

Those 5dB are totally subjective, because you surely have a different song! The use of glue compressor is dynamic, thus if you're ruining the sub bass (I suppose it means it's not loud as it could be), you can try 1) move make-up to the right, 2) move treshold to the right, 3) move release to the left, 4) move attack to the right, 5) move range to the left, 5) move ratio to the left, 6) move dry/wet to the left.

[@bobrobertsNotUrBob]

@@pheymee88 Thx, I still didnt come right with it, I have used this technique on other tracks and didnt notice an issue. Will try figure it out, might be that the sub is just not loud enough or something.IDk

[@Amaann420]

how do you get those large waveforms like the professional released tracks? good limiter?

[@KONTAGION705]

After you go through these stages and bounce it out, it will look like that as well

[@pheymee88]

I know what you mean, more limiters, more compressors, more band and mid/side processing, more time :)

[@georgeabraham7256]

Nice sausage there... it looks like it's taking over.

[@Flashback_Jack]

Your mastered track sounds far better than the one that blew up on the UK charts. That track just seems like it has way too much reverb and the EQing has the vocals a bit overtuned--very midrangey.

[@kostantinosmag2986]

Hi Very nice one....🔜🛸

[@EDMTips]

Thanks!

[@suneil8339]

Does it work for mastering dj set or podcast?

[@EDMTips]

Sure!

[@suneil8339]

Thanks! 😊

[@EDMTips]

No worries!

[@MatiusCoDChannel]

Not really, because your tracks are already mastered

[@chenugent]

Why do I spend hours trying to master my tracks and then when I put into virtual dj the auto gain makes (normalisation) the song fucking clip....I don’t understand? And yes I give it enough headroom, etc etc

[@vinnieangel4024]

hey there extremely useful video ! please make a tutorial on stereo separation (For those who only have Headphones)

[@EDMTips]

Glad you like! What specifically would you like to know about stereo separation?

[@josuaalbuquerque2833]

Pretty cool cheat

[@EDMTips]

Glad you found it useful :)

[@FlyFlicks]

4:07

[@pheymee88]

Man, you shouldn't be done mastering any song in 10 minutes, mainly for psychoacoustic reasons ... You just made it louder, but there's so much more magic you can do with it. This tutorial reminds me of the automatic mastering which can be done even in 1 minute, because it pre-sets this type of chain for ya. I know this tutorial should be "basic" but I think there should be at least an honorable mention to the professional mastering service you surely know about :)

[@sadaqali1098]

I need perducer

[@georgeabraham7256]

my dog ate some bass baits once... glittery...