How To Master Albums (...Full of Very Different Sounding Tracks)

During mastering, you sometimes have to fit very different sounding productions onto the same record. Some songs might have been recorded with a full rock band, some might have a more EDM or electronic treatment, while others might be acoustic or have a hip hop feel.
How should a mastering engineer make such a disparate and eclectic selection of songs fit all together on one album? Justin Colletti shares his process and best practices.
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[@SonicScoop]

►Get Mixing Breakthroughs here: mixingbreakthroughs.com ►Get Mastering Demystified here: MasteringDemystified.com ►Get the free mastering workshop: sonicscoop.com/Mastering101 ►Get the free mixing workshop: sonicscoop.com/MixHabits ►See free audio tutorial videos with Justin here: kzbin.info/aero/PL3yghKGBjggTkBYyc-1_larMT6K4rGwmr ►Win free stuff at sonicscoop.com/contest ►Subscribe to the podcast or leave a rating and review here: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonicscoop-podcast/id1448330690 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0gEpIPfGsScZPowycksAY5

[@keithforrester82]

One of my favourite and one of the most eclectic albums I've heard is Faithless - Reverence. Amazing album with massive electronic dance tracks, hip hop tracks and acoustic tracks. The whole album works so well as an entity though and somehow all sounds like it's in the same space and has the same polish. If you haven't heard it, Justin, you should. I've just entered into a possible collaborative with some friends. I am firmly from the heavier Dance music and Techno angle with a few releases and the other guys are a range from acoustic guitar and Indie all in between. It's going to be interesting trying to formulate how we all fit together from a live and released music perspective. This episode was full of some good nuggets to think about.

[@devbagsmusic]

This is a fantastic talk - thank you for sharing! Invaluable advice and tips. New subscriber right here.

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear! Glad to have you as a subscriber. -Justin

[@combolarge]

Wow, this was very helpful. I'm working on an album now and the difference in style/ instrumentation between songs align perfectly with what you're describing here - plus the leading track is one of those classic "way too much instrumentation" tracks, and I've been struggling with how it feels so weak compared to other tracks. Amazing insight!

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear! So glad to be useful Tomas. Hope to see more of you around the channel. -Justin

[@blacc23boy]

Yoo I’m an artist. I’ve been learning the engineering side of production and I’m currently teaching myself mixing and mastering. This is where I’m at now. Your video was VERY helpful.

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear! Glad to be useful. Hope to see more of you around the channel. Remember to like, subscribe and hit the notifications bell to catch more of them :-) -Justin

[@kennethfurr7397]

Queen... masters of this.

[@jjtweed-music]

I would say Yes-Fragile album sequencing is cool.

[@DreamsongsProductions]

I'd love to get an answer to this scenario I'm dealing with now. An album with 8 rock songs which I've mastered around -10LUFS which I don't think is that loud and 2 ballads. The choruses on the ballads come in strong but the integrated LUFS is giving me a lower number and maybe -1.5 LUFS lower than the rock songs. If I push the ballads to close to -10LUFS Integrated they lose the dynamics and don't sound as good. If I go to -11 LUFS Integrated I can probably get away with it but in an album the volume difference might be noticeable. The short term LUFS on the ballad choruses is around -9.5 but much lower in the verses. So do I master to Integrated LUFS and push it to -10 where the rocks songs are or do I leave the ballads at -11?

[@EricJones1969]

I would stick to Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar with the thought of how one song flows into in another. Not just musically, but even with all the album concept. I like how it combines electronic and heavy guitar stuff. And the whole idea..with its..hmm..lets call it soundscapes.

[@BukanIbuMu]

This podcast is nice for sleeping

[@bobnumpter7889]

High praise indeed!

[@SonicScoop]

I use some of my favorite podcasts to fall asleep to, so I’ll take it as a compliment! -Justin

[@MSDMNRBERLIN]

Justin...I personally liked your voice through the SM7B better haha! It suited you...

[@TheOprtMusic]

I agree that Artists and Producers focus a lot more on sequencing their albums than times of the past. It's funny how that works in such a single-focused market, but I guess these are the purists.

[@orkurlander9504]

What's the point in talking without showing ?... Waste of 20 min

[@SonicScoop]

I guess you’ve never heard of podcasts before, and don’t listen to any? We have a ton of videos with examples. This is not that.

[@orkurlander9504]

I guess that you are trying to be funny when you are not .... If it's a podcast don't put it as a video on KZbin ... If it's a video show how to do things instead of just talking