How to Master Your Songs with Abbey Road TG Tone

Mastering engineer Ian Shepherd from Production Advice presents a full mastering tutorial covering loudness, compression, and EQ, and explores the rich tonal color that Waves’ Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin imparts. Learn more: www.waves.com/...
Plugins included in this tutorial:
Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain: www.waves.com/...
WLM Plus Loudness Meter: www.waves.com/...
Abbey Road J37 Tape: www.waves.com/...
VU Meter: www.waves.com/...
Get Ian Shepherd’s free Home Mastering Guide PDF here: www.HomeMasteri...

[@andrewgreening3202]

Great tutorial - no hard sell, just honesty and authentic enthusiasm.

[@OverdriveMusic]

The best Waves tutorial EVER!!! Perfectly explained, no fancy bullshit. Ian's not claiming the plugin is anything it's not. Great song, really well produced and mixed. I purchased this on Black Friday, and use it on every master now. Gives great colour to a flat mix.

[@rolmckeen6048]

Overdrive Music dude this was the worst tutorial ever, you misstyped or you just got paid to comment lol

[@inlovingmemoryofdouglasmul5216]

Do u prefer any of the presets or what settings do you use?

[@rumginray]

Helpful criticism is always appreciated. Got any? @@rolmckeen6048

[@fattmusiek5452]

@@rolmckeen6048Cool, positive contribution to the conversation man. Totally not detracting- Maybe, at very, you could explain why you feel this way? Not just trashing content for without any sort of specifics. Sayin.

[@MrBikboi]

@@rolmckeen6048 Are you mentally handicapped?

[@Katnipp_]

How to use this plugin first thing disable half of it

[@TayIwarOfficial]

best waves tutorial i've ever seen

[@johnmajorent]

maybe because i'm a hip hop guy, but do I hear the bottom losing movement? That deep low that the pre master had. I always seem to notice that in masters. Some how always lose that bottom where it counts.

[@brianbauer3148]

I like the A to B idea for level comp. This can be hard to get across to people. I also was experimenting on studio rack and found some really interesting ideas with the multiband rack, using the J37 with wow and flutter only on the high mid. This was on an already mixed song but worth a try for adding life to a dead vocal in an already mixed song.

[@fattmusiek5452]

Question- how do you apply wow and flutter to only the mids? I love J37, but am surely not getting the most out of it- There are the HPF and LPF knobs on the bottom right of the plugin…When I’ve adjusted these, it seems to have little discernible difference on the master buss, for example. Wondering why that is. Thank you!

[@brianbauer3148]

@@fattmusiek5452 with studio rack you can do parallel signal chains for different frequency bands. In the instance I used it I inserted the J37 on the high mid band and tried it the Wow because the track seemed over compressed and dead sounding. It brought back some life with out adding artifacts to the lower frequencies. Haven't used it much but I was surprised at its usefulness for that.

[@kelvinfunkner]

wow. love that gentle boost in the mid lows at 256...makes the vocal sound like butter!

[@itikutok6568]

I hope you realise how much easier you've made my job just with this great video. Thanks! 🥳

[@Breakbeat90s]

Ian on Waves Channel? Means Waves did their homework ;)

[@DiamondWoodStudios]

Always come back to this video every now and then for a refresher, thank you kindly ❤️🙏🏽

[@nathanhyatt]

A master class on gain staging. So helpful! Thank you, Ian!

[@Coqui-Media]

Where can I buy this song? Well written, performed, produced and mastered ... a great example track for a very good tutorial YT vid ;)

[@JimijaymesProductions]

Waves have gotten Ian Shepherd which is a great idea!

[@kayokk-]

Nice work, Ian. Teaching and explaining well is an art. Keep these coming. Thank you…

[@ProductionAdvice]

Thanks, glad you liked it !

[@sound-cs9oh]

Finally someone that knows something about mastering !! thanks... love the settings you go trough... TX !!

[@ProductionAdvice]

Lol ! My pleasure :-)

[@fuxxel]

​@@ProductionAdvice I second this! I also signed up for your mastering guide. I really like the compact but detailed informations. Thanks for sharing your insides! Really valuable :-)

[@ProductionAdvice]

Thanks Stefan, glad it's useful !

[@theturtleproject]

i use the tg mastering chain on every track i do since buying it, its so good

[@inlovingmemoryofdouglasmul5216]

What preset or settings do u use?

[@theturtleproject]

@@inlovingmemoryofdouglasmul5216 ive played with a lot but i find the best for me is to start off with the Arin Lavi Mix Glue and tweak it to the mix as needed , its a great preset to start from

[@gregorythomasmusic]

Ian you are brilliant. That is all. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with us, Waves, thanks for giving people like Ian a larger platform to disseminate such viable information.

[@ProductionAdvice]

Lol ! Thanks, glad you liked it :-)

[@Catandbeats]

Ah always nice to see Ian. The mastering show is brilliant!

[@ProductionAdvice]

Thanks, glad you liked it !

[@keithdunwoody1302]

My favourite Waves plug.

[@spookyomansions1]

Superb tutorial, truly gave me a better understanding of how gain staging and metering will give you better results, thank you.

[@MarlonKingShow]

Bizarely, this helps make sense why I have been pulling the output to -3db when using modern on my master channel in my DAW. In the manual, they said they had designed "Modern" specifically for more modern mastering usage. I think the original would sound great or more analogue style music, the modern definitely sounded more clean which personally I liked on this electronic vibed music, but all preference.Thanks, great tutorial

[@anxiousmindmusic]

There seems to be so much snake oil in the mastering world but this was far from that. Really great video, saved for reference.

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

Tg tone?? Wtf plugin is that? This looks like "tg mastering chain" plugin... Not something called "tg tone"??

[@stevemcnamara2584]

Ian: It would very interesting to hear your thoughts on the sidechain in the Limiter section (which is only seen if the module is expanded). As there are 3 different frequency areas that can affect the sidechain, it would undoubtedly help views to hear whether you favor engaging one or more of them, and if not, why. Thanks.

[@SnappyScience]

Just a great honest tutorial. Super helpful. Love the Abbey Rds x J37 combo in my chain.

[@Area51Resort]

Thank you, Ian for this incredibly helpful video. I struggled to get a proper sound for so long but this video showed me everything that I needed. Very much appreciated Waves Audio!

[@MixingGBP]

I really like this plugin. I used it extensively on my 2020 album.

[@SoulFoodOfficial]

Great video and great explain of the level metering.....one question:in the final chain there is a gain plug in but is working?Ian is using it for compensate the volume and increase it?

[@TheFendertak]

Ian explains mastering very well, I've yet to carry out this on my track, pdf guide, fair play no pressure to purchase anything, you could end up buying books dvds non stop costing a fortune, all you need is someone to be honest and willing to teach the basics of mastering to a beginner, I'm sure my track prove to me just how genuine Ian is, thanks very verg very much, excellent video

[@MaxCarola]

Thank you for that video. I experimented with the TG1 and I was quickly able to archive a great mastered song. And I love the flow of the signal.

[@jerrellbattle8980]

I was about to say the same thing. He knows his shit !

[@maddielee4eva123]

Could u use the L 3 instead of the WLM for limiting?

[@ProductionAdvice]

Possibly, but I'm not sure if it handles inter-sample peaks, I'm sure someone from Waves can confirm.

[@Perennialsmusic]

Hmmmmm

[@Perennialsmusic]

I do like the wlm

[@Jonathan-ec9pp]

I don't think the L3 is able to catch intersample peaks or anything shorter than 5ms. So, you could use it, but it's not gonna be the same

[@DJNuimani]

The TG Mastering Chain is an amazing plugin.

[@JasonChinniansoulmod1]

Great tutorial and explanation Ian. Thanks. Hugely appreciated. Stay safe ✊🏾

[@ProductionAdvice]

Thanks Jason, you too

[@JohnnyAllan-vj7sj]

It's so stupid that that song made me cry lol. My girlfriend who passed away used to listen to stuff like that. She would've loved that song. I guess I'm the one who's fragile

[@rossco78]

Hi Ian...thank you for a great informative video. Regarding the VU meter settings, would you say that having it set to -18 headroom is best for the mix bus/pre-master before starting the mastering process? Many thanks...

[@ProductionAdvice]

I think it's a reasonable place to be, yes

[@SnappyScience]

Simple and straightforward tutorial. Loved it.

[@ausher]

Excellent Video! Great knowledge, really well explained. Thank you!

[@ProductionAdvice]

My pleasure !

[@NorthernProductions886]

Is anyone using this method with Cubase? and where is all this going? on the Master Stereo out or the actual track that the song is on??

[@joelybarish4618]

That too loud electronic tom destroys the feel of the track

[@JunkyardSam]

I've used this extensively now. It's surprisingly easy to dial in a great finish to your track using this. When the limiter is set to "original" it works well as a glue compressor, and the EQ is great, especially when set to a wide Q. Excellent tool.

[@housefinderspa529]

Fantastic for anyone looking to understand mastering and also understanding the abbey road mastering chain! I still use this plugin in most of my mastering sessions.

[@LokoTheChannel]

Great. More mastering video please!

[@duzikh]

Awesome

[@alberterzmagier7370]

13:30 the mastering critically hits the transients. I don t like that. Before they were softer.

[@PKVarianceArts]

Thanks for this - I have the Abbey Road suite and this is definitely a must-watch. Great work!

[@steveogle5430]

Thank you Ian, I really like the detail in explaining the mastering chain here, especially the gain structure.

[@ProductionAdvice]

Thanks Steve, my pleasure !

[@pascalhaux]

Well explained but the Waves support is a disaster.

[@MTysonn]

is there any need of using the L1 after limiting with the AR TG?

[@nathanhyatt]

I don't know about "need," but personally I do use both. I use the L3 multimaximizer as the very final plugin on the stereo bus to a slight effect, but I use the Abbey Road for the actual "mastering".

[@Sondaze]

I recognize that face and voice!

[@ProductionAdvice]

:-p

[@codrutcroitoru]

Great video! I am still confused about something...Where should I put the Ar Tg Meter, WLM Meter and VU Meter on the mastering channel? Before the TG Mastering plugin or after?

[@tiaenslasombra3502]

ecxelente video ma videos asi porfavor

[@erwinwolters]

Great demo. Tx! One question reagrding the gain plugin you're using. I don't have this particular one. What do you recommend as replacement? Is it really necessary to have it here? Tx.

[@ProductionAdvice]

Any clean gain will be fine, the simpler the better

[@erwinwolters]

@@ProductionAdvice Tx!

[@Bronwyn031]

Engineer: I want you to choose the compression levels between the Original and the Moder... Me: MODERN! Engineer: But I haven't even pla... Me: MODERN!!! Now here's your money!

[@bakharandi]

Brilliant master class, Ian ! . . . I Love the TG MC . . . Yet, I've been struggling with it, in my mix, and You just found and solved the problem, quite simply and nicely! (-; . . . I simply switched to the "Original" setting, and the dynamic nuances have returned to my tracks, as I prefer . . . ! . . . 🙂 (-; Many Thanks, Brian (-;

[@mathyoooo2]

Ian's videos are always a treat

[@normjones6916]

Million $ advice, great Thanks

[@jerrywills]

Mastering tips from a master! Thank you for this : ) Well done, buddy!

[@MikeSpexTV]

Thx Ian!! Thx Waves!!jus got the Abbey bundler . Learning...........much appreciated. cheers!!

[@stiktougaizeur]

Man...i don't hear the beginning of a change between with and without the +1 dB boosts. And i've tried hard, i don't have a top of the line audio interface, but i think Audient EVO8 should be sufficient, and i did several listenings with my Sennheiser HD-25 headphones, as well as my Focal Elegia, but to no luck... :(

[@10kucold23]

please , how do u get a clean crisp mix?

[@MrMemyselfandi415]

@9:04 "I don't recommend you try and achieve mastering levels with the TG" It screams a bit of irony considering it's called the "TG MASTERING CHAIN" doesn't it?

[@ProductionAdvice]

Not really, there's far more to mastering than just loudness. Using the right processing here makes it easy to achieve the final loudness I want. Remember this is an emulation of the mastering chain from Abbey Road back in the early 70s.

[@MrMemyselfandi415]

​@@ProductionAdvice You seriously don't see the irony in a plug in being called "TG MASTERING CHAIN" and not being able to use it for......wait for it..."mastering level tracks"? 🤨ok...got it.😄 Thanks for your time. 👍

[@tymantis]

What would be the exact order of the plugins used in the chain when using a different DAW?

[@virgilhughes7837]

The DAW doesn't change the order of the plugins...

[@silverfox6883]

What a horrible saccharine song. It's hard to polish a turd. The tutorial was great though!

[@BukanIbuMu]

Gen z tiktokers love this song

[@elwrongo]

great tutorial, shame about the music.

[@sdbanotts]

Excellent video and great choice of song. Thanks Ian.

[@tomsaboia6849]

Awesome! Thank you so much!

[@eugenebiggs8819]

i was not board with the tutorial of this plug-in. IAN , i really like how that plug-in brought life to that track. i appreciate your time and who is the artist of the song ?

[@JayTheLane]

Great demo. Although you disabled the first half of the plugin. Diabolical song especially the higher delayed processed background vocal.

[@harriesnijders4863]

Great tutorial! Thanks Ian! I’m about to master my own song for the first time. 😃 Let’s say you want the abbey Road sound but you also have to do some surgical cuts. Would it make sense to use another eq before the the tg?

[@ProductionAdvice]

Sure, absolutely. And in fact, personally I'd probably start with something surgical and then add the TG for colour

[@taylormademusic]

Production Advice thanks for the reply!

[@djtwilite318]

great video. now i have a request. can you make a video of step by step mixing of this song?

[@svenhanke3251]

This Tutorial is absolutely amazing!

[@jordantaylor5268]

Does this work with abbey roads vinyl instead of j36? Thanks for the tutorial as well

[@buddhabinaural]

Waves do some of my favourite plugins but I just don't like this AR thing at all. No matter how much I use it, there is always a better option. Awful interface too. Digital interfaces are much nicer in the box than all those dials.

[@underworldent4817]

good stuff , thank you.

[@jackmarlowejr1471]

Song?

[@nondelusional]

😧😦😮😯😲😳🤯, WOWZ !!!!! All the plugs Ian used I have. Great tutoring.

[@donteschner8604]

I use the TG On every mix. Thank you Ian for your many insights and flavor choices. My hardest thing is getting fooled by loudness I know that it is happening but it still gets me., and sometimes you just have to ride faders to do a comparison. Your method looks pretty easy once I get the hang of it.

[@djeddieg9129]

Great tutorial very informative thank you so much . I have watched it more than 10 times, i can't find the song .

[@johnnymartin6847]

A few bucks later...........im getting green ticks!!!!! awesome instruction, thank you.

[@jamesross9452]

I LOVE THE MASTERING PROCESS YOU CHOOSE PER SONG. I AM LEARNING MORE FROM YOU.. IAN SHEPHERD THANK YOU!

[@mictianrv]

Useful, Imma try this one, thank you

[@poorhouz5051]

What upp Ian great tips bro.. I love this plug in as well. You don't have to use every setting on it. I also have the WLM a blessing. Keep doing your thing Waves always a supporter. Stay Up

[@tomix1970pl1]

So what would you use to master heavy music?What kind of plugin?

[@CommanderWicked]

Hi! I was wondering if anyone could answer a question for me. In the Tape Emulator plugin, there is the link button and Ian takes down the input by 4dB and it increases the output by 4dB, can anyone let me know what the reasoning is for this? Thanks!

[@ralfransom3707]

The tape machine causes a type of smooth compression to the peaks and since he's taking care of a lot that with the TGMC, the 4db reduction is probably to reduce the amount of compression and color/saturation driving into the j37.

[@MixingGBP]

You lower input in order to get the needle to max out a zero. You can then link the in control to the out control to maintain the loudness of the plugin so that you don't think your sound is better simply because it's louder.

[@dani.papaya]

exelent demostration! thank you for this piece of gold! :-)

[@brownmoney27]

Good tut. Rubbish song

[@Glow0110]

This video is so helpful!!! Thanks for this :)

[@ProductionAdvice]

Great to hear :-)

[@josgroenenboom7849]

This is exactly where I was looking for!

[@hyltonmowday]

There is a lot of waffle out there spoken by people who are complete "Buskers". Thank you Waves and Ian for your wonderful wisdom and help. I enjoyed this clip a great deal. Certainly not a. "Busker"!!.....I love the trombone in the background too. Ian, do you play?

[@ProductionAdvice]

I'd love to but I don't have time to practise right now... :-/

[@tommacavoy116]

Ian thank you for this video! Hope you and your family are doing well. I have a question or two. So I have all the gear in this video and I used to to do a master of one of my mixes with your exact settings and it sounded great by far my best work. My question is I want to get my song louder I want my wlm meter to read; -short term -7lufs -long term -7lufs -range 1 -momentary -5.5lufs -truepeak -1.5 and true peak limiter to read -1.5. (Those are the levels of Dojacat say so which is currently charting pretty high, it has a fantastic master sound and I want to achieve a sound something like that) any advice on what I need to do? Also love your website btw been on it all yesterday! Thanks

[@dancersendrecords1469]

The tom in that track at around 6.59 is about 10db too loud. Great tutorial though

[@rumginray]

Thanks for laying it all out for us Ian!

[@ambrocado]

Superior explanation. Thank you for the free gift.

[@patrickjosephtobin8014]

its a brilliant plugin. if you know how to use it . your on a winner

[@ACelebrationofLIFEMendoza]

Just awesome, thanks so much

[@stevemcnamara2584]

Thanks for the video -- very informative as always. I note, though, that Makeup Gain was raised about 1.5dB, even though earlier said you try not to use it -- what are we looking out for there? Also, with recommendations of mastering to (approx.) -14dB for many streaming services, is your recommendation of 11db on the VU meter equal to -11dB for output (and wouldn't that then be louder than streaming recommendations)? Thanks for clarifying these issues.

[@ProductionAdvice]

I actually *don't* recommend you master to -14 LUFS, you need to do what's right for the material. Here's a post that explains this in more detail: productionadvice.co.uk/no-lufs-targets/

[@zleeeee]

Hey what's the difference between the standard ARTG and the LIVE version? I got the plugin but never used the LIVE, did I miss something?

[@waves]

Hi Fabio, thank you for reaching out. The Live component is optimized for live use, where extremely low-latency and minimal CPU usage are required. As opposed to the non-live component, the Live component does not use up-sampling and uses IIR sidechain filters whilst the non-live component uses FIR sidechain filters.

[@iamantoniofernandez]

Very informative! Thank you so much for this video!

[@thelurxx]

Very helpful!!! Thank you!!