Mastering in 2023: The 5 MAJOR Changes helping me to a BIG SOUND

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Hello, I'm Nicholas Di Lorenzo, Studio Owner, Mixing and Mastering engineer at Panorama Studios.
I'm an Italian-Australian born and raised in Melbourne. I've been a creative professional for 10 years managing some pretty awesome projects for artists, labels and producers all around the globe.
What motivates and drives me?
My family,
Good food,
Great coffee.
You can find me on many platforms:
Instagram: / panorama_mastering
Facebook: / panoramamastering
Twitter: / panoramamasters
Kit: kit.co/Panorama_Mastering

[@davidasher22]

Man, I’m realizing I’ve learned so much from you this year. I’m doing pretty much all of these things now, all at the behest of your prior videos. Thank you so much!

[@panorama_mastering]

Great to hear! Happy to be of assistance;

[@MrWunterslausch]

I really like the depth and detail in the video's. Especially listening to the different modes of the maximizer. It is quite difficult to point your ears to those differences, so it is nice that you take the time to AB them.

[@panorama_mastering]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching!

[@Rgdonaire_07]

This channel is a total gem. You are really sharing relevant knowledge to the audio community. I’m learning loads!

[@runemidsun]

Again, thanks a lot for your videos. I agree that starting with the clipper just sounds logic, i will try this now. Me too have been using it just before the limiter, but it just make sens to start with it. Thanks and cheers from Norway :)

[@panorama_mastering]

My pleasure!

[@zachboorman2221]

Great video sir! Thanks for giving knowledge so freely!

[@panorama_mastering]

My pleasure!

[@JonManness]

Good stuff! Besides adopting your mastering chain in 2023, I started using HP-SC in compressors to allow the low end to cut through the mix and holy crap what a difference that makes! The SSL G Bus Comp is great for that and also adds nice harmonics to the mix.

[@panorama_mastering]

Nice! Thanks for sharing! Which SSL G Bus comp are you using? Hardware or software emulation; if software which one?

[@JonManness]

@@panorama_mastering I like the UAD plugin, but PA has a couple SSL variants that I dig while mixing.

[@Maskaradas]

Keeping lows dynamic was eureka moment for me. All these years by the time my mix came to an end it was sucked dry from life. All that dynamic vibe and groove is in the lows!!!

[@panorama_mastering]

@@Maskaradas spot on !

[@jadedragon469]

If I'm not a retard but does the bx XL-v2 have this sidechain function built in to the plugin? Or could you explain how you set this up without fab filter?

[@pablocasadesus]

Man you're amazing, I love your content!

[@panorama_mastering]

Glad you enjoy it! Thanks mate!

[@AntmanFelix]

I recently tried Hard Clipping as my first processing for the same reasons you provided. I found that it helped as well.

[@panorama_mastering]

thanks for sharing!

[@AntmanFelix]

@@panorama_mastering No, thank you for sharing! Always happy to learn from others and I subscribed to your newsletter too 🙂

[@andrewward1663]

Love this!!

[@tjfunction]

Love this video. All these tips make all the sense in the world. I tried the Pro-L2 clipper settings I copied off of a previous video of yours and love it, so that's going to the front of the chain now. And speaking of the L2, I've been pursuing more dynamic masters with a focus on a rounder low end. Which mode or modes best fit the bill?

[@billpodolak7754]

Great video! Love the Maximizer commentary and comparison. I'd be interested in how Ozone Exciter with a high band on the sides compares to your metaplugin graph.

[@panorama_mastering]

Yes! Great suggestion; I've been meaning to touch base with you too on some stuff! Hope you've been well mate!

[@VPROXE-HELLRAISER]

6:33 pro tools got you sweating for a bit there lol. Good vid's man!!!

[@panorama_mastering]

Pro tools always got me sweating!

[@nurd_afrikhan]

im just on to clippers i llike standard clip was using it for a while until i tried kclip 3 now its my go to

[@panorama_mastering]

TBH; when hard clipping; it's all the same! The only thing that matters is that it can oversample!

[@GrumpyGr3g]

Clipping first hell yeah! Depending on the material of course. Did it several times and definitely helped a lot to get cleaner and louder master. Compressors acted much better. However, one point in this video I still have some doubts on where I should personally go. Some of my clients wants super loud masters (close to -6LUFS, sometimes even higher…). I hate delivering such loudness, I'm more of a soft guy, -8LUFS is ok, -10LUFS is where I love the sound of music. When I use True Peak limiting, even by making sure I optimized the loudness at different stages, the true peak limiter kills it, even with one dB of GR, while it sounds more pleasant to my ears if I stay on normal mode (using Izotope maximizer). I'm still lost and confused on what I should go for. I know for streaming services, TP is the go to way, but even without TP limiting, it still sounds good on streaming services due to normalization tracks get once uploaded, the true peak levels remains way below -1dB TP after normalization. I sometimes delivers TP Limiting and none TP Limiting masters, so clients can get their personal choices, they end up always choosing the non TP master, because their references tracks has non true peaks limiters masters. Thanks for an other great video and sharing your thoughts, true inspiration on your channel.

[@panorama_mastering]

My pleasure; check out my video on TruePeak limiting; and you'll get a better picture of what is exactly going on!

[@GrumpyGr3g]

@@panorama_mastering Yeah saw that one already! Was a great one and an other approach from any other I watched. My doubts are more about feelings and doing what « concurrence » do. I would love to use True Peak limiting with quieter volume, but my clients don’t want. It’s all about competitivity. I often see other masters around -4lufs peaking at +3dB TP, to me that makes no sense, but clients wants that… Big struggle

[@tjfunction]

@DatalabStudio I've referenced so many Skrillex and Virtual Riot songs studying loudness. There's a Virtual Riot tutorial where he says he sends the snare straight out, printed after the final limiter. Mind blowing. I feel the rules go out the window past -7LUFs and it's all ears, bc there's gonna be some red.

[@GrumpyGr3g]

@@tjfunction Tbh, -7lufs is ok when well mixed, produced and so. I also analysed a track from Donny & Katharsys - God’s Fking Plan, that peaks +3dB TP for avg -2lufs. That is ridiculous but somehow sounds clear. Super ear fatigue after 2 minutes, but Check it by curiousity, and be carefull with such high loudness content 🙂 But that thing on snare you mention, sounds like a good idea! Need to try someday in context! Great tip/info

[@noahscheffey5636]

This is great! Nic is the best

[@panorama_mastering]

Thanks mate!

[@sadiks8195]

Thank you for your videos :)

[@MixingWithNico]

So much information here 🔥🔥🔥

[@panorama_mastering]

Thanks mate! Appreciate the love!

[@croay]

Hi, I really enjoyed the video and have a couple suggestions: 1 - Please, would you consider keeping your loudness in check when changing from speech to actual mix/master examples? Excerpts like the transition at 09:20 (it went from -24 LUFS-S to -7 LUFS-S in a matter of a couple seconds) caught me like a jumpscare and its really annoying having to turn down the volume during examples and up during speech. 2 - Regarding limiting, have you ever tried "Limitless" by DMG Audio? Given your thoughts on the matter I figured you would probably enjoy it a lot. Cheers!

[@panorama_mastering]

Hey ! Sorry for the jump there! No I haven't tried limitless by DMG audio! I probably should!

[@Noiseheads]

Hey dude, really good info here and in a few of the other videos I've seen! I just wanted to echo what I saw someone else mention in the comments regarding the volume change between your mic and the playback. That and the section where you were just looping the same few seconds of the double kick made me click away immediately... and then I came back once I realized that clicking away without saying anything doesn't help you or your channel metrics, as I truly believe that you're giving very valuable information! And I totally understand using the same song to help viewers get a reference point for the subtle changes throughout, but I might suggest using a different track or at least a different section of the same song for different videos. There was a previous video I'd seen with this exact track and hearing you A/B the same section the umpteenth time started to fatigue my ears and distract me from what you were saying. Anyway, I hope that wasn't too forward - I don't usually give feedback like this because who the &*$& am I... lol, but I thought the content you're providing is too good for it to be delivered in a way that might potentially turn off future viewers without you even knowing!!

[@panorama_mastering]

Nahh man! This is spot on and constructive, when it comes to the youtube channel and video editing i’m so under the pump at the studio I rush through the video editing and miss things. However what I might do, is make a database of session material I’ve had cleared for use on the channel by my clients so I can change it up on the example front.

[@allank.8218]

On clipping start and end..... Why not both? I find processors can create new inter-sample peaks. So I've been doing both for a little while..... BTW that conversation I wanted to have a while ago, I sorted it out... (Allan from Steam) Apologies for not getting back to you

[@panorama_mastering]

Hey Mate! Why not both? I just find if you do it right up front; any further clipping is simply redundant;

[@mikkifrompreston4396]

siiiiiiiick

[@panorama_mastering]

HEY!

[@gazingwrmth]

Panorama For the Win!🎉

[@panorama_mastering]

Thanks mate!

[@djsyntrix]

What are your thoughts on cutting with eq below 30hz and 19k? Shld it be done everytime and in linear mode at the end of the master chain?

[@panorama_mastering]

No; bad advice!

[@ramelijah]

Thank you Nicholas! you are the best. I like to ask about the deliverables pls: wouldn't you prefer that your clients upload to streaming a 16bit file, so you can dither ahead? I mean If spotify streams at 16bit, wouldn't it be better to supply them a dithered file at 16 bit, instead of a 24 bit full resolution file?

[@Fire-Toolz]

i believe spotify accepts 24 bit whereas many streaming platforms do not. distributors like distrokid do the conversion on their end. i assume their dithering algorithm is good.

[@ramelijah]

@@Fire-Toolz tnx man, yes they do accept 24 bit wavs and flac. and although their codecs are not PCM based, their desktop/mobile player is playing the audio at 16 bit. So it's a mystery if Spotify is in deed applying dither or not to those 24 bit files or not. I couldn't get an official answer from them. I don't believe distokid is dithering because they deliver to Spotify at 24 bit if that's what they get from the artist

[@nedim_guitar]

It's not Neil deGrasse Tyson that came up with that thing about knowledge. It's the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's an important thing to be aware of, because we all can fall into the trap of thinking we know (almost) everything when we actually lack a lot of knowledge, but we're but unaware of that. Helpful video even for an amateur like me. The oversampling finally makes sense!

[@panorama_mastering]

Oh ! Good to know; it's a quote that has stuck with me but I never know how to credit it accurately; so I googled :)

[@marcoshehata8968]

what are you thoughts on this? what's the difference between your philosophy with clipping at the beginning vs his philosophy on limiting at the end. what am i missing? kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmTXp5iueZykrLM 17:08

[@panorama_mastering]

Nothing at all; Nothing is incorrect here; Regarding my philosophy at clipping at the begining; it's namely for consistent feed level into dynamics processors; the peaks may change there-after but instead of let's say a 2dB variation in peaks feeding your compressors there may be a 0.1 to 0.5dB variation; much more consistent;

[@MaxRayMusic]

Hi you mentioned that you deliver your master files either with true peak = 0db or true peak = -1db. I assume you are averaging around 7-10lufs for loudness. Do you think I should provide a -14lufs file as well to my clients as that's what streaming services like spotify say they want? Or is it ok to provide our 0db true peak masters and just let spotify normalize the sound on their end?

[@panorama_mastering]

No; don't provide a -14 LUFS for streaming services like spotify; provide the best sounding master; the -14 LUFS is a normalisation process that happens after wards; that's all that truely matters;

[@MaxRayMusic]

@panorama_mastering thanks so much for your reply! Love your channel and best wishes to you 🙏

[@jbenoit1962]

I heard the words "I'm starting a newsletter" and was GONE - Hunting for blue links in description immediately.

[@panorama_mastering]

Ha! Great to hear! Welcome!

[@SXTWLVE]

What is pcm format?

[@panorama_mastering]

Pulse Code Modulation;

[@SXTWLVE]

@@panorama_mastering got it. Im confused when you dais that you only bounce pcm, mp3 ans i forgot the last one. But i use protools and they only have a few options. But looking into it, it looks like the encoding is pcm which is used for the wav files. So im assuming your pcm bounces are just the wav file type?

[@EpithetMusicTV]

@@SXTWLVE yes, pcm is just wav files. more or less all audio you will encounter will be pcm which uses bit depth and sample rate to digitally represent audio. pdm is the alternative way of encoding audio which uses only 1 bit but ridiculously high sample rates ranging from 64 times 44.1khz all the way up to 1024 times 44.1khz but typically most will use 256 times these days. dsd is the main format of pdm audio. pcm allows for audio processing which is why almost all recording is pcm. pdm however needs to be converted to pcm for processing and this process is typically known as dxd which is essentially a 352.8khz pcm file.

[@SXTWLVE]

@@EpithetMusicTV who uses that dsd? Just audiophiles?

[@Limit5482]

I’m glad you stopped the nonsense of all those different masters Not needed unless they want them

[@panorama_mastering]

We all learn through different experiences :)

[@nofood1]

Why is the audio on this so low Mr Mastering ?

[@n3gi540]

In some videos his techniques are wrong not explained appropriately, don’t depend totally on one channel.

[@panorama_mastering]

You're 100% correct; I'm not always 100% correct and sometimes WRONG; we're all learning; and I've happened to flag things I've said incorrectly in the past on more recent videos; One example was my use of FabFilter Pro-L2 without the awareness of how it clips pre-release stage; That said; we're all learning; and if you find something you disagree with in any video; even this one here; I encourage you to point them out, because it's the discourse we have as professionals that enable us all to grow and improve together;

[@Mikey__R]

Hmm, I've been pronouncing "aliasing" wrong for about 24 years.

[@panorama_mastering]

I think it's me that pronounces it wrong ;)