Top Signs Your Mix Isn't Ready for Mastering | Are You Listening? Season 6, Ep 4

How do you know when your mix is ready for mastering? In the fourth episode of Season 6, professional mastering engineer and Berklee professor Jonathan Wyner shares what to watch out for when preparing your mix for the audio mastering stage, including reference mixes being too loud, unbalanced tracks, transients affecting headroom, and more. By the end of this video, you’ll have a solid checklist that you can use to prepare your mix for mastering.
Watch all seasons of ‘Are You Listening?’: www.izotope.com/en/lp/are-you...
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Learn more about mastering with free tutorials: www.izotope.com/en/learn.html...
Learn more about Jonathan Wyner: www.izotope.com/en/learn/jona...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:51 1. Your references are too loud
01:39 2. Your lead is inconsistent
02:59 3. Your tracks are unbalanced
04:23 4. It doesn’t sound good loud
05:29 5. Your transients affect headroom
06:55 6. Your tracks are too divergent
08:49 7. There’s too much high-end
10:02 8. There’s too much low-end
12:01 9. Your low-end is unbalanced
13:47 10. You didn’t listen for issues
14:30 Outro
#izotope #AreYouListening #Mastering
SYNC ID: MB01P1NHZG16LT4

[@jayburd1875]

This is great. The idea of comparing Lufs to rms is gold.

[@apollon11]

I appreciated the whole video, but that explanation in particular. There's an expanding community of DIY producers/musicians who really appreciate this level of clarity.

[@bloodyharprecords4910]

Literally was about to say the same thing. Everything is great here but that alone is amazing insight

[@cccchristo]

This video is not about mastering, it’s a mixing bible. Top notch content guys

[@iZotopeOfficial]

This means a lot, thank you! 🤘

[@AutPen38]

There are lots of wannabes and so-so mixing/mastering tutors on KZbin, but this guy is the real deal. He has the knowledge, but is also a great sharer of that knowledge. A brilliant teacher!

[@dom._t8365]

Studied with John in college, one of the most insightful audio minds I’ve ever come across. Always a treat to learn from him!

[@glovebunniesvideos4278]

That momentary/RMS LUFS comparison tip is really, really helpful. Thanks so much.

[@werkdatdancefitness]

I like the series but it would be great if we were shown examples of him mastering a track with the tips he's describing.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Stay tuned 🤫

[@rogercabo5545]

6 Signs Your Mix Isn't Ready for Mastering: Your mix peaks above -4dB. You aren't satisfied with it, even post-mastering (by then, it's too late). Your mix sounds vastly different from all of your reference tracks. You become fatigued listening to your mix after the 20th play. Most feedback you receive is along the lines of, "Nice! By the way, have you heard about the new movie XYZ coming to theaters?" or "Cool demo!" Your computer struggles to handle all the plugins you've loaded. Bonus) The mastering engineer informs you they're on vacation for the next 12 months. (And no, they're not joking; this happens more often than you'd think!)

[@tekis0]

While I've heard some of these points before, this video is very well organized and has zero hyperbole. I'm bookmarking it for reference.

[@christopherecatalano]

All of these tips are so perfectly explained with clear examples. Superb video.

[@IWOKEAGIANT]

A tutorial which you can tell is genuine, brilliant advice.

[@PereRevert]

Jonathan, your content is more than awesome. Keep posting these please... by the way, I would love to watch from you an in depth video explaining the differences (advantages) of IRC and their different modes from Ozone 10 versus other well-know limiters with constant release times. Thanks!

[@dfallchild]

Fantastic video. Proper understanding of the mastering process helps push back on the mix better than anything else.

[@JulesMugisha]

I'm loving these tips.

[@pick_nark]

Incredibly helpful! Thank you!

[@anthonylee3311]

Thank you Jonathan, you are a master of your craft and a great teacher

[@akumusik3582]

Gratitude & Appreciation💯

[@ansoncheong]

The concept of combining Lufs and RMS is so insane!!!!!

[@AcousticWisdom]

Such a wonderful series! love it. It may seem basic, but a subject often overlooked is just a track with acoustic instruments or maybe only guitar and voice. The dynamic range and LUFS are different and from the tonal balance measurements I’ve done with my favorite recording they can be really different . Would love to see a video dedicated to mastering just Bluegrass, folk, solo singer songwriter and things of that nature that don’t use drums or electronic instruments.

[@themastroiannis]

excellent, wonderful informative series! absolutely top notch! so very useful... would love to have an episode devoted to jazz and folk where there is way more dynamic range, peaks, transient attack variation, etc. and you want to keep it that way. thanks so much!

[@JurgenSchlei]

Great tutorials! Thank you iZotope!

[@dkny0072]

Pure gold this channel

[@El-Peje]

Thank you. I needed to hear this

[@davidlecam7665]

At last, good advices regarding finishing a mix before mastering. Best video I saw on this subject.

[@personalwatching9312]

Wonderful. Thanks. Loved the lufs vs rms knowledge.

[@ghfjfghjasdfasdf]

One of the best audio resources online imo - absolutely stellar knowledge being shared with the community here… all for free. 🤟❤️🤟

[@kyledenmead_]

This is great thanks guys

[@DimeDCSGO]

This video as mine blowingly amazing and informative. Thank you for these videos

[@andybreshears]

Really enjoyed this! y’all nailed it! Going to test out some of these tips tomorrow during one of my home sessions.

[@kelvinfunkner]

every single point was absolutely "on point" and golden. not one of them was "filler" or peripheral....really solid advice!

[@cbparker44]

Great information. Thank you for sharing this.

[@kevinsavo718]

So straightforward. Thanks!

[@NightscapeProduction]

Great tutorial, I learned a lot thank you!

[@loopthemoon]

Excellent crystal clear advice. Many thanks :)

[@dimalop]

I always listen Jonathan good tips. Thank you for content!

[@nayanmirza2507]

Great episode 🙏

[@66fitton]

Subscribed and bookmarked! Next level stuff here! Thanks!🙏

[@iamkxtv]

This was gold 💯🙏🏿

[@shizumaruofficial]

Good timing as I am mixing a new song!

[@charliekey2979]

Great content, thank you a lot for such a great information.

[@KILLABOMB_UK]

Great info as always 👌

[@leonardocaminati6432]

Great video! Jonathan is an awesome teacher!

[@BoboLearns]

Absolutely valuable knowledge, so many key questions flagged out for checking your mixing status. Thanks So Much!

[@Limit5482]

This season fantastic

[@kingech_B15]

Love this man

[@sj4267]

This one is soooo helpful!

[@rachelraspberry1761]

Wow. That was so helpful!

[@TarasKuznetsovMusic]

This is extremely helpful! You can basically write down all these key points and turn them into a roadmap of mixing! And don’t touch the mastering until you’re through all these checkmarks! Great great advice! Thank you guys!❤

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Thank you! Yes this we agreed this is a must-have checklist 🖤✅

[@robertgaudreau2520]

This is a great video on levels and the meaning between each type RMS Momentary, LUFs....

[@Light-zu1ys]

This is gold!!! Tysm!!! And the cat T-shirt is wonderous 🐱

[@LETTMusic]

Thanks for the continued insights. I've definitely become more cautious about points 4, 7, and 8, all from one concept, the Fletcher Munson curves or equal loudness contours. I know from those curves that areas like the subs and highs come out more and more in the mix the more we crank the volume up. So if something like 808s or kick drums or hi hats sound loud in the mix when listening at quiet volumes, they are going to blow your ears out at loud volumes. I've been a lot better about not just trying to add too much low end or high end to my mixes knowing some of that will naturally come out just from turning up the volume knob. But I never really thought much about comparing LUFS to RMS in point 9. I think some people try and use LUFS as a shortcut to trick themselves into thinking they are hitting a loudness target, but they aren't addressing the different frequency areas in the mix that contribute to those numbers, or thinking about what areas of the mix increase perceived loudness. Definitely going to start paying more attention to RMS going forward. Love these videos. I've learned so much from this series.

[@trummelbach6065]

Fantastic video! Thank you very much!

[@richardbradley5936]

Fantastic and ver practical insights...many thanks

[@sharadshirali1546]

Very helpful tips. Tackles many points hitherto not discussed anywhere else.

[@Anders01]

I love doing my own "amateurish" mastering, for practicing purposes. And the Ozone master assistant is useful for rough balance I have noticed. When the assistant gives a reasonable flat EQ then the mix is fairly ok in the frequency spectrum. But yes, the levels of the drums and bass for example compared to the rest of the mix, that can be tricky.

[@ThompaThelin]

This was really useful , thx

[@abcdubeatmaking]

I love all of your video ,your work are realy usefull Thank you

[@lushkordz6643]

i love this guy he is so 💎clear in his explanations ... i feel like i've learned more here than in a decade 🚀 no doubt this pure gold 🏆🏆🏆

[@stuartsmith5146]

Thank you!

[@phynyxsound]

10:32 best way possible to explain LUFS vs RMS!

[@lostee2001]

Thanks again

[@mrbeats7434]

Thanks ❤

[@andrewbarber9266]

Amazing information. I have just learnt so much in this video that many courses that I have done just wash over. Example you explain what the issue is and the equipment to use but also why and how it works. The meters for example I know what measure to set to, but never knew why and what the difference was until now.

[@runefagereng6023]

Brilliant!

[@jdizbeats6940]

Thanks for dedicating time to share your knowledge with us. All of this is is very helpful.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Appreciate it 😇

[@ridcomics9364]

I have learned so much from your channel watched hundreds of hours really like the way you teach new composers how to mix and master the right way thank you so much.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Happy to hear that 🖤

[@OilRacki]

Finally, someone who explains everything in plain English. I'd love to have Jonathan Wyner as a teacher.. very detailed, but easy to follow what he's saying.

[@nethercords]

most of these problems can be addressed with a compressor on the master bus, the caveat here is, you need to know what youre doing with the the compressor levels and presets otherwise you can easily do a homerun and end up at first base again. done correctly, you will finish off with a much more balanced mixdown.

[@NickWritesMusic]

This is the most useful explanation of LUFS I've ever heard

[@titiracoon267]

So useful tutorial ! What I like with them is that it's very professional for everyone, not only the iZotope users... May be, in addition to all the problems you mentioned, I would have added the "space balance" : if you notice during the mastering that the placements of sources in the space, -dry or wet with reverb or delay (short or long)-, it's too late. No software or magical trick (even the fabulous post-production suite !) will be able to efficiently correct what has been done (without defaults). You have to adjust the mix before mastering.

[@nelsonriches]

Excellent!

[@thejawshop-AdventureRecording]

Well that cleared out the fog. Thanks Mr Wyner

[@LordBiffMusic]

What a great intro. sound as well as visually

[@riharrds]

Thank You

[@gisellechacon7081]

These have all been very helpful! Being an engineer/producer, I find I often need to "boost" a track to make it sound right to clients. But knowing a little about mastering, I feel more confident that I'm not destroying the mix we worked so hard to create. Thanks, Jonathan!

[@nacnudselrahc420]

Yeah people don't really know what dynamic range is often times. I didn't know what it was either before learning about it, so putting myself in their shoes I can understand why people think that Mastering is just making a song as loud as possible. When I first started music production, I would make my mixes extremely loud

[@monkmusic5994]

Great!!! Thank you.

[@mrfleamino9350]

Thank you

[@hayden_hanna21]

God, these videos have been so helpful. Just finished up my ep, and have used these videos in assistance to mixing and mastering it myself!

[@RamzyMulla]

Let’s collab

[@nethercords]

high frequencies can be safely cut at 10k hz during mixdown, and other more problematic sounds may require more cutting, by the time it gets compressed side chained and mastered it should sound very clean :-)

[@LordBiffMusic]

very helpful !! i wonder whats a good peak to rms ? peak at -5 and rms -10, something like that?

[@rodolfoalejandroparadapint5107]

I just found gold here.

[@lakeshatheman3106]

I love your shirt bro!

[@kahyui2486]

1:37 i find that using a VU meter to get the reference and your mix sounding same level. Just match them to roughly the same measurement on the VU meter

[@YoungLitHippy]

Dang, I’ve learned so much today

[@pype720]

This was a good video and very timely for me. I am trying to finish my mix and move on to mastering so I can use this a checklist tor that process. Thanks for defining terms like sibilance and speaking plainly. The tonal balance piece is very interesting and something I need to start focusing on. I will definitely be measuring and comparing LUFS with RMS.

[@iZotopeOfficial]

This means a lot - thank you! 🙌

[@Georgie_B_]

Hiya, enjoyed this! Also, just wondering what audio interface and speakers Jonathan’s using here? Thanks!

[@Sekhmet1Songstress]

Excellent tips! I'd say go hunting for the distracting background noises as a first step... That said I once discovered a computer beep on a bass track after the event, and I ended up liking it! 😆

[@roman_volkov23]

Very nice video thnx :)

[@chizobamodenigbo]

Thanks for the video.. Quick question here.. What if your drum peaks are high, -3 to 0db and ur rms is around -9db, could dat be a problem for mastering

[@Prodby3128]

What a fantastic series name. Sometimes I genuinely am curious, ARE THESR GUYS EVEN LISTENING BEFORE THEY SEND ME IT

[@sebastianerrazuriz359]

hi how are you? the thing that doesn't make sense to me is that if I use a reference song in my mixing process, any commercially released song is already mastered(so it would be comparing two different stages), wouldn't it be better to use a known song without mastering?.or only use a reference song in the mastering stage?. thanks

[@lukerandolph7482]

gold

[@1wibble230]

Great vid. One bit i'm a little confused by, when he speaks about potentially too much low and comparing LUFS to RMS at 11:14 , first he mentions checking the momentary LUFS level, but then a few seconds later says 'Integrated' LUFS level. So which one is it that I should actually be comparing to the RMS, is it momentary, or integrated level?

[@machineagevoodoo2106]

Wavelab FTW! :)

[@610soundproductions]

what about mastering in the master chain on the actual project vs mastering with the bounced files ?? is there a better solution to one or the other

[@josephblasingame1430]

Your wisdom is killer and very straight forward. But I gotta ask...where can I land that shirt? Golden all the way around. Thanks.

[@andrewaboy8852]

How do you feel about all the top guys mixing through their mix buss processing from the start, and delivering with already squashed dynamics (-5 lufs)

[@dfizzbom]

I gotta say, neutron 4 and tonal balance have really been an ear opener to me. Tonal balance is so useful that I'm double backing and re-mastering tracks (mastering for me being an admittedly loose term). But that's the point and that's why tonal balance is working so well for me. Being linked with N4 and Ozone back in the mix is the eco system I need, man. I'm 60 and my ears range from kinda hearing properly to at times pretty skewed. These videos make a point of not overtly pushing izotope at every turn but I have become an even bigger fan this month with the sales and loyalty discounts to grab the extra tools. Long time Ozoner and now the other tools. Love these videos - thank you. Izotope though, thanks for having my back.

[@nethercords]

Neutron 4 is mindblowing...A great addition to Ozone9. I use ozone for my mixdowns and now i have a post mixdown phase where i try to extract more of those artifacts and gems within my productions

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Anytime, Dfizzbom! Thanks for watching and letting us know how much our tools have helped you.

[@AutPen38]

Tonal balance control taught me (particularly in regard to my older mixes) that my ears cannot be trusted! It's great as a sanity check, as I sometimes think my bass is too quiet (or too loud) and TBC will tell me I was wrong!

[@nstycrv]

does Ozone 10 address these issues because it seems the settings are set based on a few seconds of which ever section of the song you play for it...

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Is your mix ready for mastering? 😉 Explore deals on Ozone and other iZotope tools: www.izotope.com/en/shop/deals.html?

[@royallmuzikproductionzuk7912]

Got mine this week 🎉🎉🎉

[@GuitarTabsDaily]

Would love to partner and review the software 😃🤓

[@roberthunt1540]

His description of the needle drop . . . like explaining this ancient technology to a new generation. "In my day, we had plastic disks that went round and round and a pin connected to a wire and it was in a cartridge and . . . ah, forget it. It's too complicated,"