TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE11AUDIOEXAMPLES

TheaudioexamplesforthismoduleonmasteringuseasectionofthesongTheWoodcutter'sWife,by
AudioMasterclassFeaturedArtistsChandelle.Themixispurposelyquiteplainandsimplesothatthe
effects,andsideeffects,ofthemasteringprocessareveryclear.

First,therawmixwithoutanymasteringprocessing...

Examplefile:unmastered.wav

Hopefullythemasteredversionwillbebetter.But,asweshallsee,masteringcanhavenegativeeffectstoo.

Ifyouintendtohaveoneofyourownmixesmastered,thenitshouldbecompletelyunmastered,likethe
exampleyouhavejustheard.Thisgivesthemasteringengineermostoptions.

Ifyouaremasteringyourselfhowever,yournextstepwouldbetonormalizethetracksothatitpeaksat
fullscale,atleastatonepointinthesong.Thiswillmakethetracklouder,andwithnochangeinsound
quality...

Examplefile:normalized.wav

Allofthefollowingexamplesareprocessedversionsofthenormalizedmix,whichshouldbeyourpointof
referencethatyoucomparebackto.

Itmaybefoundatthispointthatthemixisalittleonthedullside,whichthismixclearlyis.Ifso,thena
littleEQcanhelp.Thisisjustasimpleuppermidrangeandhighfrequencyboost...

Examplefile:eq.wav

YoucouldeasilywonderatthispointhowmuchEQisenough.Shouldyoubeexpectedtocompensatefor
theaveragelistenerhavingdullandblurryspeakersforinstance?

Thisquestionisbestansweredbythetechniqueof'benchmarking'.Todothis,youshouldloadupa
commerciallyreleasedtrackinthesamegenreandstyleintoyourdigitalaudioworkstation,sothatyoucan
A/Bcompareitwithyourmix.

Ifthetrackhassoniccharacteristicsthatyoulike,andithasprovensuccessfulinthemarketplace,thenif
youcangiveyourtrackthesamecharacteristicsyoucanbeconfidentthatyouareheadingintheright
direction.

Thenextstageinthemasteringprocessiscompression.ThereisalwaysthequestionofwhethertoEQthen
compress,orcompressthenEQ.

Theanswertothisistoconsiderwhattherawtrackwouldbenefitfrommost,ifyoucouldonlyuseone
process.IfyouconsiderthatitwouldbemostimprovedbyEQ,thenyoushouldEQfirst.IfitsEQbalanceis
alreadygood,thencompressfirst,andperhapstweakitwithalittlemoreEQaftercompression.

Tryitbothways.Whenyouhaveagoodfeelfortheseprocesses,youwilldoitalmostbyinstinct.

HereistheEQedthencompressedversion...

Examplefile:eqcompress.wav

Sofar,youhavemadethetracksoundbetter,andthecompressionprocesshasmadeitsubjectivelyalittle

Module11AudioExamplesNotes
louder.

Youcanstopnow.

Or...ifyouwanttogetinvolvedinthe'loudnesswar'andmakeyourtracksoundasloudsubjectivelyas
manycommercialreleases,youwillwanttogofurther.

Onefairlyharmlessprocessislimiting.Thisislikecompression,buttheratioisveryhigh.Sothepeaksof
thesignalare'clamped'atacertainlevelthattheycanneverexceed.

Bylimitingmaybethetop3to6dBofthepeaks,theleveloftherestofthesignalcanberaisedbythat
amount,thusmakingthetracksubjectivelylouder,eventhoughthepeakscanneverbehigherinlevelthan
inthenormalizedversion.

Examplefile:eqcompresslimit.wav

Noticehowsofareachnewversionrepresentsanadditionalprocessperformedonthepreviousversion.

Nowwewilltakethefirststepintothedangerzone...

Itisquitecommononcommerciallyreleasedrecordingsthatclippinghasbeenusedasameansof
increasingsubjectiveloudness.Clippingisverydangerousasitcanmakethesoundreallyharsh.

Inthisexample,thetrackhasbeenraised3decibelsintoclipping.Inotherwords,itisalreadypeakingat
fullscale,thenitisraised3dBandthetipsofthewaveformareshearedoff.

Examplefile:eqcompresslimitclip3.wav

Thisisnowdistinctly'edgy'.Butyouwillfindthatmanypeoplewillsaytheypreferitonfirstlistening.It
doesgetverytiringthoughafterawhile,soitisverydifficulttosaythatitisagoodthinginanyway.

Raisingthelevelbyanother3dB,making6dBofclipping,provesthepoint...

Examplefile:eqcompresslimitclip6.wav

Fortunatelythereisanalternativetoclipping,andthatis'softclipping'.HereistheEQedversionput
throughasoftclippingprocessor...

Examplefile:softclip.wav

Clearlythisisbetterthanhardclipping,butthesoundisstillalittleontheharshside.

Anotheroptionistouseaprocessorthatisspecificallydesignedtoincreasesubjectiveloudness,inthis
casetheMaximplugin...

Examplefile:maxim.wav

Clearlythisisalsoanimprovementonhardclipping.Butitchangesthesoundquiteconsiderably.Thisnext
exampleshowstheMaximfilewiththenormalizedversionsubtractedfromit.Inotherwords,thisiswhat
Maximdoestothesignal...

Examplefile:maximsubtract.wav

ItwouldnotbeentirelycorrecttosaythatthisiswhatMaximisaddingtothesignal,butitdoesshowthat
thiskindofprocessingisprettystrongstuffandneedstobehandledcarefully.

MultibandEQ

OnefurthermasteringtechniqueismultibandEQ.Thisisalsousedinradiobroadcastingtostrengthenthe

Module11AudioExamplesNotes
signalsothatitcomesinloudandclearoverawidecoveragearea.

Themultibandcompressorsplitsthesignalintoseveralfrequencybands,typicallyfour.Itthenapplies
compressionineachbandindividually.

So,whereastandardcompressorlatchesonto,say,ahighmidrangepeakinthesnaredrum,and
compressesthewholeofthesignalwithreferencetothat,themultibandcompressorwillcompressthelow
frequenciesseparately,andthelowmidandthehighfrequenciesseparatelytoo.

Thismeansthateachbandoffrequenciescanbemaximizedinlevelwithinitself,thus'packingout'the
availablespacewithusefulwaveform,asmuchaspossible.Anditsoundslikethis...

Examplefile:multiband.wav

Youshouldcomparethiswiththenormalizedversionnormalized.wav.Youwillnoticethatthemultiband
compressedversionislouder.Buthasitchangedthesoundinanyotherway?

Forconvenience,hereisaversionofthemultibandcompressedtrackthatisloweredinlevelso
subjectivelyitsoundsaboutthesamelevelasnormalized.wav.

Examplefile:multibandcorrected.wav

Whatyouwillnoticeifyoulistencarefullyisthatthefrequencybalanceischangedslightly.Thisistobe
expected.Multibandcompressiondoesinvolvetheriskofchangingthebalanceoffrequencies.However,
keptwithinreasonablelimits,itdoesnothavetheharshnessofclipping,softclipping,orloudness
maximizationplugins.

Asafinalamusement,herearetheindividualbandsofthemultibandcompressedversionyoucannow
clearlyhearwhatthemultibandcompressorisdoing...

Examplefile:multibandlow.wav
Examplefile:multibandlowmid.wav
Examplefile:multibandhighmid.wav
Examplefile:multibandhigh.wav

Insummary,masteringisapowerfulprocessthatcaneasilymakethingsworse,notbetter.Ifpossible,you
shouldhaveyourworkmasteredbysomeonewhospendstheirentirecareerdoingthis.Ifyoudoit
yourself,usethebenchmarkingtechnique,andatalltimesaskyourselfwhetheryouaremaking
improvements.

Endofaudioexamplesnotes.

Module11AudioExamplesNotes