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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