Mastering Dubstep
Mastering Dubstep Posted on: 18.03.2011 by Olene Minyard I've just got into making dubstep and am loving it. I seem to have got the grasp of everything and love creating massive drops!I've got a corking song on the way, but just want some tips on mastering a dubstep track. Basically, the problem I have (as you can probably guess) is at the low end. It seems my bass and drums are fightint for space and cancelling each other out a bit resulting in less punch and effect. Any tips on mastering dubstep tracks? | |
27.03.2011 |
Originally Posted by Bunford
that, however, is only going to be a rough downmix. proper mastering is far too complicated to even scratch the surface in a community discussion. when you're happy with your downmix, just give it to a pro along with the stems - as a draft, so he has an idea where you're trying to go with your sound. |
| Olene Minyard 18.03.2011 | I've just got into making dubstep and am loving it. I seem to have got the grasp of everything and love creating massive drops! I've got a corking song on the way, but just want some tips on mastering a dubstep track. Basically, the problem I have (as you can probably guess) is at the low end. It seems my bass and drums are fightint for space and cancelling each other out a bit resulting in less punch and effect. Any tips on mastering dubstep tracks? |
| Phung Furfari 31.03.2011 | Hi there, my name is Barry from SafeandSound Mastering I could not heklp drop by and look at this post.
First, is everything equed properly? Have you low passed out all frequencies below 50hz and high passed out all above 10kkhz on your bass? Next I'd reccomend making a cut in your bass anywhere from 300-500hz. Just enough to cut the battling frequencies.
A HPF allows all frequencies above the cut off frequency to pass. A LPF allows all frequencies below the cut off to pass. There is no default setting for mastering a track, the processing applied will be unique to the exact mix being worked with. Without high resolution/full range monitoring the best you can do is level match a good track in the genre against your mix and try and get close. Also get a high quality pair of headphones with deep bass response and do the same, check against if you are doing DIY finalizing. cheers |
| Phung Furfari 28.03.2011 | Hi there, my name is Barry and I operate SafeandSound Mastering I work with my fair share of dubstep and bass related music.
Have you low passed out all frequencies below 50hz and high passed out all above 10kkhz on your bass? Next I'd reccomend making a cut in your bass anywhere from 300-500hz.
A low pass filter allows all frequencies below the cut off to pass. A high pass filter allows all frequencies above the cut off to pass. With dubstep your best best is to listen to a good track in the genre and level match it to your mix. In lieu of not having a full range high resolution monitoring system in an acoustcially controlled environment, this is the next best plan. cheers |
| Breana Singerman 27.03.2011 | No need to send the stems when getting it mastered, just the stereo mix down should work. But he's right about sending it to a professional, as doing it yourself will more often then not just ruin the track. |
27.03.2011 |
Originally Posted by Bunford
that, however, is only going to be a rough downmix. proper mastering is far too complicated to even scratch the surface in a community discussion. when you're happy with your downmix, just give it to a pro along with the stems - as a draft, so he has an idea where you're trying to go with your sound. |
| Breana Singerman 27.03.2011 | Like everyone said, mastering isn't going to fix your problem. Your issue is in your mix down. You may have the song writing part down, but the engineering part is going to take to learn. Best thing to do is just keep working on tracks, working on your mix downs and to try anything and everything you can on audio engineering. This is one of those things that will only come with time and practive |
| Mora Romandia 27.03.2011 | First, is everything equed properly? Have you low passed out all frequencies below 50hz and high passed out all above 10kkhz on your bass? Next I'd reccomend making a cut in your bass anywhere from 300-500hz. Just enough to cut the battling frequencies. Next as 16b441khz said, add a bit of sidechain compression. If you're using ableton here's a great tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh4f0XHdPeM If none of these things worked then the problem could lie in your kick sample. If you're bass is really subby then you'll want a kick drum sample that's got punch rather than sub behind it. Also, if you haven't done it yet its important to layer your kicks. Here's a tutorial on that http://www.quantizecourses.com/pages.php/?cat=3 Good luck and if you need additional help feel free to ask. |
| Sherril Sondergard 27.03.2011 | make sure all your drums audible. |
| Alyse Plantenga 19.03.2011 | eq your kick so it has less sub so that ur sub bass has room. then make a small cut in ur bass where the punchy part of the kick is so that it can poke through. A small amount of side chain compression with a faster than normal release so you don't get the pumping effect. everything in the mix has to have its own space, especially the parts that fill in the lower regions. |
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