Cs12m Mastering Channel Strip Vst Plugin
Here’s a great sounding EQ from Terry West. It’s much more than a simple EQ however. The CS12M 1.67 is a full-blown mastering processor, featuring EQ, spectrum analyser, high and low pass filters, saturation effects, a limiter, stereo doubler and lots more.
There’s a whole bunch of handy presets and it just sounds great. In fact, all of Terry’s stuff sounds great. Good job, Terry!
Plugins for Mastering From industry-standards such as the L2 Ultramaximizer, to vintage models such as Abbey Road Vinyl, to precise meters such as the WLM Plus Loudness Meter, Waves offers a wide range of mastering tools to improve your sound. Good mastering plugins can be hard to come by, and they can definitely be expensive! This is why I created this list of the best free mastering plugins which should help you get your mixes to a new level while not spending anything! Table of Contents Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (Windows/Mac) mvMeter 2 by TBProAudio Best 15 Free Mastering VST/AU Plugins that Sound Great! Check out our new site for even more FREE DOWNLOADS!
PROS: It’s a whole mastering strip in one easy plugin
CONS: Every now and then I get a clicking for some reasons, which sucks
DOWNLOAD: http://www.terrywest.nl/equalizers.html
Simon V - Supernatural II
Before - Download WAV Mixdown
After - Download WAV Master
Notice
I wrote this tutorial in 2009 - the methods are the same, but the tools have improved.
Intro
Every mastering engineer has got his own style. My focus is toincrease the intensity, especially when it comes to Drum & Bass. Iwant the music to sound loud and alive with special attention to thebass. That’s difficult to achieve and it took me about 10 years tofigure out the best way to do it. My method works great for Vinyland Digital file formats, since what’s good for Vinyl is good forthe ear: No clipped square waves, stereo-phase problems,super-high frequencies and rumble below 20hz.
Mixdown preparation
Make sure the mixdown has enough headroom and isn't clipping,because what is lost, can't be restored. A good gain-structure forusing a digital mixer is to start with all faders at -12db. Whenyou're done mixing, the final master bus should peak around -6db, that way most digital mixers sound fine. Generally, a greatmaster starts with a good mixdown.
Mastering approach
Clean up > Equalize > Stereo > Color > Saturate > Limit > Inspect
There is no mastering template. I listen to the tune and decidewhich of the above steps are necessary. Since most dance music is produced in-the-box these days, I prefer to use digital mastering. Also, if a client wants corrections, the wholeproject is recalled with one click.
I'm using Steinberg Cubase as mastering software.The audio plugins mentioned below are my favourites for each task, just translatethe method to your own VST plugin choices.
To demonstrate my method I chose a recent track of mine called 'Supernatural II'.On the left you can see the plugin chain used to master this tune.
For demonstration purposes I made a loop from the trackand switched on each plugin during every cycle.
Listen to the plugin chain
Download plugin chain WAV
Clean up
I like to cut all frequencies below 20hz, as there's usuallyVinyl rumble (from sampling), DC offset problems (crazy vst plugins) andsynthesizer wobble (LFO modulations for instance). I try cutting asmuch as I can without losing any important fundamentals of the sub-bass.For this track I highpassed at around 30hz.
Equalize
I use 3 equalizers in a row for tonal shaping. That might sound like a lot of equalizing - I just use the advantages and special touches each EQ has.
UAD Harrison 32C Channel EQ
Adding a little bass around the kickdrum, pushing the lowermidrange at around 1.6k and using the high-end boost at 12khz. Ioften leave the cut-Filters engaged, as they add a tiny littlephase-shift that makes the signal come alive. The high-endboost is also one of the best in the plugin world, as the whole EQupsamples internally to achieve it's smooth response along with thegentle curves.
UAD Neve 88RS Channel Strip
I only use the mid-range EQ controls to bring out the signal broadly at 1khz to enhance the vocal.The UAD Neve 88RS is a 'Formant Spectrum EQ' (UAD manual) that is just the right tool for midrange vocal adjustments.
There also were some resonant peaks around 5khz that I've reduced because of harshness.
Special processing
This channel strip adds a phase shift in the lower frequencies, it 'warms up' anything you pass it through.The file below is created with a normal and phase-inverted signal to highlight the 88RS processing - very low volume, as it's only the changed signal.
Neve 88RS phase change
Download Neve 88RS phase WAV
UAD Pultec EQP-1A
As the last tonal-shaping step, I boost the super-low (20hzand above) and high frequencies (12khz) with a broad bandwithsetting. Since this plugins also upsamples internally to 192khz, thehigh-end boost just sounds right. Switching in this plugin can be deceiving,since it boosts the volume +1.2db like the original hardware.
Stereo
For this tune I widened about 130% to bring out thevocal reverb and stereo room of the drums. I'm pretty careful withstereo plugins as they can cause phase-problems, but sometimesa broader image is enhancing the music.
Channel Strip Vst Free
Color
In-the-box mixes can sound sterile. This cute littleVoxengo Warmifier pluginemulates several tubes and their characteristic behaviour. For masteringI use my favourite 12AX7A tube as it adds the right harmonicsfor bass and smoothes out hard attacks. Make sure the pluginis switched to 'High-Quality' and Linear-phase mode, sothe phase changes are minimal. Please note, this plugin is veeery subtle.
Saturate
The following is a Simon V special: To approach the final volume of the mastered track, I use a combination ofbass equalizing and saturation. My method is octave-based andmakes the low range solid and strong. I figure out the key of the tuneand exactly locate the bass, kick and snare fundamental.
In this instance I used a narrow boost at 50hz (Subbass), 100hz(Kick) and 200hz (Snare) alongside a steep highpass at 20hz. Thisall feeds into the soft saturation of the EQ and I'm adjusting eachoctave to taste. If you overdo it, the saturation becomes audible,but I'm usually very surprised how much level you can get away with.
Limit
Voxengo Elephantis my favourite Limiter, it respects the transients, doesn't muddy up the bassand prevents square-waves as they're not cuttable on Vinyl. I use it hereto prevent digital clipping and as final +1db volume boost.
Best Channel Strip Vst Plugin
Inspect
There's a freeware plugin called s(M)exoscope I can reallyrecommend. I usually export the WAV and look at the audio in Soundforge,but with this little tool I can see what each plugin does to thesignal live. It also helps to see if I've overdone the volume orhow much headroom is left.
Comparison
There's a lot of music from all kinds of genres in my referencedirectory which I'm comparing the final master against. One challengeis usually the hardest: Checking if I've fooled myself duringthe mastering process. It happens to me sometimes, that's whyI came up with this idea:
Take the original mixdown and try matching the volume level ofthe final master. If the original mixdown sounds better at thesame volume than the master, then it's time to take a break andstart fresh. If the final master sounds better than the mixdownlevel-matched, I've done a great job and it's time to party! Ialso try to reserve an extra day for most mastering jobs, so I canlisten with fresh ears the day after.
Mixdown level-matched to compare with the Master
Download level-matched Mixdown WAV
Concerning the loudness war - As a mastering engineer Iknow how hard it is to stay out of the red-light district. Let's hopefor the better and that in 25 years time theloudness warswill be forgotten and we'll have a common volume standard likein the movie industry.
Get your track mastered by Simon V
You can hire me for mastering your music. Before/After examples and details on my mastering page.
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