Dubstep Music Mastering - Part 4

Attack / Release.

Using slow attack and release setting on the compressor will result in a smoother dubstep mix that allows the finer details to breathe with out getting any obvious 'pumping' effects.

Use the low ratios.

Unlike using hard hitting compression on individual instrument tracks, when using compression in a dubstep mastering situation go steady and use the low ratios to massage the track in to place, start at 1:5:1 through to just 2:1.

Pump up the the volume.

When trying to create hard hitting dubstep music, the release setting on the compressor can be key. You will need to find the release time that fits the tempo of your music so that as the mix is pulled down by the strong kick drums it swells up again until the next kick drum. The gives the effect the track is pumping in time with the music.

Learn about decibels.

You should aim to refine your perception of how much you are actually affecting the dubstep audio signal, an unexperienced producer might happily aim for 6db of gain reduction but that will technically half the signal level, you should accurately aware of every 0.5db change you make, and should understand exactly why you have made that change. Not just do it because you spend a load of cash on some nice plug ins and feel you have to use them.

Are you using the right compressor for dubstep?

All the compressors on the market have different attributes and sounds because they are based on different statures of hardware versions, none is the best or worst but each has its own characteristics and they can be drawn upon to credit your track with there best features.

Control the peaks.

If you come to master and you have any abnormal peaks, go back and try to edit these out in your sequencer before applying dubstep limiting and mastering features. You could use automation or a soft quantize to eliminate that extra loud part. This will make a big difference when limiting because the limiter will not have to act so hard on the rogue peak.

Keep it simple.

For maximum loudness keep the arrangements simple, creating multiple layers of sounds will detract from there loudness. Think about your top 10 dubstep tracks, they are most likely very simple but highly effective and powerful.

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Dubstep Music Mastering - Part 3

Low cut.

To increase headroom in your dubstep tracks, and get rid of ineffective and unwanted subsonic frequencies, apply a low cut around 20-30hz, if you don't have monitors that go that low then maybe leave it - you would not want to remove something you cant hear properly as you might take away something that you might want to have in.

Subtle shelfs.

Try to apply a gentle shelf EQ to get the smoothest boosts, another way is to use a wide parametric EQ. This will provide the most musical and dubstep like EQ boosts.

Killer dubstep tip: Multi band compression.

Aside from EQ you may want to experiment with multi-band compression for changing the timbre of you mix. For example you could compress the low end more to bring up its relative presence in the mix. This can have a cleaner result and means you could use less process, further enhancing your final output.

Boost it wide, cut it slim.

Generally speaking a smooth wide boost, coupled with surgical narrow cuts on problem frequencies will give the best overall result.

Go easy.

If you find your self adding more than around 5DB of EQ you will probably be better off to go back to the original dubstep mix and find the problem there. As a rule you should not need to be adding more than 4/5DB for your first 50 attempts. Only when you have a lot of experience should you consider using such a drastic measure.

Treble.

One common misconception is that the high end of a track is all above 12khz, however its actually much lower at around 2khz. One good power tip when learning about frequency ranges is to run a commercial finished dubstep track through a high pass filter, turn up your speakers and slowly move the fader down, letting through more low frequencies. This will show you were you start to hear the punch, knock, bass etc and build a easy picture in your head of what applies to what dubstep frequency range.

Careful with using multi band compression.

Although multi band compression can have a amazing and dramatic effect on a poorly balanced dubstep mix, it can also wreak havoc with a good dubstep mix. If you feel your final mix is well balanced then a single band mastering compressor is likely to have a better result.

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Dubstep Music Mastering - Part 2

Never go past 0 DB.

Carefully monitor every process to ensure the levels never creeps past 0DB, this tends to happen more when using heavy limiting in dubstep, but can also happen with aggressive EQ.

A/B Properly.

An easy mistake to make is to make poor judgments by A/B testing to quickly. For example, when applying compression the better setting might not sound so good initially because its not as loud. However once normalized its would be the superior setting. Also A/B test by quickly switching between two or three of your favorite dubstep tracks to see how those producers do things.

Get your dubstep studio as quiet as possible.

Although good dubstep monitoring equipment is essential, it can be wasted money if your room is not set up properly. Some quick and easy tips are to get silent fans in your computer, and invest in some acoustic tiles to dampen pre-delay and early reflections. Essentially your room will be acting like a reverb plug-in unless you add some kind of sound dampening. This can result in over, or under use of EQ.

Test, Test, Test against other dubstep tracks.

A good idea is to listen to your efforts on as many systems and spaces as possible and pay close attention to the results. Over time this will teach you how your mix translates over multiple systems, although to perfect can take more than a lifetime. This is why a mastering engineer is worth his weight in gold. Or printer ink (as thats more expensive than gold!).

Learn the frequencies.

This might sound obvious, but building a mental picture of the dubstep frequency range in your head will pay dividends in all areas of dubstep production. In my view it maybe the most important thing in getting you mix and mastering efforts right. Try and attach words to each area, like warmth (220-320), muddiness (340), knock (600-1k), clarity (4k-7.5k) etc.

Cut it out.

When mixing / mastering dubstep (forget sonic sculpting) its nearly always better to make a frequency cut, rather than a boost. This is because the human brain will deem a sound more natural sounding by using a cut because that is what happens in the real world, sounds are absorbed by different materials (like wood, and concrete) resulting in certain frequencies being removed. Therefore when boosting EQ the brain will not be as used to it as a frequency cut. A good trick if you do want to boost a frequency is to cut all the other frequencies apart from the one you want to boost and then turn the whole volume up. As a rule a 1DB boost is equivalent to a 3DB cut.

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