BritChannel is a great way to add some subtle harmonic distortion and analog emulated EQ curves to your signal. The gain is automatically compensated and causes 2nd, 3rd, and 4th order harmonics when set to higher levels, and primarily 3rd order harmonics when in mic mode.
When trying to make your vocals sound clean, use a high-pass filter, try multi-band gating to increase the dynamic range while lowering noise, and ensure that your temporal effects are in-time with the BPM of the track. Additionally, try to control your sibilance with clip gain.
When mastering dynamic classical music, the biggest favor you can do yourself is to avoid any form of aggressive processing, be it compression, equalization, limiting, etc. Your stereo image and your signal's peaks should both be retained as much as possible when mastering dynamic classical music.
Reverb is typically thought of as a stylistic effect, but it can be used to create a sense of realism - if you’re recording vocals in a dry room, try combining ambience and room reverb types to create a full vocal. I’ll combine studio emulation with general ambience.
When mastering with Izotope Ozone, it helps to use the full module and introduce your processing within that plugin. Typically I like to introduce processing in this order, subtractive equalization, tape emulation, harmonic excitement, upward compression with the dynamics plugin, additive dynamic eq, vintage limiting and then maximization.
When mastering, you can introduce low-level compression with various plugins, like the Waves MV2, or utilize the functionality of multi-band compressors. Upward compression or low-level compression can make your master sound full and impressive, without affecting the peaks of your signal.
When using multi-band compression on your master bus, you should know how to create 4 forms of compression with the plugin - downward and upward compression and downward and upward expansion. Furthermore, utilize the attack and release to control the timbre, and use mid and side processing when possible.
Learning how to set up your mastering chain can be challenging; however, you can follow simple steps and general rules to create a great starting point for your project. In this order, you'll need to import your stereo mix, use clip gain to adjust the headroom, and then decide on your processing.
Learning how to setup your mastering chain is challenging; however, you can follow simple steps and general rules to create a great starting point for your project. In this order you'll need to import your stereo mix, use clip gain to adjust the headroom, and then decide on your processing.
Valhalla Supermassive is a free reverb plugin that offers an incredibly unique and professional sound - with functionality for both reverberation and vocal modulation. This reverb is great for both common reverberation and distinct outlandish reverb due to the warp and feedback functions, as well as the mode selector.
When limiting your master, it’s best to find a limiter that works best for the genre and you’re intended amount of attenuation. Some settings that’ll help you limit your master include a 50-millisecond release, no more than 6dB of attenuation, and use oversampling when it’s available.
In many ways, distortion can be used as a form of equalization - especially when that distortion is easily controlled and can be made frequency specific. For example, an exciter will create high order harmonics, in turn amplifying the high-frequency range - resulting in a brighter master.
Mid and Side routing is the isolation of the left and right signals into the mono or mid image and the stereo or side image. When observing the stereo image, the mid is at 0 degrees or centered and the side is at 180 degrees.
The quickest way to add some clarity to your vocal is to combine a high-pass filter with a gate tailored toward vocals. The high pass will attenuate aspects of the vocal that are causing plosives or unwanted rumble, and the gate cleans up the performance.
If you’re trying to make your digital master sound more indicative of an analog master, you need to start by considering how analog routing works. Imagine how the signal gets routed in an actual analog system, and consider each step that the signal goes through from start to finish.
