Tracktion Software - DIY Mastering & Final Mix Video Lecture | Tracktion Tutorial: Master Music Editing - Video & Sound Editing

Do It Yourself mastering with final mix
final mix is the big daddy of all the
Mackie plugs it consists of two separate
six band EQ sections along with a three
band dynamics section DC filtering soft
clipping and a simple noise gate the
name of the plug-in plies that it is
intended to be used on full stereo mixes
but there is no reason not to use it on
individual channels or groups within a
mix and many of the factory presets are
designed for this purpose
when using final mix on full mixes there
may be a temptation to insert it into
the master section of the Edit during
mixed down while this is perfectly valid
if you intend to compile several mixes
onto a CD it might be better to export
each individual mix as a 24-bit file
with no overall processing and then
bring them all back into another edit so
they can be adjusted in context and with
reference to each other
dragging a
at final mix on to each clip will allow
you to optimize the settings for each
song only one instance of final mix will
actually be running at any one time
unless you crossfade two clips so your
CPU will not be working any harder than
it needs to at this point I want to add
a word of warning many people mistakenly
thinks the main purpose of final mix is
to make their mixes sound as loud as
commercial CDs while final mix certainly
can boost the overall level of a track
multiband compression has a tendency to
alter the balance of the instruments
within a mix so if you wish to raise the
level of a mix without changing the way
it sounds you should consider using
brickwall limiting instead final mix
really excels when you need to correct
problems in a mix or adjust it to match
other songs intended for the same CD for
example by compressing the low
frequencies of a track to make the bass
sound more solid
the logical conclusion then is that the
mastering presets supplied are of little
use except as starting points after all
how can a preset designer fix specific
problems with your mix without knowing
what they are in advance it is important
therefore to understand how to adjust
presets to tailor them to the material
you are processing when browsing through
the presets on the first thing to do
when finding one you like the sound off
is to adjust the output level so that
bypassing the whole plug with the active
button doesn't cause any large volume
changes does it still sound better than
the original now switch to memory B pick
another preset you like the sound off
and adjust the level again
if there are more than two presets you
like you can build up a shortlist by
saving them as user presets either using
final mixes own facility or using
tractions preset mini now you need to
listen carefully to each preset in your
shortlist and compare them to the
unprocessed version
ideally listen to the mix several times
while concentrating on different
elements for example on the first
listened concentrate on the vocals if
there are any do they still sit in front
of the other instruments as they should
or the backing vocals still balanced
with the lead then focus on the bass
does it still have the definition it
should is the balance between the bass
instruments and the bass drum still
correct if you find your hearing
problems with the processed versions you
can then start to adjust the presets
accordingly the easiest way to tame a
preset that is over compressing your
signal is to rebalance the gain
structure through the plug in other
words turn the input level down a bit
and turn the output level up a bit to
compensate
you should see the gain reduction meters
in the dynamics section moving less as
the input level is reduced and you
should not be too worried if you end up
with one or two bands applying no gain
reduction at all the next things to
check are the EQ section both are
identical but one is configured before
the dynamics section and is called pre
while the other comes after the dynamics
but before the soft clipping and is
called post these can be enabled or
disabled using the blue EQ in or out
buttons the EQ edit buttons allow you to
choose which of the curves to edit while
the EQ view buttons will hide one or
other to make the display clearer if the
eq s are not set flat already tried
disabling them each of the six bands
also has an individual on/off button
along with a choice of peaking or
shelving types for each band bands one
two three will become low shelving bands
if this is switched on while bands 4 6
will become high shelving each band can
have its frequency and gain adjusted by
dragging the relevant point on the graph
while peaking bands can have their
bandwidth adjusted by right clicking and
dragging horizontally just like the 6
band EQ plugs for more accurate control
double-click the background of the
display to show the parameter values
which can then be edited directly
boosting or cutting a frequency with the
pre EQ will of course change the level
that feeds the relevant band of the
dynamics section so it will also alter
any dynamics processing for that band
adjusting the post EQ will not affect
the dynamic section at all the three
dynamics processes have their transfers
displayed along the bottom and likes the
three band compressor you can adjust the
main threshold by dragging over the
graph or the gain attack and release
parameters for each band the in buttons
above each graph allow you to disable
the dynamics processing for that band if
you find a preset that improves the bass
parts of your mix for example but
changes the mid-range or the treble too
much then you can disable those bands
and rebalance the gains you can bypass
all three bands using the active button
in the dynamics section and the link all
and reset functions also work the same
way as in the three band compressor the
mute button will turn off that band
entirely while the solo button allows
you to listen to the sidechain signal it
is here that we find the first
difference from the three band
compressor which uses the same crossover
to feed both the signal path and the
sidechain final mix on the other hand
has extra filters for the sidechain
which can be adjusted independently of
the main crossover
by default both the main crossover and
the sidechain filters are displayed
superimposed on top of each other in the
graph below the EQ section like the EQ
section double-clicking the background
will bring up precise parameter values
for fine adjustment I find it usually
helps to use the edit and view options
in the dynamics section to show only the
filter you are adjusting the main
crossover is exactly like that in the
3-band compressor you can drag the
crossover frequencies horizontally with
the left mouse button while right
clicking and dragging vertically allows
you to adjust the filter slope the key
filters however are three separate
bandpass filters each of which can have
its center frequency and gain adjusted
by left clicking and dragging the point
on the graph and its bandwidth adjusted
by right clicking and dragging
horizontally this allows a band to be
narrowed so that the dynamic section
responds only to one specific element of
the mix for example you could set the
crossover to isolate the low frequencies
of the bass guitar and the kick drum
while setting the key filter to just the
low thump of the kick drum the dynamics
section will now respond only to the
kick drum while affecting the low part
of the kick drum and the bass so you can
use compression to add more weight to
the bass without making the kick drum
too
or you can use expansion to make the
kick thump more without overly affecting
the base many of the presets have the
key filters configured so that they
apparently overlap but because the key
filters are fed for signal after the
main crossover this is not the case
actually it configures the dynamic
section in the same way as the 3-band
compressor so each compressor will be
keyed by the same signal that it
processes for more detailed control of
the dynamic sections double click one of
the dynamics graphs you can now use the
3-band buttons at the top to choose
which to edit
although these look slightly different
to the other Mackie compressors they are
in fact identical in the way they
operate the gain and auto make up
options worked the same way and up to
four extra nodes can be added and edited
in the node section like the other
advanced compressors adjusting the main
threshold will change the ratio and will
change the overall shape of the transfer
if you have several nodes enable
in final mix however we have the extra
option to adjust the gain of the key
filter for that band increasing the gain
is effectively the same as lowering the
overall threshold of all nodes together
and vice versa so if you find a preset
that is over compressing a particular
band try turning down the key filter for
that band the soft clipping can be
enabled with the soft clip button and
its threshold can be defined in the
fields to the right subtle soft clipping
of just the loudest piece is usually
inaudible and will allow the average
level of the song to be raised slug the
soft clip section comes after the half
of gain control so you can drive it
harder by turning this up and vice versa
if you follow final mix with a brick
wall mastering limited soft clipping is
probably best turned on the noise gate
can help to clean up the start and
ending tracks
although of course traction makes it
very easy to manually trim the start and
end points of the songs and apply fades
as needed which will usually give better
results than an automatic gate DC
filtering removes any DC offset in the
signal this will not normally be needed
but if in doubt it is safe to leave it
on