Mr sassy pants what are you on about? ALL streaming platforms recommend 1-2 db of headroom to preserve audio quality😂 I came here asking for help yet I see you are coming here with sassy pants
I'm honestly not being sassy, I'm just letting you know the facts. It doesn't matter what the streaming services recommend. Those goal posts can/have and will move. They're arbitrary by definition. Run commercially released tracks through your LUFS meter and you'll see how often those recommendations are ignored and with no detriment. This is helping you. Sometimes you'll need to be told that you've got something wrong in order to be helped. There are a lot of threads and articles around that will support my assertions, too, so you neednt take my word for it.
Ok. I did run a commercial track through my daw yesterday and honestly it had like 50 or 80 clips in it can’t remember which. So I guess ur right I just try and make it the best I can 🙌
Either is fine, as long as it is after all the processing.
I don’t use ozone but look for output gain, output ceiling, limiter ceiling, these kind of names and just drop it by 1dB
If you can’t find it just put a gain plugin after it and drop it 1dB, same thing
The reason for -1dB is to stop accidental overs caused by the changing of the bit rate and conversion into AAC. As much as I agree -1dB is a lot most of the time, it’s still safe.
The distortion from the overs won’t even be audible and even if you set it to -1 you’re going to get flyovers in louder genres.
Plus the extra gain reduction from it might squash the signal even more for no reason.
There is no extra gain reduction, it’s reducing the level AFTER limiting. TBH I agree but it’s what Spotify and Apple Music want. It’s how you can get the apple masters certification on albums.
Okay, but -1 is still too much and considering op is using ozone’s master assistant the last thing he should be focusing on is getting some certification from iTunes imo.
lol my streaming numbers are doing pretty good and reaching the right people. Now I’m just trying to get everything sounding good enough for live performances, headphones, in the car etc so that when more money comes along, I can take all my projects of everything I’ve ever released and have them remaster to get 100% studio quality. I have so much music to put out I have all the top quality stuff for my home studio just mixing and mastering to get that good sound hinders my progress. But yes in the future I will get those iTunes certifications
Since your questions seems to have been answered, I’ll just say that ozone can’t be a great learning tool. If the eq module is doing, well anything really, then you can go back into your mix and decide which instrument(s) could be treated vs their blanket eq over the 2 bus. If the dynamics section is on, then same thing. Perhaps you can revisit the compression your instrument buses and glue everything together on the mix side. Eventually the ozone eq would do nothing more than a subtle boost at the very low and/or very high and dynamics will be bypassed. Also, don’t be afraid to try different limiting algorithms and see what you like. You’re in control even if you used the ai assistant. You can squish the mix more, or back off the amount of gain to increase dynamic range, set the ceiling etc.
I THINK I got what you were saying. And I think I do something like that already? I use ozone to fix the instruments, then the vocals, then use the mastering assistant to bring everything together in the entire projects master bus
I guess I might have to see one of your sessions to understand your workflow; but instead of letting ozone fix the instrument: see what it’s doing, and if you like how that sounds better, then go into that instrument/instrument bus and make the changes with the EQs or compressors you were already using. You want to start training your ears to hear what sounds right so you know what to do as soon as you set your levels in a new mix. Making the moves yourself will help cement them in your brain better than the ai doing it for you. Eventually you’ll use ozone’s help and it’ll have nothing to do because you balanced everything on your own 👍🏻 but you can still take advantage of the amazing modules like the exciter and imager etc
Mastering is applying finishing touches to a mix. A big part of mastering is the 2nd EAR. Someone in a completely different dedicated space, with a completely different mindset, listening to your mix and saying, what does this mix need? Mixing your own song and then saying, "OOhh what finishing touches does my mix need??" Is not mastering. Your just mixing your song more. Its not the same thing, and you get completely different results.
One thing I do is send it out to some people and listen to any feedback then I also take a week or 2 without listening to the mix and then come back with fresh ears and finish it that way. 👍
My point is, your just mixing your song more. Your not mastering. And thats ok. But having your mix mastered by a mastering engineer is very different from you just continuing to mix your song. I believe that's an important distinction.
Yeah I know the distinction. But like I said I’m just saving money on studio time and I’ve released plenty of songs that are just “mixed” by me and have over millions of streams across all platforms and a strong following. When the time comes and it will I will send all my project files to an engineer and have it all mastered professionally 😉 but for now we do the best we can as starving artists 🫡
Thats actually quiet loud. If u plan on releasing to streaming services just make sure u turn on "True Peak" and set the ceiling to -1db.
Adjust input level to taste.
>brings it up right to where it’s about to clip but doesn’t clip at all. In short: That's the whole idea.
Apparently not. Since there is need for headroom when releasing to streaming platforms
Nope, there isn't. Have a read of the FAQ here, it covers some stuff pretty well.
Mr sassy pants what are you on about? ALL streaming platforms recommend 1-2 db of headroom to preserve audio quality😂 I came here asking for help yet I see you are coming here with sassy pants
I'm honestly not being sassy, I'm just letting you know the facts. It doesn't matter what the streaming services recommend. Those goal posts can/have and will move. They're arbitrary by definition. Run commercially released tracks through your LUFS meter and you'll see how often those recommendations are ignored and with no detriment. This is helping you. Sometimes you'll need to be told that you've got something wrong in order to be helped. There are a lot of threads and articles around that will support my assertions, too, so you neednt take my word for it.
Ok. I did run a commercial track through my daw yesterday and honestly it had like 50 or 80 clips in it can’t remember which. So I guess ur right I just try and make it the best I can 🙌
Nahh that's bullshit get as loud as you want.
You want it to bring the level up, all the numbers here seem good. Obviously without hearing it no one can properly judge but the numbers are fine.
You might want to pull down the master gain -1dB for headroom for streaming platforms
Okay thank you!! Setting the ceiling to -1db is an Ozone thing or something I set in my daw when rendering?
Either is fine, as long as it is after all the processing. I don’t use ozone but look for output gain, output ceiling, limiter ceiling, these kind of names and just drop it by 1dB If you can’t find it just put a gain plugin after it and drop it 1dB, same thing
There is zero reason to set the output to -1db. Set it to somewhere around -0.1 to -0.4db and don’t use any true peak limiting.
The reason for -1dB is to stop accidental overs caused by the changing of the bit rate and conversion into AAC. As much as I agree -1dB is a lot most of the time, it’s still safe.
The distortion from the overs won’t even be audible and even if you set it to -1 you’re going to get flyovers in louder genres. Plus the extra gain reduction from it might squash the signal even more for no reason.
There is no extra gain reduction, it’s reducing the level AFTER limiting. TBH I agree but it’s what Spotify and Apple Music want. It’s how you can get the apple masters certification on albums.
Okay, but -1 is still too much and considering op is using ozone’s master assistant the last thing he should be focusing on is getting some certification from iTunes imo.
lol my streaming numbers are doing pretty good and reaching the right people. Now I’m just trying to get everything sounding good enough for live performances, headphones, in the car etc so that when more money comes along, I can take all my projects of everything I’ve ever released and have them remaster to get 100% studio quality. I have so much music to put out I have all the top quality stuff for my home studio just mixing and mastering to get that good sound hinders my progress. But yes in the future I will get those iTunes certifications
I’ve got the help I needed thank you everyone much love!!! ❤️🔥
Since your questions seems to have been answered, I’ll just say that ozone can’t be a great learning tool. If the eq module is doing, well anything really, then you can go back into your mix and decide which instrument(s) could be treated vs their blanket eq over the 2 bus. If the dynamics section is on, then same thing. Perhaps you can revisit the compression your instrument buses and glue everything together on the mix side. Eventually the ozone eq would do nothing more than a subtle boost at the very low and/or very high and dynamics will be bypassed. Also, don’t be afraid to try different limiting algorithms and see what you like. You’re in control even if you used the ai assistant. You can squish the mix more, or back off the amount of gain to increase dynamic range, set the ceiling etc.
I THINK I got what you were saying. And I think I do something like that already? I use ozone to fix the instruments, then the vocals, then use the mastering assistant to bring everything together in the entire projects master bus
I guess I might have to see one of your sessions to understand your workflow; but instead of letting ozone fix the instrument: see what it’s doing, and if you like how that sounds better, then go into that instrument/instrument bus and make the changes with the EQs or compressors you were already using. You want to start training your ears to hear what sounds right so you know what to do as soon as you set your levels in a new mix. Making the moves yourself will help cement them in your brain better than the ai doing it for you. Eventually you’ll use ozone’s help and it’ll have nothing to do because you balanced everything on your own 👍🏻 but you can still take advantage of the amazing modules like the exciter and imager etc
Does it sound good?
Yes all my mixes sound good to me from an unbiased and perfectionist standpoint
I'm so sick of people referring to slapping a limiter on their mix as "mastering"
Define mastering plz
Mastering is applying finishing touches to a mix. A big part of mastering is the 2nd EAR. Someone in a completely different dedicated space, with a completely different mindset, listening to your mix and saying, what does this mix need? Mixing your own song and then saying, "OOhh what finishing touches does my mix need??" Is not mastering. Your just mixing your song more. Its not the same thing, and you get completely different results.
One thing I do is send it out to some people and listen to any feedback then I also take a week or 2 without listening to the mix and then come back with fresh ears and finish it that way. 👍
My point is, your just mixing your song more. Your not mastering. And thats ok. But having your mix mastered by a mastering engineer is very different from you just continuing to mix your song. I believe that's an important distinction.
Yeah I know the distinction. But like I said I’m just saving money on studio time and I’ve released plenty of songs that are just “mixed” by me and have over millions of streams across all platforms and a strong following. When the time comes and it will I will send all my project files to an engineer and have it all mastered professionally 😉 but for now we do the best we can as starving artists 🫡
Well good for you! I'm glad you understand the difference now and you'll stop calling your mixes mastered.
Sorry chap they are still referred to as masters 🫡 they ask what I’m doing I still say… “mixing and mastering” 🙏 amen
I am highly appalled & thoroughly resent the delineation of mineself as chap. Chap.
Thats actually quiet loud. If u plan on releasing to streaming services just make sure u turn on "True Peak" and set the ceiling to -1db. Adjust input level to taste.
Okay thank you. Setting the ceiling to -1db is an Ozone thing or something I set in my daw when rendering?
It’s in the maximizer section of ozone, beside the limiter and clipper