However, I think mastering is still a valid process and certainly not ‘gone forever’. Now days, as cparmerlee says, you must watch your LUFS while mixing. The days when mastering could be done as an independent process after mixing are gone forever. I do use an Izotope plug-in for this, but you do have to run a complete rendering to get your number. I’d like to see all the DAWs include more built-in support for metering LUFS. I don’t think it is reasonable to ask people to pay $400ish for a separate product to help with something so basic as setting volume levels. I guess if the mix is within 3 or 4 dB of the target, then it is probably OK to (effectively) normalize it in the mastering step.Īnd I do some projects that way, especially if working with StudioOne, which has some support built into its mastering section for quickly metering the LUFS on each song. However, I would also note that if your mix is far from the target volume level, then making it up in a separate mastering phase, especially if you are doing it only via a limiter – can significantly change the character of the mix. I take your point about the separated process. Yes, on many projects I prefer to do it all in one pass and can get good results – with the exception of the time wasted trying to reach the desired LUFS. So you’re mixing to make a final master? or do you do a separate mastering stage? Sometimes I find that there are small discrepancies between uncompressed WAV exports and compressed/lossy MP3 versions. LUFS is a messy and complicated scenario, and sometimes further confused by measuring with SLM128, as it sometimes gives different measurements on successive exports even though the source mix/arrangement hasn’t changed. ![]() Hence why real-time render/export is necessary for these situations. Re-rendering is particularly relevant if there are external/analog effects loops or external inputs in play - even more so if their sonic performance is program-dependent, non-linear or non-repeatable. ![]() Often you’ll get the LUFS almost right, and suddenly you’re going too close to 0dB or maybe over. Whilst a computer program could iteratively render/measure/adjust to arrive at a target LUFS value - this is effectively how many of us are doing it by hand with Cubase right now.Īlso, part of the skill/luck/frustration arises because of the need to keep a close eye on momentary peak levels. ![]() The whole track needs to be rendered, to establish the LUFs of a particular mix/arrangement over time.
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