Is there a way I can keep mastering from affecting my mix?
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:16 pm
I don't know if I'm mastering wrong or not, but everytime I finish mixing a track and normalize it and take it to har-bal, I'll usually low shelve it at 45 hz, and hit Intuit Q. But for some reason when I get to compression and limiting I can make it sound good but the vocals are always different in volume compared to the rest of the track when I finish, and most of the time the mix is perfectly how I want it when it comes out of the DAW so I don't want it to change when I finish mastering it....I just want it to sound clearer and louder but the vocals stay the same volume in ratio to the rest of the mix because for some reason after I finish mastering the vocals wind up too loud and I have to go back in my DAW and turn them down. Is there a way that I can mix or master to where I am able to always be able to tell what the final product is going to sound like after I master it and not have to use so much guesswork? Is there something I'm not doing right? Essentially, the only Har-bal-ing I'm really doing at this point is low-shelving and Intuit-Q because the mix is really good (IMO) when it comes out before mastering.