A vocal might sound a little hotter in an open quiet track than it would sound in a fully arranged or denser track, but if the vocal wanders dynamically-if it gets quieter or softer by more than 6–10 dB-there can be a real disconnect for the listener where they have to listen really hard until the element they’re listening to suddenly disappears.Īnother way to tackle an entire album is to think about dynamics. Think about how you will maintain consistency from track to track in terms of instrument tonality and level. There are a few things you can focus on to navigate this particular challenge.Īsk yourself, “What’s the lead instrument? What’s the focal point of this record?” Choose a track (generally a vocal) that might represent the lead artist, or maybe a vocal duet, or in the case of an instrumental album, maybe it would be saxophone or guitar. It can be challenging to make your tracks sound cohesive when they’re in different genres, styles, and intensities. How do I approach mastering an entire album? Sometimes you may need to experiment, but if you start with a chain of an EQ, Dynamics, EQ, and then a limiter (called Maximizer in Ozone), you’re on a good path.Ģ. There are lots of other modules in Ozone and other types of processing-like reverb (occasionally used in mastering), excitation, and stereo imaging ( Ozone Imager is free!). What goes in-between your initial EQ and final brickwall limiter is all to taste. There may be other limiting happening beforehand, adding color and so on, but the brickwall limiter usually sits at the very end of your mastering signal chain as protection against distortion. There’s always a limiter at the end, and the limiter itself is probably the brickwall limiter. Look at the Ozone manual, or some of our presets, and you’ll start to notice similarities between signal chains.

This is a good starting point for your mastering signal chain. You’ll usually see an EQ, some kind of dynamic processing, and maybe another EQ after for overall enhancement and broad changes. It may not always get used, but it’s there to help correct any tonal balance issues or problems before you start dynamics processing.

The first thing in your chain is probably an equalizer. What order should my modules be in a mastering session?

Master my track