Mastering - Dithering
- Thread starter BigDrost
- Start date
chris carter
New member
You should stay at 24bits until you create the consumer version that you will distribute. There is almost NEVER a reason to normalize. I don't even know why the normalize button exists.
waltzmastering
New member
As mentioned, you'd want to dither to 16 at the last step.
Initially, you can export the song at the native sample rate and bit depth of the mix session before doing any mastering/processing, although some ME's like to up-sample and work at 96Khz before dithering down to the target sample rate for distribution/streaming. gl
Here's a decent article on dither: What is dither? | EarLevel Engineering
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Hey man, correct me if I'm wrong.
If i mixed and mastered the track at (for example) -3dB (for headroom) and at the end of the master channel I locked the ceiling at (for example) -2dB. I should normalize the track to make the final product reach 0dB. No?
It really is a good article. Thank you.
waltzmastering
New member
You generally want to set your final level in the mastering session, so if you are using a brick wall limiter (best to use in place of the normalizer) which is very common, you can set the ceiling on the limiter at -.2dB full scale. You really don't want to hit zero.
For streaming, like youtube, spotify, sound cloud etc, where the .wav file will be converted to lossy (mp3/AAC) it's best to keep the ceiling even lower (-1dBfs) to avoid inter-sample peaks/overs when it gets converted. gl
Also one thing to keep in mind these days if you are putting out your music on online streaming sites is the loudness standards/normalization processes they have going on. Check out this article which give you more insight in the loudness target you should be aiming for in terms of online streaming sites: //unlockyoursound.c0m/online-loudness/
In my opinion you should do neither of those, you should not normalize and you should not dither.
What you should do in my opinion is to record the signal straight to the final format, so that the file you have recorded is the file the listener will listen to. So keep the integrity of the hardware "sound" as high as possible.
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Denis van der Velde
New member
Mostly Dithering will introduce noise on the background. So i dont really use it.
FreakSonar
New member
No. You mix at 3db headroom. (The 3db headroom is needed for the mastering phase). Then you take the levels up when mastering to 0db. You don't normalize. And as you asked this question here. I'll suggest you just mix and send your mixed track out to a professional Mastering Engineer for Mastering.
FreakSonar
New member
True. But it's hardly noticeable. It just Depends on the type of dither setting you make use of.
rhythmgj
Character in Spades...
Except sometimes you do normalize. And you do try to avoid peaking consistently at 0dB (or you have no headroom). So make sure your professional is professional.
Also, Dithering should be used for any final down-sampling for final product. It does add noise (by definition; that's what it does), but for a reason (please research and do your due diligence).
Also, Dithering should be used for any final down-sampling for final product. It does add noise (by definition; that's what it does), but for a reason (please research and do your due diligence).
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