Mastering Ochestral Music

Donta Black

Donta Black

Active member
Whats good FP fam,

I'm wrapping up the mixing phase in a 10 track compilation of orchestral compositions i've been planning to shop to video game developers and am looking for guidance or advice.

I know with orchestral works you want them to sound as dynamic as possible, leading me to my question of this thread. I know I will not be able to achieve what is considered a authentic mastering as I do not possess the room and equipment to do so.

But for a decent presentation, I believe it could help in my scenario.

My normal process:
1 -Multiband Compress (If need be)
2 -Clip
3 -Limit

I have some friends that mentioned EQing on the master track as well, but I have never gave it a shoot. What are your thoughts and brutal truths?
 
Donta Black said:
My normal process:
1 -Multiband Compress (If need be)
2 -Clip
3 -Limit

I have some friends that mentioned EQing on the master track as well, but I have never gave it a shoot. What are your thoughts and brutal truths?
Click to expand...

For mastering, once you have a monitoring environment that you trust, Eq is about the number one tool you'd reach for.
For a mix that's half decent you really shouldn't need much Eq, but a bit in the right places helps with translation to a wide range of playback.

Also for orchestral music, I can't see using a clipper as it's pretty destructive. A good limiter should do.

It's a challenge to master your own stuff in the same room that you mixed in, because the deficiencies in that mix room, will also influence your decisions for mastering, but I understand for learning, you have to start somewhere. One goal is to make the music sonically engaging for the listener so they don't want to turn the channel. gl
 
I appreciate this response greatly, I will cut the Clipping method out for this procedure as advised by you and others. I should focus more on EQing on the master bus and Limiting.

I know mastering engineers sometimes just run audio through their high end equipment to give the audio character and flavors. I look forward to this experience one day.

As far as limiting I use the T Racks BrickWall Limiter. I will be using the default 7-band EQ from Pro Tools to EQ. Another room would be great too, one day!

Much appreciation!
 
It is right that you should preserve the natural dynamics of orchestral music, if this is to be heard by orchestral music listeners. However, you want to place your music in video games, so it is important to apply compression, so that the music can also play with louder gamesounds.
 
I think there's way too much generalization with "orchestral music" (as if everything from classical to modern-day film scores are the same) — yes, it's probably going to have more dynamic range than an EDM banger, but you're probably not writing a symphony. As said, EQ is your best friend, and maybe really moderate compression if needed. Don't work out a process for the sake of having a process; do what you need to do (which I know is frustratingly vague, but that's how it goes).
 
I got you loud in clear on doing what needs to be done, I need to wing myself off of that mindset, slowly but surely. Your right though their not complete scores, just trying my best to emulate that feel and sound. Thanks for the guidance bro.
 
I agree with WaltzMastering, you can do a great deal with simply just an EQ and it should be your first tool to look to in wrapping up a mix for the mastering stage. I find if the song was well mixed then there should not be much EQing required in the mastering phase, not more that 1-3db boosts and cuts. Clipping is not going to do you any good with this type of music and you will want to focus your limiting to something with a slower attach so you don't kill the transients and dynamics in your pieces.

We actually just produced a video that releases 4 tools that can change the way we mix and master. It will change the need of having to have nice monitors and a acoustically treated room and will save you big $
Its on our Youtube channel "middle-8 studios" and the video is titled "Monitoring; Rethinking the Headphone"

Good luck!
 
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