Understanding Mastering with Conor Dalton

This is a course not to be missed. Conor Dalton from glowcast mastering invites us to a mastering party with all his favourite compressors techniques as guests.

 

Using real world examples he digs deep into this often mis-understood world, showing us that loud and proud isn't always the best. Covering compression, dynamic range and EQing techniques, there is something here for even the most accomplished of engineers. You are guaranteed to have a better understanding of mastering after this.

 

As an added bonus here is a spotify playlist link to the tracks Connor covers in this course.

 

http://spoti.fi/OfHD18

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23 Comments on "Understanding Mastering with Conor Dalton"

virtualgeezer Says:
August 16, 2012 at 10:58
Hey I don't want to undermine this video series but seriously are you claiming you did Daft Punk's Tron mastering or even just 'End Of Line'? Looking at discogs.com it says it was done by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood. What's the deal here cos I couldn't believe that such a massive blockbuster would leave mastering down to a guy using Cubase (no offence) rather than using some of the greatest mastering houses with some of the best ears and gear in the world? That stem mix of 'End Of Line' is the one that has gone around the underbelly of the internet cos I downloaded it too. Can you clear this up for us guys!
glowcast Says:
August 16, 2012 at 12:33
no no! I had absolutely nothing to do with Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack mastering, I only used their stems here as an example as they're available online, and it's interesting to see how they presented their files for that track. I did however master music for Daft Punk, which was their 1994 track "Drive" which came out on Soma finally in 2011, and also remastered their remix of "Scott Groove - Mothership Reconnection" which also came out on Soma in 2011 as part of their 20 years celebrations. Hope that clears it up, i didn't intend to be misleading! But looking back i can see how that looks confusing. Thanks, Conor
glowcast Says:
August 16, 2012 at 12:37
correction: *Scott Grooves*
JeffThompson Says:
August 16, 2012 at 20:46
Very helpful tips and info Conor! Your "house party" examples for the different types of compression were pretty clever, and made the concepts more understandable for me. Cheers
virtualgeezer Says:
August 16, 2012 at 20:50
Thanks for clearing that up Conor, I didn't doubt you had done other work with Daft Punk, just seeing an epic Hollywood soundtrack in the mix made me question things a little too much!
djmarcatkins Says:
August 17, 2012 at 22:06
I don't understand the need to know where the music, stems, parts, pre and post master came from. It was not necessary to the understanding of the principles of the techniques... IT WAS JUST PICKING FLIES! To be fair if Conor had mastered the soundtrack for TRON would it have made the techniques he explained better to you? Or would you have trusted them more? Makes no odds to me!? Kudos Conor GREAT tutorials!
djmarcatkins Says:
August 17, 2012 at 22:34
I don't understand the need to know where the music, stems, parts, pre and post master came from. It was not necessary to the understanding of the principles of the techniques... IT WAS JUST PICKING FLIES! To be fair if Conor had mastered the soundtrack for TRON would it have made the techniques he explained better to you? Or would you have trusted them more? Makes no odds to me!? Kudos Conor GREAT tutorials!
hipsonnyboy1 Says:
August 20, 2012 at 11:43
i wish for sonic academy to do tutorials on how to do the DICE Track , this is real tech house and music i want to do ...
en1gma Says:
August 20, 2012 at 22:35
Loving the party metaphors Connor! ha ha quality tutorial so far. Gonna take a look at the EQ one tomorrow.
glowcast Says:
August 21, 2012 at 17:29
Thanks, everyone!
glowcast Says:
August 21, 2012 at 17:30
Also, you can keep up to date with me at these places: https://www.facebook.com/glow.cast https://www.facebook.com/conor.dalton https://twitter.com/glowcast https://twitter.com/conordalton_gc http://glowcastaudio.wordpress.com/
rfm Says:
September 10, 2012 at 06:17
Great tutorial, and great review of some of the common techniques. One thing I would like to say is that with some of the A/B comparisons, it was mentioned that 'you probably wont hear the difference since this is a compressed media file while over the internet'. Very true. In that case, why not offer a high resolution video file option with the audio encoded at 44/48khz audio non-compressed in the video file? Something like lo-res and hi-res options and/or the audio files themselves so the viewer can get the idea of what the actual differences are. I agree 100% that to really get the subtleties that mastering accomplishes and how that affects the whole balance for the intended results, you need to hear the full resolution. Also, some of the A/B comparisons were quite fast in the videos, whether it could have been heard with higher resolution might be the key, but I really had a hard time telling the difference. Lastly the audio glitches a lot this should really not be in the video, either edited out, or avoided entirely. Increasing the audio buffer size might help it groove with camera software better. Otherwise a very informative and well presented series. Keep up the good work!
DonCarloss Says:
September 16, 2012 at 07:39
Wow.. your example of compression made something click in my head! love it
pumasdaniel Says:
September 18, 2012 at 15:19
Brilliant tutorial !!, I was wondering, after mastering the end product will be able to be heard properly in a CD player as well radio brodcast, normal hi Fi system , beatport, itune, etc ? or perhaps there are some technics in the mixing production process to improve that situation?, i found that some of my production where i've been very carefull about creating space sounds so well with my monitor studio or high entry studio headphones , but when i play it with my hi fi on in all stereo or ipod i loose bass and med sounds, compared to a mp3 track that i bought from e.g beatport, obviously it was mastered though
pumasdaniel Says:
September 18, 2012 at 15:32
Brilliant tutorial !!, I was wondering, after mastering the end product will be able to be heard properly in a CD player as well radio brodcast, normal hi Fi system , beatport, itune, etc ? or perhaps there are some technics in the mixing production process to improve that situation?, i found that some of my production where i've been very carefull about creating space sounds so well with my monitor studio or high entry studio headphones , but when i play it with my hi fi on in all stereo or ipod i loose bass and med sounds, compared to a mp3 track that i bought from e.g beatport, obviously it was mastered though
pumasdaniel Says:
September 18, 2012 at 15:32
Brilliant tutorial !!, I was wondering, after mastering the end product will be able to be heard properly in a CD player as well radio brodcast, normal hi Fi system , beatport, itune, etc ? or perhaps there are some technics in the mixing production process to improve that situation?, i found that some of my production where i've been very carefull about creating space sounds so well with my monitor studio or high entry studio headphones , but when i play it with my hi fi on in all stereo or ipod i loose bass and med sounds, compared to a mp3 track that i bought from e.g beatport, obviously it was mastered though
pumasdaniel Says:
September 18, 2012 at 20:07
Hi Conor, first of all, i do not know how the heck my message got repeated 3 times. You mentioned on your intro a few condition to get mixing material, I got a bit confused with No Limiter restriction. I learned that is advisable to add an ableton audio effect limiter on the master track with a celling of -3db, I presume the headroom that you & s. engineers work with, also there are other goodies to be added on the master track such as multiband dynamic, etc, in some sonic academic tutorials is called House Mater Chain . Can you please clarify this subject?
pumasdaniel Says:
September 24, 2012 at 16:45
Hi Conor, any feedback about my questions above?
glowcast Says:
September 25, 2012 at 20:26
Hey pumasdaniel, sorry for the delay, I just got back from holidays. Please email me at conor@glowcast.co.uk to talk more. rfm: good points and well and truly noted, thanks for your feedback.
glowcast Says:
October 03, 2012 at 17:44
@rfm thank you for the good feedback, all points are valid and i'll take them on board for future videos.
twentycen Says:
October 21, 2012 at 14:47
Brilliant set of tutorials and information! Thanks for these!
JohanH211 Says:
February 17, 2013 at 19:38
Great tutorial!! Many many thanks Connor
jorgefilemon Says:
March 01, 2013 at 22:04
great tutorial, but why so much clicking? was it cause the video software? that's my only complaint, i mean this is about audio quality tutorial after all, would have been cooler not to have that clicking at all.
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Summary

This is a course not to be missed. Conor Dalton from glowcast mastering invites us to a mastering party with all his favourite compressors techniques as guests.

Using real world examples he digs deep into this often mis-understood world, showing us that loud and proud isn't always the best. Covering compression, dynamic range and EQing techniques, there is something here for even the most accomplished of engineers. You are guaranteed to have a better understanding of mastering after this. 

Videos Overview

Tutorial 1 - Introduction

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software - Waves - SSL Compressor,



Tutorial 2 - Before and After Examples

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 3 - Dynamic Range

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 4 - Compression Techniques Part 1

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 5 - Compression Techniques Part 2

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 6 - EQing Part 1

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 7 - EQing Part 2

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



Tutorial 8 - Signal Path

Topics Covered - Mastering,

Software -



PLATFORM
Various
DURATION
02h 12m
LEVEL
Advanced
TUTOR
Connor Dalton
PRICE
£29.99

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