Hey im working on this track that im trying to master and its doing my head in. On the master i have a EQ/Comp Vintage Warmer and a limiter. Now it all sounds good and banging but in the breaks when the vocals etc kick in the volume shoots up and its a really horrible piercing high that cuts through. What is causing this? Ive tried lowering the volume of the breaks but its not helping the only thing that stops this from happening is turning off the vintage warmer.
Also how in the hell are you meant to know if your master is loud enough to be played out by a DJ, what sorta peak/rms/percieved loudness should you be aiming for before sending your track to anyone?
Bry/Phil?
sounds like your trying to use the master to do too much… you should maybe try grouping the drums and bass and put that through the vintage warmer to get the pumping groove and leave it off the master.
mastering should really only be about fine tuning the sound you already have not changing it dramatically.
once your track is master fire up the decks… do a mix between your track and some tracks you think sound right and you will notice the level differences… either that or just A/B them in itunes.
Yeah Phil ive tried using like just a limiter on the master to make it loud but im finding im really having to drive the limiter hard to get it up to a respectable volume.
Also whenever i AB with a pro track its like the 2 tracks volumes are similair but the pro track has alot more oomph and everything seems alot clearer, and wider.
again the mastering wont make it clearer or wider… you really should be looking to do that at the mix… all the mastering should do is gel it together (especially the bass) and raise the volume.
If your kick and bass arnt gelling try some different kicks, EQing, Compresison on their group.
If you say you are getting the required sound with the vintage warmer on the master can you not just move that to the drum/bass group to get the same sound without it effecting the stuff in the break?
Pick a specific area at a time to work on with the mix… so say you want your bass like the track your listening to… really work on that until its perfect then move on to say adding more space… separate your effects more with a stereo widener or delays. when thats right move on…
you kinda just have to be methodical and go bit buy bit… dont get disheartened if the track dosnt just gel (which sometimes if your lucky it will) just keep fine tuning until you get there. it takes me a full week solid (40hrs or more) to get a track sitting properly if its a difficult one.
Also try grouping whole sections like all the FX and Sweeps all the synths etc. until you end up with 4 or 5 group tracks that you can add mix/mastering fx to.
Yeah thnx for the help Phil ill definately try the Bus mixing/mastering approach. I dont usually have this much trouble but this track is just very hard to get everything sitting right. Its not even that the drums or the kick and bass dont work together as tbh they do, it just has a messy vocal section that tears through the speakers when i try to master it and push it through the limiter.
I mean its easy to make a good beat and a good groove the hard part is getting the little bits of finness you hear from the pro’s i mean its great getting a kick to be punchy but how do you get it to be wide? Its great having a massive riff but how do you get it to keep its power and not fade away or have to eq everything out of it so it doesnt clash with the other 100 things you have going on.
It can all be really really frustrating…
if you have a 100 things going on you deserve to be in trouble!! lol 
What sorta rms do you aim for Phil, like whats decent for clubs etc?