Automatic mastering plugins

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I've recently been playing around with a few automatic mastering plugins. Sonible smart:limit and learn:limit, iZotope Ozone, LANDR, Toontrack EZmix and a few others.

Until now, I've mostly used Sonible's smart:limit and have been quite happy with the results. With learn:limit, I get exactly the same results; I can't hear any difference between the two plugins. Both plugins are relatively subtle and very pleasant when it comes to rebalancing the sound.

Yesterday, iZotope's Ozone 12 was released, and I have to say that I liked the end result I achieved with the Advanced version even a little bit better than with Sonible, but I'm not willing to pay the high price for Ozone Advanced. In the default settings, the Mastering Assistant intervenes much more heavily than Sonible, and I had to turn everything down a little. In the end, though, it sounded really good.

I deleted the demo version of LANDR after a few seconds. After learning the track, the plugin immediately started to produce wild pumping and added very noticeable and unpleasant saturation in the high frequencies. Meh.

I was pleasantly surprised by Toontrack's EZmix 3. I bought the plugin last year when it was released because I came across a really cheap offer, but I never used it again after trying it out for the first time. Today, I tried out a few of the AI-supported mastering presets and was quite pleased. I still prefer my Sonible plugins, but EZmix can achieve acceptable results.

As an alternative to the Sonible plugins, I also like to use Gullfoss for rebalancing in combination with Sonnox Inflator and FabFilter Pro-L. This also works very well for me.

What experiences have you had with mastering plugins? Which ones do you know and use?

 

[DrewJD82]

I haven't been a fan of them because this is an area where I don't believe presets are the answer to mastering a song, but the introduction of AI makes me really curious and I was going to check out Ozone 12. I have EZMix on my laptop I learned to record on and I could never find a happy medium between too much and not enough, in whichever direction. I have Ozone 9 on this computer I've used a few times but always found I got closer to what I wanted just making a mastering chain myself.

But something analyzing the actual mix and not just applying X-amount of compression/EQ/limiting is really appealing to me. Mastering isn't something you can pull off in a home studio in the traditional sense, that's a step that I'd rather have done in a room meant for mastering with experienced ears, but I have no doubts that AI can be programmed with all that knowledge and open the door to at-home mastering in a much more legit way.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Agreed. Fixed presets don't make much sense in a mixing and mastering situation. That's why I didn't continue using EZmix after trying it out for the first time. But "AI" supported functions that first learn the source material and then align the subsequent processing accordingly are a completely different matter.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Following this thread lol I’m not really interested in learning the ins and outs of mastering just to plug out some demos. AI mastering will never replace a human but it’s gotta be a game changer for dudes like me

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

[...] AI mastering will never replace a human but it’s gotta be a game changer for dudes like me

100% this. A human professional mastering engineer will most likely always be better, because that person can make creative decisions instead of just aligning the source material to an idealized reference, which is (at least in my understanding) what these automatic mastering plugins do. However, I am not a professional, and I simply cannot judge some things accurately, especially when it comes to aspects such as dynamics and saturation. To be honest, my expertise doesn't go beyond ‘that sounds too bright!’ or ‘that sounds muffled!’. And that's where plugins like these can be a huge help in achieving a good-sounding result.

 

[Mikael Dez]

100% this. A human professional mastering engineer will most likely always be better, because that person can make creative decisions instead of just aligning the source material to an idealized reference, which is (at least in my understanding) what these automatic mastering plugins do. However, I am not a professional, and I simply cannot judge some things accurately, especially when it comes to aspects such as dynamics and saturation. To be honest, my expertise doesn't go beyond ‘that sounds too bright!’ or ‘that sounds muffled!’. And that's where plugins like these can be a huge help in achieving a good-sounding result.

I’m not against using AI with the knowledge that AI needs a human behind it to be effective. It’s a tool, I’m in IT and lemme tell you AI is wayyyyy better than trudging through shitty documentation.

“Please tell me how to do X, Y, Z with this program” and given patience and the right questions it will point you in a solid direction

 

[Sedaxel]

I´ve used the Brainworx bx_mastering studio (free). I was in a hurry, needed to deliver 4 demo songs and I already had been a lot of hours trying to mix everything as good as possible. Engineers always advise to make a good mix, as a very important stage of the mastering process. I´m not an expert by any means, on the contrary: it was the first time I needed to master. Found the bx_mastering studio for free, was running out of time, and tried it. I liked the result, considering it´s almost just a "one click mastering solution".

I also read about mastering techniches, so I´m not against learning and making the work for myself. I like it, it´s something I enjoy. But when you have no time... man, it was a godsend.