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I am hoping to get some simple mastering tips from those who know much more about this than I do! - For about 14 years I've been writing songs and recording them with a combination of my own singing, my own playing and selected BIAB tracks for anything I can't play or don't want to play.
- I have mixed and mastered every track using the izotope tools such as Neutron, Nectar and Ozone. My early stuff was mixed and mastered using old versions (obviously) while my newer stuff uses more recent versions of those tools.
- I have never attempted to mix/master an album so every song was mixed/mastered to what sounded good for that song.
- And, I have never really learned mixing or mastering except for very basic knowledge. I have almost exclusively used presets in izotope tools and sometimes made adjustments to those but often liked and used them as-is.
- Now I want to group my songs into albums for release on Bandcamp and maybe Spotify.
- I've got over 400 songs and really like at least half of them so I imagine I'll be doing 10 or so albums.
- I really don't want to go back and completely remix/remaster all of the songs
Can I just bring a set of songs into my daw and apply an Ozone preset like the CD Master preset to the master track, adjust volume of each song track to sound similar to my ears and then output each track separately? Or, am I going to make a mess of things by remastering songs that have already been mastered individually? Any other tips for someone with a mess like this on their hands? Thanks in advance for any tips!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 04/22/26 09:08 PM.
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What I'd do .. and this is just me
Import each song into your DAW in the CD order (yes, all as one big file) each song on a separate stereo track.
Now you can listen in sequence and decide what YOU want it to sound like as a composite piece and adjust each track from there.
If you can't fix what you want in the stereo track, go back, work on that individual song a little more and re-import it.
I always found that to be a good way to get a group of songs to work together.
Just requires some disk space and effort.
Last edited by rharv; 04/22/26 02:11 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Thanks rharv!
I did that and just bounced around the tracks trying to get them all adjusted to approximately the same perceived level of loudness. Then I rendered each track and have listened a few times and still have some adjustments to make.
I didn't know if I might be screwing things up by starting with already individually mastered tracks. And I have a couple of tracks where the vocals are not forward enough in the mix. They seemed ok as a one off but next to other songs they sound a little off. I guess I have to go back a bit further on those.
Thanks again for the advice!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 04/22/26 09:08 PM.
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"I didn't know if I might be screwing things up by starting with already individually mastered tracks." I don't know either, I can't here it from way over here!  When I take this approach I usually wait to put mastering on this compilation file as a whole, to see how close I am. I could see already individually mastered tracks making it harder. But then again I've not tried it.
Last edited by rharv; 04/22/26 03:25 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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When I mix and master I always save the mix project, render it, master the rendered file and save that mastered project. So maybe it would be a useful exercise to start with the rendered stereo mixes pre-mastering and treat them how you suggested. The problem I think I will have is I always choose mix presets and then mastering presets to precisely match the song. I'm not really doing proper mastering that way, instead, just using Ozone as another final enhancement to the song's mix. These are very powerful tools, especially in the hands of someone as unqualified as me!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 04/22/26 09:09 PM.
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"So maybe it would be a useful exercise to start with the rendered stereo mixes pre-mastering and treat them how you suggested." Try it, you may like it better in the long run. Otherwise you may tend to ruin the dynamics of the collective whole. Beethoven didn't make everything ff for a reason <grin> /neither did Bob Ludwig or many others ... //again, this is just my opinion, take it for what it's worth, or however many grains of salt may suit your taste /// there is a difference between mastering a single and mastering a CD
Last edited by rharv; 04/22/26 06:40 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Hi JJJ,
There is a tendency to think that mastering is an essential part of the recording process, but this isn't altogether true. Back in the days when we mixed for vinyl, the tape would go to the cutting room for final mastering and they would apply any EQ and compression which was needed to make the signal comply with the limited dynamic range of the medium. These days, digital doesn't have these restrictions, so if you have a mix which sounds good to you, mastering may only make it sound different. The thing which you may want to do is apply a little extra compression to the mix to bring the overall perceived volume up to the level of a commercial recording, which all tend to be mixed "hot". The more work you put into the mix, the less you need to fix by mastering. Hope this is of some help to you.
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Don’t see that you mentioned what DAW you use.
For Logic Pro, the Mastering Assistant does a pretty knock out job itself.
Certainly pro level.
If you have a Mac it’s definitely worth the price of admission.
biab2026(Mac) Latest Build
Mac OS (Latest)
Apple Mac Mini M2 pro 32GB Ram
Logic Pro (latest or pretty close)
Blue and White Sea Star
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At this point, I think all you would need to do is ensure a consistent level across all the songs on a given album. Your mixing and mastering on the individual songs is done. Just make sure it all sounds cohesive and your listeners are not having to grab the volume knob for each different song.
A simple audio editor of your preference with all the songs lined up in the order you want them, and a simple listen a few times to make sure everything sits in the right place, should be all you need to do.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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