What is non-linear processing, and why does it matter?

In this episode we dive deep into the topic with our guest Dan Worrall, and talk about: what non-linear processing is, why it can sound great and when it can sound terrible, and how to know the difference. Along the way, we also discuss

• Is reverb non-linear ? And why it’s confusing
• How linear processing makes top-down mixing a good idea
• The difference between saturation and distortion
• …and how to use them creatively
• The difference between a perfect 5th and a power chord
• …and how to play chords on a trombone

Links

Dan’s video: WTF is a non-linearity?
And I Won The Loudness War
TMS #14 Distortion (The good, the bad and the ugly)
TMS #9 Analogue Versus Digital (More about intermodulation distortion & high sample rates)

The Audio Engineering Society has just released new recommendations for the loudness levels streaming services should distribute their audio at - but they’re not for you and me. 
Having said that, understanding how they work is a powerful tool for predicting what will happen to your music when it's streamed. In this episode we talk about:

• Who the TD1008 guidelines are for
• Why they’re needed
• How they can make normalization more effective (and more musical)
• Why the numbers are slightly different for speech and music
• What the numbers are, and why
• Why you should care

Links

AES TD1008 - Recommendations for Loudness of Internet Audio Streaming and On-Demand Distribution
Streaming Loudness – the AES TD1008 Recommendations, and why you should care
TMS #27 - Mastering audio for games
TMS #41 - The problem with loudness normalization – and TIDAL’s solution
TMS #77 – Spotify disable their limiter (and other loudness news)
Loudness Penalty

We round up a few different “loudness news” topics this episode, including:

• Why Spotify have removed their limiter
• But when they haven’t
• And what it means for the way your music will sound
• Plus, how the new loudness normalization options in Reaper might be useful for you
• But why you need to be careful with them
• What we think of Apple Music’s new lossless streaming feature
• And more !

Links

What's new in REAPER 6.30

Spotify disables their limiter - the devilish details

TMS #52 DON’T aim for LUFS targets online

TMS #67 Minus 14 LUFS – or NOT ?

TMS #44 Loudness Units 101

TMS #74 Spotify begins the move to LUFS normalization. So what ?

MeterPlugs Perception AB

People are interested in mastering for vinyl again - and stereo bass is a big problem, right? You should always mono it to avoid problems? Well actually, no. There are some challenges raised by a very wide stereo image on vinyl, especially in the bass, but as always it’s not as simple as it seems.

In this episode we talk to our guest Ian Stewart in-depth about this issue, and dig into some of the juicy detail on the topic, including:

• Why stereo bass is a problem on vinyl
• Why stereo bass isn't a problem on vinyl
• Why you might want to avoid it anyway
• And why you might not
• What all this has to do with mid-side, and secret hidden messages from the anti-phase
• The best plugins for dealing with low end width in mastering
• …and why they’re not perfect

Links

TMS #25 - Mid-side, stereo and more

Center that sub ! (A guide to mono-ing your low end) - by Ian Stewart

What Artists Get Wrong With Their Vinyl Releases - by Scott Hull

Nugen Monofilter

Noisebud Leaky2

Hidden messages in anti-phase (track 10 end)

It’s either the most powerful mastering technique known to man, or it isn’t really mastering at all, depending who you ask. Some people love it, others hate it, and some are mortally offended just by it’s name.
Why does stem mastering provoke such passionate debate ? In this episode we dig into the topic to figure out the answers to these and other questions...

• What is stem mastering ?
• In fact, what really is a stem, anyway ?
• Why do some mixers find the idea offensive ?
• What are the benefits and pitfalls of stem mastering ?
• Why will stems often not sound exactly like the mix ?
• Does stem mastering really help your client ?

Links

TMS #28 - Restoration and re-mastering

Stem Mastering: How and When to Use Stems in Audio Mastering - by Ian Stewart

TMS #57 - With great power… (the ‘ethics’ of mastering) 

It’s happening. Spotify are switching to using LUFS for their loudness normalization. If you’re thinking ‘I thought they already used it', that’s understandable - but they didn’t.

They will in future though, and in this episode we talk about why the change matters, especially in the short-term. But also about when it doesn’t matter, and why it will hopefully matter even less as time goes on.

Topics include:

Why we don’t use Spotify
What we use instead, and why - and some of the differences
How normalization on Spotify used to work
How it’s going to work
What happens in the meantime
Why we mostly ignore the numbers, despite all this !

Links

TMS #73 – Are you having a LUF ? – more about LUFS
Qobuz – Lossless, high spec audio streaming service
Wikipedia page about MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) encoding - used by TIDAL
Spotify Begins the Move to LUFS Normalization - Ian’s blog post
TMS #67 – Minus 14 LUFS – or NOT ?

This is so good it just needed it’s own episode.

It’s a groundbreaking, unique new way to make music online - and everyone should try it out ! It’s not just bleeps and beats, either - there are plenty of people using it to make fantastic acoustic and sample-based live-looping music as well.

I’m talking about Endlesss, the new live-looping-jam-with-friends-online iOS app developed by musician Tim Exile that I mentioned at the end of the last episode - and now it’s going to be available on Mac & PC !

I loved chatting to Tim for this episode, and there’s a ton of interesting ideas here even if you’re not that interested in the idea of Endlesss. We talk about:

• The problem of perfectionism in music production, and why it’s a mastering engineer’s super-power
• The best way to develop a new musical instrument
• How to fit 40kg of music tech in an iPhone - and why it’s worth it
• How not-live can feel live and how THAT can overcome anxiety and imposter syndrome
• And how Endlesss got Ian back into creating music after a 20-year break as a result

Links

The Endlesss site
The Endlesss Studio Kickstarter
Tim Exile performing live with the Flow Machine
Ian singing his praises (along with many others) at Music Tech Fest in 2014
More info on the Flow Machine and Tim’s other projects

Real-time remote audio work IS possible - with surprising quality and flexibility ! In this show I’ll describe techniques and strategies to help you mix, master, teach and even record remotely - and even suggest some ways to jam live. Kind of. Amongst other things I’ll describe how to:

• Stream lossless, low-latency audio to any DAW or browser, for up to 40 people
• Combine this audio stream with multi-user video chat
• Screenshare in sync for easier collaboration during mixing, mastering and even recording
• Take control of someone else’s screen for teaching or training purposes
• Use other people’s analogue gear in your project
• “Jam” virtually online - on an iPhone !

Thanks to Ian Stewart and Lij Shaw for help with ideas and testing for this episode.

Links

Recommended:

Ian’s video: Using ListenTo and Zoom together for high-quality audio & video streaming

Audiomovers ListenTo plugin

Zoom video chat

Endlesss - amazing music collaboration jamming app for iOS

Useful:

Reaper - affordable, powerful DAW to host ListenTo, free to try

(Check out the ReaperBlog by The Mastering Show co-host Jon Tidey)

Audio Hijack - use ListenTo without a DAW

Other remote audio options:

Source Connect - pro ISDN replacement

Sessionwire - remote realtime audio & video (Mac only)

Steinberg VST Connect - realtime remote audio & video (Cubase & Nuendo only)

Pro Tools Cloud Collaboration - share live audio projects online (Pro Tools 12.5+)

OhmStudio - share live audio projects online in a very affordable DAW

Analogue gear online:

Audiomovers (again!)

theaudiohunt.com

mixanalogue.com

Jamming & performing:

Ninjam - online jamming in Reaper - video by Kenny Gioia

JamKazam - play with other musicians online - fast connection required

Our guest this episode is LA mastering engineer John Greenham who just won a Grammy for his work on Billie Eilish’s album. We talk to him about how he came to work with Billie, and dig into his work on the album in depth, discussing topics including:

• John’s mastering chain and philosophy
• Whether “Xanny” is the loudest song ever
• How to get RMS levels above zero (!)
• Loudness, confidence and client relations
• Are loud mixes a problem for mastering engineers ?
• What it’s like to win a Grammy

Links

John Greenham’s site

Ian’s Is Billie Eilish Too Loud ? video

Finneas on Producing Billie Eilish’s Hit Album in his Bedroom

Mix engineer Rob Kinelski on Pensado’s Place