DIY Mastering

Mastering is often the difference between a good recording and a bad one, but mastering is notoriously difficult to understand. In this two-day workshop, sound engineer Jesse Cannon — who’s worked with the likes of Ross Robinson, Saves the Day, Animal Collective, The Misfits and Man Overboard — shares what he’s learned about mastering from working at top-tier studios like WestWestSide Music and Cannon Found Soundation. 

While there’s no substitute for having an engineer master your music, that’s just not feasible for many artists. This class is the next best thing: a comprehensive guide to DIY mastering.

Jesse breaks down the mastering process from start to finish. You’ll discover the basic principles behind mastering, and learn about the processes and tools at your disposal. Jesse will identify and troubleshoot basic rookie mistakes, discuss lesser-known essential concepts as well as share his essential behind-the-board tools as he takes you through a few real-life examples.

After two days with Jesse, you’ll have everything you need to master your tracks with affordable tools.

• Introduction
• What is Mastering
• Dynamics and Loudness
• Compression, Clipping, and Distortion
• Compression & Distortion Demo
• Headroom and Gain Structure
• Bit Depth and Sampling Rate
• What is Objectivity
• Proper Monitoring Volumes with Q&A
• Sequencing and Track Spacing
• Individual Track Volumes and Demo
• 2:30 pm - Metadata and Key Points of Mastering
• Audio Interface
• Speakers
• Headphones
• Room and Acoustics
• DAW & Meters
• EQs
• Bus Compressor
• Multiband Compressor and Brickwall Limiter
• Clipping and Distortion
• Dithering
• Common Problems and Solutions
• Example Masters
• Demo: Mastering a Dance Track
• Demo: Mastering an Acoustic Track