Mastering in Ableton Live | Mac Vaughn

Mastering engineer Mac Vaughn walks us through his personal mastering chain in Ableton Live. This chain of effects is applied to all of the music he masters, and is a mixture of his favorite Ableton stock Devices - as well as third-party plugins.

He covers his EQ and compression techniques, as well as multiple tricks to add color and depth to a final mix.

00:00:07 - Glue Compressor
00:03:28 - FabFilter Pro-Q 2
00:13:51 - Multiband Dynamics
00:16:18 - Sonalksis StereoTools
00:18:42 - Kramer Master Tape
00:20:35 - PuigTec MEQ-5 & EQP-1A
00:21:50 - FabFilter Pro-L
00:24:19 - Magic AB

This is a short excerpt from our free event that took place on August 27th 2015 - An Evening with Ableton featuring Mac Vaughn and Ryan Origin. Watch the full video recap here:

His company Dark Star Audio has been offering mixing and mastering services for the last 7 years. For more info:

For more info on our Electronic Music Producer program:

[TG-rufd]

people talking crap, but my mix is already sounding so damn clean after analysing, tweaking, and using this guy's advice.

[mickyonill]

this was very helpful, digging this guy :)

[DerEggad]

This helped so much. Also thanks for showing the compressors and stuff that are already built into Ableton.

[SHONSL]

I like how Mac lets his visceral experience guide his tunings. So master-like

[tomas_mccann]

i really have no idea what i'm doing

best thing to say starting off your tutorial, keep it going, proud of you

[gusdabus]

This really help with the foundation of mastering, an outstanding class

[VinylSamuraisMusic]

Hey mate. Thank you for uploading. This is a really great video. Big love from the uk

[samfly]

Thanks Mac Vaughn! You're the greatest man

[haui]

"Do I want to go into that room?" :D Nice approach on the Multiband Dynamics. Listening to each bands solo and make them sound nice is a very helpful tip for me. I don't know why I never tried that before^^ Instead of the Sonalksis Stereo I use the Multiband Phase Inversion Racks from Dubspot and 2 Utilities. It probably sounds different but has a similar effect.

[aliolavac]

absolutely great tutorial! thanks, Mac!

[tynickxo]

this guy looks like a South Park character

[IndyVisuals]

Thank you. I'm going to try this soon.

[InUterusLimbo]

cool video.  I've been eq'ing quite awhile now and didn't do the side/mids thing.

[MrJowan]

yes, , , got all the extra vst's so now i am gonna work with !

[wickednick]

Very helpful, learnt a lot! thank you

[einzigkeit]

The reference track at the end sound more dry and compressed and the high-end are less predominant too. I like the stereo width FX in your track. Thanks

[Dismiacs]

those are huge eq moves for mastering damm

[petter]

The utility in ableton is mid/side. Checked it today

[sleeptownProductions]

SO FUCKIN GOOD :) THANKS FOR HAVING THIS!

[i.AmHymn]

👀... even though Mid-Side is literally the ability to manipulate Mono-Stereo, though. 😂

#HeTried! 🤷🏾‍♂️💯

Hymn