How to Hear like a Pro Mastering Engineer | Are You Listening? Season 6, Ep 2

Your ears do most of the work when mastering, and it’s important to give them the tools they need to do their job. In the second episode of Season 6, professional mastering engineer and Berklee professor Jonathan Wyner shares the ways you can develop your critical listening skills when mastering, including hearing the differences between less punch vs. less space, listening in mono, listening for low end, and more—including a set of FREE downloadable presets for Ozone. By the end of this video, you’ll have a set of essential listening concepts at your disposal to improve your mastering skills.

Learn more about mastering with free tutorials:

Learn more about Jonathan Wyner:

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Learning to listen critically
02:51 What happens in mastering?
04:49 Practice with Match EQ
05:25 The 3-minute challenge
07:03 Listening for low-end
11:38 Listening in mono
12:53 Stereo v. Mid-side
14:55 Low-mid cut v. high-mid boost
18:19 High shelf v. high air
21:02 Less punch v. less space
23:55 Outro

#iZotope #AreYouListening #Mastering

SYNC ID: MB01LLLKYOUE9SQ

[robinmacwan]

I started my journey as a home producer at the age of 50, I have learned so many things from are you listening
Videos, thnx a lot

[Jess-P]

3 minute challenge is a great tip, thanks JW

[RapperRemedi]

*Intro of these episodes is a good example of good low end managing* 😁👍

[franbert]

Thanks for a very educational series on mixing and mastering. You were able to consolidate important concepts that I was somewhat familiar with. Now if only my 57 year old ears could catch up.

[cathyjones]

Izotope blesses us once again with a great video

[Anders]

The LF bell was interesting. I use that sometimes but I will try some more of that.

[leosteeds]

This is great. More like this please! I love the examples of specific processing moves and the discussion of the impact those have.

[phoenixmediaforge]

14:28 ....and the Bluetooth speaker at the BBQ!

Jonathan, at 18:36 I really wish you had _clicked_ on the handle so we could see the working frequency! Same for the next handle you showed. Please click this as a matter of course so we can see what the frequencies are. Thanks!

[jeffgiedt]

Pulled in the running analogy! Love it. Great watch. 'Hope you are doing well.

[hellcatmusic]

wow. HM air really brought out a more 3d sound to to the master compared to HF. That's super nice to have that built in like that instead of having to do that manually, which is what I was doing before. (comment about high shelf vs. high air 20:26 ish)

[GloveBunniesVideos]

Every episode is essential. Great series!

[kdg]

thank you! i love these tutorials! i always find a small piece to add to my workflow

[iZotopeOfficial]

What critical listening techniques do you implement in your mixing and mastering work?

[baselinesweb]

I find that on the HM/LM clarity, being indecisive at heart, I will take half of each most times. As primarily a bass player, I was really surprised with your last exercise of less punch/space. I pretty much always moved the bass slider down in the imager, but I liked it when you gave it more space. It's changed the way I will think in the future. This also struck me in the new Guitar Rig 6. There's a slider so you can go between room and direct, and it was an eye opener to someone who always goes direct. Thanks!

[petrzeman]

awesome! thank you...i use ozone on every mix

[SBTCP]

I think artists try to sequence their albums in a way they feel best captures the journey they want a listener to go through. Nowadays, this isn't as popular... kind of feels like some artists just try to pack single after single back to back for 10-12 songs. But at its core, album sequencing can help drive home the main theme of the album. Similar to the chapters of a book 👊🏻.

[musicforworldpeacerecords]

What is the difference between using the M/S EQ and the imager? It seems like they both accomplish the same task but the imager would be faster.

[kerose]

I have my phone set to MONO no matter what because often I will be only using one earbud. It’s how I found out I had phase cancellation issues in my last release. My producer hard panned a sample left and right and I was too ignorant to have checked for that. Got the project pulled off the sites and got to work remixing and mastering everything. Oops.

[tomasbasswerner]

Porqué no dejan traducir los subtítulos? 😥

[nutrino]

I hear more and more HM heavy mixes and masters these days. Is it mostly due to stylistic preference or is it due to over use of Bose bluetooth speakers and Beats/Apple Air Pods as a referencing benchmark?