Mastering Studio Tour (Hardware, Workflow, Plugins etc.)

In this mastering studio tour from Air Studios, mastering engineer Cicely Balston will guide you through her equipment, workflow, software, plugins and vinyl mastering!

Instagram: @cicelybalston

Cicely's top 5 plug-ins: "I stress that they don’t work on everything! So they are the Maag EQ4, Oxford Limiter, Fabfilter L2, Brainworx Townhouse Compressor, and Leapwing Stage One – I wouldn’t recommend having only those ones, as none of them are very neutral but they all make ‘colorful’ additions to the standard ones most DAWs come with."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:37 Mastering hardware
03:51 How I Collaborate With Other Musicians
05:05 Mastering Workflow
05:35 Mastering Software (And More Workflow)
07:42 Mastering Room & Active Listening Tools
09:11 Mastering plugins
10:49 Should You Use Instant Mastering Websites & Plugins?

➢ Other Videos Part of this Mastering series:

LEARN MORE:

This video is edited by Iiris Mäki ❤️

CONNECT WITH ME:
➢ Insta: @lnadoesaudiostuff
➢ FB & TikTok: @lnadoesaudiostuff
➢ Twitter: @LNADoesAudio

SUPPORT ME:

MY TOP 10 PLUGINS:

MUSIC GEAR/INSTRUMENTS:

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission. It does not change the price in any way, however it enables me making more content without having to do as many sponsored videos. I am not paid or asked to use these links.

[LNADoesAudioStuff]

➢ Insta: @lnadoesaudiostuff
➢ FB & TikTok: @lnadoesaudiostuff
➢ Twitter: @LNADoesAudio
➢ www.lnamusic.com

Love ya ❤

[TheSakuraGumiLTD]

The clocking is super important, it’s not just making sure it’s the same sample rate it’s that all are doing it at the exact same timing… it greatly improves clarity to simple all for the same and it improves again how well the cooking does that in the first place and why there are different price ranges for clocking

[brumd]

Thank you so much. This is the video about the actual process of mastering that I needed to see. It's so much clearer now. So many processes that are easy to forget they need to be done.

[dylanhughes]

After watching a billion videos with male mastering engineers its so nice and refreshing to see this video. Totally different vibe as well - very cool.

[bleikrsound]

I still use the same banks of eq, compressors, etc. that I used on our The Nightshade Project (shoegaze genera) recordings in the 1990s, before there was a screen in the studio.
The earliest days, mastering was done by re-running a recording through a single bank several times to get the layering of eq and compression they wanted. Obviously it didn’t take long for them to figure out how to use as few passes as possible running through multi-banks.

[djterhinator]

So interesting to peek into a real studio. Thank you again, both of you! 🙏👍

[catfaceCS]

so glad to see your subscriber count grow. i remember from the low 100s. really happy for you, keep going!

[deezyboynigga]

As a recording engineer, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again… mastering is seriously like black magic, some of this stuff is crazzyy

[Van_Verder]

Awesome interview & walk through 👏🏽

[NoQualmsTheArtist]

Maselec MEA2 & Elysia Alpha, that's the dream 🤤
Edit: spoke too soon, it's a Sontec 🤣

[Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

Intro – from the word “Introduction”, this part comes at the beginning of the song. It is usually an . It also gives the listener a hint of what genre the song is and what expression it may give. An intro, when compared to the plot of a story, is the opening or the “Once upon a time” part of the song. Your honest opinion for song structure is to make story and create your own arrangement and your track is to make story and flows nicely from start to end. The Outro is how the songwriter wants to finish the journey with the listener. It may be a big, final chord that leaves the listener a little breathless, wanting to stand and applaud. Or, it may be a smooth chord that rings out. It may be a repeating phrase that gradually fades away. The choice will again depend on the context, then genre and the feeling in the song.

[foruncolo]

You should do another video with some tip and tricks about mastering for vinyl, which is quite different from mastering for cd or web, there's eq on both low and high frequencies. I know that people at home are probably not so much interested about this topic but since there's a laquer cut in there this could be interesting anyway and you don't find so much videos about it around, especially videos nside a mastering studio :)

[jamelabanderson]

Great advice @ 9:40 . Would like to see more interviews with Cicely.

[SHIFTnopistons]

Terms and conditions of this mastering studio--- 7.2.1 notwithstanding any other provision contained within this Agreement all Master Recordings and/or Ancillary Materials shall be held by the Company at the Client’s sole risk; --this is after you pay and get your masters. Any thoughts on this clause?

[coreycrowell]

I can tell the room is treated very well because I hear no reverb at all in this video

[jeffbaumet]

am i missing something? that room looks to be acoustic treatment free?

[Bronwyn]

I learned DAW on Magix's Samplitude before switching to Ableton Live. It is so good to see someone still rep'n Samplitude.
But I wonder why she cuts vinyl still? Vinyl is like a dead medium nowadays. Even DJs are moving away from it for digital turntables.

[lundsweden]

It seems simple. Playing a violin seems simple too! 😅

[Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

Your song structure aka arrangement YouTube video was very helpful to me LNA. And it sure does make perfect 🤩 😍 👍 sense to me. But I sure did add some things to your song structure in the comments down below 👇 hopefully 🙏 you will check it out when you have time to do it or so.

[Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

I kai know what you meant instead of words one is verse 1.