Fallon – "Diet Coke" mastering. What to listen for, how to fix it. Mastering plugins + chain. Mastering tips and philosophy.
I've worked with John Summit for a long time, having been his main engineer for around 8 years and every now and then I work with the artists on his label too.
A recent tune that has gained a lot of popularity is Fallon's "Diet Coke" and I've got questions about the mastering I did on it. The sound is actually quite UK, which has been my home turf for a long time.
So let's take a look at what I thought it needs (always listen first and assess) and how I mastered it (first version was accepted).
Also coming soon 🎚️👌🏻😎
• a list of reference tunes I literally use all the time for different genres
• some DNB production thoughts in (video)
• critical EQ ranges for drums/bass(instruments (video)
• I found the best stem separation after lots of trial and error and clean
Comments (12)
Love this video mate! Quick Questions :) 1. At point point during the mastering process are you adding the first limiters gain? Before you start your eq/tapes/processing work or before you start so you can see what its doing? Or are you bringing it to level straight away or with some wiggle room? 2. Is the AMPEX just default setting on repro head? 3. Ableton Width - Is that bass mono button summing everything to mono under 230hz or cutting everything up to 230hz? 4. Do you typically use HPF / LPF with ozone at the final stage? I know using hpf / lpf has been a bit of a touchy subject -
1. In the very end, when I’m honing the desired loudness 2. Yeah not doing much 3. It’s probably a side signal highpass 4. LPF: never. HPF: its lowest position is 19 Hz I think; sometimes I enable that…that’s real low.
Sat through and watched this after my last dm to you. Insanely insightful - the side poke trick is actually something I've never thought of. Working to track down my own demo masters so I can bet a better overall mixer. One question: I see you hard slopping out your low end ~ 20 and below range as it's extra noise. I always kind of got the vibe from you that we should use passes like that on a very limited scale, and with the harder slope you have, I assume it causes some phase shifting. But I guess the trade off in this case to cut that extra low end noise is worth it eh? I always use to do that, but really took on your mindset of bells and shelves most of the time. Thanks for all you do! May have to snag those tape machines when they go on sale!
Those tape machines really really bring the magic. Might scoop those tomorrow - Two Leos
Yeah they often give you that extra 2-5%!
Awesome to see!
Cool video thanks. You running Spiff 100% off the sides?
Yessir, often!
Good video. I see Ozone has a transient emphasis control as well. Do you ever use that?
I haven’t used it much because to my ears it doesn’t really do that much; I rather use Spiff or Elevate.
Thank you! I appreciate you 🙏
My pleasure! And likewise 👊🏻🙂