Hi @SP. thanks for that. Are you saying that Mastering Suite is bundled with Music Studio?

I couldn't find it but when I search online it is kind of directing me to MUSIC MAKER 2023 PLUS. I found a free version that I installed but it doesn't help me as far as I can tell.

Anyways, back in Music Studio when I select the FX options on my master fader I don't see the MultiMax and brick wall limiter effect or anything like that. In fact when I go to Audio FX > Categories > Mastering I just get an empty folder. I'm missing something here.

Mastering Suite sounds exactly like the kind of thing I'm looking for, I just need to know how to find it.

Which Music Studio - Samplitude Music Studio or Acid Music Studio? My Samplitude Music Studio came with Ozone Elements which I believe is a mastering plugin. Also in the mixer view the master channels have a mastering suite button.

Acid Music Studio 11.

So, maybe what I need is a new Acid Music Studio compatible vst package with decent mastering features. I see that WIZARDFX SUITE by Magix has some. Is there anything else that the community can recommend? Also, apologies if I'm posting under Samplitude Music Studio, I'm running Acid. Not sure if I can edit the category? I'll look into it.

@dLife

 Not sure if I can edit the category? I'll look into it.

Not sure whether you can but, as a moderator, I can move your post, so have done! Hope that's OK.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Okay, thanks Jeff!. All good!

@emmrecs

My advice is don't go down the rabbit hole of chasing ever-louder productions, especially not when creating your music. It's a distraction from the creative process.

but when it's time, as @SP. said is a limiter / compressor, and time is all you need to make louder songs. There are loads of free VSTs out there for this, so have a play around with some of the better reviewed ones. I can personally vouch for the entire suite of Dead Duck software's plugins. They offer compressors and limiters too - https://plugins4free.com/dev/597/ - I'm sure other forum members can offer recommendations too.

If you're going down the paid route I can again personally vouch for Ozone's Maximizer, and Fabfilter's Pro-L (limiter), and Pro-C (compressor tools). Fabfilter's plugins are exceptional and I personally love their visual nature.. especially for their compressor since they can be a little hard to get your head around.

Loudness isn't the same as what your db rating is. Although you should try to hit -1db consistently since all streaming platforms really don't like 0db and will just lower the volume for you anyway.

Okay thanks @sheppo that really helped. I like the idea of a 'mastering bundle.' It's a bit more than I want to spend right here and now but at some point I'll probably buy that. But at this point I mainly just need a limiter / compressor system.

I probably will download the Dead Duck options, but I realized that since I already have access to Adobe Audition to get my feet wet I have been fooling around with that and am impressed with the results I have been getting within a relatively short period of time tonight.

Firstly I rendered my Acid Music Studio track to a 48,000 24bit .wav, opened that in Audition, then I just went into 'Amplitude and Compression', then found a 'Multiband Compressor' preset I liked for the test track called 'Internet Delivery', then I added a 'Hard Limiter' set to Limit to '-.1dB.' Right away even just visually looking at the wave form I can see that there is a lot going on there and the perceived loudness is about what I am looking for.

I loaded the original track and the compressed/limited track on two tracks in Acid and went back and forth between them and the difference is clear.

But you are definitely right "It's a distraction from the creative process" and I am looking forward to getting back to the creating music. But this was something that needed to be figured out at some point.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

What you've stumbled upon - by making your track somewhere, then 'mastering' it somewhere else, is essentially what professionals do. Not the same tools, obviously, but process-wise it is. Good job!