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Mastering Assistant vs Toneboosters
We all love Mastering Assistant. But if you were in another DAW and you wanted a consistent alternative that gets very similar results, I don’t think you can do much better on iOS than (Fabfilter combos…) or some Toneboosters combos. I prefer Toneboosters because I can duplicate results on iPhone. Lately I’m using Toneboosters MBC and Barricade mainly for Lufs levels. It’s fantastic, has way more controls the Mastering Asst. and is still easy and quick to dial in a rendering that I can’t tell the difference from M.A.
I guess my bottom line is sometimes I want a different DAW and I’ve found a way to quickly get that great final sound anywhere.
Comments
I just export the final mixdown in Logic. I always hated mastering.
I would recommend adding TB Equalizer at the start to complete the mastering chain. Can’t get much better than that if you want a universal, cross-daw solution.
I’ve not tried the Logic mastering assistant yet but I’m intending to do my usual TB mastering chain, then try the assistant and see which comes out on top. I’d imagine it’ll be the Logic one to be fair.
I agree, just record in whatever daw you favor for the project, and then bounce the mix…master it in Logic Pro. (EASIEST)
Fabfilter and toneboosters are both really good and can deliver excellently.
I just find the results are mostly unbeaten by any other limiters etc on iOS at this time.
I’m NOT saying “you can’t get a good master with other effects…”. I am just saying you may get a little more from the tone booster/fab filter plugs easier.
Too bad ozone isn’t here… that’s my hands down go to on the Studio DAW.
From my upcoming "2005" EP, here is an example of two versions of mastering on my track "I Am the DJ"...
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4u2w51fme5otpb7obt8j9/jwm-i-am-the-dj-master-comparison.m4a?rlkey=j4jtvgdubqop4zd1411x7n56h&dl=0
The first is my usual chain of MagicDeathEyeStereo, TB Reelbus, and TB Barricade. The second was Logic's Mastering Assistant. I created a thread about it a couple or so weeks ago. A majority said the second sounded objectively better. 30 minutes vs 30 seconds, lol.
I love TB plugins, especially Reelbus, but honestly I can't be faffed mastering my own tracks anymore nor sending my tracks out to be mastered at $5/crack when $5/month gets me unlimited instant AI mastering.
(Note - I'm working on another OP-1 Field EP at the moment. The tentative release date for the "2005" EP is sometime early Spring 2024.)
Yeah I try to make the mix 90% of the finished song and that’s where I use all the Toneboosters, FabFilter, Kymatica, FAC, DDMF, etc apps. Then I export to Trinity to do the final mastering touches. Or BandLab. Definitely wanna try the Mastering Assistant soon though.
I mostly try to make all that happen at the mixing stage so by time I’m ready to master I just export into Trinity and do some small touches. My music is noisy and experimental so I don’t need Steely Dan quality. I just need the levels to be where I want and for it to be listenable lol.
TB, FAC, Kymatica, FabFilter, and DDMF are my main mixing/mastering apps.i haven’t used the mastering assistant yet since I don’t have the space on my iPad for logic at the moment but will try it eventually. Trinity is great though and I think Bandlabs AI mastering tool is pretty good too.
Coolest thing about the Mastering Assistant is the spectrum analyer that offers an EQ improvement after running through the track.
Pitty we can’t copy these EQ settings into the general EQ slot.
After the EQ comes the limiter and then the stereo correlation meter to adjust.
So no compression.
But so far, no other IOS mastering app checks your track and comes up with an optional EQ correction.
I would use MA for this only, bypass the limiter and adding FabF, or TB for further tweaks where needed.
Trinity does not do this fully automatically, but it does show the difference spectrum and you can then simply adjust the EQs yourself to match:
https://www.seven.systems/trinity/en/guide/#section-11
But it is generally more geared towards people who want more control over (and enjoy) the mastering process.
Hmmm, that’s a cool idea…gonna try this
Are you positive there’s no compression in MA?. I tried searching for the chain details but couldn’t figure if there’s compression applied.
Trinity is a great app and very well suited for referrencing. I'm happy to have it
Honestly, I believe there is some compression or dynamic EQ going on in the 4 character settings, but like you, I have not found any more details on this.
I really mis a gain reduction meter in the loudness section. It's one of the reasons I probably would bypass the MA's limiter for now. And why not keep the loudness knob (-1+1) relative to the standard values? Keeping things simple...
Another mystery is this: Export a track using MA.
Then open a new session with that mastered track and apply MA again.
You would expect a relatively flat EQ, but MA again creates a new proposal. Lower in DB value, but still pretty present. Generating very few or no changes is not desired by this AI.
Shorter cycles could work better than complete tracks with different sections in that perspective.
You can use Match EQ in Logic to Capture the EQ profile of the track after MA and save that as a preset.
There absolutely is compression going on, but clearly there are not settings other than the main loudness gain.
I Don’t think there is. If you want to DIY master you can use match EQ to copy eq profiles of a reference track and apply that, but mastering assistant does it much more conveniently.
My guess is that MA is using match EQ tech in the background, with lots of reference EQ profiles that it compares against your track using machine learning. So it guesses what kind of music your track is and applies a Match EQ curve from an appropriate reference track (or more likely a machine learned combination of references).
If I’m doing my own mastering, reference tracks are an essential part of the process. ADPTR Metric AB on desktop is fantastic for this as it allows you to compare multiple loudness marched reference tracks. iOS could do with something similar to Metric AB.
High-quality limiters are specialized compressors.