Originally posted by dj_inferno
I use Izotope Ozone to master my mixes.
me too.
it sounds a hell of a lot better than most mixes I hear from people.
Oct-01-2004 23:57
djtrinity
....i have nothing to say
Registered: May 2002
Location: NYC
.......take a track that is supposedly mastered ......when u record that track flat @ 0db it should be a perfectly mastered track....what i have found over the years and i am not say'n this is right its just my opinion........ this is where the quality of the mixer comes in. if u do what i just mentioned on a quality mixer the track should sound dope.....after alot of money spent and wasted time this is what conclusion i have come to... people see me swapping mixers like a freak on here...now u know why !!!!!!!the mixer makes the mix IMHO
my friend told me this along time ago.....u shouldn't be doing anything to your mix...record it flat thats it......i would do that and it would sound like dick.....so i start eq'n and doing all sorts of stuff to make it sound better....but i'm far from a pro and some tracks would need less eq than others it can be quite a project.......
after 6 years i'm just getting it to sound the way i want when recording....and thats by leaving it alone and let the mixer do the work.......moral: save up and get a good mixer
Originally posted by djtrinity
u shouldn't be doing anything to your mix...record it flat thats it......
I agree, but there is an exception to the rule. I use normalization not to make it sound better, but just to get it up to 0Db. If i set the record levels PERFECTLY and never went over 0Db while mixing (which is hard to do) then i wouldn't need to normalize. But i know i may misjudge a song that gets louder or something and go over 0Db, so I leave a bit of headroom to make sure my mix doesn't distort, because that is unfixable.
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Oct-03-2004 17:22
KiNeTiC ENeRgY
t3cHn0_43ad
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Boca Raton
Well my experience using many recording programs is don't use the normalization or any kind of mastering to the mix. As DJ Trinity said the mixer makes a big difference, as well as the skill of the clown using it. You need to practice EQ'ing and getting your levels right, and it will sound the best that way. Even AVB mentions he doesn't use any kind of mastering or normalization to his ASOT mixes because it will ruin the sound of the recording. It makes perfect sense if you think about what the program does...it can't hear what sounds the best, it only looks at levels, and it will raise/lower at parts of songs that shouldn't be changed and such, so practice eq'ing and forget about the software fixes.
Oct-03-2004 17:36
Briden
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Victoria
normalization does not change the sound at all. all it does is bring the level up. it doesn't act differently on different parts of the piece, or look ahead, or act only on certain frequencies, that is what compressors and limiters can do.
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Oct-03-2004 17:42
auujay
The Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Cleveland
quote:
Originally posted by Briden
normalization does not change the sound at all. all it does is bring the level up. it doesn't act differently on different parts of the piece, or look ahead, or act only on certain frequencies, that is what compressors and limiters can do.
That is what I have always thought. However some very knowledgable people on here have posted saying that the problem is that most programs use a shitty algorithm for doing the normalization. The end result is not exactly what you intended.
These days I just record my mixes straight into Audition with about 3 db of headroom and just leave it at that. My mixes are not the loudest but a small tweak of the volume knob will fix that (my mixes aren't quiet though).
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Originally posted by auujay
That is what I have always thought. However some very knowledgable people on here have posted saying that the problem is that most programs use a shitty algorithm for doing the normalization. The end result is not exactly what you intended.
These days I just record my mixes straight into Audition with about 3 db of headroom and just leave it at that. My mixes are not the loudest but a small tweak of the volume knob will fix that (my mixes aren't quiet though).
you are correct.... i myself have normalized in the past and have not heard any changes....but an engineer might pick up something that i miss.....like auujay said leave headroom and u will have no problem...an occasional clip on sound forge is not a big deal....u just don't want to be living in the red
You need to practice EQ'ing and getting your levels right, and it will sound the best that way. Even AVB mentions he doesn't use any kind of mastering or normalization to his ASOT mixes because it will ruin the sound of the recording. It makes perfect sense if you think about what the program does...it can't hear what sounds the best, it only looks at levels, and it will raise/lower at parts of songs that shouldn't be changed and such, so practice eq'ing and forget about the software fixes.
