quote:

Originally posted by theterran Mastering is setting all of the tracks to equal loudness on a CD.

no it isn't. Engineers generally don't make all the tracks have the same rms value as some tracks are meant to be quiet while others are not. Not sure where you heard that myth.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mad for Brad no it isn't. Engineers generally don't make all the tracks have the same rms value as some tracks are meant to be quiet while others are not. Not sure where you heard that myth.

trololol read the rest. It's apart of it though, nobody wants to sit there and change their volume knob on their car the entire time they're driving for every track...About any CD I've ever listened to, I can set it and forget it. I'm baffled as to why the process of setting up your tracks to play at similar perceived volumes in mastering would be included in a professional recording technicians book...oh well, clearly the author had no idea what he was talking about.

Last edited by theterran on Oct-11-2010 at 16:54

no it isn't. Mastering Engineers have never tried to make all the tracks have the same rms level. More or less the same but never a target value which you stated. You also edited your post to explain your myth. They try and make the cd have a dynamic progression that makes sense, not make things equal. And if they did, they were shit engineers. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Mastering if anything is preparing something for a certain media format. They do sometimes have to do extra work because of weak mixes but really, that is all mastering every was and should be. Taking out garbage and artifacts ? that is something you fix in the recording process or at least in the mixing stage.

___________________
"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Oct-11-2010 at 16:52

quote:

Originally posted by theterran Typical It just sounds too cloudy to me, and it's beyond my EQ'ing prowess atm I guess...

you should focus ALOT more on the mixdown/eqing than thinking about mastering (again, whatever that really is). try comparing with other tracks etc, if you have worked long with this your ears have adapted and then its impossible to do anything useful other than structure/transitions or creative stuff imo. most people who try to master their own track end up ruining them with overcompression, muddyness, distortion and so on. it should be done with fresh ears and when all the tracks on a album are like finished, and its meant to make the tracks have the same "balance" so it sounds like one, not to fix mixing problems. it is also meant to make all the tracks at the same experienced listening level, not RMS or Peak or whatever. Its about the end listener.

quote:

Originally posted by nortek you should focus ALOT more on the mixdown/eqing than thinking about mastering (again, whatever that really is). try comparing with other tracks etc, if you have worked long with this your ears have adapted and then its impossible to do anything useful other than structure/transitions or creative stuff imo. most people who try to master their own track end up ruining them with overcompression, muddyness, distortion and so on. it should be done with fresh ears and when all the tracks on a album are like finished, and its meant to make the tracks have the same "balance" so it sounds like one, not to fix mixing problems. it is also meant to make all the tracks at the same experienced listening level, not RMS or Peak or whatever. Its about the end listener.

Next time I'll be more explicit and state "Perceived Loudness."

Did I say anything about RMS values being the same?

And yeah I do compare my stuff with professional recordings as much as possible. Alot of my more recent tracks are sounding alot better because of it.

It's going back and fixing the older one's where I started off poorly that's a bitch. I haven't touched Track2 in about 2 months.

I've only been producing EDM since January of this year, so I'm sure after another 5-10 years of this I'll figure it out...

Again, thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it, and I know it's hard to come acrossed as constructive while not sounding like an asshole at the same time. So it's cool, no worries, I don't take any of this personally. I'm here to learn, ask questions etc...

If I hadn't posted, I would have 0 feedback so, it's worth it to suffer through some of the more pointed critical feedback.

Last edited by theterran on Oct-11-2010 at 17:17

good you have your perspectives in order. it does indeed take 10 years to be good at, well actually, anything. i suck myself but after 5 years im aware of it and that might help my future projects, whenever that will be. btw have u only produced since januar? talent at melodies man! keep it up. i thought u where one of the ancient members around here, but maybe theres someone else with almost same nick.

quote:

Originally posted by nortek good you have your perspectives in order. it does indeed take 10 years to be good at, well actually, anything. i suck myself but after 5 years im aware of it and that might help my future projects, whenever that will be. btw have u only produced since januar? talent at melodies man! keep it up. i thought u where one of the ancient members around here, but maybe theres someone else with almost same nick.

Yeah, my very first track is at the bottom of my soundcloud, it's been up for 7 months. It took 3 months from start to finish because I had to learn how to use FL studio, and learn about things like sidechaining, compression etc...

I got my first pair of studio headphones (BeyerDynamicDT770Pros) after the track was completed in March...(I originally mixed on some logitech fatalities lol.)

So I am very much learning, and I thought I would try to use some mastering techniques in this book I have here to clean up Track2.

Exported the track as a .wav from FL and attempted the master in Cubase5.

i dont think u need to worry about that. focus on the mixdown in FL. the more u do there the easier will the mastering be (if that is ever a question anyway).

quote:

Originally posted by theterran trololol read the rest. It's apart of it though, nobody wants to sit there and change their volume knob on their car the entire time they're driving for every track...About any CD I've ever listened to, I can set it and forget it.

The entire time? What are you doing, gain riding? If the CD is loud, variations don't really matter. It takes like 1 second to change the volume. 15 tracks, 15 seconds. What else could you be doing that's so important while driving?

Do you have any previous musical experience? The melodies sound pretty good.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

its fucking important imo that a cd have the same perceived volume all the way. i dont have a remote for my amp. lol.

He's mastering shit on anotha level.