quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi Alfi's mastering tips of the day: You can send a bag of dog crap to the mastering company, and it will still be a bag of dog crap when it comes back. Only difference is that it will be louder, and your wallet will be thinner.

We should have a shoutbox in this forum and this message should be repeated every 3 minutes just in case someone misses it.

Yes, it can't be repeated enough.

You can expect your track to sound louder, you can expect it to sound more "correct" (in terms of major problems, like too much inaudible bass, being removed).

But if you expect your track to sound "better", then that's a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Mastering is an important step. It is not, however, the answer to getting a "professional" sound. I think a lot of beginner producers think that mastering is some sort of "magic bullet" that will rescue a poorly produced track and give them that "sound" they are looking for. Nothing can be further from the truth.

a big +1 to this statement, as a year or two ago i had thought the same thing.

So

Whats the point of people buyin studio monitors and such if down the road someone else is going to do all the tweaking for you anyway?

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1999 Mix series

Rare Vinyls spinning on video If you like that sort of thing

quote:

Originally posted by the-sixth So Whats the point of people buyin studio monitors and such if down the road someone else is going to do all the tweaking for you anyway?

because someone else down the road won't do all the tweaking for you anyway. you need monitors for mixing and mastering. mixing you do yourself, mastering is done by someone else.

read the thread dude.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I've never had a problem with FLs tech support till this day. (I've actually never used it till this day)

quote:

Originally posted by floyd741 i think echosystm is a pretty cool guy. eh pwns robby rox and doesn't afraid of anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Blake_Jarrell i dont mean to throw in a wrench but people might find this interesting: when i was finished mixing down my Small World EP and it was time to get it mastered, i decided i didnt like the summing algorithm of ableton. so instead of sending the one file mixdown of each song, i sent all of the stems to the mastering house and they summed it on an analog mixing desk. i really liked the result. im weird i know.

What exactly are stems? Does it mean you render each channel separately over the entire length of the track?

- farris

quote:

Originally posted by farris What exactly are stems? Does it mean you render each channel separately over the entire length of the track? - farris

correct

___________________
1999 Mix series

Rare Vinyls spinning on video If you like that sort of thing

Mastering hardware can pump up songs a lot
I worked with the TC Finalicer and its fun
It realy has a huge influence on the audio

But it all depends on what you want as an end result
All these mchines have presets
I have worked at a studio and i have mastered songs there
That was pretty expensive for the customers
But it made a big diference to their production

But to be honnest mastering is most in the ear
The tools are there only to make it easyer
With the TC Finalicer you can make a preset
Compression limiting and eq all in 1 setting
So you select the preset and baaam the song already sounds faaat
Is it that impressive NOPE you can get the same result with good quality vst effects

Most production problems come up because of bad vollume mixes
Basedrum is real hard in vollume and hihats realy soft
So the end result sounds much to dark and needs brightness
Thats fixable but you will need noise reducers cos you get more noice
When you boost up full voll on the audiotrack to get more high tones

So its always best to master your music sound by sound
I always record all my midi to audio once i'm happy with the notes
Thats 40 audiotrax sometimes who play simultanious
But you keep full control on every single sound
And you dont need your VSTi instaled to play your song
So once a lable wants to release it
You take your dvd with you to their studio and mix the voll how they like it
And since you got all on loops remixing is easy then too

No need to record full trax of every sound off course
Just make 8 bar loops and ghost copy them on that channel
Otherwise you need 1 dvd per song if you use 40 trax at once
Logic and Cubase are used in every professional studio
So a logic-cubase song and wav filles will be perfect for mastering
Cheap mastering can be done on full wav filles
But that will only be compression-limiting in a whole
And good equalising off course
Because equalising is what i do most when i master for someone
Thats where most mistakes are made
So most mastering is in the ear realy

If you make shure that all the vollumes are right compared to other instruments in the song
Than there will be litle need to master your song
But if your ears are not good enough to hear when its fine
Then mastering can make the eqing so much better that you think its a different song
But that does not have to cost you a lot of money since its a basic preset for the boosting limiter functions
And equalising by ear for the overall sound

But i think its best to record every sound to audio
Eq plugins work with track automation aswell
So you are able to lift up sounds in the mix at moments
But that will take a lot of time and mastering time is expensive
So its easyer to move a vollume fadar up
Then to automate a freq spectrum to boost at a certain part

Here an important mastering hint;
Before you record the full audio song
Put your vollume realy low so you barely hear the music
Then listen through the song and check if you still hear every sound
That way you will hear if some sounds are to soft in vollume compared to other sounds
Off course listen to it loud aswell
But putting the voll low will help a lot to clear up mixing mistakes

And check the vollume when you play the sounds together
Dont put all the vollumes at the same level by looking at your meter
And mute the basedrum once while listening through the full song
That will help you to keep the vollume ok compared to the basedrum its vollume

Hopefully it makes some sense, good luck

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Youtube: And link to my 80 min mixes
http://www.youtube.com/user/xxxPassiexxx

Tutors: http://www.freewebs.com/websoundtutors/index.htm

Last edited by PassiePassion on Jan-01-2008 at 21:14

quote:

Originally posted by PassiePassion And check the vollume when you play the sounds together Dont put all the vollumes at the same level by looking at your meter And mute the basedrum once while listening through the full song That will help you to keep the vollume ok compared to the basedrum its vollume Hopefully it makes some sense, good luck

quite a good tip there mate, i found it useful already

___________________
1999 Mix series

Rare Vinyls spinning on video If you like that sort of thing