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Clarity re: Mixing vs. Mastering
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| Digital Aura |
OKay...please bear with me, as I know I've posted quite a bit recently:
One question still plagues me ---> When am I mastering as opposed to mixing?
If I add a compressor to a bassline and the kick and maybe and exciter to the snare or hihats, then I'm still only in the MIXING stage, correct?
So if I apply ANOTHER compressor (perhaps a multiband comp would be best) to the Master Channel does this account for mastering? Or does the song have to be converted to a wav format and manipulated outside of my Cakewalk P5 workstation. If so, how?...OZONE (for example) is a VST plug-in and must be used within the workstation...so how (not how, but where) do you complete the mastering?? |
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| Freak |
Mixing is the balancing of the elements of the track relative to each other.
Mastering is perparing and finalising the track for presing/cutting- by adjusting the overall frequencies/level in relation to noise/headroom.
Putting a compressor over the whole mix is generally part of the mastering process-doesnt matter if its while you are recording it to a format, or after recording and in cool edit or whatever. |
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| Digital Aura |
| Yes...but do you guys master outside of the workstation? |
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| enferno |
i do
i usually don't put a compressor on the mixer of a track
i use sound forge and use the wave hammer tool, which is the same as compression, but it gives a visual representation to what it is actally doing, which makes adjustments easier. then i usually normalize/adjust the volume |
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| Vizay |
| quote: | Originally posted by Freak
Mixing is the balancing of the elements of the track relative to each other.
Mastering is perparing and finalising the track for presing/cutting- by adjusting the overall frequencies/level in relation to noise/headroom.
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that pretty much covers what your'e asking for :)
when I'm done with the mixdown I usually render the track to a wav and crank it up in wavelab
my default masteringchain looks something like this:
multiband compressor -> EQ -> Limiter
but of course it might change from track to track, some tracks doesn't need EQing at all and some tracks might need other things like a gentle stereospread (although this isn't very usual, it was just an example :))
just remember to stay away from thoose all in one tools like ozone and T-racks, it might be good for learning but the soundquality of them is pure e compared to using tools like waves and stuff that's even better :) |
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| Sebraa |
Like I understand -> no difference -> if you have CPU then feel free to use mastering effects in project itself. You dont need to mixdown and open it in audioeditor. Or am I wrong?
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sebraa |
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| hey cheggy |
I would prefer to do mastering work in a wave editor rather than in Cubase simply because of the lack of CPU available without putting on eq, master compression and limiting. I prefer also to be able to read the dynamics from a screen which is not available in all programs.
Generally speaking, mastering is done by someone other than the producer and hence is therefore done after the track has been exported to .wav |
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| Digital Aura |
Roger!
I'll fart around with what I have... basically only the P5 workstation that includes some nice plugins for compressing and limiting etc.
As DJ Thy put it...practice and mess around with one track at a time to get the feel or sound of it all...then see if I need something after the mixdown (that is, after Im done in P5). |
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