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What parts of production do pros really do themselves? (pg. 2)
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| daeus |
| quote: | Originally posted by dj_palm
i just recieved some vinyls of my first release and i got to say: its sounds ALOT better then it did on my computer. so they did something... for free... without asking... and im realy happy with the result. |
Congrats on the release |
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| richg101 |
| quote: | Originally posted by dj_palm
i just recieved some vinyls of my first release and i got to say: its sounds ALOT better then it did on my computer. so they did something... for free... without asking... and im realy happy with the result. |
i expect 'SPINNIN RECORDS' will have just about the best mastering engineer of any label.. i cant wait to hear the vinyls mate!
i bet its great mixing your own vinyl and not just a cd! |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by dj_palm
well i think its all compression/maximazing and somehow the track sounds wider and with more room/space and less agresive on ears. tho im pretty sure they didnt eq it. |
this is prolly why alot of us, are ripping out hairs out to get the same kind of full sound, when its in reality done by really proffesional people.. afterall i dont think any of us actually have the equipment or correct space nor the ears to master our own track. |
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| Derivative |
I'd rather do everything myself though. It will take me 10 years longer to get a record signed probably and I will have to finally enroll on a sound engineering course and work full time to pay for it.
But damn, at least I can say at the end of it that I made it on my own and that I learned so much whilst doing it. I firmly believe that it will show in the end result. You just need to give me another 8 years and 40 grand until you get your socks blown off.
If Vibrasphere can do it, I can do it. And I wont be happy until my songs are better than Vibrasphere's.
I appreciate this is a ing mammoth task but the best part of life's marathon is chasing down the dudes at the front and overtaking them before the finish line (The finish line = DEATH by the way, at least by my definition).
Going by that logic, I have an estimated 46 years to beat those prodigies at their own game. Better get cracking then :stongue:
Now I am finally getting monitors (dynaudio BM5as) I am in the process of sorting out my room acoustics and starting to read about coupling/decoupling. Back to reading I guess. |
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| Synchronicity |
Hey Derivative what are you doing here, you're banned!
Well I'll probably have to do the same because I pretend I don't mind if my stuff is top quality, but underneath I'll always be a perfectionist. And I'm skint.
Another thing is where you stay. I stay in a flat with thin walls, people above and below me in a posh, mostly elderly populated area. I can only use my hi-fi speakers occasionally, any other time I have to use headphones. There's no point in me buying monitors because I don't finish university for another 2 years and even then I might have to get a flat.
Boo-hoo poor me:rolleyes: |
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| tecnolover |
| quote: | Originally posted by PutBoy
Only thing I do when mastering is really add some compressors. Almost never dare to touch the EQ. |
:eyes: Then you aren't even near what mastering is. It's not just about getting the track louder. EQ is one the most important parts of mastering and requires not only very good monitors, good ears, very flat room accoustics but very good EQ's also. |
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| steve@thethrill |
| quote: | Originally posted by Synchronicity
C'mon, lets be really honest here.
Let's say for example Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Burren, Mauro Picotto and the Thrillseekers.
Usually, they rent a studio for X days, working with an excellent engineer. I know this (in regard to other bands/djs) from speaking to engineers. They either show the engineer a rough sketch they've built up at home or just write the whole track at the studio. The engineer will EQ, compress, add suitable delay, tune drums, adjust levels, provide work-arounds for problems etc.
I enjoy compressing, eqing etc. to a certain degree but I probably get nowhere near as polished a sound as what an engineer would. And you know what, I don't give a :haha:
I'm just thinking out loud, take it how you want;) |
Ha - that's funny! No engineer in my studio!
S |
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| Lindo |
@tecnolover: EQing isn't a part of mastering...the mastering stage isn't supposed to do all that "magical stuff."
As stated by Arksun:
| quote: | Also what are you using for monitoring. The better your monitors (and acoustic space / listening position ) , the easier it is to hear exactly where the problems lie, making it much easier to fix the eq/levels/width etc etc.
It's really driving me crazy now, everyone expects everything to be fixed by 'mastering' and that mastering is some amazing magic wand.
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Haha, well, my point was more in terms of the way 'mastering' has been marketed and thats the manufacturer's fault.
All these plugins are out now brandished with the word 'mastering' on it, giving the amatuer producers this idea that that's where all the fixing lies with making a track sound good.
I just think some the new generation of producers need to be re-educated to understanding that its really about getting the fundamentals as rock solid as possible to really make a track sound good.
Really that's something that applies to many things, whether its learning a martial art, or building a house!. If the foundations are solid the rest follows smoothly. Dodgy foundations and you spend far too much time and effort trying to stabilise and support the structure at a later stage (just like mastering)
Mastering should be about giving that final polish to an already balanced track, yes some corrections can be made, and made well in skilled hands using high end tools, minimum phase multiband compression etc. But again, its the old 'you can't polish a turd' scenario.
There's really no specific advice that can be given for these sort of things, its a question of learning to listen to music in a way that you can deconstruct it and realize what needs boosting/cutting where.
Use reference material, our perception of sound changes all the time as the brain constantly re-adjusts the frequency balance (in the same way as when you've been wearing coloured tint glasses for a while, when you take them off you get a negative colour shift until the balance re-settles again). Play tracks you know are well engineered through your speakers/headphones and relate to that whilst producing.
nec218, you mentioned the pads clashing with the hihats, have you tried just using eq to roll off the higher frequencies on the pad sound?. Or perhaps that particular sound has too much fizzyness to it, or heavy aliasing, and you need to find a sound that just has a smoother top end.
More often than not, I'll change the choice of sound itself, than use one that's causing technical issues trying to fix it to make it fit in more. |
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| -mk- |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lindo
@tecnolover: EQing isn't a part of mastering...the mastering stage isn't supposed to do all that "magical stuff."
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EQing is definetly a part of mastering. It's the most important part of it. |
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| PutBoy |
| quote: | Originally posted by -mk-
EQing is definetly a part of mastering. It's the most important part of it. |
It's not more important than any part. It's not mandatory to EQ if it's not needed. In the same way, it's not mandatory to compress if it's not needed.
It's an important tool, but so is a hammer and you don't need a hammer when you're screwing... |
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| Synchronicity |
| quote: | Originally posted by steve@thethrill
Ha - that's funny! No engineer in my studio!
S |
:toothless
Humble pie for me. It was wrong of me to drop names like that.
No engineer has ever specifically mentioned your name or the other guys names, but I (unintentionally) made it sound like that.
So I guess all I can do is apologize and edit the post.
Respect for taking the time to helping people out in the production forum on your site by the way. |
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| Derivative |
If you recorded everything well, you should not have to use much, if any EQ. I would consider it a compliment if I handed my productions over to an engineer and he said he didnt really have to EQ anything. However, my mixdowns aint anywhere near that good yet.
If you are efficient with headroom and manage dynamics and dynamic range well, you wont really have to add much compression in the mastering stage either.
Mastering is just a catch all term to make a recording tonally homogenous if it is not already. You can use your proverbial hammers, nails, screws saws whatever. It doesnt matter. Neither is more important than the other. It depends entirely on whats wrong with the mixdown in the first place.
However, if you find you have to do alot of work to get a record up to scratch in the mastering stage, the mixdown wasnt as good as it could be. Or theres a conflict of interest between the producer and the engineer. Eh.
The only thing I can think of that is firmly in mastering territory is dithering and thats always the last process in the signal chain. At least, it should be. |
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