I am at a crossroads of sorts, as I have been doing things one way or another for a long time now, but realize now that since I have adequately upgraded my studio gear, its time to become much more proficient in my mastering know-how.
That being said, prior to now, I have done various things for "mastering" using sonar/cubase/audacity - and please dont have some one rant and rave about how mastering is for engineers only yadda yadda I DONT CARE WHAT HATERS HAVE TO SAY AND I AM NOT GOING TO SPEND GOOD MONEY FOR THIS WHEN I CAN DO IT MYSELF.
My interest in knowledge here is specifically to mastering chains, choice of plugins, steps in the process, this kind of thing. OBVIOUSLY every track is different - so please refrain from this kind of bull throw away commentary too - I have been producting for 12+ years so save the b.s. I need some new insight and unless you are an industry professional at this point, in music production school, or a released Trance/House producer, odds are I probably know what you are about to tell me. SO... That being said, I would like to open up a healthy discussion on the topic of Mastering & Mastering Effects Chains.
Up until recently, my "mastering" has always leaned on the light side, with minimal effects - equalization (I now prefer using the SSL mastering bus in Reason 6.5.1 with the ReQ-131, MCLASS, and occasionally Uhbik Q for this stage... as many as needed to shape properly), then exporting to 192000 wave/24bit, followed by a hard limit in Audacity (up to 6dB thresh but usually less - like around 1.7 - 3.5dB once I get the final mix levels just right), and then amplifying to -.3dB for safe clearance.
I brickwall filter each individual sound in my mixes, so dealing with highpassing the main mix wasnt even on my radar until recently, as it seems like a safe bet, and maybe im dealing with placebo, but it seems like even if I set my lowend limit in Reason manually to say 24hz at the low, still using a highpass filter on the end mix at 24hz in Audacity seems to clear the slightest tint of low end rumble. Or I am totally buying into b.s. there IDK..
I have read countless forums and sites on the topic - I am not sold on the normalization process, as it may or may not cause minimal undie distortion during its processing, which I would love for someone who actually KNOWS to clarify.
I have read the horror that entails from levelling type plugins and the distortion that ensues - obviously not in the cards, but worth mentioning as a bad idea for anyone reading who isnt up to speed on this stuff.
I understand the concept of hard vs. soft limiting - and I get that in this industry hard limiting seems to be the way to go - EXCEPT the hard limiter in Audacity for instance seems to cause a tinny distortion that The softclip limiter does not - Or is this my brain telling my ears something that isnt really there.
BASICALLY MY POINT IS I HAVE LEARNED ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ACADEMICALLY TECHNICAL OF A LEGITIMATE PRIMARY SOURCE WHEN IT COMES TO AUDIO MASTERING - However, I am not a noob either.
So please share your successes, failures, tips, suggestions, etc etc. And Keep the Condescending to a Minimum, as I am growing old of the pots calling kettles black and so forth on this website already, and I have only been back on here for a week. Cheers, Hope anyone on the eastcoast survived Hurricane Sandy btw.
Viking Pillager
Oh and I have used Ozone 4 and 5 and the L3 UltraMaximizer in the past - I found Ozone 5 to be interesting, but overkill tbh. L3 got the most amplification out of electronic mixes overall, and Ozone 4 was a slightly crunchier version of 5. I found the mixes coming out of ozone 5 to be kind of overprocessed to be honest though, and this seems like an unlikely choice for sending to labels. My understanding is they want clean dry mixes more or less so any "pre-mastering" is to be minimal. This is what I have read/heard from others - would love to hear others opinions on this topic too.
I would prefer to do less than more, as my mixes are to be sent to a label who will likely run them thru their own mastering circuit.
This is for self-releasing/pre-label mastering stage to get the track to the point where its ready to be sent to a legitimate label. The end goal is to get the tracks picked up by a legitimate label for mass release on say beatport or audiojelly. Selling out basically haha.
Raphie
Get a room, regardless of tools you need akoustics and ears you can trust.
The rest are just tools and irrelevant if you don't know what you're listening to (and for)
It's not about the tools or process it's about listening and correcting where needed.
In a acoustically 100% to be trusted enviroment.
You can't fix what you don't hear
Applying a standard chain recipy is bull
MSZ
Is that you EddieZilker?
Richard Butler
My only tip is to be confident in delivering the sound you expected to deliver just as a builder is confident delivering his work on your house to a finnished standard (although a second pair of ears can be useful in production and I would use a Mastering guy like Raphie here if the track was worth it)..
The tools youv'e been using are more than good enough imo.
MSZ
Recently completed a mix which required no mastering, just sayin.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by MSZ
Is that you EddieZilker?
If I were an alt, son, you be all thinkin' it wurnt me in no way and no how.
Bitch be trippin yo! :gsmile:
Raphie
quote:
Originally posted by MSZ
Recently completed a mix which required no mastering, just sayin.
which aligns perfectly with the "if" i mentioned, some tracks need very little to no treatment. Sometimes all I do is listen.
meriter
I've had okay results with the L3-16 -> vintage warmer (usually with the mix somewhere around 50%, too much fuzz otherwise) I still think the label should pay a professional though. And MSZ is right all the magic happens at the mixing stage
EDIT: audacity really?
MSZ
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
If I were an alt, son, you be all thinkin' it wurnt me in no way and no how.
Bitch be trippin yo! :gsmile:
Im on to you nigga. :p
Richard Butler
I thought of this thread as I've been working on this track.
This is an example of me wanting to use mastering very much as an FX, so it won't be everyones idea of niceness.
I've strapped 3 plug-ins straight accross the Cubase master channel - First T-RACS (optical compressor), then nasty ole Cubase maximizer then a free limiter from Kjearhouse.
