Mastering |
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Mastering |
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Oct 22 2007, 10:00 PM |
Could someone please explain me how this works? Is mastering the same as mixdown? If not, what software do I need? etc. etc. etc.
I'm clueless, please help, thanks |
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Oct 22 2007, 10:32 PM |
The short reply Robin is 'no' .
To be more helpful though Mastering is where you take the mix down of one or more tracks that you want to collect together on a cd/lp/whatever and produce a uniform 'sound' to it. Mastering would be where you get all the tracks sounding like they were recorded together. That is that the levels from one track to another are consistent and of comparable sonic quality. One way to think about Mastering - when I was a kid I used to swop cassette tapes with friends. We add a couple of songs to a tape, pass it on to the next guy and they add a few more songs. Sooner or later the tape comes back to you and you listen to it. More often enough some tracks sounded like they were recorded on 11 in someones bathroom (Echo cho cho cho) and some would be so quiet that you could hardly turn the volume up enough and would be recorded totally dry. There was no consistency. (BTW ever get annoyed when you watch tv late at night, adverts come on and you drop the volume because the are LOUD. Film starts again and you have to find the remote because you can't hear it. Just no consistency because broadcast TV attenuate the programs in comparison withe ads to make the ad stand out.) Mastering though isn't just about making sure the levels are consistent. It is also about ensuring a uniform sonic character both with effects and frequencies (and hence eq and compression) and that the Master will sound good on any audio playback device. If the eq between tracks is wildly different it can make two tracks sound like they are played by different groups rather then one. Allan Holdsworth for instance has a very distinctive tone - lots of very smooth mid. Now if the Mastering Engineer on a Holdsworth recording scooped the mid on one track we'd end up with Holdsworth on one track and 'someone else' on the other. Similarly Butch Vig is famous for the raw acoustic edge his recordings have but a Mastering Engineer could make it so different if they added lots of gate and compression to a BV produced track. IN either of these two extreme cases I guess the ME would be sacked pretty quickly btw . Mastering is also about ensuring that the final rendered product makes good use of the dynamic headroom available and so involves issues concerning gain, limiting, dither. Ideally a ME will ensure that a recording is put out to Red book standards in terms of frequency, bit depth and so on. Pro Mastering and pro MEs use expensive and very specific, specialist hardware. A good Summing Desk is expensive, similarly with speakers for Mastering. Lots of people say they are recording engineers (and most of those aren't) but I've met few who claim to be MEs. Personally I'd say good MEs are worth their weight in gold - it's both a science and an art. You can certainly master your own recordings and there is now plenty of software available. What the software doesn't however get you is the experience that a good ME has. TBH everything I've ever mixed that has gone to render has been Mastered professionally. I know the basics of Mastering but I don't have the experience to do a really pro job. Home recording I'm happy to master my own stuff but commercial stuff nope. Cheers, Tony ps having said that in the last para I'll still cover Mastering in one of the future recording lessons. Have to really or the series will be incomplete . EDIT - spelling, duh. This post has been edited by tonymiro: Oct 22 2007, 10:33 PM -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Oct 23 2007, 12:11 AM |
Thank you so much!! I totally understand now! What software should I get? Thanks ALOT! iZotope Ozone 3 or PSP vintage warmer would my two top picks for the hobbyist, Tony probably knows more packages than me though. This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Oct 23 2007, 12:12 AM -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:06 AM |
Hmmm,yummy,waiting for thread about it from Tony!!
Or shall I say lesson!! -------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:13 AM |
iZotope Ozone 3 or PSP vintage warmer would my two top picks for the hobbyist, Tony probably knows more packages than me though. Ok, thanks. Are these programs free? |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:18 AM |
Ok, thanks. Are these programs free? No, they are in the $200 - $300 range from memory, Vintage Warmer is cheaper than Ozone. This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Oct 23 2007, 01:19 AM -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:20 AM |
No, they are in the $200 - $300 range from memory, Vintage Warmer is cheaper than Ozone. Woah! That will have to wait then Thanks again everyone. |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:27 AM |
Robin,you work with Cubase,right?
You could try small mastering test in there as well. Use plug-ins you have already with Cubase,like EQs,Compressors etc. Import some tune you like sound of it and one of your tunes/works. Then add efx's on channel where your tune is and experiment. Try to reach same level,color etc. Just a test,you might come up with cool solutions. -------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
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Oct 23 2007, 02:13 AM |
Off the top of my head Robin for software mastering - Harbal - I think it's about 70-80 or so Euros. Might not do as much as Ozone (I don't use Ozone so I'm not sure) but for the money it is a great piece of software.
I'll dig out the proper website address for you asap - bit busy on other things at the mo, sorry. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Oct 23 2007, 02:24 AM |
Whilst I'm waiting for someone (wife ) to work out how to use 'track changes' for chapter corrections!
Link is Har-bal. Cheers, Tony Annoying that it doesn't seem to say how much but I remember it to be about 80 or so Euros - but my memory ain't wonderful. Sorry If I'm wrong on this. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Oct 23 2007, 05:59 AM |
It says : 95.00 USD each
=) And we had used that as a final step on a CD from my previous band and it worked very nicely IMO. |
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Nov 1 2007, 11:10 PM |
I'll do my best Juan as I'm more then happy to help, just depends on how it fits with other projects and stuff.
Wife tends to drop lots of her stuff in my lap that 'needs immediate attention' all the time but if there isn't a huge rush I can usually manage and rarely miss deadlines . Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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