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One For Ivan And Bogdan, trialing a new mastering compressor
Ivan Milenkovic
Feb 17 2010, 05:47 PM
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From: Belgrade, Serbia
After reading Tony's posts in more detail and listening to couple of more times, I should write something about the whole process. I generally agree here with Bogdan and say that Tony did a great job, both for evaluating the Alpha, and doing a very well mastered track of our song. smile.gif

By listening to the mix, I believe Tony did a great and thorough job of doing the master and writing the log down. Master mix is allowed to breathe, with smoothness coming out of every band. I had 3 tracks to compare, original without mastering, original with original mastering, original with Alpha mastering. The last two ones are similar, with the Alpha having less of the upper range. Although it sounds very smooth and warm to me, I think the additional upper range would increase presence and "airyness" nicely. Every other band was somewhat similar to what we achieved originally, so I believe Alpha is very versatile device that can handle many different kinds of applications. In the mastering chain, it definitely has it's rightful place and can yield great results, not to mention with combination of other important processing mastering units.

I must say that step-increment evaluated work of the Alpha is an excellent idea, giving us insight to every step of the process clearly through log. One remark here is that I would sure like to hear every step rendered on it's own, along with original and final result provided in the first post with the article - this would definitely help us to "feel" the mastering taking place and would help making the article more meaningful.

Another thing that I should add is the use of the external EQ device. Although Ibis is hi-end EQ, I would prefer using the Alpha on it's own, since it was the Alpha that was evaluated here. However, I don't believe that Ibis could spoil the impression in any way - I just think if the external EQ was brought into the chain, than it would be practical to hear the result of that step in separate track at least.

All in all, great evaluation and great topic - very interesting to read. Tony once again proved he's a master expert and knows how to handle the gear he didn't use before in a wise way; to explain all the important features while the process is taking place; and to provide with great professional communication with all people involved in process/reading the topic. Definitely an interesting stuff here, and hope to see some more on GMC soon! smile.gif

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Saoirse O'Shea
Feb 17 2010, 06:20 PM
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Joined: 27-June 07
From: Espania - Cadiz province
Thanks Bogdan and Ivan for the kind words smile.gif .

Ivan - you're right about increasing the upper would increase the air. I actually brought it down a little though as I decided the extra warmth was worth it smile.gif. That's one of the joys in mastering - you are always trading things add a bit means losing something somewhere else wink.gif .

Ibis is like you say a high grade mastering eq - it was only put in just to take some brittleness out of the guitar. I resorted to it as I was running out of time and it had been a long day and was a little tired and my ears had shut up shop for the night wink.gif. (I did your track after a 9 hour session mastering a radio travelogue for my wife - I'll describe that a bit on a different thread if anyone is interested.) Ibis is just there to take down the band around 600Hz a bit.

At the moment I'm in two minds about the Alpha - it is a great bit of kit but I'm not sure I can justify the price. If we did get it I'd essentially have to get rid of our STC8. Luckily I don't have to come to a decision for a while though as the evaluation period is pretty long cool.gif .

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Ivan Milenkovic
Feb 17 2010, 07:53 PM
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From: Belgrade, Serbia
It's great that you have the chance to evaluate such an amazing piece of hardware, and I definitely think you are expert for the job tony. Thanks a lot for making it possible for us to hear how the Alpha sounds in action - I definitely don't think we would ever be able to do that considering the price! biggrin.gif

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Saoirse O'Shea
Feb 17 2010, 08:03 PM
Moderator - low level high stakes
Posts: 6.173
Joined: 27-June 07
From: Espania - Cadiz province
QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Feb 17 2010, 07:53 PM) *
... I definitely don't think we would ever be able to do that considering the price! biggrin.gif


Yes 10,000 UK sterling is quite alot of cash wink.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
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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