Mastering Shootout: LANDR, Mastering Box, AAMS vs Real People

Well I'll be comparing my mastering efforts vrs the automatic services. I already have them bought and paid for, (LANDR for a year, AAMS Pro Version) and may the best plan win. I already know that results from the automatic software can be sketchy, so I don't want to be dependent on that.

Either or, I'm really getting excited about my new headphones...they shipped out last night and are scheduled for delivery on Wednesday.
 
Martin Maniac said:
Yes I want affordable and fast. Apparently I'm not the only one. If I can learn how to play guitar, I can learn how to master.
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Thats very admirable, wanting to learn how to master.

However not many will have the dedication for such a task in mastering or (insert skill of your choce)

Take John from Massive Mastering. I dont personally know him, but know of his work and reputation. His current skill level is a result of years and years of both time and financial investment. Anyone priced a set of high end mastering monitors lately? And how long does it take to develop a 'golden' set of ears?

The problem today is the unwillingness to invest both time and money. Maybe its the inability to do so. At any rate, here come plugins and services that essentially promise 'pro' results. Now! No waiting, no time invested, no blood sweat and tears, etc.
Just ckick this link, download this, pay a small amount of money and you too can have pro results with minimal investment of time and money. Today!

The appeal of this makes sense. The two things most people complain about not having enough of, are time and money.

Yet the problem is, it totally bypasses and short changes truly proffessional results only obtained by a true proffessional.
 
Well in my case, I'm mixing basically for iTunes and other internet stores. Basically just MP3's. I don't feel I need state of the art mastering for this application. If I was mixing a cd for Rhianna or Lady Gaga, it'd be a different story....my stuff ?? I'm not going to invest too much into it because it'll probably end up buried amongst the other 26 million songs out there. So it would just be money out of my pocket.
 
If you're OK with less than "state of the art" as you said, that's OK...lots of people are just doing basic mixes primarily for their pleasure, so nothing wrong with that.

Of course, if your music (not the mixes/mastering) is of really good caliber, than the only way it could/would stack up against the Rhianna/Gaga stuff and 26 million other songs is if you can take that good caliber music and give it the best mixing/mastering it deserves, but only you can be the judge of that. Everyone decides how deep they want/need to go...and not everything needs to be done up to the max.

It's certainly very easy to let stuff get lost in with the 26 million other songs...the hard part for everyone is in getting it to stand out.
 
A little tidbit

I did the self master on headphones. And not cheap ones - Beyerdynamic DT990s. If I were to do it again, I would just reference on cans. I have a little Focusrite VRM box that I like to audition my mixes through, sometimes just to re-set my ears and other times to see how the mix translates. It's not definitive, but it gives some perspective.

I finally got back to the studio (I got this idea while I was out of town), I threw my "self-master" through my rig ... and .... oh boy. Needed work for sure. Also, I don't know what happened but the one that ended up in the zip was my first attempt - for some reason the master I wanted up there didn't go and I was left with an older attempt that wasn't even dithered. :-O

FWIW, here's the version I wanted in the test. This one's a flac file (got a request for it in the other forum, so posting it here as well).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_-TzBQeNAEyazdsRGdubEp2RDg/view
 
miroslav said:
Well yeah...that's why they call it "professional mastering" by a real "mastering engineer". :)

There are three options.

Cheap
Fast
Good

You can only have two out of three.
You obviously want cheap and fast....and that's your choice.
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I say this to my clients all the time in regards to my remodeling business. Musicians seem to think all three are possible. But that is why I have worked with bands as a 'paid' hobby more than a business. But....that is about to change....

I love finding musicians here on the forum, and giving my advice or taking over the project completely. For free. It depends on my time or whether I personally like the recording and find inspiration.

The same thing will be with the ME someone chooses to use. Do research for an ME that has experience and good results for any genre.
 
Yeah....it's not about pressure...it's simply about setting you goals high, rather than aiming low just because it's "home recording".
 
Well then, why is okay to record at home ?? Shouldn't you just let the pro's at the recording studio record your songs ?? After all they have years of experience, tons of gear, acoustically treated rooms....So what if they charge $130 an hour. I mean why even bother writing or recording songs at all as there are many Professional Musicians better than you, why not just leave it to the pro's ?? Remember it was an amateur who built the arc, but professionals who built the Titanic.
 
Martin Maniac said:
Well then, why is okay to record at home ?? Shouldn't you just let the pro's at the recording studio record your songs ?? After all they have years of experience, tons of gear, acoustically treated rooms....So what if they charge $130 an hour. I mean why even bother writing or recording songs at all as there are many Professional Musicians better than you, why not just leave it to the pro's ?? Remember it was an amateur who built the arc, but professionals who built the Titanic.
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Dood, it seems you are missing the point here.

Modern technology makes it affordable and possible for guys like us to make quality recordings at home. Some of us have better rooms than others. Some have better gear than others. Some take that to almost pro levels.

But, that only makes it close to what we would love to be able to afford ourselves.

Anyway, we all strive to get as close to perfect as we can. That is what we are here to talk about. Getting the best from what we have.

From the results, it is obvious that a professional gave the best results. There is no pressure for you to pay for it. I am sure you understand that it isn't just a simple preset that fixes everything. Best would be to take the comments as food for thought and not cause to argue about 'pressure' from members. Let it go and learn from others. Whether you like what you hear or not, it is up to you to decide what you take in.
 
Martin Maniac said:
Well then, why is okay to record at home ?? Shouldn't you just let the pro's at the recording studio record your songs ??
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Yeah...you're missing the point.

Record at home...but you can still do it with pro goals in mind, instead taking this "meh, it's only home recording, why bother" view.

Like when you were in high school...I'll assume you played some sport, and you wanted to emulate your sports heroes...you want to be like them and play like them...you didn't think, "I'm no pro, so I might as well not try as hard to be good at it"...did you?
 
miroslav said:
Yeah...you're missing the point.

Record at home...but you can still do it with pro goals in mind, instead taking this "meh, it's only home recording, why bother" view.

Like when you were in high school...I'll assume you played some sport, and you wanted to emulate your sports heroes...you want to be like them and play like them...you didn't think, "I'm no pro, so I might as well not try as hard to be good at it"...did you?
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The sports assumption seems strange to me. Usually it is the ones that did not fit in that sports cliche that take up a musical direction. Well, at least for myself anyway.

But the analogy is good. :)

Get the best you can with the tools you have. Ask questions and move forward. If you find something that works for you, then go with it. But remember that you are capable of doing it yourself...

Aw shit, I sound like a self help infomercial... lol!

:eek:
 
Martin Maniac said:
Well then, why is okay to record at home ?? Shouldn't you just let the pro's at the recording studio record your songs ?? After all they have years of experience, tons of gear, acoustically treated rooms....So what if they charge $130 an hour.
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You've already learned to do that yourself. Would you trust a computer to do it for you? Would you trust its decisions in the engineering process?

I mean why even bother writing or recording songs at all as there are many Professional Musicians better than you, why not just leave it to the pro's ??
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You've already learned to do that, too. Would you trust a computer to do it for you? Would you trust its decisions in the creative process?

Every bit as much personal discretion and decision-making goes into mastering. If you'd have spent as much time practicing with a compressor, eq and limiter as you have spent defending auto-mastering on these forums, you'd probably have a few halfway decent masters by now!
 
Tadpui said:
You've already learned to do that yourself. Would you trust a computer to do it for you? Would you trust its decisions in the engineering process?



You've already learned to do that, too. Would you trust a computer to do it for you? Would you trust its decisions in the creative process?

Every bit as much personal discretion and decision-making goes into mastering. If you'd have spent as much time practicing with a compressor, eq and limiter as you have spent defending auto-mastering on these forums, you'd probably have a few halfway decent masters by now!
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WORD! :)

I am not sure why I typed that...


Yes to Tadpui's post^^^^
 
I suppose the thing about self mastering and home mastering is that it's not supposed to be commercial. Or its not about being commercially viable. It's more about being proud of your work and learning a whole new set of skills. We have the technology to get us close to fantastic. But it starts with playing well, recording it right, and then mixing well. I'd like to create recordings that practically mix themselves. It makes mastering a whole lot more fun!

My idea is to do master myself, for the love of the craft. But you can bet if I have a windfall of cash, I wouldn't hesitate to use a highly trained, highly equipped and serviced engineer to remaster everything.

There is definitely a lot of great sounding music out there which is going precisely no where. So I get the sentiment about not spending tons of cash. But these auto services aren't a great compromise yet.

And mastering has been kept a sort of secretive art for a long time. That's starting to change, and I'm super excited about it! It's a great time to be a musician. But you need a day job, because it's also a terrible time to be a musician lol.
 
These responses are much too logical.
The fact is, in every thread regarding mastering, this guy starts trolling.
Heavy trolling to the point where two threads (i believe) have been shut down.

I'm all for a discussion, but the aurguing of every point brought up is ridiculous.
 
Well I'm in the beginning of my mastering journey. I'm currently getting my plug-ins together. Waves have a 1 day sale going on right now. I just bought the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter. I tried a demo version of it and was very pleased with the end result. It added a lot to my guitar track, so much so that when I turned it off it was very noticeable and I wanted it back on right away. They are on sale for $89 dollars which is a lot cheaper that the $149 price I got from Aphex the other day.

LANDR says it uses EQ, Multi-Band Compression, Limiter, Stereo Enhancer, and an Exciter. I've been using Aphex Exciters for years in my dj rig, so I'm familiar with what it does. I have all the other plugins in Audition and Sonar, so the Exciter was the only thing missing. This particular Vintage Exciter is modeled after the original tube Aural Exciter from the '70's. When they first came out they were only available on a short term rental basis.
 
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