Mastering

[Jimmy2002]

Hi There People,
I want to start to master the songs the me and my band have recorded is there any advice any 1 can give on what software to use
Thanks

[Blue Bear Sound]

Before you do anything, buy a copy of Bob Katz' "Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science"...........

[Massive Master]

Originally Posted by Blue Bear Sound

Before you do anything, buy a copy of Bob Katz' "Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science"...........

Then, read it.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by Massive Master

Then, read it.

Agreed..........

[Farview]

After you are done reading, look up all the words you don't understand. Then, read it again.

[kylen]

While you're reading the book...if you post (ED: oops I meant 192Kbps mp3) what you consider to be the best mix, the worst mix of your group of songs and a reference (commercial CD excerpt) of what you are shooting for I'll bet we could come up with some opinions concerning what types of tools to use.

The opinion could also include remix and possibly more tips. Depends how busy everyone is I guess.

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by Jimmy2002

Hi There People,
I want to start to master the songs the me and my band have recorded is there any advice any 1 can give on what software to use
Thanks

What software did you use to record it?

If it was Pro Tools or any decent DAW you can probably use that for processing. If you mean burning redbook CDs with a PQ list what computer platform are you on?

[Middleman]

Find an existing mastering lab and ask them if you can hang out there to learn a thing or two. Even pay if necessary.

You can have a great mastering room, equipment and software but how do you know what to do with it? The thing you can't buy is understanding what the final results should sound like.

[EddieRay]

You can't find out here. You have to go somewhere else for that information.

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by Middleman

Find an existing mastering lab and ask them if you can hang out there to learn a thing or two. Even pay if necessary.

You can have a great mastering room, equipment and software but how do you know what to do with it? The thing you can't buy is understanding what the final results should sound like.

All of this is good advice, but let's be honest judging from the question the dude just wants to master his band's stuff on the cheap otherwise he wouldn't be asking what software to use.

Mastering takes years of experience. Reading BK's book, or even attending a session or two isn't going to make you a mastering engineer anymore than reading a book about how to become a great football player and watching a few games is going to make you a great quarterback.

If you're really serious about recording or mastering your material, go to someone who does this for a living everyday. Since this is homerecording.com, try it yourself but don't expect pro results. Just get it as close as possible with what you have available. Try to record your tracks in the best possible way (and spend most of your $ here, in mics, pres, etc.) so that they might possibly be re-mixed and mastered professionally if there is real interest in your band.

If you really want to be a mastering engineer, start practicing, listening, then rinse lather and repeat until you go bald.

[Middleman]

Well, actually, nobody answered his question.

Ozone would be my choice, starting out. Lots of good educational stuff in there. Then I would buy a UAD-1 card.

Also, go to the Manley site. Look at their mastering compressors and download their product manuals - free - as just reading these manuals is a cheap education that will produce lots of questions for you to pursue.

[fenix]

i think BB gets paid by bob katz or something.

[Massive Master]

In Bruce's defense, I think few would argue that almost no matter what level you're at in ANY area of audio (especially digital), Bob's book is a good read.

I used to recommend it to a lot of people that wanted to get started in mastering.

Then, I read it to see what I was suggesting to all these people...

That's when I found out that it really isn't about mastering in general, but just a good book stuffed with solid information from a reputable source.

That's good in my book - er... it's a nice thought.

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by Middleman

Well, actually, nobody answered his question.

From what I've seen the following are the more popular systems used for mastering:

Higher end software:
Sonic Solutions HD
Sadie
Pro Tools (with good CD burning package)
Pyramix
Cube-Tec AudioCube
Sequoia

Mid level software:
Wavelab
Sound Forge
Bias Peak
Cool Edit Pro

[metalguy]

i downloaded a free program "goldwave" which actually did a decent job for me. it is free and it sounds decent. that might be a possibility if you arent looking to spend any money

[Middleman]

Originally Posted by Massive Master

In Bruce's defense, I think few would argue that almost no matter what level you're at in ANY area of audio (especially digital), Bob's book is a good read.

I used to recommend it to a lot of people that wanted to get started in mastering.

Then, I read it to see what I was suggesting to all these people...

That's when I found out that it really isn't about mastering in general, but just a good book stuffed with solid information from a reputable source.

That's good in my book - er... it's a nice thought.

I concur with your assesment on the Bob Katz book. A better book for newbies is "The Mastering Engineers Handbook" by Bobby Owsinski. Not only does it cover the basic gear utilized, it has interviews with the people that do this everyday.

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by Middleman

I concur with your assesment on the Bob Katz book. A better book for newbies is "The Mastering Engineers Handbook" by Bobby Owsinski. Not only does it cover the basic gear utilized, it has interviews with the people that do this everyday.

In addition to these two books, I would recommend Ken Pohlmann's book "Principles of Digital Audio". While not for the faint of heart, it will give you in-depth details of how digital processing and conversion works. I believe Bob even recommends and refers to this book in his own.

Along with the previously mentioned books I also recommend picking up Dave Moulton's Golden Ears CDs. It's the best interactive ear training program that I've seen to date. Recognizing what frequencies to boost or cut is a large part of mastering.

[kylen]

Originally Posted by masteringhouse

...Along with the previously mentioned books I also recommend picking up Dave Moulton's Golden Ears CDs. It's the best interactive ear training program that I've seen to date. Recognizing what frequencies to boost or cut is a large part of mastering.

I'll look into that one masteringhouse - thanx for the tip. I'm looking for various audio test, calibration and audiophile type reference disks.

I recently got Bob Katz CD's that he recorded for Chesky in the early '90's- it's the 'Audiophile Test Disks' Volume 1-3 that have some cool listening tests and examples of imaging, micing techniques, natural spaces, etc.

Jimmy2002 - I still think you should post a song or 2, get some feedback...best case 'This needs no mastering'...normal case 'This needs [tool X] to [adjust some audio component out of balance] by doing [perform some action using tool X]'. Some of this type of interaction happened last year and is pretty interesting once you get past all the talkin' that you sometimes get