Mastering

A

annunaki

New member
Hey,

Looking for some opinions on my setup/recording. We are a 5 piece band recording live takes of our music on a Yamaha AW 4416. Our first attempt, although mixed well, is really quiet and lacks punch. (check out some examples at www.annunaki.net) We want our second album punchier . . . and are considering sending our "mixes" to a mastering studio to get it boosted up.

I guess my question is with the mixes . . . how do most mastering houses like to recieve the mixes. I am planning on sending individual .wav files of each track CD by CD. We will perform mixes on these .wav's to get them to a close level, and hopefully the mastering engineer can boost them and get them closer to commercial quality.

Has anyone dealt with any online mastering houses that did a good job? Any tips on mixing that will help the final product translate better at the mastering house? Thanks in advance.
 
You can achieve "commercial" mastering on your own.

Chain together 3 C1 Comps with a -48 threshold, and a 12:1 ratio. Make sure you use no less than 32db Gain Compensation.

Don't worry about any distortion you might think you hear... it's supposed to sound like that.

BRICKWALL!!!!!



:D
 
You can achieve "commercial" mastering on your own.

Chain together 3 C1 Comps with a -48 threshold, and a 12:1 ratio. Make sure you use no less than 32db Gain Compensation.

Don't worry about any distortion you might think you hear... it's supposed to sound like that.

BRICKWALL!!!!!
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The chap asked a direct and somewhat educated question. Instead of answering with sarcasm, you might want to educate him and maybe direct him to your "mastering" services.
 
I don't think he was answering with sarcasm. He was answering with personal experience.
Hey,

Looking for some opinions on my setup/recording. We are a 5 piece band recording live takes of our music on a Yamaha AW 4416. Our first attempt, although mixed well, is really quiet and lacks punch. (check out some examples at www.annunaki.net) We want our second album punchier . . . and are considering sending our "mixes" to a mastering studio to get it boosted up.

I guess my question is with the mixes . . . how do most mastering houses like to recieve the mixes. I am planning on sending individual .wav files of each track CD by CD. We will perform mixes on these .wav's to get them to a close level, and hopefully the mastering engineer can boost them and get them closer to commercial quality.

Has anyone dealt with any online mastering houses that did a good job? Any tips on mixing that will help the final product translate better at the mastering house? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If your going to an outside mastering house, for one I suggest not to compress too much, and keep your levels no higher than -6 TOPS , I really do suggest lower than that though. The mastering house I usually send material to, takes a pro tools session, some will take 1 master CD of the final mix, and they tweak it to sound better.

Other than that, mix your material down better, and it will have that punch your seeking. A mastering engineer will polish everything for you.
 
pappy999 said:
The chap asked a direct and somewhat educated question. Instead of answering with sarcasm, you might want to educate him and maybe direct him to your "mastering" services.
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You're right. Maybe I should've directed him to the search button where he can find the answer to this question being asked seven million times in the last year? ;)
 
There are way too many posts that turn into sarcastic rants. This poster is probably looking at this right now waiting for a legit answer. Do a search and find 30 threads on this subject with most of the posts in each thread consisting of rants and ridicule.
 
pappy999 said:
There are way too many posts that turn into sarcastic rants. This poster is probably looking at this right now waiting for a legit answer. Do a search and find 30 threads on this subject with most of the posts in each thread consisting of rants and ridicule.
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And instead of giving him a legit answer like you're peppering me about, you chose to badger me about my sarcastic post. Which makes you the reason why the diatribe continues, and he's not getting a serious answer. Congratulations. :p
 
I hate when people get on their soap box and try policing a forum. It takes 2 seconds to read a post. If it's a little sarcastic, then you wasted 2 seconds. Big deal. Commenting about it over and over again wastes alot more time.
 
Mindset said:
I don't think he was answering with sarcasm. He was answering with personal experience.

If your going to an outside mastering house, for one I suggest not to compress too much, and keep your levels no higher than -6 TOPS , I really do suggest lower than that though. The mastering house I usually send material to, takes a pro tools session, some will take 1 master CD of the final mix, and they tweak it to sound better.

Other than that, mix your material down better, and it will have that punch your seeking. A mastering engineer will polish everything for you.
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Thanks for the response!

I've used the search button, I just wanted to give specific details about my situation and if anyone had any suggestions. I'm not saying, "My mix is too quiet, can somebody please tell me how to make it louder?" I am asking if anyone has used an online mastering house with good success. I'm sure I could twiddle around with the sound for months and get better results, but the bottom line is I play in a band that gigs reguaraly, and although we want to record it ourselves, none of us have enough time to mix and master it to perfection.

I can't comprehend what someone is thinking by being sarcastic in a thread like this, if you have nothing to say . . . then say nothing. Anything else is trolling.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor"
 
annunaki said:
Thanks for the response!

I've used the search button, I just wanted to give specific details about my situation and if anyone had any suggestions. I'm not saying, "My mix is too quiet, can somebody please tell me how to make it louder?" I am asking if anyone has used an online mastering house with good success. I'm sure I could twiddle around with the sound for months and get better results, but the bottom line is I play in a band that gigs reguaraly, and although we want to record it ourselves, none of us have enough time to mix and master it to perfection.
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If this is what you wanted to know, then why didn't you ask it? It's obvious you have the ability to communicate intelligently, and you've done so here. But you asked a very general question which is asked almost daily on these forums, and gave no real reason as to why you were seeking the advice you wanted. Until now...

Many people on this site have great Mastering businesses. Many forum members have used their services, and I'm not aware of any unhappy customers.
 
annunaki said:
Hey,

Looking for some opinions on my setup/recording. We are a 5 piece band recording live takes of our music on a Yamaha AW 4416. Our first attempt, although mixed well, is really quiet and lacks punch. (check out some examples at www.annunaki.net) We want our second album punchier . . . and are considering sending our "mixes" to a mastering studio to get it boosted up.

I guess my question is with the mixes . . . how do most mastering houses like to recieve the mixes. I am planning on sending individual .wav files of each track CD by CD. We will perform mixes on these .wav's to get them to a close level, and hopefully the mastering engineer can boost them and get them closer to commercial quality.

Has anyone dealt with any online mastering houses that did a good job? Any tips on mixing that will help the final product translate better at the mastering house? Thanks in advance.
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Sorry I thought I was pretty clear . . .
 
annunaki said:
Sorry I thought I was pretty clear . . .
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What a fucking great burn! :)


My take on this (having recorded/mixed/mastered...sometimes all three on the same project):

If your MIXES lack punch, you will not get it in mastering. Actually, mastering can heighten an already punchy mix with some well done compression, and certain you can increase RMS a LOT with a limiter, but, you cannot create what is not there to begin with.

Make your mixes sound as close to what you want to hear in the end, and mastering will only make it a bit better.

In mastering, you can generally reshape the overall EQ, smooth out the quietest to loudest parts, and increase RMS. You can work with some "tricks" such as trying to expand the stereo field a bit, but this is VERY dangerous to try, and should only be used when it actually does something cool for the ARTIST element of the song. If you didn't get things panned out very well on the mix, trying to do this in mastering is no substitute for the bad mixing job. It introduces it's own problems to the end product that may not be desirable.

I would be very careful about online mastering, and before you pay somebody, make sure you hear a sample of what they will do to your mixes.
 
annunaki said:
I guess my question is with the mixes . . . how do most mastering houses like to recieve the mixes. I am planning on sending individual .wav files of each track CD by CD. We will perform mixes on these .wav's to get them to a close level, and hopefully the mastering engineer can boost them and get them closer to commercial quality.
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Most mastering houses that I know of ask that you send mixes as 24 bit stereo interleaved wav files at the same sample rate used for the tracks on a data CD (assuming that you did not mix to analog tape). Let the ME handle any sample rate conversions (up or down), basically leave the audio at the highest resolution possible.

In regard to the second question, there are a few MEs that frequent this forum fairly regularly that I recommend. :)
 
masteringhouse said:
Most mastering houses that I know of ask that you send mixes as 24 bit stereo interleaved wav files
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Hey Tom,

I understand the 24 bit part, as well as the sample rate part. What I'm not sure of is the stereo interleaved part. Is there a sonic or technical reason for preferring interleaved over dual mono tracks, or is it just that it really doesn't matter between the two and it is simply more common for the client to 2mix to stereo?

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Hey Tom,

I understand the 24 bit part, as well as the sample rate part. What I'm not sure of is the stereo interleaved part. Is there a sonic or technical reason for preferring interleaved over dual mono tracks, or is it just that it really doesn't matter between the two and it is simply more common for the client to 2mix to stereo?

G.
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Hey Glen,

There no sonic difference between the two assuming the DAW applies panning laws equally. Stereo interleaved helps to ensure that phase between the two channels is maintained.
 
What is interleaved stereo? And what's it's difference from dual mono?

Is dual mono two tracks while interleaved is one single stereo track?
 
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