Ok...this may take a bit as I do tend to be rather -long winded- when I write, so thank you in advance for you patience and maybe grab a cup of coffee before you start!
This project I'm working on is getting down to the wire so to speak. I sort of understand the basics of mastering, but have never done anything like this before, so I would sort of like a second (or third) opinion on what I"m doing here.
A couple of little pieces of background as FYI on my setup. I'm recording on a Duron 700 system with 512 megs RAM, (2)20 gig hdd's, using Win98SE (yes I know the 98SE don't really recognise the full 512), using CWPA 9 with various plugins (Sound Forge, Waves, PSP), Sound Forge 5.0 for my editing, I'm mixing through a set of Event 20/20 speakers in a semi-balanced control room (as good as I can get it with what I have to work with at them moment), etc.. Also right now I'm out of work, so money is at a premium and sending out to a mastering house is totally out of the question and simply not feasable. There are no other -real- studios...at least none that are willing to share any info or experience with me as they would see me as a competitor, and only a couple of project studio's in my area who thus far seem to produce lower quality stuff then what I am doing (at least IMHO).
Ok...now for the meat...
The tracks have been layed down in 2 different recording sessions...I'm mixing, for this project a total of 4 songs in all. The songs, sound-wise are all pretty similar (except for one that I"m just dealing with)...pretty basic stuff really...a couple of guitars, bass, drums, vocals, backing vocals, some keys etc.. Most of the performances were good to very good, and I've hammered out -most- of the problem area's. I've also gone in and done all of my noise reductions, various mutes, comp'ed my vocals, most of the editing, most of the track effects, etc.. What I've been doing here is, as I add master effects, with the limited system I have to work with (the Duron 700), I find that I am having to "bounce" tracks and effects to make a little more CPU headroom. Basically I'm pretty much just mixing the effects into the tracks when I'm reasonably sure that I have the given track set the way I want it. It seems that I am doing a -progressive- mix down here...if I keep going like this, it will be pretty close to a stereo mix by the time I get this done anyways....lemme give you an example...
The one song I'm working on started with around 21 tracks...12 of these tracks being vocals alone as I was going for a "choir" like sound/effect on the chorus's. I only actually have 4 people singing with each doing 3 vocal tracks each. I have mixed each person's 3 tracks into one track for each person, added effects such as compression, reverb and stero panning, then re-mixed that track to eliminate the DX load on the CPU. I have also done the same thing with the rhythm guitar tracks as I ended up with 4 seperate tracks...going for a -very- full acoustic guitar sound (not to mention one track would cover the performance mistakes of another etc.)...added effects, panning, etc., and mixed them down to one basic track. There have been one or two places where I've had to do some heavy eq...not radical, but more then would normally or typically be desired, such as on the drums, to get things to stand out or "have their own space" in the mix. Much of this came from my own lack of experience when we started the recording...it sounded good when we layed the initial track down, but as the song developed, I was able to hear problems etc., and am doing my best at this point to fix these problems as it would just not be a good idea to try and rerecord the drums tracks this late in the project....as I said I am still learning. Anyways, I've gotten this song down from 21 tracks to around 8 tracks and will soon look at doing the final stereo mixdown. From there...at the moment at least...I'll start working with this song in comparison to the other songs to set over-all volume levels, eq'ing to get the songs a similar -vibe-, add any additional effects...which so far don't really seem to be all that nessacary as I have most of it already in the song(s), etc...then I will start running the mixdowns around to different stereo's, PC, walkmans, cars etc and play them for as many different people as I can and then go back and make the final tweaks...will probably end up doing this last stage repeated times I'm sure, until I'm happy with the end result.
Allot of things such as EQ and compression....I understand the basic principles and operation of these things, but am still learning the "nuances"...something I realize only time and experience will teach me. I read all I can get my hands or my computer on, I talk to people in forums such as this and in chat channels as well, but this is obviously no substitute for "real life experience" or someone who is an industry pro who can sit down with me and "show me the way". I would love to sit down with someone like Sir George Martin and a really large pot of coffee and just pick his brain for several hours! But alas I'm limited to just trying to "fudge" my way through most of this, doing trial and error until it "sounds" right to me...but then thats what it's all about isn't it...making it sound good. When I do the mastering, I do plan to have other people work and listen with me...a couple are musician's and "good listeners" and some are just plain music lovers, but I know enough to not trust my own final judgement here. I'm also sure that my own lack of experience has also created some "confidance issues"...as an artist, I want it to be as perfect as I can, but am also so afraid of -screwing up-.
I guess to make a long question even longer...based on what I've said here, does this sound like I'm on the right track? Are there any issues large or small that I've missed? I do have a somewhat unorthidox way of doing things to begin with and I also realize that without any of you actually "hearing" what I've recorded, that it would be hard for someone to make a judgement on the sound itself (I do plan to rectify this issue soon), but in reference to the basic way of the process that I've described, does it sound like I'm doing this right?
Again I apologize for being soooooo long winded...for those of you that have read any of my other posts, thats just the way I talk (yes...in real life too). I am very greatful for anyone that takes the time to read this and for your suggestions and collective wisdom...as always. I'm at a critical stage in this "project" and have already made arrangments to have this "Sampler CD" of my band go on some local store shelves (probably whats actually scaring me the most!). I'm sure over the next week as I get into the actual mastering of this project, that there will be many more questions to come and again I thank you in advance for you help!
Gentle Breezes to you all!
Jim Walczak
This project I'm working on is getting down to the wire so to speak. I sort of understand the basics of mastering, but have never done anything like this before, so I would sort of like a second (or third) opinion on what I"m doing here.
A couple of little pieces of background as FYI on my setup. I'm recording on a Duron 700 system with 512 megs RAM, (2)20 gig hdd's, using Win98SE (yes I know the 98SE don't really recognise the full 512), using CWPA 9 with various plugins (Sound Forge, Waves, PSP), Sound Forge 5.0 for my editing, I'm mixing through a set of Event 20/20 speakers in a semi-balanced control room (as good as I can get it with what I have to work with at them moment), etc.. Also right now I'm out of work, so money is at a premium and sending out to a mastering house is totally out of the question and simply not feasable. There are no other -real- studios...at least none that are willing to share any info or experience with me as they would see me as a competitor, and only a couple of project studio's in my area who thus far seem to produce lower quality stuff then what I am doing (at least IMHO).
Ok...now for the meat...
The tracks have been layed down in 2 different recording sessions...I'm mixing, for this project a total of 4 songs in all. The songs, sound-wise are all pretty similar (except for one that I"m just dealing with)...pretty basic stuff really...a couple of guitars, bass, drums, vocals, backing vocals, some keys etc.. Most of the performances were good to very good, and I've hammered out -most- of the problem area's. I've also gone in and done all of my noise reductions, various mutes, comp'ed my vocals, most of the editing, most of the track effects, etc.. What I've been doing here is, as I add master effects, with the limited system I have to work with (the Duron 700), I find that I am having to "bounce" tracks and effects to make a little more CPU headroom. Basically I'm pretty much just mixing the effects into the tracks when I'm reasonably sure that I have the given track set the way I want it. It seems that I am doing a -progressive- mix down here...if I keep going like this, it will be pretty close to a stereo mix by the time I get this done anyways....lemme give you an example...
The one song I'm working on started with around 21 tracks...12 of these tracks being vocals alone as I was going for a "choir" like sound/effect on the chorus's. I only actually have 4 people singing with each doing 3 vocal tracks each. I have mixed each person's 3 tracks into one track for each person, added effects such as compression, reverb and stero panning, then re-mixed that track to eliminate the DX load on the CPU. I have also done the same thing with the rhythm guitar tracks as I ended up with 4 seperate tracks...going for a -very- full acoustic guitar sound (not to mention one track would cover the performance mistakes of another etc.)...added effects, panning, etc., and mixed them down to one basic track. There have been one or two places where I've had to do some heavy eq...not radical, but more then would normally or typically be desired, such as on the drums, to get things to stand out or "have their own space" in the mix. Much of this came from my own lack of experience when we started the recording...it sounded good when we layed the initial track down, but as the song developed, I was able to hear problems etc., and am doing my best at this point to fix these problems as it would just not be a good idea to try and rerecord the drums tracks this late in the project....as I said I am still learning. Anyways, I've gotten this song down from 21 tracks to around 8 tracks and will soon look at doing the final stereo mixdown. From there...at the moment at least...I'll start working with this song in comparison to the other songs to set over-all volume levels, eq'ing to get the songs a similar -vibe-, add any additional effects...which so far don't really seem to be all that nessacary as I have most of it already in the song(s), etc...then I will start running the mixdowns around to different stereo's, PC, walkmans, cars etc and play them for as many different people as I can and then go back and make the final tweaks...will probably end up doing this last stage repeated times I'm sure, until I'm happy with the end result.
Allot of things such as EQ and compression....I understand the basic principles and operation of these things, but am still learning the "nuances"...something I realize only time and experience will teach me. I read all I can get my hands or my computer on, I talk to people in forums such as this and in chat channels as well, but this is obviously no substitute for "real life experience" or someone who is an industry pro who can sit down with me and "show me the way". I would love to sit down with someone like Sir George Martin and a really large pot of coffee and just pick his brain for several hours! But alas I'm limited to just trying to "fudge" my way through most of this, doing trial and error until it "sounds" right to me...but then thats what it's all about isn't it...making it sound good. When I do the mastering, I do plan to have other people work and listen with me...a couple are musician's and "good listeners" and some are just plain music lovers, but I know enough to not trust my own final judgement here. I'm also sure that my own lack of experience has also created some "confidance issues"...as an artist, I want it to be as perfect as I can, but am also so afraid of -screwing up-.
I guess to make a long question even longer...based on what I've said here, does this sound like I'm on the right track? Are there any issues large or small that I've missed? I do have a somewhat unorthidox way of doing things to begin with and I also realize that without any of you actually "hearing" what I've recorded, that it would be hard for someone to make a judgement on the sound itself (I do plan to rectify this issue soon), but in reference to the basic way of the process that I've described, does it sound like I'm doing this right?
Again I apologize for being soooooo long winded...for those of you that have read any of my other posts, thats just the way I talk (yes...in real life too). I am very greatful for anyone that takes the time to read this and for your suggestions and collective wisdom...as always. I'm at a critical stage in this "project" and have already made arrangments to have this "Sampler CD" of my band go on some local store shelves (probably whats actually scaring me the most!). I'm sure over the next week as I get into the actual mastering of this project, that there will be many more questions to come and again I thank you in advance for you help!
Gentle Breezes to you all!
Jim Walczak
