How do I master, can I do it at home, I hate computers!

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BennyBob

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Okay....I record using a Fostex D-160 16 track hard disk recorder, a Korg 168RC, Studio Quad FX Processor, Yamaha 215 Graphic EQ...a DBX DDP compressor, and going straight to a CD Burner...how do I "master" that, and what exactly is "mastering"? I mean, I mix the tracks and record them on the CD, does that mean I mastered it, or are there some tools or tricks to "mastering"? I hate computer, and don't use one in my set up, so I can't use any "mastering" software. Just want a few pointers on "mastering" my music....and if it is possible to do in my home studio with maybe a few more pieces of gear or some tricks that I don't know about.
Thanks a bunch,
Ben
 
Well...

Technically, mastering is preparing a group of songs for CD replication. It involves a little more then just arranging the order and fixing little eq and volume things between songs.

Most duplication houses want a PQ Timesheet of the mastered disk you send them. If you don't supply one, they will charge you for doing so. You run the risk of the engineer "mastering" your CD in this case. I suppose you could specifically request that they don't, but you may never know that they did.....

If you haven't sat in on professional mastering sessions, then you may want to pay to have it done at least once so you can see the many steps involved. You may find that it is both a boring, and nerve racking process. There is a creative part too, and that is fun, sort of, if you know what you are doing.

There are plenty of threads on this BBS about mastering. Try a search and you can read a bunch of stuff I have already said on the subject, as well as many others (many others meaning other people who have talked about mastering ....)

Oh. The only way you can make a PQ timesheet is to have the stuff on a computer. So really, you can't do mastering without a computer....sorry....

Ed
 
Mastering

Can I just have all my songs put into the computer once they are mastered and make one of those time sheets or whatever you call it from a simple CD burning program?
 
I suppose you could...

If the burning application has the option to print one, it would supply the neccessary information to a printable .txt file.

You will of course need a soundcard with digital I/O on it to digitally transfer the tracks to the sound card. I would not recommend trying it through software the "rips" the audio CD to the hard drive. Me, and many others have heard artifacts on the resulting .wav file from doing so.

Looking at the equipment you plan to use for "mastering" your mixes, I think you would do much much better with some high end plug in's. In fact, I know you would do much better with hi end plug in's. But, if that is route you want to go, then I am sure that if you don't do anything too crazy with those components, it will sound okay.

Good luck.

Ed
 
Technically Benny you can. If you rip your songs back from the CD into wav files, I'll master it for you for free, and give you pointers on what to use and how to do it if you'd like.
 
This is ridiculous. 13 years later I'd hope that bennybob has figured it out by now.
 
I guess Ken Pedeson is trying to drum up some business ... :listeningmusic: and didn't notice the age of the post.
 
This is a very touchy subject, I say you can but you can't. You can get a program like Izotope Ozone 5 and it will "master" it. But if you expect your sound to be huge like the albums you buy, forget it. The guys that do this stuff for a living have more money wrapped up in outboard gear than most people do their cars, and houses in some cases lol. My suggestion is to experiment with what you got, if you are a happy camper than great, but if you still feel it lacks, that's because you don't have a 5000 dollar Manley Variable Mu sitting in a rack in your isolated, super treated mastering room. Do alittle searching and find someone who does mastering for a living and get it done. That's what I do and a lot of my engineer buddies do as well. You can find guys who do have the gear that will normally do it for next to nothing, I have a pretty famous producer buddy that I send my stuff to and he does my mastering for 5 bucks per minute of audio. Not bad.
 
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