after the mix;Pro-tools Le

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Ms.Virgina Reed

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ok so here's the deal.....Just got done recording 6 songs for friends band....The mix is done and sounds great...what do i do now? i mean ya i can burn it in Itunes and give them a copy of it but, i want it to be put on some kind of tape medium..What do you think? obviously 2" Analog tape would be what i would do if i could but i can't...I'm on a tight budget to finish this...and just need some feedback...
 
I use ProTools and here's the route I take:

1. "Bounce" the mix to disk as a 24 bit, stereo interleaved file...

2. Create a new session. Name it something like [songtitle]-Master.pts

3. Import the wav file that you created in step 1 into this session.

4. "Master" this song with whatever mastering tools you have available...

5. When you are pleased with the sound, volume level..etc. Bounce it to disk
again, but this time, bounce it as a 16 bit, stereo interleaved file.

6. Repeat this process for every song you have...

7. Burn the wav files you just made in step 6 to CD, as an audio CD, not a 'file CD'.



Hope this helps..
 
Ms.Virgina Reed said:
ok so here's the deal.....Just got done recording 6 songs for friends band....The mix is done and sounds great...what do i do now? i mean ya i can burn it in Itunes and give them a copy of it but, i want it to be put on some kind of tape medium..What do you think? obviously 2" Analog tape would be what i would do if i could but i can't...I'm on a tight budget to finish this...and just need some feedback...
Click to expand...

why do you want to give them a tape?
hook up a tape player to one of your interface's outputs. press record on the tape player and press play in PT!
 
You sound confused about why people like to use tape. Normally its used for tracking to get that tape compression analog sound, which is either then run into Pro Tools, or the mix is done on tape. Obviously you don't go to the store and buy albums on ADATs or 2-inch, so just burn it to CD like everyone else does. Going from PT to tape isn't going to make your mix better or have better quality than going to CD.
 
Thank you guys..I know that what i wrote was kinda hard to understand, basically Zetajazz44 explained to me what i needed to know(thank you very much). I'm still somewhat new to the whole process after the mix, i went thru a 1 year course at citrus college and they never touched the surface when it came to mastering so it's still kinda un-clear to me what it is i have to do during the mastering stage other than make the mix "louder"...I have tons of projects coming up with local acts and some pretty big names, how i get all these i'm really not sure, i guess i learned how to schmooze at that school more than i learned the art of recording but, i am still confident on the sounds i am able to capture....well off to Namm...
 
One final note for your mastering... get your final master track to be as close to 0db as possible... a brickwall compression setting is pretty good... that will give you commercial radio ready volume from your cd!... hope that helps ya... even though you didn't ask :)
 
I really don't agree with that last advice at all. You have to be very careful when you push mixes up to that kind of level. It has to be done right or you will truly turn a great sounding mix into a "suck" mix.

If it sounds great to you now, then burn it to CD as is. Or skim off some of the peaks with a good brickwall limiter in order to raise the overall volume. But don't just go slamming the whole thing up to "0".
 
I agree with Sonic Albert. I would work on trying to enhance the music, as opposed to just trying to pump every last 1/10 dB out of it. The majority of people here aren't going to need to push the levels that high, (and if you do need to, get someone who has the proper gear and more importantly, the proper experience) and IMO it would be better to spend more time on enhancing the music, and less time worrying about levels.
 
Ms.Virgina Reed said:
ok so here's the deal.....Just got done recording 6 songs for friends band....The mix is done and sounds great...what do i do now? i mean ya i can burn it in Itunes and give them a copy of it but, i want it to be put on some kind of tape medium..What do you think? obviously 2" Analog tape would be what i would do if i could but i can't...I'm on a tight budget to finish this...and just need some feedback...
Click to expand...
I only gave her a tip pertaining to what she was asking about... like she said she was only going to burn it to iTunes or put it to tape.. i have no comment on putting it to tape so my suggestion was to take her mix that " is done and sounds great"... and along with Zetas input on it and to bring the level to radio ready volumes. That's It!
 
Pro Tooler said:
...and to bring the level to radio ready volumes. That's It!
Click to expand...

sigh...this hurts my eyes (and ears) that this is still something people are trying so hard to accomplish.
 
If the songs are to be sold or distributed for promotion, I would send the songs out to get mastered by a mastering house. They'll give you a professional sounding finished product no DIY job can touch (unless you have the gear, experience, and ears they do ;) ). If it's just for them, or to be given out to friends etc, I really wouldn't bother with the tape. Any solution that will improve the sound will not be worth the time and money involved and there's lots of opportunity to make the final outcome WORSE than what you started with.
 
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