Am I even using the right software?

  • Thread starter Thread starter get2sammyb
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get2sammyb

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I usually record in Adobe Audition. I like the interface and I like what things it can do. I am just getting into mastering now, so should I be using Adobe Audtion? Or should I be switching to software such as Wavelab?

I am really confused.
 
Never used Adobe Audition, but ive heard its real good. Not sure what its like for mastering though. All you need in a mastering programme is good and easy editing facilities, and if it can use VST and DIRECT-X plug-ins then your jamming. A few analysers is always good like the frequency anaysis or phase analysis or RMS average analysis etc. Wavelab is realy good for mastering depending on what plug-ins you have. Waves plug-ins are really good but expensive. You can get loads of free public domain plug-ins just by searching. Search this forum for free plug-ins adn you should get a decent list.
 
If I bought Wavelab, would I be able to import my raw recordings from Adobe?
 
Yeah of course. Its just wave files (.wav) You can keep them in 24 bit if you are recording in 24bit and then just import them to wavelab by going to "file" "open wave". That simple.
 
I downloaded the WaveLab demo and have found a tutorial for it. I am wondering if I should be editing individual tracks (like, say just the vocal tracks), or if I should editing the overall "mixed" song.

Any pointers guys - I really appreciate your help and patience with me.
 
You should have done all your deiting at while at the mixing stage. One hapy with your mix, bounce it to a stereo wave and then import it into Wavelab to master it.
Good luck with coming to terms with mastering, its a tricky tricky game. Its all about training your ears to hear certain frequencies and know what sounds good.
 
Well I doubt I will ever do a good job of it... But I may aswell give it a go, eh?
 
one nice thing to do is to import a well mixed/mastered song into your mastering project and check the feq balance with a spectrometer. you can also check the volume there too.

I'm pretty new to mastering, but i've sent my stuff to my mastering buddies, and they got a little upset that i'm getting good at it--less business for them... heh.

really learn to use multiband compression, regular compression, and EQ.
 
As soneone who has Audition in his digital trickbag and uses it for multitrack editing rather often, I can tell you that Audition is fine for mastering, with one caveat. I'll get to that caveat in a minute but first...

You may have noticed that Audition has two different screens, the "Multitrack" screen and the "Edit" screen, switchable via the icon in the top left of the screen. If you wanted to master in Audition, you'd take your multitrack project and mix it down to a stereo WAV file via the Mixdown selection fronm the Multitrack screen's menu. Then switch over to the edit screen to load that stereo mixdown and do your mastering work from there.

The caveat to using audition is that when it comes to 3rd-party plugins it only accepts DirectX format. If you have VST format plugi-ins you want to use, you have to have a VST-DirectX wrapper (available on the internet) to use the VST plugins. But if you have that you're good to go.

That said, I personally do not use Audition for the mastering process. I mush prefer to do it in Sound Forge, though admittedly for some doubiously visceral reasons. First is that I have been using SF ever since version 2 and I am just used to using it (like a carpenter that is still using his 30 hr old hammer.) Second, I trust the sound of Sound Forge. I know that ut doesn't make sense - not even to me - but I have done jobs in SF and in other editors and for reasons I just can't rightly explain, I get better sounding results our of SF. Third, I prefer SF to Audition for mixdown editing because SF allows be to have multiple instances of a file (or multiple files) open simultaneously. Audition gives you just the one file at a time. The multiple files open is a hand feature when you want to try a couple of different mastering techniques and A/B them, or if you want to A/B your master with another previous master to check for continuity of sound.

HTH,

G.
 
getsammyb - from the tone of your posts you might want to try out the new Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 10 - I've been using the ACLs for a few years now and it's real easy to throw together a quick DIY master in there (not talking about a master worthy of repro - I don't do that). ACL has wizards for any repair, EQ, dynamics balancing you may need to perform on your mix to give you a hand in case you don't happen to have Massive or Blue Bear leanin over your shoulder givin you tips.

I'm pretty pleased with ACL10 (just got it in the mail this weekend) and I leave CD Architect, Audition 1.5, Sonar4, Soundforge in the drawer for the quick repair, balancing and CD writing features ACL has:
http://site.magix.net/index.php?id=21409&no_cache=1 ($39US)

I'm not dissin the other stuff but I think you will appreciate honing your skills on something 1/10 the price of Wavelab...unless you're mastering something for pro distribution - it didn't sound like you were. :)
 
kylen said:
getsammyb - from the tone of your posts you might want to try out the new Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 10 - I've been using the ACLs for a few years now and it's real easy to throw together a quick DIY master in there (not talking about a master worthy of repro - I don't do that). ACL has wizards for any repair, EQ, dynamics balancing you may need to perform on your mix to give you a hand in case you don't happen to have Massive or Blue Bear leanin over your shoulder givin you tips.

I'm pretty pleased with ACL10 (just got it in the mail this weekend) and I leave CD Architect, Audition 1.5, Sonar4, Soundforge in the drawer for the quick repair, balancing and CD writing features ACL has:
http://site.magix.net/index.php?id=21409&no_cache=1 ($39US)

I'm not dissin the other stuff but I think you will appreciate honing your skills on something 1/10 the price of Wavelab...unless you're mastering something for pro distribution - it didn't sound like you were. :)
Click to expand...

No I am not. Cheers for the advice guys, appreciated.
 
I can tell you that this magix company dont mess around they write great software. Have a great reputation. (meanwhile I say this and thier site is down heheeh. hey the site doesnt master audio hehe) www.magix.com

FW
 
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