ease of use mastering software

  • Thread starter Thread starter floppsybunny
  • Start date Start date
F

floppsybunny

New member
hi i am wondering about what the best software specifically for mastering would be in terms of ease-of-use and also of comprehensive wave manipulation, if that is possible - i would like to be able to compare the waves of my mixeddown tracks with those of records i already like, etc. and also to be able to make two differently mixed songs (volume, dynamics) sound similiar enough to go on the same record, and i would like to be able to do all of this without spending a month learning how to do it...

any suggestions? (please not sony cd architect...)
 
Samplitude pro? It does everything I need (at least the digital part).
 
massive - what part of the samplitude software suite is the program i would need for mastering? is it available as a module? i would check it out if it was...
 
We may have a misunderstanding here...

You have some mixes - Specifically, what do you need to do to them?
 
i have some stereo mixes of songs that i am very happy with as far as dynamics, reverb and eq but the song sounds terrible coming out of conventional stereo speakers, the problem i think is there are way too many mid-range frequencies building up and it skews everything (especially anything reverb-ed) and makes the whole mix sound out of control...

i would like to run these mixes through a program where i can look at them as a waveform and SEE if it is a buildup of mid-range frequencies or not and compare it to how some well-produced records looks as waves and maybe even this kind of program would be able to diagnose these kinds of eq buildups and automatically reduce some frequencies or at least give you an idea of where certain things might interfere...
 
I have a Steinberg ME Spectrograph plugin that lets you see in matters of a red to green color scale the levels of different frequencies. I put at the very end and just keep it up as I do my eqing as a reference other than my ears.
 
I stay clear of spectographs etc. as I think it is best to use your ears. If you make a bad judgement on an EQ issue you will notice it some time later and then you will learn from it.
Mastering is about training the ears, to hear and know what are good and bad frequencies in my opinion. Using a graph wont really teach you much because every song need different EQ at mastering.
 
Absolutely - Judging a mix with graphs and charts *might* in rare cases point out a thing or two, but I would submit that the problem here lies in the monitoring.
 
I might also submit that if the problem is a build-up on mids when adding tracks together, the best place to fix that might be in the multi-tracker before you mix it all down for mastering. In other words, EQ (or whatever process you need) the individual tracks so they fit together better in the mixdown instead of force-fitting them into the mix and then trying to shape the whole mess on the pre-master.

If you still need to do a little sweetening or punching up or whatever to the mixdown, that's fine. But trying to fix the mix in the pre-master is kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have left.

G.
 
Massive Master said:
Absolutely - Judging a mix with graphs and charts *might* in rare cases point out a thing or two, but I would submit that the problem here lies in the monitoring.
Click to expand...

For the most part, I would totally agree with that -- one "rare case" though where it has been helpful to me -- when there's one problem frequency on the track that is just sticking way out -- it makes it quicker to put up a graph and see that it is at 330 Hz instead of sweeping between 200 and 500 looking for it. Yah, if my ears were better..... oh well. <grin>

Voxengo.com has a cool free plugin that show the audio spectrum - I think its called Span.

-lee-
 
laptoppop said:
For the most part, I would totally agree with that -- one "rare case" though where it has been helpful to me -- when there's one problem frequency on the track that is just sticking way out -- it makes it quicker to put up a graph and see that it is at 330 Hz instead of sweeping between 200 and 500 looking for it. Yah, if my ears were better..... oh well. <grin>

Voxengo.com has a cool free plugin that show the audio spectrum - I think its called Span.

-lee-
Click to expand...

Sometimes I use Voxengo Span to check out the frequencies between two similar tracks if there seems to be congestion in a certain area (i.e. two guitar tracks) This helps out in deciding where to cut a frequency in one of the tracks to free up room for the other. When solo'd the track with the cut frequency may not sound as big and full, but it helps to make room for the other.
Hopefully the day will come when my ears will be good enough to figure it out without Span.
 
anyone know of a freeware program like that for mac???
-thankx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top