Here is a short clip of a song I'm working on in Cubase.. It is a kind of doomy rock metal song, and I'm going for a pretty "in your face" mix. It is far from complete - cuts to just one guitar at the end.. and no vocals yet. This clip does not have any mastering applied but is a representation of the material I'm working with. I mixed it down from a 32 bit session to 16 bit using Cubase's UV22HR dithering, then I believe I applied some limiting afterwards before converting it to mp3. I realize now that this was a mistake (dither should always be done LAST.)
I am working largely with samples (drums, bass) as well as vsti synths, and guitars are recorded clean and processed real-time with NI Guitar Rig 2. I have noticed that when I apply compression to my final mix or loudness maximizing that the mix starts to have some unpleasant distortion to it. I have been looking into ways to eliminate this problem, and suspected it is mostly a result of the way the guitars were processed, so I worked on their tone as much as possible.. and now I'm looking into other avenues, and this is why my attention has come to 32 bit mixing and use of dither.
I originally started my session as 16 bit and I just need to have this confirmed for me.. Is there any real benefit to raising it to 32-bit float, mixing down as a 32 bit file, mastering it then applying dithering as the very last step - as opposed to keeping it 16 bit, mixing down and mastering? Everywhere I read about dither, it says that it eliminates distortion and replaces it with hiss.. But does this actually apply as much to loud recordings as it does to low level passages?
A couple of side questions: A lot of plugins seem to have this "force 32-bit samples" checkbox. When is this best applied? When mixing in 32 bit, to make sure it is really processing at that depth as well?
Also: I use Izotope Ozone 3.. Anyone who is familiar with it, as well as MegabitMax Ultra dithering.. is it the same thing as Ozone's Mbit+ Ultra dithering, or did izotope just try to cash in on the name.. being that megabit max has won a lot of "sound tests" by a huge margin..
I know I'm all over the board here, but anyway just listen to the mix and see if you can spot anything you think might help me achieve a cleaner mix/master without sacrificing the heaviness.. Remember I use Guitar Rig 2 for the guitars, (processed in hi-res mode). But I can change the settings at any time to achieve a different sound. I personally am happy with the tone of the guitars by themselves, but in the mix I think they could stand to be a bit more pleasant if you know what I mean? They also have some compression applied.
Thanks everyone.
I am working largely with samples (drums, bass) as well as vsti synths, and guitars are recorded clean and processed real-time with NI Guitar Rig 2. I have noticed that when I apply compression to my final mix or loudness maximizing that the mix starts to have some unpleasant distortion to it. I have been looking into ways to eliminate this problem, and suspected it is mostly a result of the way the guitars were processed, so I worked on their tone as much as possible.. and now I'm looking into other avenues, and this is why my attention has come to 32 bit mixing and use of dither.
I originally started my session as 16 bit and I just need to have this confirmed for me.. Is there any real benefit to raising it to 32-bit float, mixing down as a 32 bit file, mastering it then applying dithering as the very last step - as opposed to keeping it 16 bit, mixing down and mastering? Everywhere I read about dither, it says that it eliminates distortion and replaces it with hiss.. But does this actually apply as much to loud recordings as it does to low level passages?
A couple of side questions: A lot of plugins seem to have this "force 32-bit samples" checkbox. When is this best applied? When mixing in 32 bit, to make sure it is really processing at that depth as well?
Also: I use Izotope Ozone 3.. Anyone who is familiar with it, as well as MegabitMax Ultra dithering.. is it the same thing as Ozone's Mbit+ Ultra dithering, or did izotope just try to cash in on the name.. being that megabit max has won a lot of "sound tests" by a huge margin..
I know I'm all over the board here, but anyway just listen to the mix and see if you can spot anything you think might help me achieve a cleaner mix/master without sacrificing the heaviness.. Remember I use Guitar Rig 2 for the guitars, (processed in hi-res mode). But I can change the settings at any time to achieve a different sound. I personally am happy with the tone of the guitars by themselves, but in the mix I think they could stand to be a bit more pleasant if you know what I mean? They also have some compression applied.
Thanks everyone.
