Goodbye big drums Hello loud guitars.

  • Thread starter Thread starter xfinsterx
  • Start date Start date
X

xfinsterx

New member
ok, ill get the mix dandy, it sounds great.
Then ill go and try to get a decent volume overall, by using "software mastering plugs" and (fizzle)

All the Boom and BaP from the dynamics of the drums is gone leaving me with big guitars and cropped drums.

I want bigger volume on these tracks.
If i choose not to try and get the Big volume, my drum dynamics stay intact and they still explode if they need to.
But customers want Big volume!!

My question>>>>>

"Can i get the best of both worlds?"

If i can......how?

P.s. screw big volume! just turn your stereo up you sissy!
 
The easy way out would be to send it to a mastering house. Other than that, you will have to think ahead and use more compression in the mix (like on a drum buss) to get the dynamics down before you try to master it. If you tame the dynamics on individual instruments (or groups of them) while your mixing, the mix will be louder in the first place and won't need enough limiting to ruin it.
 
Farview said:
The easy way out would be to send it to a mastering house.
Click to expand...

Meh, id rather get my mixes good enough, that i dont have to use a mastering house.

Thanx for the tip, that makes total sence.
 
xfinsterx said:
Meh, id rather get my mixes good enough, that i dont have to use a mastering house.
Click to expand...

Then learn how to mix / master properly. Read Bob Katz' book if you haven't already. Intern or take on a mentor. Practice. This shit takes time and work, my friend. No free rides . . . or magic plugins to do the job for you. :D
 
Outlaws said:
What a fucking cop-out.
Click to expand...

Hows it a cop out to want to get better at mixing?

I feel like im getting better everyday!

Why are you so stupid? :confused:
 
Last edited:
chessrock said:
Then learn how to mix / master properly. Read Bob Katz' book if you haven't already. Intern or take on a mentor. Practice. This shit takes time and work, my friend. No free rides . . . or magic plugins to do the job for you. :D
Click to expand...

Bob Katz huh? Thanx chess ill do that.
And yeah the plug-in thing....I got no prob with plug ins.
Never once thought that it was gonna polish some bad recording i had done.

I know where the problems start.
Sometimes i just dont know the correct method.
Thats why im on these boards in the first place.
 
Last edited:
xfinsterx said:
Hows it a cop out to want to get better at mixing?

I feel like im getting better everyday!

Why are you so stupid? :confused:
Click to expand...

Mastering is still an essential part of professional sounding audio. No matter how good your mix is a true mastering engineer will be able to find a way to add that extra 5% polish.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
Mastering is still an essential part of professional sounding audio. No matter how good your mix is a true mastering engineer will be able to find a way to add that extra 5% polish.
Click to expand...

Yeah i know youre right cloneboy.....

I suppose id just like to be able to learn to do it myself(mastering)
Just gets frustrating when i dont know what the hell im doin sometimes.
But im going to get it.

Just gotta read and practice.

Id like to get an internship from a local studio engineer with lots of experience.
But i havent found any takers yet.

All in time.
 
Again, this is called "home recording"

Everyone who's advice consists of paying a professional should really take some quiet time and figure out why you are here. Advice is good, but useful advice is always more helpful

Peace, I'm out
 
xfinsterx said:
Just gotta read and practice.

Id like to get an internship from a local studio engineer with lots of experience.
But i havent found any takers yet.

All in time.
Click to expand...

that's the idea
 
jonhall5446 said:
Again, this is called "home recording"

Everyone who's advice consists of paying a professional should really take some quiet time and figure out why you are here. Advice is good, but useful advice is always more helpful

Peace, I'm out
Click to expand...


Well . . . using that same train of logic . . .

One could also ask why someone would come to a home recording board and use a phrase like: "But customers want Big volume!!"

A statement like that implies that he's recording something for possible distribution of some sort -- that there are going to be people paying money for his finished product, etc.

So basically, the advice merely fits the question. Someone wants to know if they can get "big volume" and still preserve the dynamic element for those purchasing his music. Well, the answer is "No." :D But there are professionals who are qualified for doing just that thing, and they are called "Mastering Engineers."

A very fitting and straight-forward answer to a simple question.
 
jonhall5446 said:
Again, this is called "home recording"
Everyone who's advice consists of paying a professional should really take some quiet time and figure out why you are here. Advice is good, but useful advice is always more helpful
Click to expand...

This is true, but this is not really the home "mastering" forum. If this was a forum on building custom hot rods, it would not be inapropriate to make a post that suggested using a guy in Arizona that custom welds beautiful tail pipes, instead of trying to weld your own..

I think its totally cool if some one wants to learn about mastering and experiment and even master their own commercial releases. But when some one is wondering why their material does not stand up to commercial releases, mastering can often be a big part of that.

A good mastering engineer can really help a mix and also help provide you valuable feed back on your work. I have mixed thousands of tracks for commercial release and I still send as much stuff as I can out to mastering. Andy Wallace, Steve Albini, Tom Lord Alge, Jack Joseph Puig all send their mixes out to mastering.

A skilled outside ear, fine tuning your stuff in a diffferent and well tuned room can be really valuable.
 
If you want volume -- you get it mastered. Home mastering is definitely a copout -- it's saying, "I don't want to spend money to get my music to sound good." The fact remains that having a mastering engineer will mean your mix will translate better on all sound sources and will be loud enough to compete with modern music. End of story.
 
Dexter411 said:
Home mastering is definitely a copout
Click to expand...

I am not going to argue for or against that because home recording is a budget thing for the most part.

But when there are customers as was stated by the initial post, then the phrase "good enough" is a cop-out.
 
Dexter411 said:
If you want volume -- you get it mastered. Home mastering is definitely a copout -- it's saying, "I don't want to spend money to get my music to sound good." The fact remains that having a mastering engineer will mean your mix will translate better on all sound sources and will be loud enough to compete with modern music. End of story.
Click to expand...

I have a good attitude towards learning new things about my buisness.
I could also see myself doing a really great job at mastering in the future.
Im not trying to master anything important right now just my solo stuff man.
When we offer mastering here at my studio we just outsource it to a person i trust.

As for my personal recordings...
Id rather get my mixes down so good good good, that way even if i screw up my mastering job on it (wich i usually do). My mix still sounds pretty damned good. Its good to use my recording to practice on. Nothing wrong with that.

"But customers want big volume".
They do. But its not gonna be me that gets them at a constant -0.1.
I was fishin for tips so i could learn more about how the ME's that frequent this site do it.


Dexter411 said:
Home mastering is definitely a copout --
Click to expand...

What if in say 3-5 years I got really good at it and bought all the correct equipment and tuned my room just so... in
(gasp) my own home though?! :eek:
Not such an unthinkable concept.
It's going to happen.
I study every day. I save up my $$ everyday.
With that being said, how would I be copping out?:confused:
Youre opinion seems relevant to a certain degree.
But overall i think you generalised it too much.
A home studio CAN do a good job at mastering IMO.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top