H-E-L-P!! on mastering devices like TC Electronic Finalizer and DBX Quantum needed :)

[Willow Rosenberg]

Hi I am struggling a lot right now to get decent masters out of my mixes, I think my mixes are just fine (I do electronic dance music, aka techno and some other stuff on the side) but I'm having a tough time getting my masters the way I want them to sound -- meaning loud and crisp enough, even with demo software I've tried like T-RackS which is supposed to be good.

I've heard of recent all-in-one mastering devices which, while not to replace a good mastering engineer, are supposed to make the job a whole lot easier. What's the deal on this, has anyone used one, and if so, which one do you recommend? I've heard of the Finalizer from TC Electronic and the Quantum from DBX... are there any others I should know about? Please let me know, I'd appreciate your thoughts on this topic so much.

H-E-L-P !!! Thanks a lot.

 

[Recording Engineer]

Just as you said, as long as it doesn't replace a mastering engineer. Those boxes are for stuff as such as demos from the home studio (anything that won't be mass duplicated and/or available from the shelf to the public). I hear they work wonders if used properly. Remember... Too much of a good thing usually results as a bad thing.

 

[junior]

Would a unit like the TC finalizer be helpful or harmful if used for final mixdown before going to the mastering engineer?

 

[Fishmed]

*** HARMFUL ***

You should never add anything to the overall mix during your mixdown. Your mix should only be the final track levels and effects for individual tracks. If something does not sound right in the mix, you need to identify the track that is not right and fix it... whether it is EQ, compression, etc.

Once you have your final mixdown, it is the process of mastering where the overall mix is given EQ, compression, etc.

*** Remember, adding processing to a final mix is easier than removing it.

 

[Recording Engineer]

Listen to what Fishmed said! It's OK to mess around to the final mix yourself, just make sure you have the mix you're sending off for mastering already printed, burned, or stored.

 

[Jon X]

I had several tracks that sounded good, most of them good enough to be mass produced and the general listening public wouldn't notice any quality issues, but a few minor problems were screwing me up. I took them to a local studio for the mastering engineer to listen to, he made some small changes that made all the difference. Those guys do this for a living, and no box or software is going to get you that experience. I've used the T-Racks software, and other plugins for SoundForge to get decent results. The ear and experience of the mastering engineer got me better results in less than 3 hours. He knew what to listen for, and knew exactly what to change when he heard a problem. On the other hand, I've also seen studio guys that run all the tracks through a few processors with some presets while they kick their feet up and call that mastering. That you can come close to and in some cases improve upon with software in my opinion. Check out what a studio does in terms of mastering before paying to have anything done, and if possible find somewhere close where you can go and sit with the mastering engineer while he works on your tracks. I even learned how to improve my recording techniques and mixes from just talking to the guy.

I'm not at all saying either of these expensive boxes wouldn't help out, as they probably would. I just think that having something professionally mastered, and being there as it happens, is worth it at least once. After that you will have an idea what they did, and if it's possible to do the same thing on your own. I'm going to try it again myself next time I record enough tracks, applying what I learned, and seeing if I can get the same quality results without any professional mastering.