Hello, I am looking for some serious help in the mastering area.

[nonreversebird]

Ive been looking at this site for a little while and thought I would see if some people could help me as well as myself helping others. I have been recording on PCs since Dos and Window 3.1 with the very first version of midisoft if that tells you anything. I have a rig in my sig down there and other gear and softwhere I use. I have recently finished 16 songs which I wish to be the very best they can. I now know what I lack most of all is "Mastering". I have read pretty much once you are happy with your final mix there are ways to get that increase in gain minus clipping and from what I can hear a more spacial final mix. That is what I feel my mixes lack that I cant get without clipping and loss of various levels of instruments in the songs. I have been reading about gear like TC Electronics Finalizers. Is this what I need? I was wondering if some who believe they know what I might need to get this if they would listen to the 4 songs I have posted at the website in my sig.
Thanks, hope I can get some help.

 

[Massive Master]

Hard to tell the sound with the "slushies" of the MP3 encoding...

I know I'm a little biased, but IMO, you're best served by having your mixes mastered by... a mastering engineer... Or at least someone who isn't familiar with your mixes - Objectivity is important at the mastering stage (I don't even master my own mixes).

It's a process - not a box. It doesn't come in a bottle. Volume is only one part of the equation - A Finalzer (shudder) or some plugs can get you "loud" (A monkey with an L2 can get you loud). Getting it loud and good can be (and normally is) a completely different story.

 

[nonreversebird]

Thanks for listening

Yea mp3s only seem to really sound good for a "Mastered" product. I know my music is definitely not for everyone and I hope it wasnt too offensive in the event it was. As I said on that site I wrote the music for ME not others really. Although I already have people likeing my new stuff I just think there are just a few very minor things that can be done to give my mix more dimension and make it good enough to mass produce. Thanks VERY much for listening though. Maybe I will catch something you ACCIDENTELY say about mastering that will help me.

 

[masteringhouse]

A Finalizer can help in certain areas, but it isn't an end-all, nor is it the best for each function that it provides. It's a swiss army knife that can be used to get decent results if not overused and the mix is good to begin with.

To hear a more "spacial mix" first fix the mix. The MP3s sound a bit muddy in the lower mids, clean these up especially between the guitars and bass tracks. Try adding a few different types of delays to spread things out a bit more.

The finalizer has M/S processing to help widen the image along with a stereo adjustment processor, but this tends to weaken a mix like all other "tricks" that do a similar thing.

As far as volume, a good well-balanced EQ is also the best way to start, then various amounts of compression and limiting can be used to lower transients and the like which will then allow you to increase the overall level without going over the dreaded 0dBFS (actually you should be lower than this, but that's another thread).

Again the Finalizer has a "normalization" tool that's actually a limiter, along with multi-band compression and limiting, and an EQ.

In summary the Finalizer can be used, but are you going to get the results that you would with a dedicated EQ, compressor, limiter, etc. that costs over $3k? No.

If you are not going to be mastering for a living, does it even make sense to drop more than than the cost of an average mastering session to spend on gear that you have little experience with? Wouldn't this money be better spent on upgrading your recording gear?