How do you master a final project so that it sound close to industry C.D.s

[the maestro]

I finished laying all my tracks but I want the final C.D. to sound at least close to what the real artists C.d.s sound like. How can I do this?

 

[chadsxe]

OHhh boy.....

Well one thing I can tell you for sure is that it takes years and years of practice, a balanced room, and some great equipment. First thing you should do is read then read some more and oh yeah read even more.

 

[Massive Master]

How do you master a final project so that it sound close to industry C.D.s

Every step - the arrangement, the talent, the core sounds of the instruments - All of that has to be in place from the start for the mastering to mean anything.

Now if by "industry CD's" you mean "loud" - That's not too hard with the right gear and the right ears. It might not sound good, but with a lot of people, sheer volume is all that matters (which is really, really sad).

 

[apl]

Spend lots of money on a pro studio to rerecord everything with a pro engineer and producer and then pay a pro to master it.

 

[apl]

I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice. I echo chadsxe.

 

[d(-_-)b-Phones]

Someone could say somthing like this.... "Try a program called T-Racks Mastering Tools, Its not going to sould mainstream, but then again i doubt your mainstream. its a decent tool for newbs."

 

[ryanlikestorock]

If you're just looking to get your recording level up, you're looking for a limiter. Basically, it'll increase the average volume while "levelling" the peaks so you don't clip the signal. A compressor with a high ratio is a limiter.

T-Racks is a really decent program for $300. For about $1000, you can get the UAD-1 card with a few of their mastering tools.

 

[Daenn]

I have wavelab and all the waves gold bundle plugins, but I am too stupid to use them properly. I can NEVER get the volume up properly (not talking super loud, but having to turn up my volume several notches to listen to my stuff is annoying). So I use T-Racks. It can sound decent if you play with it a bit.

 

[peopleperson]

Im not a huge fan of T Racks. The Waves stuff rules however. As with anything when mixing, use it very sparingly, particularly verbs and compression.

 

[junplugged]

ain't that the $64,000 question!