I need help with mastering setup!

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naico777

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Hi! i have a collection of correlated individual tracks, recorded separately in various formats and instruments. I want to create an automatic filter that i can run all the tracks through, as to normalize the volumes, eliminate background noise, eliminate frequency peaks, etc... just so when i put them together it even the sound.

Can you think of some filters that are universal? i have percussion tracks, guitar tracks, voice tracks, etc...

I hope someone can help me, thank you in advance!

Oh! I'm using soX to process the audio files.

help will be much appreciated!!

nico
 
Maybe there's more to this than I know and someone else can help, but I don't think there'll be any universal filter because all the tracks are different.

You could argue that a compressor/limiter will flatten out frequency peaks but used in that extreme way it'd probably sound pretty bad.

Background noise is a tricky one. You can remove noise during periods of, what should be, silence quite easily with a noise gate.
If there's noise during the performance then surgical eq is the way to do it but it's almost certainly going to have a pretty obvious effect on your audio.

Normalizing is easy, but probably not useful until all the other stuff is dealt with. Normalising works to the highest peak in the recording, so one air blast or mic tap immediately drops the average volume of your track compared to others.

IDK, maybe that's not very helpful.
 
naico777 said:
Hi! i have a collection of correlated individual tracks, recorded separately in various formats and instruments. I want to create an automatic filter that i can run all the tracks through, as to normalize the volumes, eliminate background noise, eliminate frequency peaks, etc... just so when i put them together it even the sound.

Can you think of some filters that are universal? i have percussion tracks, guitar tracks, voice tracks, etc...
Click to expand...
no. and that also isn't mastering.
 
no "universal" filters but the first thing to do for the background noise would be to get rid of any audio gaps or spaces such as between vocal lines,before & after guitar parts,cymbal crashes,etc.
as for the peaks-compressor,gates, & eq.

the best thing is to nip the background noise in the bud- high quality low noise cables,eliminate mic bleed whenever possible,turn off any fans/heaters/ac that may be running, & get guitars/mics etc. away from the comp monitor and turn off any flourescent lights that may be on especially if playing single coil or p90 pickup equipped guitars.if you're using condenser mics turn the gain input down.
also make sure you have clean well grounded power coming out of the wall sockets.
 
Actually the second paragraph wasn't all that good.

Assuming balanced circuits on mic cables, "high quality cables" are largely just a rip off. The difference between cheap and expensive cables is much more to do with the ease of handling and the longevity of the connectors.

By all means eliminate bleed--but that's bleed, not noise.

Condenser mics tend to have higher outputs than dynamic anyway so things are likely turned down to start with.

Some of the sources you mention may be causing noise but it's best to turn things down/off one at a time to try and identify the source of any problem rather than just randomly eliminate things. Be aware of the differences between room noise, electrical interference (fluorescents, thermostats etc.) and system noise (an over cranked cheap mic pre amp or mic).

To the OP, I'll join the chorus of others who say there's no way to automate this process. You need to use your ears and do each track separately as required. Make a pot of coffee, get a comfortable chair and just plug away at it. The processing won't take as long as you think.
 
if you have noisy cheap preamps or a cheap condenser w/out db reduction or roll off switches you can get hiss w/ the gain up high. gain-not to be confused w/ input level.
 
Turning down a cheap pre amp turns down the noise and the signal at the same time...raising the signal again "in the box" brings the noise back.

As for mics, you'd have to have an incredibly cheap condenser for self noise to be an issue. Even a real entry level cheapie like an MXL990 has an equivalent noise level of 20dB A weighted.
 
Seafroggys said:
Your second paragraph was good except for this. How would this solve anything?
Click to expand...

Forces the source closer to the mic, reducing ambient noise compared to the source.
Doesn't matter what kind of mic you're using though.
 
Anybody serious about recording their vocals should have a mic surgically implanted, thereby eliminating any risk of room noise. It might be necessary to temporarily stop the heart when recording to avoid blood vessel noise but that's a small price to pay for noise free vocal tracks!
 
I don't know if you're just having fun or breaking out the sarcasm, but I'm one of the unfortunates who has to get by in a noisy environment.
Mic proximity and position is lesson no.1 when you can't do anything to directly sort the noise.

Heck, half of the record in my sig was recorded with an oil boiler burning away at about 8'. No joke.
Just record the intros and outros when the thermostat kicks it off. ;)
 
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