individual track or overall master mastering

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ColdToTheTouch

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until i can save up enough cashola to go to berklee college of music in boston, i will continue to come here with my stupid questions, because everyone has been a great help. I use a tascam dp02cf..i make my drum loops in FL studio, import the drums onto my 8track, record my other tracks, export them all onto my PC, import them into Fl studio, add my FX, (reverb compression, multiband EQ, limiter) then import them back onto my 8track and do the final mastering there. i have no clue how I could record my actual master on the PC and dont know if I trust it. i like the feel of actually physically turning the knobs and pushing faders.. i trust it more....but what i want to know is what i should do to the individual tracks? and/or if I should just add the mastering stuff to the overall "master track" i know im all over the place..and i apologize. i record mostly heavy metal with double bass, and screaming, both low death metal, and high pitched screams as well...i use a CAD GXL2400 condenser mic, and got the popper stopper. any advice on mastering these kinda vocals?
 
This doesn't even make any sense...

Mixing is mixing. Mastering is mastering. You don't "master" vocals. You don't "master" part of a mix - You master a collection of mixes and create the production master (the name is the definition) from them.
 
ok...so thanks for the um, help.... i knew i was all over the place and i apologized in advance.. i was basically asking if i needed to add compression and limiting to each individual track or to the whole song or "master". i do know the difference between mixes and masters.. i was just in a hurry at the time i posted that and i guess i made myuself look stupid... one more dumb question... do i make a final mix of the song? and theeeeen master it.. or is the final mix, the master. lol... i new to the whole mastering part.. i used to just record and liked the raw sound.. now i want perfection.. sorry, again:o
 
ColdToTheTouch said:
i was basically asking if i needed to add compression and limiting to each individual track or to the whole song
Click to expand...
It is not an either/or proposition. It is common to compress individual tracks for various reasons, it could be used to add presense to a track, make the rhythm more exciting, to fix dynamics flaws, and billions of other reasons. It is also common to group several tracks together, and compress that submix, to make them "gel" together, play off one another, or to make them more homogenous. Then it is possible to compress the whole mix, at times limit it to give it more apparent volume, etc.

What you must understand first and foremost is that you have to figure out the need for any given processing. Instead of thinking "do I compress individual tracks or a group", ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish first, identify what a given component needs, and then ask what you need to do to achieve the desired result.

For example, you might think a given track is somewhat dull. The obvious choice might be to add some high end using a high-shelf EQ. The somewhat less obvious method would be to actually take out some of the low end with a parametric or shelving EQ. The even less obvious method, and sometimes more effective would be some sort of spectral processing or even slight distortion.

You will be more likely to get helpful answers, because it will actually be much easier to give helpful answers if you come with specific questions to specific problems that you need to be solved and ask for advice on how to solve it.
 
its just hard for me to find what it needs...i think the songs sound decent.. I post my songs and everyone tells me what it needs, and I just dont even know where to start.. Im actually getting very discouraged with myself...
 
Load up a stero mixdown of your song into a DAW (Mixing software) and load up one of a band you like that is of a similar genre.
Mess with the volumes of each until they are similar and then play them and switch back and forth between your song and the one you like

Make notes about what you like on the commercial mix vs what may be missing on yours. How do the vocals sit are they cutting through well without being loud, how do the bass and kick sound, what's the stereo field like etc etc etc.
It can be brutal but it can give you an idea at least of where you may need to focus your efforts.

As far as using EQ, Compression, reverb, panning etc etc...what worked for me was to try the effects with radically high settings first to see what they do to a sound.
Set an eq with a massive boost and just sweep across the frequencies and see what happens. set a compressor with a low threshold and very high ratio and see what happens to the track in the mix. it will sound bad at high settings but you will get an understanding of how the effect changes the balance of the mix and then you can back the effects down until they sound more normal but bring things forward or add presence or put things into the background or emphasize on the specific qualities you want.

the trouble with being a newb to these things is that subtle EQ, Compression etc is just that...Subtle. Unless you know what the effect actually does you won't know what to look for....So learn your effects plugins, Mangle up the sound with them until you really know what they do. That way when you have a list of things you need to fix in a mix you will know which effects to use and how you need to use them to get the sound you want.

oh and read this http://tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

All of this is caveated by the assumption (Yes I know :o) that you have well recorded core sounds, all the plugins in the world won't help much if you don't. As eveyone says you can't polish a turd..and while the Mythbusters may have proved you actually can, it's still just a shiny turd that smell terrible that you really wouldn't want to have around
 
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ColdToTheTouch said:
. I use a tascam dp02cf..
.. import the drums onto my 8track, record my other tracks
.. export them all onto my PC, import them into Fl studio, add my FX, (reverb compression, multiband EQ, limiter)
..then import them back onto my 8track and do the final mastering there.
Click to expand...

Just curious on a few things. That last line (given the meaning of 'mix' vs 'master' now :)) would then read '..do the final mixing there'?
If I understand your process you are going in and out of the digital recorder and the DAW with the individual instrument tracks (presumably processing in ways not available in the Tascam) back to the recorder to mix?
I see the Tascam has a dedicated stereo mix-down track (a 'master track' but avoiding calling it that at this point)
And are these transfers are usb/digital?

Regarding your "FX, (reverb compression, multiband EQ, limiter" and "its just hard for me to find what it needs.."
Consider that (it appears) you are processing instruments out side of the context of the mix that you will later do back at the recorder. If so, that is a very risky move even if we quote 'do have our chops up to speed'.
I get 'mixing on the knobs and stuff. (I cam up on Tascam 312b and Mackie 8-bus here, some outboard I've accumulated, but I mix in Sonar now) That attraction is for real. But at the point where you are dialing in on this craft you may find a) the Tascam out grown in that respect and b) thus just stay in the DAW.
Add to that; Keep you moves simple, step by step and in context as you build.
Good post from Bristol there too. :)
 
thanks again...man u guys RULE.. yeah my tascam does have a stereo mixdown track...but when i export them to my computer to add my fx, to put them back on my tascam, i have to make them mono 16-bit, instead of stereo 32-bit floating..im strapped for cash at the moment, so mixing on my computer is my only option..any advice for a DAW to use that allows my to tweak "knobs" in real-time.. im only using a "netbook" right now, so the sound card sux, which is another reason why i mix back down on the tascam. i just have such a passion for this that i will use anything possible to get my ideas down
 
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