Just want to check the "mastering" methodology in Reaper

  • Thread starter Thread starter Armistice
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Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
OK - so have finished first full mix on Reaper of an old tune... trying to work out how to "master it" to stereo...

I'm just after the mechanics, not what FX, dynamics etc. to apply.

I'm thinking I enable the stereo track so it appears in with all the other tracks, then, if I want to, say, compress the whole mix, I'd click the FX button on that track and apply whatever compression I wanted to... same with EQ... dial up the master volume so nothing clips...

Then I Render As a stereo track - either a WAV or MP3 depending upon intended use... and voila! Done!

Or am I missing something?

Also, I haven't downloaded the LAME encoder on this machine yet, so I appear to need to do that to create MP3s...no problemo doing that.... is that the best way to go?

I'm assuming if I render both a WAV and an MP3 direct from the Reaper mix, it's a better process than creating a WAV and then converting that WAV to MP3 using Audacity or any other conversion method.. and probably easier anyway.

Cheers..
 
Once you've got your mix done and you're happy with the way it sounds, export to .wav (If you're recording in 16/24/32bit, export to the same )

You can then bring that .wav into a new Reaper session and add fx, compression, eq, whatever is needed. If you get the mix right the first time, all that you should need to do is apply some volume/limiting to bring it up in volume.

You can do this with several songs for an E.P or Album say and get all the levels in line with each other.

Then you can export and dither down to 16bit .mp3 for internet sharing etc or 16bit .wav for CD

Get the lame encoder from HERE - You only need the lame_enc.dll. Drop it into your reaper folder, C:\Program Files\REAPER and you're good to go to export to .mp3 at the click of a button.
 
Armistice said:
OK - so have finished first full mix on Reaper of an old tune... trying to work out how to "master it" to stereo...

I'm just after the mechanics, not what FX, dynamics etc. to apply.

I'm thinking I enable the stereo track so it appears in with all the other tracks, then, if I want to, say, compress the whole mix, I'd click the FX button on that track and apply whatever compression I wanted to... same with EQ... dial up the master volume so nothing clips...

Then I Render As a stereo track - either a WAV or MP3 depending upon intended use... and voila! Done!

Or am I missing something?

Also, I haven't downloaded the LAME encoder on this machine yet, so I appear to need to do that to create MP3s...no problemo doing that.... is that the best way to go?

I'm assuming if I render both a WAV and an MP3 direct from the Reaper mix, it's a better process than creating a WAV and then converting that WAV to MP3 using Audacity or any other conversion method.. and probably easier anyway.

Cheers..
Click to expand...

Whether you encode to MP3 in Reaper or elsewhere, it should make no difference if you're using the same encoder and settings. So, if you encode with lame in Reaper or in Audacity, the result should be the same. If Audacity uses a different MP3 encoder or you choose different settings, you might get a different result.
 
pretty much what the others say.

I use four steps:

1 render the mix to a WAV
2 start a new project, import this file and mess with it
3 render this as a 16/44 file for cd.
4 convert this to mp3 (either in Reaper or some other progam)
 
Cool. Thanks guys.

I'd have to say that once again I'm surprised by the way Reaper does things. Needing to create a new project to "master" your track seems weird on the face of it. But whatever..

Will give it a go.

Johnny, yeah, get the logic now I think about it... Audacity uses LAME anyway so I guess it's the encoder doing the work not Reaper, isn't it... easier to do it all from Reaper.

Cheers all
 
Armistice said:
Needing to create a new project to "master" your track seems weird on the face of it.
Click to expand...

Reaper is highly flexible, and you don't need to create a new project. You can do it from the existing project.

However, I like to make a clear demarcation between mixing and mastering. So by creating a new project (for which you can create and re-use a template) it's like clearing the decks (which helps me clear my head).
 
gecko zzed said:
Reaper is highly flexible, and you don't need to create a new project. You can do it from the existing project.

However, I like to make a clear demarcation between mixing and mastering. So by creating a new project (for which you can create and re-use a template) it's like clearing the decks (which helps me clear my head).
Click to expand...

Ah... that makes sense then.

Cheers
 
I got all this from the gang here too, doing the same thing, no longer using Audacity or "mastering-ish" software tools and staying in Reaper.

after getting the mix and tweaking of each track, I do a "save as" call it a PREMASTER as 24/wave. (1) as Gecko mentioned.

then I open a new project as already said (2) gecko said...., and drag the PREMASTER into the track 1.
Its usually kept around -12 with peaks to -6. from there, everything applied etc..is on that. and I drag a professional CD tune into another track and go back and forth comparing tones and volume, checking metering etc... clip the front intro clicks and fade the ending etc..volume upwards to match the pro-mp3.

then "save as" MASTER and then Render this to mp3(lame) 16/44.1. (3/4) as Gecko posted.

pretty much the same. Also learning to save to specific Folders to save from confusion later.
then I play it over a few days and re-do it again when I have time and repeat this until I'm sick of the tune and want to start writing another one.

daydreaming about getting a better room setup again...
also thinking a Flash Stick car deck would be great for two reasons- 1. dont have to burn CD's and 2..leave it in 24 bit format..
 
You shouldn't render to MP3 first. Render to Wave, then convert to MP3.
 
Whats the difference between a Save As and a Render?

Specifically, the last steps mentioned, when we go from the 24bit/48-96-192 or whatever....to the 16bit-version/MP3 version.

What does rendering to 16 bit then render to MP3 do that is different from rendering directly to MP3 from 24bit?

Either way, seems my "master" is still in 24bit Wave.
 
"Render" writes all your FX to final file version. "Save as" saves your settings in the Reaper file format, does not create a WAV file. Everything I have read indicates you should apply dithering and Render to 16 bit WAV first, then convert the WAV to MP3 for optimal sound. If you get the same results your way, go for it.
 
no I didnt have that depth of what was going on....
interesting, always something to learn with Reaper. I'll change to doing it the "standard" method. no problem.
thanks..
 
I don't really master my own stuff but when I want to get an idea of how it MIGHT sound I do a faux master.
I've set up a reaper project called faux master and it has the "usual" VST/fx culprits already loaded etc.
I "render" a wav file at max possible quality from the project's mix, (usuall 24 but sometimes I've started in 16 for a variety of reasons) and then import that as a stereo file into the faux master project.
That way I can stack a bundle of mixes or tracks if I want to make comparisons for continuity etc.
From there I render the tracks (fter applying the pretend mastering stuff) as a 16 wav for CD or a 24 wav for my portable media player. I rarely listen to my own stuff in MP3 and use an external LAME prog to convert to 320 MP3 or Foobar to convert to FLAC.
 
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