mastering for beginners

A

Altaire

New member
I gotta say, I see now why people dont want to tell anybody how to compress. I was always looking for somebody to tell me how, and its like that wasnt gonna help. There was really no substitute for just sitting in front of the computer and fucking with the settings for hours and hours to see the effects, learning how the animal operates. Im not the best by damn sight, but now my vocals sound pretty good due to learning how to compress right...now I gotta learn how it works on whole tracks....still havent got that right
 
Altaire said:
There was really no substitute for just sitting in front of the computer and fucking with the settings for hours and hours to see the effects, learning how the animal operates.
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The voice of experience. No way to do it but to DO it.

(Whether you're mixing or mastering...)

-C
 
just keep these things in mind. When compressing all the tracks, you want to get them to there loudest level without clipping or altering their sound much. and becareful not to "smash it" with compression that will give it that "sqashed" sound.
 
Altaire said:
I gotta say, I see now why people dont want to tell anybody how to compress. I was always looking for somebody to tell me how, and its like that wasnt gonna help. There was really no substitute for just sitting in front of the computer and fucking with the settings for hours and hours to see the effects, learning how the animal operates. Im not the best by damn sight, but now my vocals sound pretty good due to learning how to compress right...now I gotta learn how it works on whole tracks....still havent got that right
Click to expand...
Congratulations on breaking through the barrier of understanding! You are now at the next level where a whole new world of understanding is waiting for you. :)

(One down, 99,999 to go... ;) )

G.
 
i use a waves ultramaximiser after i get the whole song mixed.
makes it loud and compresses the crap out of it.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Yeah... like that's something to be proud of..... :rolleyes:
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Didn't you know everyone likes a consistent dynamic level? A loud song is EVERYTHING.

/sarcasm
 
Projbalance said:
Different strokes, Bear. Who are we to judge what will be considered "great sounding" twenty years from now.
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:D No doubt. But we can judge what sounds like crap now.

:D
 
hehehe

1 step forward, 2 steps back.

(Well in this case , Altaire, you took a step forward. Congrats. Someone else took 2 steps back though.)

Sheesh. hehehe.
 
I'm tempted at times to compress my entire mp3 collection. Nothing like sitting back relaxing to Handel's Tamerlano opera, then the next song iTunes spits out is something by Killswitch Engage. The sudden increase in volume is enough blast my headphones off of my head and through the wall.
 
RE: Compression: Personally I've found the most pleasing to the ear is to have just enough to keep the signal levels even and prevent clipping. If it sounds like it's being compressed, you're using too much.

Mastering is something that seems to be both science AND art, and there's no one way to do it right.

Anopther thing I do is try to eliminate noise as much as possible in the initial recording, but that's not always possible (especially when you use mic's of ANY type). This is where a good mastering program with noise elimination/spectral cleaning comes in handy, which enables you to eliminate specific noises and have your program material intact.
 
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