Mastering Plug In: Ik Multimedia T-racks

  • Thread starter Thread starter gullyjewelz
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gullyjewelz

gullyjewelz

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I JUST GOT MY HANDS ON THIS PLUG IN - ITS REALLY THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVEN ATTEMPTED TO USE A PLUG IN - CUZ I USUALLY RELY ON THE "TOOLS" THAT COME NATURALLY WITH MY REC. SOFTWARE -

I HAVE INSTALLED THIS ON MY COMPUTER AND . . . NOW I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE MY SONIC FOUNDRY SOFTWARE "CALL UP" THIS PLUG IN . . .

I CAN OPEN IT SEPERATELY AND LOAD A TRACK INTO IT, BUT I WAS HOPIN TO USE IT INSIDE THE SONIC FOUNDRY . . . ANY IDEAs?
 
what up G. It sounds like you have the stand-alone version not the plugin...
 
its quite possible - im gon keep at it though - in my spare time - im dam near sick, runnin so ragged this weekend - n still havent had a chance to record anything i had planned on doin this weekend -
 
u should have seen something like vsti,dxi or rtas if i remeber..and should have chosen vsti or dxi
 
perhaps here is a better question - regardless of the software i use - i will keep pluggin away at various packages till i find one i like -

but what are the so-called "settings" u use - so that when u finally finish mixing and mastering your own cd - it truly "stands" at the same type of play levels that the "industry" cd sets at ?

i know there has to be some type of "balancing act" and number system . . . as when i go from playing a method man cc to playing mine in the cd player - there is a noticeable dif. between the 2 cd's basic volume level - THIS IS NOT THE CASE when i go from Method man cd to T.I. cd - FEEL ME?

AT THE SAME TIME, HWEN I PLAY MY "SINGLE" IN BETWEEN THE TWO - THERE IS NO NOTICEABLY DIFFERENT VOLUME LEVEL - THE ONLY DIF BETWEEN MY FULL CD AND MY CD SINGLE IS THAT THE SINGLE WAS "MASTERED" BY ANOTHER STUDIO - AND EVEN THEN, ALL I DID WAS SEND THAT STUDIO THE FINAL Wave file - SO HE HAD TO TWEAK IT TO SOME TYPE OF "STANDARD LEVEL" - RIGHT?
 
T-racks is standalone (although I think there's a plug-in version too).

In other words it works independently from your DAW and you call your tracks up as stereo mixdowns for processing within T-racks.

Mastering is a very complex business. 'Settings' will totally depend on the source material. And T-racks aren't really serious mastering tools like you'd find in a professional mastering house. Don't get me wrong, i use it myself for finishing demos but anything serious goes to the guys who know what they're doing.

The only 'standards' in mastering are more to do with types of media used, bit depth, sampling rates etc. (google "red book"). There are no standards for volume. If you think about it, different styles of song will need to be at different levels for tracks to sound the right volume relative to each other on an album. Essentially it's all about using your ears.
 
We actually use T-Racks in the pro studios. It's both standalone and plugin. It's a nice piece of software to have. It gives that emulated warm sound found on analog equipment. And yeah, it really depends on the genre & type of music, for volume levels. Like hip hop now a days, it's usually a compression war, and who can have their music the loudest on the radio so that it stands out more.

For one, studios use major equipment, depending on if you go down the street to your nearest one, or head downtown to the major multi-million dollar ones. Then, it depends on the ears on the project, and how to EQ, gate, compress, etc each individual track, and recording on analog you can sometime allow to run hot for a small amount of time, digital, different... everything is kept around -12 to -18 during the recording process etc, and then at the very end, it's then raised up, AFTER all tracks relate to each other etc... Usually it ends up sounding real nice after tweaking outboard gear & side chains even before stuff hits the mastering house. From there, they usually just make sure everything fits from the tracks.
 
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