Mastering wiring...

[radiorickm]

master your own

First off, let me say that i totally admire massisive master and blue bear sound for the advise they givel they are a truly wonderful asset. After the years they have spent working in studios they are full of good advise we will probably never come close to tapping fully.

However, I totally understand your point in wanting to master your own song. After all, thats why we do this and lets face it, i am not trying to compete with columbia records with my stuff. So here is my $0.02 worth.

I do my stuff the SIB route, not in the computer. I am assuming that your sound card has only a stereo out since you say you are going into CH8. I am hoping you are going into 8/9 but anyway. Also, because i am a SIB guy, i hope your soundcard can play and record at the same time...i think it shlould.

You also say you want to master "a track". i am hoping there are a bunch of tracks already mixed, and not everything from the 1604 dumped onto ONE track(or a stereo track).

Here is how i would set this up. For right now, you already have the insturments recorded into the computer, so lets unplug everything and start over.

Basically Your NEW source of sound becomes the stereo output of the sound card. You should have everything MIXED in the computer. SO you can send the MIX from the soundcard into the 31 band EQ. From the EQ out, go to the compressor limiter. From the Compressor, go to the 1604 on a STEREO channel (or two mono channels hard panned).

Your can listen to the effects (of the EQ and compress) on the 1604 thru the monitor sends. YOu would ffeed the processed signal from the RCA JACKS OUT on the 1604 to the STEREO LINE IN on the computer once it is where you want it.

After you have played the track back, about a thousand times and tweaked the 31 band eq, and tweaked the compressor limiter setting, you would record the track onto an NEW stereo track, or stereo wave file.

that processed track could then be sent to the CD Burner

is this the ideal set up? nope. but, it should give you a run at doing what you are trying to do.

 

[bmcclure]

Thank you for that. Now that I've returned the 31-band I'm screwed until next payday, but I will give it a shot, even just as a temporary master until the album is complete.

You were correc tin your assumptions, by "one track" i meant like a track on a CD< not a track in a mix. I have about 40 tracks in my mix.

You are also right, I meant channel 11/12 or something, whatever the last stereo channels are, I just said 8 cause it's the 8th slider.

Thanks again, an dyour'e right about BLue BEar Sound and Massive Master, they are great to have around. I've made up my mind I think, unless a miracle occurs, to get my mastering done professionally for my first album and then i can learn from that and master my own from there on out. That's how I see it at least.

 

[masteringhouse]

Sorry for the amatuerness of this post, but can't you just run somethign you want to add 'warmth' to through a vacuum tube?

Yes another way to go, but again you have the issue of an A/D conversion and the inability to control the enhancement like you would with a good digital plugin. For example, will you use pentode or triode tubes?

The HEDD unit is very popular with high end mastering studios for tube emulation and some types of tape emulation.

See: http://www.cranesong.com/hedd192.html

For tape emulation the Phoenix is becoming popular:

See: http://www.cranesong.com/PHOENIX.html

There are other plugs as well like magneto:

http://www.cube-tec.com/Magneto.html

However they do not seem to have the options that the Crane Song products offer.

 

[reel buzzer]

Yep, also Cedar has something for that.
And don't mix to tape unless you know about aligning the machine.

 

[Tapehead]

A few other ideas on how to add warmth to that cold digital recording.
1. Place your mixer on an electric blanket and suffuse it with heat.
2. Place a hot water bottle on top of your DAW.
3. Make sure the room is painted in warm pastel colors.
Warning, if you do all three of these together the sound may become so warm that you may want to cool it down a little. Just run your mix through a digital processor of any kind to give it a little more digital coolness and you should be fine.
Sorry it must be Friday ;>)

 

[masteringhouse]

A few other ideas on how to add warmth to that cold digital recording.
1. Place your mixer on an electric blanket and suffuse it with heat.
2. Place a hot water bottle on top of your DAW.
3. Make sure the room is painted in warm pastel colors.
Warning, if you do all three of these together the sound may become so warm that you may want to cool it down a little. Just run your mix through a digital processor of any kind to give it a little more digital coolness and you should be fine.
Sorry it must be Friday ;>)

I like to sit on my CDs warming them up until they hatch. I even do this with commercially bought CDs that are a bit too bright before putting them in the player, works wonders ...