Stand alone Mastering tool question

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brandcr

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Hi
I've been happily recording w/ the Tascam DP02 and a set of M audio AV40's. I'm getting good recordings and transfer the mixed waves from the DP02 to my pc and then make mp3's from there to post and distribute. I'm realizing though I'm missing a key piece which is mastering the .WAV on my PC prior to creating the mp3's. Can anyone recommend a standalone mastering package suitable for what I'm trying achieve here?
Many thanks
brandcr
 
Comment one - don't master yourself. Comment two - if you really wanna give it a go, try Sound Forge, Wave Lab, Ozone...doesn't really matter. There's no such thing as mastering software, let alone a stand alone program. It's what tools you utilize within these programs, and which ones you don't utilize (less is probably more). Many companies market their software as "mastering software" bundle packages when all they're doing is taking tools we use everyday, slap them all into one program and relabel it as something else. You need an excellent EQ, a smooth compressor with a limiter, other tools that may or may not be appropriate depending on the sound source, remarkable monitors, a room that doesn't lie to you about what frequencies you are or are not hearing from your remarkable monitors, and years of experience to know what to do and not do with all of that. Use the search function, this has been discussed beyond the point of beating a dead horse. We just keep digging it up and poking sticks at it. :D Good luck.
 
I'll basically agree with what's said above. I'll clarify on #1 of not doing it yourself. The idea is to have some experience, facilities and a 2nd set of ears to listen to your music objectively.

However this is HOME recording and I'd bet less than 1 out of 100 on these forums pay someone else to master their stuff. In the commercial recording world, it's basically a given, but with the software and equipment available nowadays, those lines are becoming closer together between what can be done at home and a commerical setup. The fact that you're even recording on your Tascam illustrates this.

Also realize the "perfect" recording may not need mastering and that mastering is reserved for balancing several songs together or just generally tidying things up with editing and such. If your mix is good to you now, don't expect someone else's mastering to make a huge difference.

I've had several CDs mastered and my last one although it may have been tweaked to the max by the mastering engineer (in their opinion), I wasn't hearing huge differences other than volume and a little high end and low end adjustments. I even asked for some "re-dos" because I thought the engineer did more than I wanted, and in some of my songs, I thought they tweaked it and made it sound worse. (and not just on my own system, for those getting ready to mention that!).

Try some inexpensive software that everyone around here will slam. They're slamming it because it's not the tool to use for PRO uses, but just fine for home recording and web distribution and friends.

You might also consider a new recording program like Sonar PE, which will have much of the same stuff in it already, and is a killer recording package too, complete with a bunch of other toys....i.e. virtual instruments, decent plugins and your "mastering" plugs.
 
It's very hard to "disown" your stereo mixes and then listen with new/fresh ears for the mastering.

You spend days...weeks...months...recording and mixing, and that sound is burned into your head. You've tweaked it and tweaked it...and now come the mastering, so what else do you tweak???

It took me a few months of NOT listening to my mixed stuff...and then a LOT of trial-n-error before I started coming up with "mastered" versions that were some bit of improvement on my mixes without killing off what I already established in the mixes.

Not saying an unbiased set of ears will always give you something "better"...but they WILL spot the issues that you might have grown use to during all those weeks/months of editing/mixing.
 
Thanks, Miro! That makes a lot of sense. I know what you mean. So it's really a human issue of perception.

I tend to have to leave it some time before listening again for issues but at this stage, I couldn't afford to have my stuff mastered professionally. I don't think any of it's good enough to warrant it, anyway.

Dr. V
 
Given that this is HomeRecording.com and not Abey Road, I'm going to say (without fear of contradiction) "Go ahead and master it yourself".
That's what home recording is all about. :)
 
I know people say that very often around here "this is just home recording"...etc...etc...
...but one should always be conscious of the fact that the same general "rules" and processes apply whether it's "home" or "pro" recording...so all the issues/pitfalls and solutions will be relatively the same.

Too often that phrase "this is just home recording" is a way of "dumbing down" things or excusing things...and I just don't see that it should be that way.
I think everyone, home or pro really IS always looking for the best possible product, so it being "home recording" actually demands an even MORE concerted effort and understanding of things that in the pro world.
Heck...the pros already know what they are doing.

Oh...Abbey Road has two "bb's"...not one....and you from over there and all! :D

;)
 
Thanks everyone for lending me your thoughts...I appreciate it....I am "home recording" but agree I want to get the best quality I can and at a cost I'm willing to pay for, which for me means doing it myself :-). I'll do some research on this site and try out some of the packages. I downloaded a trial of T - racks 3 but for some reason my .WAV's play back all distorted...
Anyway thanks again and happy recording :-)
 
Oh...Abbey Road has two "bb's"...not one....and you from over there and all!
Click to expand...
Yup! I actually saw that before I submitted the post but let it go.
I'm from over there but not down there. :D
My point, by the way, is not to dumb it down because it's only home recording but rather, to be the best home recordist you possibly can and not to delve into mastering would get in the way of that.

Didn't say I wouldn't be contradicted, just that I have no fear of it. :drunk:
 
I use T-Racks 3 Deluxe, which I've been pretty happy with. I had the original T-Racks version 1, and the new version is much better. I think you can download a free trial from IK Multimedia's website. Other contenders would be Izotope Ozone or Samplitude Master. Like everyone says, mastering your own music may not be ideal, but it's reality for most home & project studio recordists.
 
Dr. V,

If you go back and read my post I pointed out the reasons to not do it yourself. If you can't afford it and aren't releasing it to the masses then give it a shot. Everyone has to make their own choices. My point was that ME's have specifically designed rooms and stellar monitors and equipment that reveal all of the little things that might turn out to be big problems when played back on certain systems that those of us who record in our basements and bedrooms etc. simply cannot hear. Our monitors don't necessarily lie to us, but given room reflection, positioning and a thousand other variables, it's kind of a crap shoot. Can good or great mixes happen at home? I certainly believe so because I've heard a lot of good stuff here and I'd like to think that while I'll never be great in my environment and with my budget, I certain would hope that after nearly 15 years I'm pretty good. That being said, a pro ME has the environment to find problems in my mixes that I never knew were there so that they can be addressed and played with consistency on all sound systems with success. I just spent 2 years producing what for little 'ol me is probably my Opus so if I need to drop some reasonable coin to make it it's best, then I'm willing to do that and I'd be short-changing my massive efforts if I didn't. My opinion for my music, and as I always say, listen to others but do what you will with their advice. Good luck to all.
 
I have a stand alone mastering tool - a T. C. Electronics Finalizer. I've been using it for a long time and it's one of my main tools.

I don't really master much - I'm always mastering. Here's what happens when my tracks are playing back:

All the tracks come out 8 outs and go through a homemade passive mixer where I pan, add reverb and use a Summit tube eq on the lead track (usually voice). That mixer passively mixes the tracks down to a stereo mix, and that goes through a pair of Summit tube compressors for makeup gain plus a nice sound. The compressors go to the T.C. Electronics Finalizer and I use that mostly for multi band compression and it also has a tube saturation effect. The Finalizer puts out a S/PDIF stereo signal and I send that back to my computer and that's my master. It's a very simple system.

So I'm always playing through that so when it's time to master there's usually nothing left to do.
 
I use Ozone but I don't 'master' with it, I just use it's effects as needed on my individual tracks. try to stay away from the presets though, they're only good for learning and playing with
 
jlewis said:
I use Ozone but I don't 'master' with it, I just use it's effects as needed on my individual tracks. try to stay away from the presets though, they're only good for learning and playing with
Click to expand...

I watched a tutorial on Ozone.....looked quite a powerful little tool, I was also looking at alloy which is more track orientated I think...another purchase may rear its ugly head :)
 
I watched a tutorial on Ozone.....looked quite a powerful little tool, I was also looking at alloy which is more track orientated I think...another purchase may rear its ugly head
Click to expand...
ozone is indeed handy and the effects sound nice, i don't know anything about alloy but it may be a good choice if it's not as much of a cpu hog as ozone. If I have a lot of tracks in a song and some kind of ozone effect on all of them, my computer might start slowing down
 
I am a part-time musician and I perform as well as have a midi home studio. Over the years I have mastered my own stuff. I user Sony - Vegas for multitrack mixing and Sound Forge for mastering. You have to start somewhere and it took me quite a bit of trial and error but hey, its fun to learn how to do it yourself.

Practically speaking, you can use any audio editor - the mastering is more in the plug-ins. One thing you want to do is make sure everything can be heard. One way to do that is using a look-ahead limiter plug-in (Ultramaximizer, Wave Hammer etc). A look ahead limiter increases the volume of softer sounds that might be otherwise be obscured in the mix while not increasing the louder sounds. Basically there is a reduction in dynamic range and in that respect it is similar to compression but unlike compression, the louder sounds pass through relatively unaffected. The effect can be quite dramatic and can bring out subtleties that might otherwise be lost. Experiment and see for yourself.

EQ is also important. I typically use the Spectrum analyzer tool in Sound Forge to see what is going on and then eq. I use the spectrum analysis as a guide but also use my ears to listen and try boosting/cutting different frequencies. I generally prefer to cut rather than boost.

I typically make sure everything is at approximately the same volume level, then do EQ and then use a look ahead limiter. After mastering, I burn a copy and listen to the material on different systems, in my car, on my laptop, on my home stereo, and see if there any anamolies. I sometimes have to do several mastering sessions to get it to where it sounds good everywhere.

As someone said earlier, once you have recorded a song, set it aside and listen to something else - preferrably the total opposite for a while and then go back and try mastering it so that it is fresh to your ears.
 
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