Taboo Subject (home mastering!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mountainmirrors
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Mountainmirrors

kaleidoscopic renegade
OK...we all know it's best to pay a pro for mastering - even if its just for a fresh set of finely-tuned ears before our music is put onto disc.
We know mastering is to make every song on an LP have a flow - to sound like an LP and not a bunch of different demo recordings slapped together. And to enhance dynamics, volume levels and finely tune the EQ so's not to induce ear fatigue after three songs.

But I know a bunch of you guys master your own stuff - either with T Racks, Ozone, Nero or a combination of plugins.

What have you used that you like the sound of?
What order do you place your compressor, limiter and EQ in the chain - and what settings and particular tools did you use to do it?

And most importantly - do you have the songs online for the rest of us to hear? (I know...MP3s are not a great representation, but...)

And let's face it - there are plenty of huge major label records (Collective Soul's Greatest Hits, for one) that have gotten TRASHED by a high-priced, well-respected mastering engineer with fantastic monitors and tools!! So I'd really love to hear from some of you more adventurous types about this subject!!

Very Best,
Jeff

http://www.soundclick.com/mountainmirrors


(p.s. - there are plenty of pro-vs.-self mastering debates here. I just want to hear from the people who choose to do it themselves!)
 
in sonar 2 i basically just duplicate the sesson and name it (duplicatename)mastering. i use compression then eq but i havent had to use much eq lately. i mainly have the drums, bass, guitar and vocals in sub mixes that I'll tweak there. when exporting it...if i uncheck "clip automation" its stops the whole auto-limiting. it mixes down from 24 to 16 bit and i open the file up in nero to raise the volume and its done. its cheesy but somewhat effective
 
I use a little EQ on each track and a simple compressor/limiter to keep the tracks from clipping and make them about the same volume.
 
I've done a lot of reviewing of stand-alone programs and "do it all" plugins... Without going into specifics:

T-Racks is pretty cool if not abused and would be my "get it close for pretty cheap" pick of the week.

Ozone has a nice spatial feature but is otherwise pretty nasty (IMO) otherwise. Sounded like a Finalizer.

Dynasone is... Well... Not much better or worse that Ozone.

Keep in mind that once the files are created, if you're replicating/duplicating, make sure you have a RedBook compatible disc. I really don't want to get into the "why's" but it's quite important and you'll thank me later. If you're not using a PQ editor, you're probably NOT creating a RedBook disc.

Info on the site if you need more...

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
 
If you run the analog signal to this path:

Neve 4 band Eq
Sontec MES-432C Stereo Program equalizer
Cybersonics HFL-2 D-Esser
Smart Research C2 Stereo Compressor
Sonic Solutions 5.4
Neumann VMS 70/SX 74 lacquer cutter with SAL 74B electronics
Studer CD Recorder


you'll get an awesome master.

You can do it yourself with practice.
 
while we're in the same arena

is there a better way to mix down going from 24bit to 16 bit without losing alot of sound quality? as in are there standalone programs like a nero wave editor? or is that part of the mastering software
 
well t-racks is out for me....sonar user...not protools....what are some good sonar mastering plugins?
 
distortedrumble said:
well t-racks is out for me....sonar user...not protools....what are some good sonar mastering plugins?
Click to expand...

I was actually referring to the stand-alone version... I haven't tested the plug yet...
 
Depending on the tune, I use Ozone 3 for the EQ, often Verb ,sometime Multliband compression, occasionally Excitation, and rarely the Stereo Imaging. I then use the Waves L2 for limiting and dithering. If I don't use Ozone for verb, I often use RoomVerb. PSP VintageWarmer gets alot of use too, but before the L2.
 
I think PSP Vintage Warmer is one of the best-kept secrets. It looks cheezy as all hell and has the name "warmer" in it. :D All signs would seem to suggest it to be a pretty bad plugin, but it's actually a pretty damn good plugin compressor. Very different from something like the L2, for sure, but it has some interesting textures.
 
I just bought the PSP yesterday, matter of fact!! I started to see it mentioned everywhere - zines, forums etc. - as THE "secret weapon" plugin for tracking - and stereo mixes. Not for mastering, but for individual tracks...for now.

I'm afraid to do the mastering on my own music for some reason (brainwashing?).

My last LP was mastered in a pro studio. And imho, the tracks sounded warmer before the mastering process!!

I mastered one song in T Racks and I'll be honest with you. I thought it sounded awesome. On my pc, home theater and especially in the car, it was full and warm. ("analog warmth" preset?)

The part I don't understand is the "continuity" thing between the tracks. Does that come from processing them all seperately with the same treatment - or do you open them all at the same time and apply some kind of EQ/limiting over the entire LP?

http://www.soundclick.com/mountainmirrors


btw - your tracks sound PRO, buzzer!
 
"The part I don't understand is the "continuity" thing between the tracks. Does that come from processing them all seperately with the same treatment.. "

Well I haven't done any mastering yet, but have read what others have to say. i get the feeling that continuity is not just a mechanical process you put all the tracks through and hey presto they all sound like they belong together. i think it is more to do with using the ears and listening carefully to the tracks to see if any of them stick out like a sore thumb, checking volume level as opposed to just setting them all to a peak level, listening to hear if the bass sounds more powefull in one song than another , and so on - more of an art than a science I guess.

Anyway. like I said I haven't done any myself but that's what I've been advised so take it with a pinch of salt!
 
Well...comp/limiting does just that. Setting volume levels.
I've heard of plugins like Har-Bal, which are supposed to help you shape your EQ curve visually against a "reference track" - be it another track on your cd - or another finished, "pro" track of your choice.

Seems to me that if your tracking is good and your mixdown is good, just a subtle treatment with EQ and comp/limiting (if any at all, really) would make for great-sounding music.

Of course, we all know you can't polish a turd...that's a job best left for a professional:-)
 
If your tracks aren't sounding even relative to each other before mastering, running them through the same processors will probably just amplify that difference.

With all this gear talk, it's important not to forget that the most important element of mastering is the ability to listen to every detail of the mix. Listen to what you're working with, know where you want the mix to be, and figure out what tools you need to help you get there. People are often mixing up the idea of adding gain with the idea of adding compression. To the common man, they sound very similar, but they're actually quite different sounds and will affect (or effect! hehe) the track quite differently.

That being said, I've been helping some friends out with a final process we've been calling mastering for the past year or so. I was using T-Racks for the first several months as an intro to compression, limiting and basic EQ. I found it to be a great first step for people like me who want to lean more but don't want to be overwhelmed with 20 different plug-ins. After a while though, I started to see the limitations of the plug-in and decided to pick up some of the Waves plug-ins.

The Waves L2 limiter has served me well since I picked it up last summer. The T-Racks limiter worked similarly, but it's nice to have a few more meters to better inform you as to what's going on when you're limiting, as well as the higher processing levels and more limiting options.

I've also found the Waves 10-band parametric EQ to work really well for what I've been doing. It's got a smoother sound than most of the EQs I'd used prior to it and it's been my main EQ since the first month I picked it up.

I really like the PSP Vintage Warmer. Pretty silly name and the design feels like a toy (similar to T-Racks), but it actually sounds pretty nice if you use it in a subtle way. I'm sure it would be even better on individual instruments because it's got a pretty strong, coloured sound if you push it.

Similar in sound is the Steinberg Magneto (another "warmer"). I've just started working this into my process, but it seems to work really well if it's not abused. Great for older sounding rock and roll that probably shouldn't "sound digital".

I downloaded Ozone to test it out and I really don't like it. I won't be buying it. It might just be me, but I feel like I'm running the entire mix through a guitar player's multi-effects processor, and I don't like that. The way the EQ is laid out is nice and I'd like to see other companies use the same layout, but I just didn't like the way it all sounded.

The next items I'm picking up are the Universal Audio plug-ins. They look great and the reviews I've read have been fantastic. I'll have them in the next month or so, so I'll do my best to post a review when I've had a chance to check them out.

Does anyone have any opinions on who makes the best noise reduction software (or hardware)? Does anyone make a program that doesn't replace noise with the "singing robots" that we hear when we overuse a noise reduction program. Sometimes overusing it is the only way to get anywhere near where we want to be.
 
Actually, the best noise reduction for me has been high and lowpass filters.
One day, I recorded vocals while a crew was digging up the street in front of my house!
Not to mention, I had a Presonus Blue Tube preamp.
I found that vocals should have a low cut filter applied at 100-150 hz anyway (to make the bass sound tight), so I tried it.
The noise disappeared!!! 100 %.
 
Hey guys.. I'm also in need for help w/ MASTERING...

Anyone know where I can find T-RackS... ?

for some reason I dl'd the program and when I open it... all you see is a black screen w/ #s on the bottom right hand....
 
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