The Great Professional Mastering Debate

  • Thread starter Thread starter dachay2tnr
  • Start date Start date

Which is the professional job?

  • I'm going for Version A

    Votes: 9 50.0%

  • No way, Version B is the one

    Votes: 9 50.0%
  • Total voters
    18
dachay2tnr

dachay2tnr

One Hit Wonder
This site has had several raging debates over diy mastering versus professional mastering. So I've got a listening test for anyone interested:

I have posted two versions of a song - one of them has been professionally mastered, and the other I mastered myself (using Wavelab and some Waves plugins). The songs are labeled as versions A and B. Listen to both and vote on the one that you think was professionally mastered. I'd also like to know which version you prefer (if you have a preference).

Obviously .mp3's might not be the best format to make this determination, but unfortunately that's what we're stuck with. I'll let you know which is which after you've all had a couple of days to access the songs.

The song is Brian Wilson's In My Room (done a capella). It has been posted here before for critique, however these are the final versions. As such, I'm not really looking for any further critique (it's too late anyway), just thought you might have a little fun with this.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1084&alid=-1

As always, thanks to Waldo for the space. (I'll delete one version after the exercise :) )
 
ahh...one of these threads where you get to make an ass out of yourself by showing everyone you don't have the ears to tell a "prof" mastered version compared to a home brew.

well...I'll bite
Version A sounds best...fuller, thicker, but less stereo-ized...L/R levels off, however. (prof?)


Version B ..thinner, but wider stereo field. L/R levels still off too. (home brew?)
 
I got called away from the computer, and quickly hit "submit" on the last post...but I have a couple comments to add...

First, I think the two versions are VERY similar, and that I would feel that I either did a good job at home, or the prof. mastering facility didn't do as good a job as they should....because they are so similar.

2nd ly...there are aspects of each mix that I like better over the other one, but I feel they are still both flawed with a bad L/R balance. I might need to re check my playback system before I put my life on the line here, however:eek:

3rd ly...how prof. is this mastering place? ...like are they just computer oriented with a couple plugins, ...do they have some ears with a reputation, etc.?? An answer to that question might answer a lot of other questions.

anywazz...I'll be eager to hear and find out more info on this thread.
 
I'll take the fifth on which is which, for the same reasons, though I didn't pay much attention to L/R levels admittedly. But I am eager to know the answer. I guess I mostly want to know if you got screwed :eek:
 
SluiCe....you weenie!!:eek: :D

your last mix proves you got an ear on each side of your noggin' that works just fine. So...why don't you jump in this sinking ship of mine, and either we'll drown together, ....or still look stupid cause we don't know for sure!! A lose-lose situation!!!.. unless you've got an entirely different opinion:eek: on the mixes!!

ha!
 
I think they sound the same :)

Is it because I can only hear out of one ear?

THe recording is so clean .. I can hear the phlem swinging around in the singers' voices
 
Version B sounds more compressed and less dry than version A, to me. A has a cleanliness and sharpness to it that leads me to believe that it is the pro-version.

At least A seems closer to the versions of the song that I've heard here several times before.

B sounds a little more like someone with a nice Waves RVerb and a C4... if only because I thought I heard a little more wetness not in the other and a little boost to the low end to add fullness.

I like A a little better just for the slight edge it has in clarity. B fills the spectrum more, but... sounds slightly more artificial to me.

That's my guess, at any rate.

Chris
 
Wow, I was the first to use the poll!

I voted for A for lots of reasons:

1. it is shorter
2. it is less wet
3. I cheated, B has phase issues (a penguin told me)

Queue
 
I'm voting that B is the better one....

A to me sounds like it has more "amateur" and excessive dynamics processing all over it...

plus all of the autotune seems much more apparent to me on A.

HOWEVER - B has a lot more reverb...(not neccessarily good or bad...just very apparent)

which leads me to think that B was potentially the one done at home. On my stereo B seems overall more tonally balanced.

"A" has this constant dynamics stuff going on...like I can just hear a little gnome squashing stuff in real time...heh.

I don't know, I always found the autotune approach to this song from when it was posted way back kind of...straining to listen to.

So, in summary...I'm not in love with either of the mastering jobs...so it's kind of a lesser of evils thing. I'll make an ass of myself and say.

A= Mastering House
B = Home

I prefer B. But, that is not knocking mastering houses in general - just that particular one ;)
 
I dont believe that any mastering engineer worth his salt would master a stereo mix and still have the singer sounding like he has resonant metallic teeth,

but I can see how a mastering engineer would not be afraid to add too much of a good reverb to an otherwise sparse mix,

therefore, my choice for the proffessional mix is B.

Other things confirm my choice. B sounds more like a vintage (a la "pretty woman") mix

B has less of the abrasive wet noodles sound that I have come to expect from certain chinese mics.


This comparo was done on Ns10ms
 
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My guess is that mix B is the pro version. It seems like this mix tried to mask the voice processor artifacts or whatever they were. It sounds better to me.

Now watch--I'll find out that mix A is the pro version! hey, I still like mix B better, whoever did it.
 
My guess is B being the pro....

A was very woody and heavy in the upper bass/low mids.........

Stereo image was kind of strange in both of them, though.........

I like B better - the difference between the 2 isn't subtle at all...

And I really don't care for the obvious use of the autotune......... !!


PS... BTW -- don't forget........ an MP3 at 128/44 really changes the sound a lot........ (and don't say "well that's ok because both samples are 128..." -- this is not so - the MP3 encoding will vary depending on the given signal, and how it applies ATRAC will vary between songs - in other words - the encoding ATRAC algorithms is not linear for both songs... even though we know they're the same songs, the encoding process doesn't and will not apply the same "audio compression" on each...)
 
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I like version A the best.

B sounds a little too soaked in verb.

Id say "A" is the professional mastering job.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
- the difference between the 2 isn't subtle at all...
Click to expand...

I totally agree bruce.

Did you monitor this with the genx6 clock?
 
Hang on, the 'pro' could have used wave-labs as well, and just sucked... Not much to go on there to do a proper 'comparison' as all I know is that one was done by a 'pro' and the other was done with wavelabs...

W.
 
This is a fun game! I thought it was B straight away. Louder, wider, fuller, bigger, etc. I thought it was no contest. But, then I saw people voting A, and I thought, oh, hmmm, maybe I'm fooled by the reverb. But, I'm goona stick with B. (is that yer final answer?) Yes....B.

Macle
 
I am a weenie. And my ship is already sinking.

I think they were both mastered by little gnomes, but that they did a better job with A. Man that auto tune shit is annoying sounding...even mastered.
 
I'll say A is pro mastered (stereo image isn't as wide, less verb) and B is home brewed (possibly some kind of stereo image enhancement program, more reverb).
 
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