What do the "pros" use when mastering?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jamal
  • Start date Start date
Before anything else - THEIR EARS!!!! And if their ears say nothing more needs doing, they don't touch it, otherwise they'll tweak compression/EQ (in many cases not much more than a db or 2 at most), even-out levels if it's an entire disc (and NO, I don't mean normalizing, I mean adjust relative balances between loud and softer songs).

More the full story check out http://go.to/recordingfaq and look for MASTERING...

:)

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
I just got t-racks a couple weeks ago ... I don't know if "pros" use it or not, but it's sounds pretty good to my ears and the price was right. :)
 
Well....

If names like Manley, Sonic Solutions, GML, Crainsong, Apogee, Sadie, ProTools, Focusrite Red, TC Electronics, etc....don't ring a bell, you wouldn't know what they use. If you are asking, well, you either are not ready to do it, or you have nothing in the way of a budget for this stuff. I would say that the average competent mastering room would run you about $30K at the very least!

T-Racks? Not even close to the same league. Just no way you can spend 1/10th the price and get something that has the fine detail and resolution of a real mastering system. Plus, it is a 24 bit internal dsp path, which really doesn't equate to "pro" quality.

If you are interested in putting something together, and have at least $30K to spend on it, send me a email and we can talk about me consulting on putting together a suite for you....:)

Good luck.

Ed
 
Re: Well....

sonusman said:
... T-Racks? Not even close to the same league. Just no way you can spend 1/10th the price and get something that has the fine detail and resolution of a real mastering system. Plus, it is a 24 bit internal dsp path, which really doesn't equate to "pro" quality.


No argument there, Ed ... I posted it because he mentioned software ... so even with my limited knowledge ... I at least knew that t-racks existed. And it doesn't sound bad ... just not as good as a $30k rack. What would, though? Maybe a $40k rack? :D

If there's no budget for it, you can't really even postulate about buying that level of equipment ... and probably not even mastering your own stuff. If you don't have the budget ... send your mix to someone that does, or deal with some of the lesser options. If you do, however ... then disregard my post and buy as much high-end stuff as you can.

I originally was going to just post a link to gatewaymastering.com so he could see a partial list of what Ludwig and his crew uses. But, figured that would be talking above what he was getting at. My assumption though ... could be wrong. It wasn't a very detailed question.

Cheers :D

[Edited by BigKahuna on 12-18-2000 at 10:29]
 
Hey Big K

Didn't mean to throw you on the defensive here. Not what I meant at all, or wanted to imply.

T-Racks would probably work okay for very slight eq and compression for demo's.

I was just trying to make the point that it is far from the league of what "pro's" use in mastering as far as software. ProTools, Sadie, and Sonic Solutions are the top end. After that, you get into Sound Forge and Wavelab and what not. The Waves plug in's are pretty much the top end for PC options.

Anyway....

Ed
 
hehe ... it's all good, Ed ... I didn't mean to sound so damn whiney ...
It's just that I'm at work and looking out the window makes me think of the 3+ hour commute home I have to do (lotsa snow today) ... just put me in a bad mood.
I still love you, man! :D

As for this post ... I think Jamal should clarify what he really wants to do. Because, from what I'm finding out, mastering is a pretty big can-o-worms ... which I'm starting to think is better left unopened. (ie. send your mix to a pro mastering studio!) :)
 
Bruce,
Don't you use the masterlink? How's that working for you? That seems like it would work ok in the "pro" genre
 
Yeah WC... the Masterlink's great, but as far as true mastering tools (in terms of DSP processing) - it's hardly in scale with the 30K++ processors used in true mastering houses!

That being said, the Masterlink IS quite good, and can certainly satisfy some minimalist mastering requirements.

Bruce
 
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