Write a new blurb for this board

[Terry Wetzel]

Please don't do that!

We could lose the Alesis and the MiniDisc forums...that is just off the top of my head.

I am a true believer in some Alesis stuff, despite some derogatory posts about them. Namely the HD24 and Masterlink. Where would I find better feedback on Alesis than here? Of coarse if this ,searching for subjects to eliminate to make things easier on MODS is the point I guess some subjects will have to be eliminated. However, let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. Not all of us are computer whizzes!

 

[Terry Wetzel]

How about, Things You Always Wanted To Know About Mixing Only.
or.. Just Mixing! or...Tracking & Mixing. I don't believe that these forums can ever be all things to all people. It's just not possible,(in a free society)!

 

[Terry Wetzel]

How about, Things You Always Wanted To Know About Mixing Only.
or.. Just Mixing! or...Tracking & Mixing. I don't believe that these forums can ever be all things to all people. It's just not possible,(in a free society)!

But.. I do think that Mastering shoud remain a seperate category, especially if the crdentials to be a Mastering engineer are as hard to earn as presented in these forums!

 

[Massive Master]

I've always kind of wondered why recording is a separate forum but mixing and mastering are lumped together. I know that many think there's probably too many forums on this board already as it is, and I don't necessarily disagree with that. But the combining of mixing and mastering seems kind of arbitrary to me.

Why not recording and mixing? Or how about recording and mastering? Because they don't really make sense, right?. And, IMHO, neither does "Mixing/Mastering"

Just an IMHO, YMMV, ICBM, MILF, etc.

G.

I just sent back *another* project this afternoon. Hip-Hop/Rap stuff (it's ALWAY HH/Rap - Never been anything else, not once, not ever - I'm just sayin').

Send a dozen DVD's with Nuendo projects (one on each), maybe 30-40 tracks each, etc., etc., etc.

Couldn't believe I'd "master" his whole album for $600.

There are large chunks of people (*evidently* in certain genres) that have absolutely no idea what mastering even is.

This happens maybe every three to five weeks. More often by phone (probably once a week) or e-mail (had one of those today also).

I'd love for mastering to have its own forum here. No doubt, it would have three posts a month from people asking "How do I get my mixes really loud?" -- But at least, they'd save me a lot of browsing time.

 

[masteringhouse]

How about:

Mastering - The meatloaf and vegtables are ready. How to present to your dinner guests?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

How about:

Mastering - The meatloaf and vegtables are ready. How to present to your dinner guests?

I think that's fantastic. And then we can have a similar theme for mixing:

How to keep your prime cut sirloin recordings from turning into meatloaf when you cook them together. The artful science of mixing:

G.

 

[masteringhouse]

LOL, great!

I guess that the blurb for the tracking/recording section should be

"how to butcher the cow"

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

GREAT! I love the way that cow's wearing a bib and a smile as if it's looking forward to eating itself .

And now I'm hungry. The good news is I'm also getting ready to leave for another trip down Old Route 66 in a few minutes for some country dinner and homemade pie. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw some more kitchy signs somewhere along the way that might work. I'll bring my camera, just in case...

G.

 

[lifelyrics]

You guys are too funny! I needed a good laugh this morning!
Thanks.

 

[antichef]

I still have no idea what mastering is, but if it can take my gruesome meaty mixes and make them look anything like this:

sign me up!

 

[philbagg]

I still have no idea what mastering is, but if it can take my gruesome meaty mixes and make them look anything like this:

sign me up!

That supermarket luncheon meat is disgusting. I know it's completely irrelevant but it made me feel sick looking at it.

South of Ireland, Waterford, Portlaw, proper butcher luncheon meat is where it's at.

Pure... Heaven...

And probably pure fat aswell. F**k it, it's lovely.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

HOMER: mmmMMMMmmmm....emoticon sandwich! ~~~~

G.

 

[mystonicrecords]

i'm new here, but most mastering folks i discuss with act as though it's some kind of unimaginable voodoo the common schmoe couldn't possibly understand. (i am a big fan of elitists) thus, my submission would be. removing the mastering forum, and just putting up the following banner.

Mastering - pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. you just wouldn't understand.

 

[BrentDomann]

I've always kind of wondered why recording is a separate forum but mixing and mastering are lumped together. I know that many think there's probably too many forums on this board already as it is, and I don't necessarily disagree with that. But the combining of mixing and mastering seems kind of arbitrary to me.

Why not recording and mixing? Or how about recording and mastering? Because they don't really make sense, right?. And, IMHO, neither does "Mixing/Mastering"

Just an IMHO, YMMV, ICBM, MILF, etc.

G.

Maybe the idea here is to split production and post-production. Take a film analogy: filming is like recording. Production. Then the film is edited, like a recording is mixed. Post production. Mastering is important, but it's not this incredible fix-all "we'll un-ruin that mix your stupid mixing 'engineer' ruined" kind of thing; it's more like a film transfer to DVD. It's preparation for distribution. Still post-production.

Just a wild guess from an amateur.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Maybe the idea here is to split production and post-production. Take a film analogy: filming is like recording. Production. Then the film is edited, like a recording is mixed. Post production. Mastering is important, but it's not this incredible fix-all "we'll un-ruin that mix your stupid mixing 'engineer' ruined" kind of thing; it's more like a film transfer to DVD. It's preparation for distribution. Still post-production.

That's actually petty good, Brent; you're right in that the split does follow the production/post model, and that in that way it does kind of make sense.

Bu then that would mean that if this were a video board, we'd also be lumping film development, editing , foley, sound mixing, SFX, printing, marketing and distribution, and anything and everything that's post-production into a single forum, which I doubt anybody would think is a great idea.

G.

 

[lifelyrics]

Bu then that would mean that if this were a video board, we'd also be lumping film development, editing , foley, sound mixing, SFX, printing, marketing and distribution, and anything and everything that's post-production into a single forum, which I doubt anybody would think is a great idea.

G.

Huh?? Don't get me wrong, Mr. SouthSIDE, I have very much respect for you, and your expertise, but I was thinking what BrentDomann said made a lot of sense, and now it seems to be confusing. Wouldn't Film Development be in the "Recording" section; Editing, (Foley - I have no idea what that is) Sound Mixing, and SFX (sound effects?) be in the "Mixing" section; and then Printing, Marketing, and Distribution be in the "Mastering" section, according to what he said??

I was just thinking about his layout, and how it answered the question I had about mastering - because I have never gotten to, nor probably will ever get to, the point of mastering when I moseyed on over here to find your response to him! So, help me out here. If a true "Home recording" person like me, is not in it for anything but learning how to make recordings for my, and my family's own personal use, is trying to get a hold of this process, there wouldn't be a need for mastering, right? Mastering would come in if I was trying to make a cd, and I wanted all of my selected songs to be consistent in volume, style, and tone, right??

I mean, maybe some day, I'd think, hey, why not put these "x" number of songs on a cd for my close friends and relatives, and then I'd have this whole new mountain to climb in order to get "my songs" in a cohesive, listenable format - "Mastered"(?). As it stands now, and I'm very new at this recording stuff, I can already see a need to go back to my first recordings and do a LOT of reworking, if I were to ever put the songs together on a cd!! That's eons away for me, because I'm totally in a "learn what I'm doing as I go" mode, and it seems every week I look back on what I've done with new ears.

So, I guess I'm asking a lot of questions, because this has been an interesting thread for me. I really liked True's list, except the one about "Hear with Ears" or something like that, because I wasn't sure what would be covered in that forum (as you pointed out, earlier on).

Please feel free to tell me how ridiculous you think me. I know I don't have a grasp of a lot of things on this forum, but I have gleaned enough to make me feel like it's a worthwhile venture to try!

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Huh?? Don't get me wrong, Mr. SouthSIDE, I have very much respect for you, and your expertise, but I was thinking what BrentDomann said made a lot of sense, and now it seems to be confusing. Wouldn't Film Development be in the "Recording" section; Editing, (Foley - I have no idea what that is) Sound Mixing, and SFX (sound effects?) be in the "Mixing" section; and then Printing, Marketing, and Distribution be in the "Mastering" section, according to what he said??

Yes, you are exactly right. But since we currently throw mixing and mastering together into a single forum, the analogy would be to throw all those together into a single forum as well. It wasn't a suggestion on what to do, it was an observation on how it is now (BTW: "Foley" is the art of creating sounds and sound effects for overdubbing onto the soundtrack. Things like doors opening/closing, gunshots, thunder, footsteps, etc. By SFX I meant special visual effects, but I should probably have left the S off.) Call me Glen .

If a true "Home recording" person like me, is not in it for anything but learning how to make recordings for my, and my family's own personal use, is trying to get a hold of this process, there wouldn't be a need for mastering, right? Mastering would come in if I was trying to make a cd, and I wanted all of my selected songs to be consistent in volume, style, and tone, right??

Your points and questions are not ridiculous at all; with all the misinformation out there this stuff can get confusing.

And yes, by the traditional, originally intended definition of mastering - which is the process of prepping recordings for printing and release on their final medium or media - a guy in your current position does not need a whole lot of "mastering".

But there has, for better or worse, been a little bit of an evolution in the definition of "mastering" as just about anything done to a 2mix after the final mixdown has been created, in which case thee may be some information that elates to you.

Unfortunately this looser definition has opened the door to a shitload of abuse of the mastering process as a poor-man's version of mixing; i.e. the large number of "home recorders" who understandably just can't mix very well because they jumped into this thinking that DAW software mixes their tracks for them automaticlly, are turning to the mastering stage as a way to try to fix their mixes instead of actually getting the mix right to begin with.

G.

 

[Terry Wetzel]

Alright! As they used to say, in my former life as a management type person, Somebody make a decision!! This could go on forever and in the end some participants will be happy and some will be pissed You can never be all things to all people! I drop in here almost daily and search the forums for useful comments from experienced folks like you to help me become a better recordist. Lately I just wind up logging out because of mouse hand corpal tunnel syndrome! Call it what you like, It's Rock n' Roll to me!

 

[Terry Wetzel]

Follow up to my wierd question...

I have a particular question I would like answers on from an established studio owner/operator/engineer type,et,al. I hope i'm in the right place but, if not please feel free to move this. Hopefully i'll be able to find it again. Here goes.If this seems a little wierd, bare with me. My question is about applying the right amount of equalization for a project I'm working on. If anyone has noticed, I'm a died in the wool rockabilly music kinda' guy and I get off on duplicating the original recorded songs to a tee. (well, as close as I can). I'm working on a song right now which will be a cover of Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Not Fade Away. You younger guys will remember it by The Rolling Stones. Anyway, J.i. Allison, the Crickets drummer played on a cardboard box! Norman Petty, their producer was looking for a different drum sound, more like what drums sounded like on blues records of that time. By using EQ and a live room echo, he achieved the sound he was seeking. I have tracked the drums,er' box but The sound isn't quite there yet. I've always used eq by ear so to speak. What ever sounded good but I think this requires a different approach. Question. Can anyone tell me what frequencies I should concentrate on? Please don't tell me that I'm a shmuck for not using real drums. That's not the point! Someone else may say it's stupid to do covers of old songs! That's a matter of opinion and the only opinions I need are experienced, educated ones. So, let your minds open and imagine you are me and, please, no rude remarks. Thanks.. (boy, that last part will probably bring out the A holes but, I don't have to read them). It's still a free country. Too each his own!

I take it that my question is too strange or out of place here to deserve an answer. Did I post in the wrong category? I naturally assumed that since a question regarding eq would be integral to mixing & mastering, that I was in the correct forum. Well..... Helloooo..... Is any none out there???

 

[BrentDomann]

I take it that my question is too strange or out of place here to deserve an answer. Did I post in the wrong category? I naturally assumed that since a question regarding eq would be integral to mixing & mastering, that I was in the correct forum. Well..... Helloooo..... Is any none out there???

Terry, I think you're OK in the mixing/mastering forum, but you're in a thread where folks are discussing an administrative forum matter. You might be better off starting your own thread on this one...I think your question is going to need the individual attention that its own thread would provide.