A mastering question

On 2006-12-07 21:39, Newbie2006 wrote:
how the mastering is handled? What is proper way of doing it?

let proffessional do that. usualy if label want to realese it he will take care of it.

Does each track (lead, bass, perc, etc..) get mastered individually?

no , mastering it\s applied on the hole track together , when doing the seperate channels it called "mix"

What happens to the midi tracks? Are they exported as audio and mastered?
yes , first as audio into the mix , then this track also with the rest of the mix into the last file.

Thanks in advance.

N

On 2006-12-08 17:07, shamantrixx wrote:
perfect mix = no mastering

lousy mix + mastering = mastered lousy mix

focus on what counts rather than on what costs and don't let them take your money in the name of the friendship
nhf

On 2006-12-08 23:50, qane wrote:

Quote:

On 2006-12-08 17:07, shamantrixx wrote: perfect mix = no mastering lousy mix + mastering = mastered lousy mix focus on what counts rather than on what costs and don't let them take your money in the name of the friendship nhf

Don't be so "There's no such thing as mastering in any good track" about it..that isn't true at all..

I understand that there's a lot that can be done with your tracks alone, and that the mix and tracks themselves are very important, but there is a lot that needs to be done in the finalization process to the entire track.

Newbie, I suggest if you're getting into mastering that you play around with Izotope Ozone..you'll learn a lot doing that if you have no experience mastering at all..

Also recommended is PSP Nitro for FX for your tracks..at least for leads and things, and use a bit of the PSP Vintage Warmer for your kick drum and bassline tracks. What you can do with Nitro, VW, and Ozone should be a good amount of mastering for a track that isn't going to be released..the only reason you should have to master your own tracks in the first place is for sending demos or posting sample tracks on the web..

Anyway to elaborate, you need to export your track at 24 bits in wave format and load it either back into your sequencer or into a wave editor like Sound Forge or WaveLab..

Here's my advice for Ozone :
EQing - cut down any drastic changes in volume in frequencies that seem to be jumping up higher than the rest. If, for example, your bass tones are a lot higher in volume than your leads and hats, you have a mix problem and you need to cut down on your bass frequencies on the mix alone, not in the mastering process. This depends on the track, so just get it to sound as good as you can.

Compressing (Loudness Maximizer) :
Set your threshold on the right to 0.0dB, since you're trying to get as close to 0dB as possible without clipping. Set the mode to Brickwall and the Release to 250ms. Bring the left hand side bar down just enough so that you cut off the little edge of the sounds coming through too loud. You should do this process during the loudest part of your track, which you'll be able to see in a wave editor.

Mastering Reverb :
Use a pretty "wide" room size, which you'll be able to change with (i believe) the second meter down on the right hand side of this section..just get it to fit your track. Use between 1.5 and 3dB of reverb (Wet Output)..again just get this to fit your track. Don't ever go crazy on reverb, it just makes things messy sometimes.

As for the rest of the elements of Ozone, mess around with them and get your track to sound good..thats really all I can say. You'll learn a lot in the Mother of All Mastering thread, so I suggest you reference it for any other info you need..

On 2006-12-08 23:50, qane wrote:
Don't be so "There's no such thing as mastering in any good track" about it..that isn't true at all..

I understand that there's a lot that can be done with your tracks alone, and that the mix and tracks themselves are very important, but there is a lot that needs to be done in the finalization process to the entire track.

What you can do with Nitro, VW, and Ozone should be a good amount of mastering for a track that isn't going to be released..the only reason you should have to master your own tracks in the first place is for sending demos or posting sample tracks on the web..

Blahhhh... nowdays everybody eather ask for money or doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. And that indeed helps out the first ones who ask the money straight forward.

This used to be a comunity for sharing knowledge and expirience. Nowdays it looks more like a pissing and beauty-synth contest.

On 2006-12-09 13:15, cytopia wrote:

Quote:

Blahhhh... nowdays everybody eather ask for money or doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. And that indeed helps out the first ones who ask the money straight forward. This used to be a comunity for sharing knowledge and expirience. Nowdays it looks more like a pissing and beauty-synth contest.

I have done loads of mastering for free. At least 40 tracks. But at some point when you put in so much time, and especially if buying hardware for that purpose; it makes sense to get paid for at least some of the work we do.

Its too common that people want everything for free. In some cases its appropriate something be free, but not always.