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Track Mastering
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alien-ated
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
88
Posted : Dec 15, 2003 19:05
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this question is for my information
What do we mean by Mastering?
I do not know the difference as i have never heard a track which is not mastered, neither do i make music, so i do not know the difference
can someone please help me by explaining the difference
thank you to enrich my knowledge
  ~~~ Save the Humans ~~~ |
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jon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
441
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 03:45
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its like making a car :
1) writing the track/doing the arrangement is like the actual bodywork construction, then
2) the mixdown is when you make sure all the parts (kick, bass, lead etc) of your tune sound good : it's the paint job. Then
3) the mastering stage is when you prepare the amazing work of art to be burnt onto CD, so you make it sound good __relative to other tunes__. So you may sometimes apply some change to the dynamics of the whole tune (compression etc), or apply eq to whole tune. Its like a wax polish.
In reality these three steps get mixed up a lot though.... |
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kada
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
58
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 15:31
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Sure! Mastering is the final polish, but not everyone have the knowledge to mastering a track as good as polish a car!! 
I think the comercial CDs that we hear is most mastering in a specific and professional studio .
It means, you create and mix your track and after go outside for mastering.
Its just my opinion.... |
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jon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
441
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 15:57
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Quote:
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On 2003-12-16 15:31, kada wrote:
It means, you create and mix your track and after go outside for mastering.
Its just my opinion....
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I agree... But what if you want to play the tune at a party before someone else has kindly mastered it for you? |
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jon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
441
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 16:08
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Quote:
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On 2003-12-16 15:31, kada wrote:
It means, you create and mix your track and after go outside for mastering.
Its just my opinion....
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I agree... But what if you want to play the tune at a party before someone else has kindly mastered it for you?
[oops posted twice but I dont see how to delete it... sorry] |
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kada
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
58
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 17:01
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Although u will not have the better quality possible, i think many people do it. They finished a track and next day they play it on the party .
When u finished a good track, usually you stay excited to play it soon and see how it act on the dancefloor! And patience becomes a problem...
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jon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
441
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 17:35
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sure i think pretty much _everyone_ does it, but they master it themselves..... then later on they (possibly) send the unmastered (in particular un-limited/maximized) version off to the pros.
Im not talking about anything particularly fancy... just some limiting and eq... maybe some multiband comp... these days there is pretty good software available to at least make a tune better than the unmastered version!
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alien-ated
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
88
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 18:27
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oh cool
guys the term Matering itself says that it is polishing the track
but just wanted to know the difference; like what sounds are mastered?
are there any sounds which are made sharp? or tune made on one intrsument shifted to sound of other instrument? what softwares are used? why cant all do mastering? etc . etc.
thnx once again
~~~ Save the Humans ~~~ |
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kada
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
58
Posted : Dec 16, 2003 19:25
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Mastering is applied to the entire mix,not over separated tracks (or it is what i understand to..)
Mastering put the sounds "together",gives more punch,brightness etc..but dont forget,it doesnt save your music from the disaster if it isn mixed and produce correct.
We can do mastering, but isnt so simple and a professional mastering studio you can reach better results... |
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jon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
441
Posted : Dec 17, 2003 02:11
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yup like kada says :
during the mixdown you work with the individual sounds and make them sound good together. During mastering you usually have one audio file... I mean one .wav file. You try to make it sound better.
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Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
90
Posts :
2268
Posted : Dec 17, 2003 08:57
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The ideal is that the mixdown (aka pre-mastering) work is done so well that no mastering whatsoever is needed. Of course, this is not that easy.
http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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billy ambulance
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
43
Posts :
560
Posted : Dec 17, 2003 13:38
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Nik
Error Corrective
Started Topics :
13
Posts :
142
Posted : Dec 17, 2003 17:18
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i have to agree. the final mix should sound just as good.
it seems a bit of a daunting task at first when the final mix isnt sounding as good as released material.
i was thinking that mastering with ££££££'s worth of compressors, eqs and limiters would give it that professional sound but this really is not the case at all.
in fact, now, anytime i try to master my stuff it seems to sound worse and quieter than the final mix.
If you pisss around with the eq you will start to lose the spectral balance of the mix. you only have to do really faint touches to it.
remember that reprocessing a sound over and over will lose quality and this is even more evident when mastering a mix.
aswell its always a good idea to let someone else do it, preferably someone with monitors that cost thousands!
1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-?-0-1 |
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kada
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
58
Posted : Dec 17, 2003 19:47
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I think mastering like something that brings "air",u know?
i mean,it not only a question of level. It a matter of brightness too and have all the sounds melt together (a step beyond the mix). I readed that they use a kind of a spectralizer that add harmonics and gives body to the sound.
I try the demo of WAVES at home and it sounds really cool!! But if i would have some money i will make a test on a mastering studio. |
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