What do you use to give your music the final touch...

[A. Einstein]

... what do you use to give your music the final touch,

 

when you produce all digital in the computer?

[philbo]

A few things:

 

I run 4 stem mixes into my 4-track reel-to-reel, immediately back from the reproduce head, and back into the DAW

 

For any EQ tweaks, I use a linear-phase EQ plug with very low Q. My habit: Adjust till my ear is pleased, the set the level for that freq halfway back to zero. (Example: If it sounds right with a 7 dB cut, then a 3.5 dB cut is the right amount to use)

 

I rarely use any compression on the whole mix, but sometimes run a limiter

 

That's about it. If it doesn't sound right by then, it's time to revisit the mix.

[temnov]

Interesting question, really. To polish a whole mix, not re-mix again, right?

 

I'd use three types of processing: outboard, non-linear plugins, space processors.

 

Outboard HW (Hardware): compressors, limiters, tube and all transformer pre-amps, reel-to reel recorders, EQs, shelf filters.

 

Non-linear plugins: Nebula Pro 3, Steven Slate VCC, Waves NLS. Some distortion plugins.

 

Space processors: Some kind of master reverb with hig-quality HW unit like Lexicon 480 or PCM 96, Yardstick, TC6000 or Bricasti. Just a touch of real echo camera or even self-made plate reverb. For stereo field some kind of M/S manipulation.

 

Almost forgot! Morning After Fresh Ears

[Huh?]

Izotope Ozone 5

[Tim Mayock]

I am in the process of building a back-end. I have two Audioarts parametric EQ's and a stereo compressor at Accutech electronics. They have been sitting around for quite a while and i wanted to have them checked out. These are used old pieces but very nice. and i have used them for years in live applications. i will send their output to an "Alesis Masterlink" I have thought about the Black lion summing mixer it sounds like a great concept with different transformer options.

[Kotch]

Ferric TDS:

 

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/ferrictds-released-today-withi-the-kvr-dc09/

[Mark L]

I don't use a computer

[Beck]

I don

[rasputin1963]

BBE SONIC MAXIMIZER

 

(-;

[A. Einstein]

 

To polish a whole mix, not re-mix again, right?

 

 

Yes.

 

What you do in the last 30 minutes before you export the mix, or what you do with the finished mix as last treatment.

[Lee Knight]

I love Har Bal

[WRGKMC]

Last thing I do is convert down to 16/44.1 and apply dithering.

[sventvkg]

Check out Slate Digital VCC and VTM.

[americansinner]

 

Ferric TDS: http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/ferrictds-released-today-withi-the-kvr-dc09/

 

 

I tend to use that or his Density plug.

[Huh?]

I tend to use that or his Density plug.

 

He recently released Density MkIII. Bummer for me because everyone I know who uses these plug's just loves them ......but..... Windows only. Free too. You can't beat it. The Density GUI is really nice......kinda organic looking. Just the look of it makes me want to use it.

[A. Einstein]

 

Ferric TDS: http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/ferrictds-released-today-withi-the-kvr-dc09/

 

 

thanks!

 

interresting, must test this plugs and hear if they are as good as the ones I payed a lot of cash for

[Lee Knight]

Sometimes I'll burn to a CD, 24bit wav file, then put that CD in my jockey shorts basket and do a little light exercise to work up a glow, then import the file back in and duplicate.

[Red Mastering]

wouldn't be better to send it to Mastering Studio ?

I think so:),

but if you are into DIY, then why not?

when mix is brilliant and doesn't need any correction,

simply sending it through Culture Vulture via TK audio Blender (parallel saturation) and touch of reduction made by vari mu compressor

adds very nice sheen and touch to ready mix

[Kotch]

 

interresting, must test this plugs and hear if they are as good as the ones I payed a lot of cash for

 

 

I'm not sure how it compares to the commercial plugins (better? worse? same?) but I slap it on the master track and it helps put some life into the music. I use just the dynamics and saturation controls, not the limiter -- I run a separate limiter which gives me more control over the output. The third thing I have on my master FX stack is an EQ, so I can have some high-pass filtering and so I can tweak ~2kHz to edit out any harshness.

 

It's a bit rough and ready, as far as mastering goes, but it's good enough for Youtube and Bandcamp.

[Anderton]

I'm a believer in "minimally invasive mastering." What I try to do is bring out the artist's particular vision as fully as possible; most of the work goes into the first couple hours, not the last 30 minutes.

 

I often pull back or emphasize particular portions of the waveform - like when there's a series of drum hits before going into a chorus, I'll isolate just the hits and raise them a dB or two. I recently mastered a song where the singer sang some "Yeah!"s at the end, and I thought they were too loud so I brought only those yeahs down a couple dB. You can't tell they were reduced, because ONLY those parts were reduced, so what came before and after was the same level. I also apply EQ to tiny sections of the waveform when needed.

 

By the time I'm done with all that kind of prep work, I've basically fixed the mix to what I wish it would have been prior to it being sent in for mastering. Then a little tweaking in Ozone 5 is all that's really needed.

 

One "trick" is I often add a very steep high-cut filter above 15-18kHz. It doesn't affect the high end for the music itself, but reduces digital artifacts from things like synths, drum machines, etc. The highs end up sounding less "brittle" and more "analog." I master on ADAM speakers specifically because I find their high end most revealing for these kinds of things, although as I've stated here before, I also do a lot of work with headphones.

[temnov]

I thought we were talking about the final mix before it is sent to mastering. Mastering is totally different stage.

[MikeRivers]

 

... what do you use to give your music the final touch, when you produce all digital in the computer?

 

 

A good publicist helps more than any mixing technique, plug-in, or analog tape. But you need to have good music.

[A. Einstein]

 

A good publicist helps more than any mixing technique, plug-in, or analog tape. But you need to have good music.

 

 

yup, and a small article in a women magazine sets off a bigger sales avalanche then all mastering engineers together. What good music is is not in my power to decide, I only look at the sales statement every now and then, and the music on top of the list is best for me and my wifes shoe and son's sport shoe budget, not that I would ever listen to all those songs, god beware me from this hell on earth.

 

When I was young men, I was walking around in the same sport shoes for years.

[electrochrisso]

 

One "trick" is I often add a very steep high-cut filter above 15-18kHz. It doesn't affect the high end for the music itself, but reduces digital artifacts from things like synths, drum machines, etc. The highs end up sounding less "brittle" and more "analog." I master on ADAM speakers specifically because I find their high end most revealing for these kinds of things, although as I've stated here before, I also do a lot of work with headphones.

 

That's a good tip to keep in mind Craig, can you give a bit more details as to how many db you might cut and would you start rolling off at 15k and get really steep at 18k, stuff like that.

[Cirrus]

This is a strange question for me. Anything that would affect the sound of the mix I'd be wanting to mix through rather than making a load of decisions about how it's going to sound then putting it through a magical "betterer" that changes the sound.

 

In the last 30 minutes of a mix I'll be mixing!