Members davd_indigo Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 I'm currently just recording with an Olympic LS-100 mounted on a mic boom stand. I'm planning on ordering (when they're available again) a Tascam DP-008EX portastudio. After I retire (about 1 year from now) I expect to buy a USB interface for multitracking. I expect to take a course or two on recording after retiring also. I've started making 10-15 copies of a CD to give to friends and relatives. Just a document of my musical efforts. Currently I'm ripping the recordings (after normalizing the wave file) to Windows Media Player. Then I burn a CD. This seems like it must be somewhat backwards since a Wave is being converted to an mp3 and then back to a Wave when burning. I'd like to purchase modestly priced mastering software, maybe $100 or less hopefully to be used for my various recording platforms. Also, are there some FAQ's for idiots doing mastering? I know that often 2 or 3 pieces of information can double or triple ones knowledge on a given subject if one knows nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 Audacity is a good place to start - for starters, it's free The link is at the bottom of this post. For articles and videos, just type craig anderton mastering into Google and you'll find lots of stuff. A good place to start is my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton, which has several videos on mastering with Studio One Pro although the tips are applicable to pretty much anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 Why are you converting anything to MP3? And no, I don't know the answer to your question, as I don't do that. I use Pro Tools to "master", but it's not truly mastering software at all. The one bit of advice I can give you is to listen in a well-tuned room with the best monitors you can get...but failing that, try listening to your music on as many speakers as possible: car, stereo, boombox, iPod, whatever. Ideally, your music should sound great on all those things. Most people have too much bass if they are recording at home, or really lumpy low mids, so be on the lookout for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 Why are you converting anything to MP3? Indeed, you don't need to do that. Windows Media Player can burn WAV files. Just drag them into your music library, then drag them into the pane for tracks you want to burn to CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members davd_indigo Posted August 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 Wow. I simply didn't know. But with a couple of minutes of trial and error I burned a CD with dragged Wav files just as you said. Thanks. I also downloaded Audacity and will begin playing with it. It's funny how one can muddle along doing something the harder way and may never stumble onto a better way. Until one asks. Thanks. And I'll look up your (Craig's) mastering how-to's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 If you can figure out Audacity, you've clearly got a better brain than I do! I tried to do that a few years back on my PC, and I struggled with it. Probably just because I'm used to a different DAW. Just didn't seem logical to me, though, but we're all wired differently. Anyway, when you go to master, I am going to plead with you not to slam the levels on gain optimization and let the music breathe. Please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted August 17, 2014 Members Share Posted August 17, 2014 If you can figure out Audacity, you've clearly got a better brain than I do! I tried to do that a few years back on my PC, and I struggled with it. Probably just because I'm used to a different DAW. Just didn't seem logical to me, though, but we're all wired differently. I've never actually used it...I just know it edits stuff, it's free, and by and large people don't say that it destroys their computer. Anyway, when you go to master, I am going to plead with you not to slam the levels on gain optimization and let the music breathe. Please. That's terrible advice! Ken is into quality sound and musicality. So if you want to make music for a tiny fraction of the population that's like Ken, be my guest. Otherwise, slam the crap out of it until it becomes a huge, ugly, distorted mess that makes dogs run away whimpering. Then you'll be considered really "with it"! All kidding aside, people are starting to realize there's this aspect of music called "dynamics," and that it can contribute a lot to a piece of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 18, 2014 Members Share Posted August 18, 2014 If your music is recorded and mixed already, and you want to experiment mastering the music, I suggest you get an audio editor program. Here's a review on some: http://audio-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ some that weren't on the list like Sound Forge have been used in pro studios for a long time. These editor programs have all the basic tools for normal housekeeping stuff. You can do everything from editing intros and exits, to EQing and limiting before mastering the music. Most should let you use VST plugins as well so you can download other tools and use them within the program. I still use Cool Edit and Wave lab for mastering which are older programs, but they are just shell programs for running my better plugins. The basic editing functions are all I need and they do well for that. I have a full screen wave view and diagnostic tools which lets me fix just about anything I've come across. I can even see how loud a song is by the grid and know how many DB's I may need to boost the loudness to bring it up to commercial levels. I could do the same things in a DAW program but I'm old school when it comes to these tasks. I separate Tracking, Mixing and Mastering as being a different jobs. When I master I even use a different computer and room away from the studio so I can carefully analyze the music as a stereo file, not a studio mix. I do own several all in one mastering suites like Ozone and Tracks. These can do the job, after you've learned to master properly. Unfortunately they are difficult to learn how to master with because its too easy to use a preset that "seems" to sound better. One tool that is very good is Har Bal. It does a wonderful job in loudness matching and overall EQ. Its lets you match the loudness of a set of songs being put on a CD so you aren't tweaking the volume between songs. Its not an easy program to learn however and its easy to misuse. Over time as you get better, it actually helps you identify mixing problems so when you get to the point of mastering, you need less and less CPR to fix things that should have been fixed earlier in the chain. For learning material I suggest you buy a copy of Mastering Audio by Bob Katz. It covers every area of mastering in great detail so you have some idea of what's involved. After you get some tools to work with and get some experience, give this method a try. You can use substitute plugins, and get the same final results. I follow this method and get pro results nearly every time. You may not need all these steps depending on the mix quality, but most mastering that's needed follows this template with or without variations as needed. http://hdqtrz.com/Files/Har-Bal_Mastering_Process.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 18, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Sound Forge has been around for a long time and now has a "lite" version, Sound Forge Studio 10, that will do everything you want. You can edit, tweak, optimize, and burn a CD all within the program. You can also save your recordings in any of the popular compressed formats. It comes with a basic group of equalization, dynamics processing, and reverb processors, and it supports VST, a standard for "plug ins" that allow you to expand the processing capabilities, sometimes with some very good free tools. It's only $60 http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/audiostudio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members davd_indigo Posted August 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2014 Mike, would the Soundforge "lite" you referred to be the same one in my amazon link below ? They look the same at a glance. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Sound-Forge-Audio-Studio/dp/B00HRQB3FQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=Sony+soundforge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 19, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 Mike, would the Soundforge "lite" you referred to be the same one in my amazon link below ? They look the same at a glance. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Sound-Forge-Audio-Studio/dp/B00HRQB3FQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=Sony+soundforge Yes, that's the program, and that's a good price. If you go to the Sony web site directly, they'll charge you $59.95. You can download a trial version from that Sony link, though, if you want to take a closer look at it before you buy it. The trial version won't allow you to save your edited file or burn a CD but you can see how it looks on your computer and try making some edits to see if you're comfortable with how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KB Gunn Posted August 24, 2014 Members Share Posted August 24, 2014 That's terrible advice! Ken is into quality sound and musicality. So if you want to make music for a tiny fraction of the population that's like Ken, be my guest. Otherwise, slam the crap out of it until it becomes a huge, ugly, distorted mess that makes dogs run away whimpering. Then you'll be considered really "with it"! All kidding aside, people are starting to realize there's this aspect of music called "dynamics," and that it can contribute a lot to a piece of music. Craig, I can't remember who said it, but "You can't polish a turd" I say, " You can't polish a turd, but you can compress the crap out of it..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KB Gunn Posted August 24, 2014 Members Share Posted August 24, 2014 I use Studio One Pro 2.63 and that has mixing of each song PLUS advanced mastering in project mode. That feature is even in the Artist version which is very inexpensive and even included in all I/O units that Presonus sells. You can even upload to Soundcloud and Nimbit directly from Studio One. That is the best software to meet the needs of the original poster of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 24, 2014 Members Share Posted August 24, 2014 Craig, I can't remember who said it, but "You can't polish a turd" I say, " You can't polish a turd, but you can compress the crap out of it..." You CAN polish a turd. Simply freeze it first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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