Recording Forum

[zuke]

Short of boring you geezas to death, there are tutorials on my site http://www.samplecraze.com and the first set are about compression, check them out.
I will be adding sound design, eqs and sampling for the next installment.

[lollycross]

Last week I had "Dr. Strange" Master my first CD for me.
I was very happy with the results....nice quiet spacing between
the tunes, all the same volume level, no other odd noises,
and just a pure simple sound like I wanted. I will use him
again and just wanted to post that for all to see.
Lolly

[stone]

forgive my ignorance but a few questions...

why must the levels be at -0.2db?

what do the terms 'bit depth', 'dither' and 'downsample' mean?

Also someone please post more info on PQ coding and also details on how the 'pre master' copy is made and what makes it different from other copies.

[Dr. Strange]

Originally posted by stone
forgive my ignorance but a few questions...

why must the levels be at -0.2db?

what do the terms 'bit depth', 'dither' and 'downsample' mean?

Also someone please post more info on PQ coding and also details on how the 'pre master' copy is made and what makes it different from other copies.

Levels dont have to be at any specific range, some people use -0.2 as a standard to get a certain volume without sacrificing too much headroom or creating audible distortion.

Bit depth refers to whether something was recorded in 16, 24, 32 bit, etc. Dither is an added process to help eliminate what is known as quantization distortion when you're converting from a higher bit depth to a lower one. Downsampling is just converting from a higher sample rate (say 88.2 khz) to a lower one (44.1 khz).

PQ coding is usually done using specialized software or is a feature built into some DAWs such as Sadie, Sequoia, Wavelab, etc. Its not as complicated as it sounds, merely involves things such as placing markers that indicate track IDs, copy protection, preemphasis, ISR and UPC codes, etc. Also little things like spacing between tracks and hidden tracks, all the structural things that make your CD flow as an album and not just a bunch of songs stuck together. Right now the standard audio CDs are in what is known as Red Book format which PQ codes must adher to in order for them to read properly in CD players and the likes.

When sending materials to a cd duplication plant they can usually accept a variety of formats. Standard digital formats are CDR, DAT, and DDP. When it comes to burning proper CDR premasters all that means is that the CDR is created using the proper PQ coding in redbook format and is burned usually at low speeds with high quality cdrs using a high quality cd burner. If you are creating a CDR premaster then you want to make sure that it has the lowest errors possible and that you dont touch/leave any finger prints on it as any flaws with the premaster will be present on every CD that you get back from the plant.

[stone]

Hey thanks a lot Dr. Strange...will get in touch.

[skunky_funk]

1. Clean your ears regularly.
2. Don't watch loud concerts often.
3. Buy not just decent but HIGH QUALITY MONITORS that offer flat response.
4. Listen to A LOT of songs and take note of the final mastering and try to copy the timbre and tone of those you like.

[GaryMoore]

very nice post!

[tpistey]

Here is a link to some interesting docs I found on another group. They are published by Isotope, the manufacturers of Ozone. However, the pdf on mastering is a pretty good primer for those who want to simply "do it themselves".

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/ozoneguide.html

Tom

[Muzochick]

Dr Strange,

thanks for your tips on mastering, i am currently in the middle of my first mastering assignment and it helped a lot.:rolleyes:

[Josh Savoy]

What is the ideal mastering environment? I have a spare room in my house that I could convert to a specific mastering room if the wind carried me. I'm gonna turn my basement into a sound-treated (as pro as possible) studio during the summer, and I still have some cash to blow. Anyone know about this?

[Dr. Strange]

The "ideal environment" would be your best combination of room acoustics and monitoring chain. If you're referring to how dead or live should the room be, that is usually a matter of personal preference but generally shouldnt be too much of either. However, realistically speaking, unless you have a lot of cash left over, setting up an entirely separate mastering room of any quality is probably not a good idea (it costs a lot! ).

[Josh Savoy]

Well I could toss up to 2k in the room, and then grab equipment. I'd learn it all myself which I'm giving myself about 6 months to do. Basically what I'm doing is like going to recording school, just spending my money on gear instead of schooling. I've got loans and everything in the works.

[blackberry]

We finished recording and mixing a CD and have been pretty happy with the sound that we got. We recorded it in our city with some help from a guy we know who works at a studio. He’s done lots of recordings for commercials, soundtracks, etc. but not as many RnR bands. He was great in recording us and it was incredibly easy. We had some challenges with the mixing but now have a version we’re all happy with.

The problem is, he’s really green and struggling with the mastering. He says that he doesn’t have a lot of experience in mastering a recording with a band like us who use a number of different dynamics in songs. His first attempt, we got a really bad sound and the levels were all screwed up we had from the mix. The sound just sounded ‘processed’ and wasn’t clean at all. He’s going to try it again.

My question is, I have a basic idea of what mastering is, but ‘how much’ should we master this thing. I guess when I listen to the finalized mix, I think ‘Shit, let’s just release it as it is!’. What’s the reason for mastering besides getting a consistent level of volume for the release? Is it crazy to think that we could release a recording without all this mastering on it?

We don’t really have the option to take it somewhere else as this guy has ended up doing a lot of his work pro-bono and is really hoping to use this recording for his portfolio or resume. Does anyone have any advice…..

[Dr. Strange]

Mastering is not necessarily about using compression, eq, limiting...it's about knowing when to make changes and how to probably do such changes. Sometimes no additional processing is needed, if the mixes sound good already by all means release them as they are. There's no need to change the sound if its already how you want it.

But just a note, you may also consider having a third party (someone not involved in the recording/mixing) listen as well to give you an additional perspective.

[Carabus]

When you compress a stereo mix as a part of the mastering, do you always use multibandcompressor? If not, when do you use a ordinary compressor?

[Dr. Strange]

Well personally I try to stay away from multiband as much as possible. Multiband compressors are usually used for "save jobs" when a great deal of tweaking is required. An ordinary compressor is used for changing the overall dynamic range or sound of a whole song or select parts. Just FYI pretty much all "mastering quality" compressors are NOT multiband...those are usually found in software plug-in form.

[Carabus]

What settings do you use when you compress a standard rocksong? (with a standard compressor, not multiband). Peak compression right? And then?

[Lemao]

Do anybody knows if there is a VST plug in that can help me mastering my songs? No professional, just demo quality!:confused:

[McGazz]

Originally posted by Lemao
Do anybody knows if there is a VST plug in that can help me mastering my songs? No professional, just demo quality!:confused:

As someone doing home demo type stuff, I'd recommend Steinberg Mastering Edition. It's a collection of VST plugins that cover EQ, compression, etc. The Loudness Maximiser is well cool.

[A_P_Seal]

Hi all... This has been a fabulous thread!

Can anyone please explain to me the major differences between a "Mixing" room and a "Mastering" room? Is it only the amount and type of gear in the room, or is it also spatial dimensions and and accoustical response?

Are there other differences besides those two?

Thanks in advance!