How do you "master" a song?

[barneyc4]

Im a complete Noob when it comes to professional recording. Ive been recording with a Line 6 Guitarport and I plan on moving on the recording my guitar with a real amp and mic.

 

My setup is going to be.

 

Mac Book Pro

Presonus Firebox

SM57

 

Lets say, after the guitar is recorded on top of a backing track or drumloop, what comes next? How are you supposed to improve the sound? I plan on using Logic Pro or express after I move on from Garage Band.

 

Is there a Book that will show me how to do this?

[diy guy]

if you want to do it right, your going to need some professional monitoring speakers, otherwise you wont be able to hear what you have to do to make improvements. some things to think about after you do get monitors are, e.q. on nearly every track, and light compression on nearly every track. once you get logic pro, study logic pro's presets. they will automatically give you track presets for almost any occasion and instrument. they'll even give you mastering presets, but they only go so far. you'll definetely need a book to be able to master (which im sure someone here will recommend for you) but most people will tell you not to even try, a.) because you're room isn't tuned right and b.) because for proper mastering equipment your going to need to mortgage your house. if i were you i would go to the bookstore and buy some books on home recording.

[Gus Lozada]

SPAM

 

If you want to talk about it in spanish, visit "Nuestro Foro"

Se habla espa

[Spacetrucker]

First of all, as you're new to recording I think you should take the word 'Master' out of your vocabulary, that is if you are planning doing everything the DIY route. Mastering requires a number of things including:-

 

-A trained ear, this comes with years of experience of recording/mixing

-A really good monitoring setup

-The ability to master in a different room

 

And much more besides. I like to consider what I do to my songs 'polishing'. I'm not experienced enough or skilled enough(nor do I have the things I mentioned earlier) to say I master my songs. However, this polishing process consists of exporting my finished mix(which has to be EXACTLY the way I want it) and putting it through a compresser, limiter and maybe also EQing it. All of this will add some gloss to the song. I'm not saying DIY mastering can't be done, a number of people do it but for somebody new to recording(as you are) - it's gonna be a lot further down the road. There are lots of stuff you can read, and lots of knowledgeable folks here who can tell you much more than I can about mastering

[blue2blue]

I don't normally recommend buying things, even magazines -- but the current, February, ish of Electronic Musician has a moderately detailed article on "DIY mastering" -- I haven't read more than the first page or two but I didn't see anything out of line in what he was writing. It might be four bucks well spent -- or you could wait for that article to make it onto their website in a few months: http://emusician.com/

[UstadKhanAli]

Is there a Book that will show me how to do this?

 

Yes, there are books. The Electronic Musician "DIY Mastering" is a good call. There's the search function here or with Google, which will spit up quite a few articles on mastering. Then, of course, there's lots and lots of practicing and experience, getting good monitors and acoustic treatment for your room, training your ear, and those kinds of things.

 

Or you could do what every other hack does and boost 5k and use a shelving EQ from 13kHz up (rolling off a little bottom end if you are really "conscientious"), run it through a compressor, and then crank a gain optimization program until it's sinfully loud and distorting on the peaks, and then smile and call it an evening. Remember, if louder is better, then loudest is best!

[blue2blue]

Yes, there are books. The Electronic Musician "DIY Mastering" is a good call. There's the search function here or with Google, which will spit up quite a few articles on mastering. Then, of course, there's lots and lots of practicing and experience, getting good monitors and acoustic treatment for your room, training your ear, and those kinds of things. Or you could do what every other hack does and boost 5k and use a shelving EQ from 13kHz up (rolling off a little bottom end if you are really "conscientious"), run it through a compressor, and then crank a gain optimization program until it's sinfully loud and distorting on the peaks, and then smile and call it an evening. Remember, if louder is better, then loudest is best!

 

What's that toy mastering suite with all the "retro" looking screen animations?

 

I read people recommend that all the time -- of course, that is typically followed by a raft of derision from a number of folks. But the ACID and beatbox crowd seem to like it.

[alcohol]

Easy mastering. Put a high pass filter around 32 Hz. Take off about 3db with a compressor to taste, then pass it through the Massey L2007 mastering limiter (which is free).

[UstadKhanAli]

It's easy to do "hack mastering". I mean, seriously, you could do what I described up above to every single rock or pop song, and chances are quite good that most people would think that was good (perhaps minus the distortion in the peaks - or maybe not!! ).

 

Roll off the bottom end, bump up the mids, crank up the high end (oooooh, it sounds more "open" and "detailed" now!!), compress, and then gain optimization. Bang, you're done! Wheee!!!! Assembly line "mastering". Now you is a mastering engineer...

[blue2blue]

Just take a look at the "graphic EQs" in most folks home and car stereos... if you find one in 20 that isn't a "smile curve" I think they've got a gig for you looking for WMD's in a certain developing democracy.

 

Sad thing is, should you take a "lesson" from their settings and crank your mix the same way, anticipating their heavy hand on the EQ, they're just gonna leave that smile curve up, anyhow...

 

 

My favorite coffeehouse has a little sidewalk cafe thing going on and some folks driving by or stopped at the light seem compelled to make sure they share their genius taste in music with the nice folks sipping latte's and reading the NY Times. You NEVER hear any midrange... just trunk-thumping bass and eyeball-itching 8-10K jacked until you can't see straight. Half the time you can't tell if it's hip hop or stoner rock if no one's singing -- and sometimes when they are... the mids are just gone. I'm thinking it may reflect an ever-downward tugging FROWN curve in the driver's hearing... It might serve them right, but unfortunately they seem either oblivious or utterly intent on taking the rest of us with them.

[alcohol]

It's strange. I used to like to play with the graphic EQ in my car. Now I think the car stereo sounds best flat!!

 

Anyway, I test a good mix (mastering) by whether pushing the graphic EQ in the car and turning the volume up to a deafening level will make the speakers collapse or distort. If they don't then that is an awesome mix (or mastering). Imagine a recording that sounds good no matter how you mangle the EQ, and how loud you play it. Try Morph the Cat. Somehow they did it.

[toddlans]

It's strange. I used to like to play with the graphic EQ in my car. Now I think the car stereo sounds best flat!!

 

I turn the bass down just a notch. Some of the stuff I listen to already has a hefty bottom end, and with such a small space that bass just bounces around everywhere.

 

One of my pet peeves is when somebody has so much bass at such a high volume that miscellaneous parts on the car rattle to the point of making an audible buzz on every bass transient. I mean when you're a couple hundred feet away and you can hear somebody's tailpipe, undercarriage or whatever rattling that's just retarded. Don't get me wrong, I LOOOOVE low end, which is exactly why I try not to distort it to hell.

[C JoGo]

Pickup a used Behringer DEQ 2496 ..for 'bout a $100 ..and play around..fun, quick, pseudo mastering:thu:

 

~~just think dip *** not boost *** when you start grabbing EQ's

[MASSIVE Master]

Didn't we establish that he wasn't even actually asking about mastering?

[alcohol]

Im a complete Noob when it comes to professional recording. Ive been recording with a Line 6 Guitarport and I plan on moving on the recording my guitar with a real amp and mic. My setup is going to be. Mac Book Pro Presonus Firebox SM57 Lets say, after the guitar is recorded on top of a backing track or drumloop, what comes next? How are you supposed to improve the sound? I plan on using Logic Pro or express after I move on from Garage Band. Is there a Book that will show me how to do this?

 

There are books, I've seen them for sale and bought a couple myself. However, I learned in the bad old days of tape, going to a studio and recording demos there. The books I bought were less effective than those experiences. I watched the engineer as closely as I could without being intrusive and asked lots of questions. Since I was paying they didn't seem to mind. That observation taught me a process and all subsequent reading was then referenced what I learned by direct observation. I've done the same with mastering engineers. Mostly I like going to mastering houses for the superior quality of their monitoring situation to my basement studio and the benefit of having the mastering engineer as a kind of audio editor.

 

Even though I have a well equipped studio, occassional recording in other studios have been a revelation, in that I can hear the difference of other approaches and equipment. For example, I recently went to a 'world class studio' to record a demo. I learned that the Royer 121 mic caught the sound of a guitar amp more to my liking than a SM57. That a U47 sounded significantly better than my KSM 32 for vocals. I found that the engineer placed the microphones on the drums essentially the same way that I did in my home studio. That the close mics on the drums sounded essentially the same, but his two sets of room mics were significant. The Royer SF-12 about 8 feet away added an improved dimension to the drums and especially flattered the bass drum. I don't have an SF-12, but I uses an Royer 121 as a mono room mic and it provides a significant enhancement The ceiling mics which were about 20' above the drums sounded poorly and the overhead mics sounded had a negligible difference from mine even though I have a ceiling only 7' high.

 

Interestingly was how the engineer mixed. He gave me the ProTools recording on a DVD and I was able to 'observe' the results of his tracking and mixing at the convenience of my home. Was an expensive lesson but well worth it.

 

My conclusion, I havea really good sounding studio that defies the conventional wisdom of how it should be set up acoustically. The most significant differences in the sound of recording at my home vs the 'professional' studio were the microphones and the preamps. This observation was validated by subsequent equipment purchases.

[flatfinger]

" One key to a great master is to start with a great mix" B. Katz

 

 

One step at a time, grasshopper.

 

 

:D

:D

[flatfinger]

lol Remember, if louder is better, then loudest is best!

 

 

"SPOCK, SET LIMITERS ON STUN!!!!!":love:

 

 

 

MASSIVE : should we tell him about pre-mastering????????? :freak:

[UstadKhanAli]

Didn't we establish that he wasn't even actually asking about mastering?

 

I wasn't sure. The title says it, most of the body of the message indicates otherwise, but then it asks afterwards, "How are you supposed to improve the sound?" Then on top of that, he hasn't followed through in the thread.