Compressing/Mastering Questions

Hey,

I've been making music for a while now and I have to start learning to Master my songs.

1) for now I would like to find someone I could pay to master a couple songs for me...anyone on here who could do that?

2) Are there any online sites that teach how to do it?

3) What do you think of this software? http://www.platinumnotes.com/

thanks a bunch guys

siempre fiel

DJ

>Bump

DJ

What Genre of music is it?

If you want to learn mastering, don't use platinum notes. but it could work as a quick "One Button" fix for your tunes if you want to spend money.

If you want to LEARN it, grab the demo of Ozone and mess around with it.

http://izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/

Also, their free mastering guide listed down low.

There is a RECORDING forum here that might be more helpful than here

as a basic rule, it's a bad idea to master your own stuff. its basically like being your own producer, it just doesn't work.

also quick-fix progiges like ozone, T-Racks etc give you the wrong idea of mastering.

there are plenty of mastering houses that'll do the job really well, like www.timetools.com for exsample. they got the credits and are generally really nice, friendly people with an insanely high demand towards themselves.

I guess it's a good idea to get one song mastered there and to compare it to the raw version again and again. this way you might learn what these guys are after, but the notion of replicating the process with software tools is - well - like trying to race in the Formula 1 with your jury rigged Sedan - neither you or the gear involved is up to the task.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audio-Art-Science-Book/dp/0240805453

if you're simply after improving the basic sound of your tunes, get a analyser/matching eq like Voxengos Curve EQ or Roger Nichols Frequalizer. Feed it a song you like that is comparable to your work, let it match the eq curve and lower the intensity to about 50% - this is by no means a substitute to having it mastered, but'll give you at least an idea of how to improve your mixes.

Really? I thought most people mastered their own stuff. Makes me feel better having not done it this time. You realize I'm not a singer but rather a musician that creates my own stuff (I thought called a producer)

Yeah I know theres a bunch of places that master it for you but that gets pretty pricey when you want to do a bunch of tracks.

Yeah I will definitely do that and try to take apart what they do. So what do they use if not software?

Cool thanks mate! I really appreciate it. I'm so clueless that I'll take it all and give it a read.

Cheers!

siempre fiel

DJ

There was definitely a time where people *didn't* master their own stuff, period.

Of course, mastering costs money... and with money not flowing around as freely these days, a lot of people do master their own stuff... especially at the hobbyist level.

Um... software? Seriously, you probably could even master with the free plugins that Reaper has. I don't think a whole lot of hardware mastering goes on these days, maybe some at the higher end studios, but in the dance market?

I *do* master my own stuff, because after all, I'm not going to get paid for this hobby music anytime soon. I use Timeworks software (a clipper and EQ), which are oldies compared to what's out there now, and other plugins if needed... I'm not going to call myself a mastering expert by any means, though. Look at the recording forums for favorites and techniques if you are interested. It does take some time to learn semi-competent mastering.

you're welcome

you can master at home, to commercial quality, IF you know what you are doing. how do you learn that? Not from the super secret cult of "Mastering Engineers" whose legendary skills were handed down from generation to generation and morphed from vinyl preperation* into digital straitening up.

Their secret black magic voodoo is impossible to recreate without a blood sacrifice and $120,000 esoteric hardware EQs and compressors, while inside a specially designed "temple".

... or you can buy Platinum Notes and probably accomplish it well enough that 95% of your listeners won't notice or care.

The end result is ALL that matters. Not the journey in this case.... unlike life

*anyone else notice that vinyl mastering is a job position that is no longer in big demand? I wonder what happened to all those vinyl mastering engineers?

... or you can buy Platinum Notes and probably accomplish it well enough that 95% of your listeners won't notice or care.

That's the thing... high-quality audio mastering isn't very prevalent any more. Thanks to the loudness wars, all radio tracks are just squished to death anyways... who cares about subtleties?

Now, granted, that expensive analog hardware *can* be pushed harder and in general will sound nicer than software when pushed... but at the levels people are pushing, it's not going to sound that nice no matter what. As a result, even on a hardware-heavy forum like Gearslutz, it seems like much of the mastering talk is ITB clippers and squashers.

The high quality gear IMHO makes much more of a difference in, say, the movie industry, where the dynamic range and fidelity is typically much higher.

As a result, even on a hardware-heavy forum like Gearslutz, it seems like much of the mastering talk is ITB clippers and squashers.

yup.

seems like louder = good mastering.

here's a tip:

get the Steely Dan Greatest Hits, rip the tracks and open them in your editor of choice. take a look at the waveform. listen to the tracks and how the different parts of the mix just work together towards a greater goal, like they're glued together.

now fire up your crappy software and re-create that - good luck.

in a perfect world, only 1% of the mouse composers out there would be making music, and only 0.001% would ever attempt to master anything.

if there is a fault, then it's me being too optimistic.

@ Soundwave yeah money is hard to come by so I'll defo look into learning myself. Well Stompbox said that trying to replicate what the pros do with software tools wouldn't work...So i wondered what they use if not software.

Thanks mate!

@Stompbox

yeah i know what you mean. Quality vs cheap volume

Wow that slide show dude crazy stuff. damn i mean thats some amazing gear.

thanks

@wwwjd

lol

well okay...thats kinda the opposite of what the others were saying. Put money to a good mastering job and its worth it kind of thing.

But hey that'd be great to just get that software and have it sound good.

Thank!

thanks ya all..i'm thoroughly confused lol. One says get em professionally master the other says buy cheap software and your good....:poke:

lol I guess it just depends on what i really want

DJ

i'd say your post is asking for both things also:

- you want to pay someone to master

- you also want to learn mastering.

you can do both actually. nothing wrong with that. we did both recently - paid a "pro" to master the first project, then I gave it a shot to master the second one. they felt I accomplished 95% of what the "pro" had done to the point that average listeners (purchasers) would not notice or care about any differences.

there is a place for both methods. pick one, or both and jump in!

Seriously, the GUIDE on the Ozone site is very good for just starting out - even if you don't own Ozone. And the guide is free

It doesn't hurt to learn anything and everything you can about audio. That said, you cannot master your own stuff. Here's why:

The primary goal of mastering is to fix stuff that the original recording lacks. Why can't you fix it on your own? Because, if you could you already would have.;)

Mastering is just like when a girl says "Does this dress make me look fat?":lol: She either cannot see that it makes her look fit, or she is incapable of accepting it. It's the same premise. You cannot hear what's wrong because you are too familiar with the material and don't have the fancypants gear to hear it correctly. Mastering houses have the way-cool stuff that us mortals can't afford.

Right now, the best thing you can do is to play your stuff for people who aren't you, and ask them to be super critical. That's what an ME does, they just have tons of experience at it and hopefully a great ear.

Hey, I've been making music for a while now and I have to start learning to Master my songs. 1) for now I would like to find someone I could pay to master a couple songs for me...anyone on here who could do that? 2) Are there any online sites that teach how to do it? 3) What do you think of this software? http://www.platinumnotes.com/ thanks a bunch guys siempre fiel DJ

I master, with a combination of URS Strip Pro, and hardware: Manley Massive Passive Mastering EQ, Manley Slam compressor or SSL G-Series Bus Compressor and UA 2192 Converter/ Clock to a balanced AES/EBU CD Burner (Tascam CD-RW2000). My monitors are Blue Sky "Big Blue" system. $250 per song. PM me if interested.

Hey, I've been making music for a while now and I have to start learning to Master my songs. 1) for now I would like to find someone I could pay to master a couple songs for me...anyone on here who could do that? 2) Are there any online sites that teach how to do it? 3) What do you think of this software? http://www.platinumnotes.com/ thanks a bunch guys siempre fiel DJ

I just bought it & mastered 4 songs.

It does a good job. It won't restore a hopeless mix. But it did a good job on all 4.

I like it. It is easy to use - almost automatic. I like it because you don't have to

know anything about audio engineering. Just click "Start Processing" and it does it all for you.

Based on those 4 songs, I consider it $98 well-spent.

It creates a new file & gives it a new name.

mysong.mp3 becomes mysong_pn.mp3

One review said it erased all the embedded author/genre info. But it did not.

All the copyright & author info is still there.

(*Note - I use SF 9.0 most of the time. I'll continue to use it. But after I'm done,

I'll run it through Platinum Notes & see if there is an improvement. I'll bet it improves

most songs.)

It doesn't hurt to learn anything and everything you can about audio. That said, you cannot master your own stuff. Here's why: The primary goal of mastering is to fix stuff that the original recording lacks. Why can't you fix it on your own? Because, if you could you already would have. ;) Mastering is just like when a girl says "Does this dress make me look fat? ":lol: She either cannot see that it makes her look fit, or she is incapable of accepting it. It's the same premise. You cannot hear what's wrong because you are too familiar with the material and don't have the fancypants gear to hear it correctly. Mastering houses have the way-cool stuff that us mortals can't afford. Right now, the best thing you can do is to play your stuff for people who aren't you, and ask them to be super critical. That's what an ME does, they just have tons of experience at it and hopefully a great ear.

Totally doesn't and I absolutely plan too.

Yes absolutely correct. You hear it sooo much its like an obvious mistake or such goes unnoticed. exactly lol usually it does make her look fat and sometimes I want my songs to sound fat .

yeah I have an account on Looperman and try to get some honest feedback, which is the only thing that does any good, but sometimes.. I don't get enough feed back or any specifics on how to fix problems.

thanks mate!

DJ

Thanks mate but thats a little too pricey for me. Not that professional yet.

cheers

DJ

really appreciate this mate. I defo think I'll get this until I know a bit what I'm doing and take the best of my songs and have them be Pro Mastered.

Sorry don't know what SF stands for...I was killing myself over this lol .

thanks again bro that really helps me!

DJ

Hey another question, will this Platinumnotes help to get my songs more volume? Like will it make them louder?!

thanks

DJ

Any program will make a song louder if that's what you want.

I would suggest fooling around with a free program like Audacity to start:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

"Louder" is very simple and very complicated. You have to learn about compression and limiters, and how they work. Just making it louder won't do the trick, you need to make it louder but "better".

Any program will make a song louder if that's what you want. I would suggest fooling around with a free program like Audacity to start: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ "Louder" is very simple and very complicated. You have to learn about compression and limiters, and how they work. Just making it louder won't do the trick, you need to make it louder but "better".

Thanks I'll check out that Audacity.

Lol yeah I know...I can take any Mp3 and turn it wayyy up (I use Sony Soundforge) but it sounds like crap. So yeah I was asking if it makes Louder AND better!

thansk bro

Dj

Hey another question, will this Platinumnotes help to get my songs more volume? Like will it make them louder?! thanks DJ

Yes. I'm not sure what it does - but it definitely increases volume.

I've mastered 8 or 9 songs with it now. All but one sound better.

The one that didn't sound better was already a good mix.

It increased the volume on every song.

What I like best about it - is that it is 1 button easy.

1. Add File

2. Press "Start Processing" button.

No options - no settings - nothing. Just press 1 button.

I'm glad I bought it.

awesomeness. thanks. Any idea why that 'one' doesn't sound better?

Thanks yo!

DJ

Mastering is much more than just owning hardware tools or software tools.

The key is working in an audio environment that has been professionally engineered, and knowing what tools to use, how to use them, and when to apply them on your given audio source. You have to have good ears and know HOW to listen and what to listen for. In other words good ME's have years of experience doing this.

I know a well known ME who used some inexpensive software on a very well know artists project in spite of having hundreds of thousands tied up in gear. He wanted to prove a point as to where software was heading, and that was 5 years ago! I will go out on a limb and say 95% of ME's still master with mostly hardware. But a good reason is that experienced ME's really know their tools very well and have been using them for years. When you work with the same tool for years, and it's producing good results, venturing into the unknown has risks. For someone new not generating any income, those risks don't exist, so a more equal approach to both software and hardware could be the ticket.

And frankly, good ME's stay busy.

Brian Gardner charges 390 per hour. I checked last week and he is booking into late June. In my opinion he makes the best loud CD masters. He has been mastering since the early 70's and using Bernie Grundmans mostly modified gear, can achieve a "better loud" where others often fail.

You don't slap on any software limiter at the end of the chain for "good loud." Good loud comes from proper gain staging, parallel compression, series compression, EQ, M/S EQ, surgical limiting, and soft clipping. So when you read the next "limiter shoot out" remember where good loud comes from. The L-2 hardware or software can rarely give more than -3db without issues.

Also keep in mind commercial mixes arrive at the ME's door already pretty hot. (in the -13dbRMS to -10dbRMS range) There is a huge difference between a professional mix down vs. one where I can hear someone relied on an L-2 or Ozone for their majority gain.

Other good reading sources in addition to Ozone is to download all the Waves Owners manuals that have any tools to do with mastering. It doesn't matter so much if you use Waves. The concepts are the same, and you can learn a lot about compression, limiting, EQ, and dither.

I would also suggest Bob Katz website plus his book.

Disclaimer: Like most others I hate the loudness wars, and "good loud" isn't really good. It's just better than loud. Any way you look at it, the dynamics have been severely compromised.

Good luck. As BK says this is art and science, and it takes many years...

Here is a before/after of two mixes I'm trying desperately to save.

(Before PM & after PM)

Judge for yourself. It sounds like there is more compression.

The new version is tighter.

BEFORE

AFTER

On a different song, the PM version is smoother.

BEFORE

AFTER