mastering programs....

[GuitarStv]

Re: mastering programs....

thanks for the headsup moose....ill deff send u an email...prob in the next few days....


a different question now....how about a program where i can just get all the sound volume on all the osngs equal? is there a simple program i can use? i have this gig on wed and we are gonna try to get some albums out, and the volumes are basically all the same, but i notice some VERY slight differences....anything easy i can do?

Well, bounce everything down to 1 track, then just look at the peaks and average volume. If you want to even out the sound, try to limit any REALLY excessive peaks (but be careful not to dump all of your dynamics while you do this) and then just set the volume of each song so that the average vol. matches up.

 

[Nightrunner]

Re: mastering programs....

I think this is probably your best bet . . . even if you have great ears and studio monitors, you'll probably have been the one that mixed the whole song to begin with. Sometimes another set of ears can hear things that you've become deaf to . . .

Aside from the tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars of mastering hardware and software that a professional mastering engineer has at his or her fingertips, and disregarding the expertise that comes from having mastered hundreds of projects, the separation from the project is probably the most important benefit that a mastering engineer will bring to your CD. Like others have said, if you've been involved with a project from the get-go--especially if you're one of the musicians--you will tend to overlook some problems that would be glaring to a fresh set of ears.

A lot of mastering engineers who also mix have someone else master their mixes for exactly that reason... If you've invested a large amount of time or money in a recording project and you're going to reproduce it in large quantities, IMO get it professionally mastered.


--Nightrunner

 

[J Moose]

Re: mastering programs....

a different question now....how about a program where i can just get all the sound volume on all the osngs equal? is there a simple program i can use? i have this gig on wed and we are gonna try to get some albums out, and the volumes are basically all the same, but i notice some VERY slight differences....anything easy i can do?

Maybe.

The better "pro" CD burning programs like CD Architect & Wavelab will give you a volume control to turn things up (to a degree) or down, do fades & crossfades and all that jazz...

Plus, most importantly if you're having the stuff duplicated by a house (as in having 500 or 1000 CD's made up) is that you can burn and send a proper PQ list along to the plant.

CDA and Wavelab are both PC programs, I'm not sure what's out there for Mac's but there's gotta be something. I know a lot of cats are/were using 'Jam' and 'Toast' for this stuff but I dunno if they're current or there might be something a bit hipper out there.

It might be worth noting that ALL of these programs will set you back as much as a halfway decent mastering job...a few hundred bucks...to say nothing of the rest of the gear and the rooms...having the ears and the knowledge to tweak or not tweak and fix "problems" that might exist within the recording.

If you only have slight volume differences I'd just leave 'em alone for now.

A lot of mastering engineers who also mix have someone else master their mixes for exactly that reason... If you've invested a large amount of time or money in a recording project and you're going to reproduce it in large quantities, IMO get it professionally mastered.

Great advice!

Let me add just one thing...

All of the REALLY good mastering engineers ONLY do mastering. They don't mix at all.

Most of the REALLY good mix engineers don't master anything. They just mix.

It's maybe like uhhh...taking your car to a engine guy when it's got a transmission problem. The regular mechanic can probably get it going to a degree, but NEVER to same point that the specialist can get it.

 

[vinterland]

Re: mastering programs....

+1 to Moose's comment above. Mastering is all these engineers do and their stuff is always sounds great!

http://www.finnvox.fi/de.htm