Mastering Software or Hardware Advice?

subfiddle · Post by **subfiddle** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:59 am

Hi - not really an Ableton question but I do use Live and wanted to ask everyone how you go about mastering your mixes - any recommendations as to software or hardware? We do a kind of electronic hybrid type of music, it's a little weird but if you want to hear it for reference, it's here: http://www.virv.com/bombergirl/music.htm (only the first 4 songs are more recent though) - just trying to make the most from what little $ we've got... Thanks a lot for leads in the right direction. Music reviews/advice would be really appreciated as well and I'd be happy to comment on your stuff too. All the best ~ Ed

Casual Beats · Post by **Casual Beats** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:18 am

Hi ed, for mastering, I find myself taking my tracks into cubase (I've been using that software for years and just feel real comfortable in there - this can easily be done in live) and mostly using my UAD-1 plugs. It's hard to say which ones are the best as each song is different. But lately I find myself reaching for the precision series of plugins for the mastering phase - precision eq, precision limiter and precision multiband compressor. Of course a pultec gets thrown in there every once in a while as well

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:49 am

Adobe Audition is awesome for mastering, and also useful for editing wave files. Integrates nicely with Live and version 2.0 is just out. Great!

http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html

Suade · Post by **Suade** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:29 pm

If you are planning to release your music commercially then I would say that you should avoid doing any mastering-type treatments at home and just leave that to the superior facilities of a proper mastering studio. If you've already processed your music before you get there it gives you and the engineer a lot less scope for getting the best possible sound.

It seems to me that the semi-pro/consumer equipment industry has nurtured a market for 'amateur' mastering tools in order to make more money. The results that can be achieved using boxes like the TC Finalizer or the various types of mastering software are just not anything like what you can get from using a properly designed, equipped and operated mastering studio.

A large part of that is to do with the sound of the room you are working in. Even if I did buy all of those expensive mastering processors I just don't have good enough acoustics in my own studio to be able to judge the sound properly for mastering.

What I usually do is keep an unprocessed version for proper mastering and also do a rough mastering job using Waves plugins or T-Racks so that I can make a loud / eq'd version for playing out on CD straight away. If that sounds good then I make a note of the processing I did and take that as a suggestion to the mastering studio.

Home mastering tools are for fun or practice but for serious work you need the facilities of a professional mastering studio.

FireForEffect · Post by **FireForEffect** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:44 pm

Suade is dead on...if you want to be professional, be professional and leave the mastering to the pro's. I master my demo mixes myself which is fine but for original tracks...those get sent off to the pro's.

subfiddle · Post by **subfiddle** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:52 pm

Hi Everyone, thanks for the replies, they are helpful and keep them coming, we're just trying to get a 3 song demo out in a week so we're looking for a quick sort of 'get it as good as it can be' mix / master. Suade, funny but we'll be in Barcelona in the 3rd week of February, any suggestions for the city?

Also if we do end up taking our songs to a studio to be mastered, what suggestions would you have for how to be prepping the Live files? Should we provide individual tracks with or without fx? No reverb?

Suade · Post by **Suade** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:48 pm

Hi Subfiddle,

First off:

No specific tips for you for Barcelona for the 3rd week of February - I'm away in the UK so I just haven't bothered seeing what's on. Check www.clubbingspain.com for listings for most of the decent nightspots in Barcelona - Loft, Nitsa, Moog, City Hall etc.

Second: for prepping your tracks for the Mastering Studio

Simple - just get your stereo mixdown to sound as much like you want it to as possible in your studio but without using compression or eq on the overall mix and you've done your job.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:59 pm

go for 24 bit render and a reasonably high sample rate too - even if your source waves are only 16 bit the effects and eq that you use will benefit from being rendered at higher resolution .

this means the mastering studio have more room to play with/ alter your mix, without running into problems. If you want to be really ready for disaster you can additional take the mix separated into 'stems' , essentially buss mixes such as (bass and drums) (vocals)(rhythm stuff), a lot of people are doing it that way now as it can help fix a tough problem found on the 2 track master. It may not be an issue if your stuff is simple, but for complex music stems give access to fix problems on one stem without introducing issues on another instrument.

When you get in a mastering suite it can be quite horrifying what appears out of the mix on those big speakers, stuff that was hidden becomes really noticable!

Nod · Post by **Nod** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:49 pm

subfiddle wrote:Hi Everyone, thanks for the replies, they are helpful and keep them coming, we're just trying to get a 3 song demo out in a week so we're looking for a quick sort of 'get it as good as it can be' mix / master. Suade, funny but we'll be in Barcelona in the 3rd week of February, any suggestions for the city?

Also if we do end up taking our songs to a studio to be mastered, what suggestions would you have for how to be prepping the Live files? Should we provide individual tracks with or without fx? No reverb?

Angstrom's spot on with his good advice. If yer really in a rush and don't have time for a 'proper cut' then you can at least do some stuff 'in house' given the right tools. Have a look at this thread:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

HTH

siddhu · Post by **siddhu** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:54 pm

subfiddle wrote:Also if we do end up taking our songs to a studio to be mastered, what suggestions would you have for how to be prepping the Live files? Should we provide individual tracks with or without fx? No reverb?

Hi Subfiddle,

You really should read some of the articles on the Bob Katz site about mastering audio. He is considered by all to be one of the best mastering engineers on the planet.

He has a specific article on prepping files that can be found at the link below:

http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id ... age_id=38/

His book on mastering audio (and digital audio in general) is a must read for almost anybody involved in audio production.

gomi · Post by **gomi** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:08 pm

subfiddle wrote:Hi Everyone, thanks for the replies, they are helpful and keep them coming, we're just trying to get a 3 song demo out in a week so we're looking for a quick sort of 'get it as good as it can be' mix / master. Suade, funny but we'll be in Barcelona in the 3rd week of February, any suggestions for the city?

Also if we do end up taking our songs to a studio to be mastered, what suggestions would you have for how to be prepping the Live files? Should we provide individual tracks with or without fx? No reverb?

where i live there are many competitive mastering houses.

i can get songs professionally mastered for 60-70 dollars a track.

trust me it make all the difference in the world.

when you are mixing it down don't use ANY compression or limiting
on the master fader, make sure nothing is peaking
the mastering engineer will be able to make it loud. really.
use compression and limiting on individual tracks very sparingly
unless you are going for the squashed sound.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:59 am

siddhu wrote:You really should read some of the articles on the Bob Katz site about mastering audio. He is considered by all to be one of the best mastering engineers on the planet.

He has a specific article on prepping files that can be found at the link below:

http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id ... age_id=38/

His book on mastering audio (and digital audio in general) is a must read for almost anybody involved in audio production.

After seeing Mastering Audio so highly recommended everywhere for the last few years, I finally bought it. Wow! It really is an excellent, well-written, in-depth book on audio. The focus is definitely on mastering, but the knowledge required for mastering easily applies to all phases of the creative audio process.

This book is an excellent primer on the basic audio tools - EQ and compression - as well as providing everything you ever wanted to know about sample rates, bit depth, dithering and jitter. Also included are excellent discussions of monitoring and room acoustics, tonal balance, the 'loudness wars', and how to train your ears to audiophile precision.

I highly recommend this book for an in-depth education in audio.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:09 am

Thanks - I think I'll get that book too then

Mastering Software or Hardware Advice?

Mastering Software or Hardware Advice?

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