More precise mastering tool than Spectrum?

[Tarekith]

You can change the precision of Spectrum too you know. I can't see it NOT being enough for what you're trying to do.

[PLacidBasilisk]

I guess what confuses me is that most advice I get tells me to trust my ears and learn to work better with them. But that obviously takes a lot of experience and time and until I'm good enough, it would be good to know whether I am on the right track or not.

I guess what I'm after are some general rules of thumb in a mastering situation. Are there certain frequencies that should generally be kept under certain levels in order to remain comfortable to human hearing? Are there certain frequencies that clash when heard together or that contribute to other unwanted side effects? Etc etc.

Any links to relevant readings on this topic would be great

[Tone Deft]

AFAIK not really, there aren't rules like that. if it sounds good to you, it'll probably sound good to other people. use your ears.

just start being a critical listener, listen to EVERYTHING around you. listen to the natural reverb around you every day all day, listen to the music systems around you, ask yourself if it sounds good or not and why. you can get better ears even when you're not around a DAW. the world is pretty interesting when you take it as a collection of sounds.

when you tweak a parameter, do not look at the value, look away and move it. then leave it where it sounds good. most of all, if there isn't a spot where it sounds good, take it out and try something else. effects and EQs don't make something sound good, good recordings make things sound good.

Spectrum is an awful tool, there have been quite a few people that find it causes more harm than good. I'm starting to wish they gave us something else.

IMO.

[Tarekith]

Flipside. I think Analyzers ARE a good tool to help people learn to identify frequencies, though likely trying to learn how to do so on a full mix will take a lot of time. I've never heard of any complaints about Spectrum itself (other than not being able to have it always visible on the master channel), but I think it's a good way to help reinforce what you may be hearing. I completely agree that it's best to use your ears first, but unfortunately many people have less than ideal listening environments, so there could be a lot of room cancellations affecting just what you're hearing. For cases like that, Spectrum Analyzers can be a good tool for a second opinion.

Also good for seeing if there's anything going on out of the range of human hearing too. I see a lot of songs that look great in the audible bands, but there's a huge peak in the Sub-(infra really) sonics that is eating into their headroom.

[leedsquietman]

Bob Katz and several top mastering engineers, while advocating trust your ears first and only use visual references for secondary checks, use Metric Halo's Spectrafoo. I am of this school. Trust your ears first, but use metering for secondary checks.

http://www.mhlabs.com/metric_halo/products/foo/

It's Mac only and expensive.

RN Digital Inspector XL was really great but now the company have stopped trading.

Nugen Audio's Visualizer is a good tool on PC for a reasonable price. ($89)
http://www.nugenaudio.com/visualizer.php

I find Voxengo's SPAN a more useful spectograph too, it's free but currently PC only (Alexsy is converting more of his plugins to mac though, so could be a mac version in future).

[locojohn]

I find Voxengo's SPAN a more useful spectograph too, it's free but currently PC only (Alexsy is converting more of his plugins to mac though, so could be a mac version in future).

I recommended Voxengo SPAN on purpose, as it's both versatile and now available for Mac as well.

Andrejs

[outershpongolia]

I think Analyzers ARE a good tool to help people learn to identify frequencies

This is true, coming from an absolute noob (as far as mastering and EQing and that kind of thing goes)

[SubFunk]

I find Voxengo's SPAN a more useful spectograph too, it's free but currently PC only (Alexsy is converting more of his plugins to mac though, so could be a mac version in future).

I recommended Voxengo SPAN on purpose, as it's both versatile and now available for Mac as well.

Andrejs

he? i must be blind but where do you see it being osx as well?

EDIT: figured it, it is still a beta and the link is via KVR...

[Tarekith]

Linky?

[locojohn]

Linky?

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3962524

Win32 VST: http://www.voxengo.com/files/VoxengoSPA ... _setup.zip
Win64 VST: http://www.voxengo.com/files/VoxengoSPA ... _setup.zip
Mac AU: http://www.voxengo.com/files/VoxengoSPA ... _setup.dmg
Mac VST: http://www.voxengo.com/files/VoxengoSPA ... _setup.dmg

Andrejs

[SubFunk]

Linky?

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3962524

EDIT: he he funny posted exactly 1 second after loco. or maybe 1/2

[Tarekith]

Thanks guys.