poll: are ableton's plugs good enough for mastering?

BassTooth · Post by **BassTooth** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 1:38 am

whats the difference if everything is gonna get the living daylights sqished out of it and playedback on some kids dinky Ipod? have you heard mp3s? they sound like garbage.

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 1:48 am

UAD-1 (Pulteq Pro, Neve 33609, Fairchild 670, Precision EQ Precision Limiter precision Multiband)

TC Powercore & Sony Oxford EQ & Compressors

Or both (TC for Sony EQ, UAD for compression)

rajcoont · Post by **rajcoont** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 4:45 am

BassTooth wrote:have you heard mp3s? they sound like garbage.

i for one haven't.....what are these mp3s everybody keeps talking about and what do they do to my records

replicant6 · Post by **replicant6** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 4:54 am

Again, if you know what you're doing this thing would be an incredible tool to use. I've played with it and it's slick. Sounds amazing

R6

simpleton · Post by **simpleton** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:25 am

rajcoont wrote:i for one haven't.....what are these mp3s everybody keeps talking about and what do they do to my records

It's a lubricant. You spray it on your "records". Less friction = higher fidelity.

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:01 am

IMHO Mastering should be nothing more than final spit'n'polish and veneer that is placed at the end of a good sounding and well produced piece of music or composition whatever the genre.
Which means there shouldn't be lot of fixing it in the mix solutions and dramatic eq and compression settings etc at that final stage other than what is necessary for optimum frequency reproduction across a broad range of listening mediums , stereo configurations , speaker types and possible radio broadcast ready mixes also.
In light of this fact it is quite obvious that LIVE does NOT have a SUITE of MASTERING Plug-ins as such.
That being said if you know your tools well there is no reason why you cannot achieve a pre-mastered and quality product using just the tools in LIVE before you reach the mastering stage of any given project.
I could subjectively argue that certain 3rd party reverbs sound "better" or other eq's have a different sonic flavour and the like.
It still doesn't detract from the fact that if you know your shit that Live + Operator + Sampler + Impulse + Simpler and the Inbuilt Supplied FX are more than enough to write, compose and produce great sounding tunes with.
Something as simple as Live + Reason 3 for example would be more than ample for alot of people also.
We choose to use extra's based on personal preference.
That said ALL my FX are Live Based , Reaktor based , 3rd Party Freeware only + what I use in Reason.
Kubik and Dimension Pro are my other go to synths more or less besides a small selection of Reaktor goodies (and I do mean a small selection little more than the supplied ensembles infact which i have a swag of custom snaps programmed) and a suite of SMEX fx and a smidge of Tweakbench stuff.
I'd rather save and get the mastering done by people who know what they're doing.
I'm no mastering engineer and I sure as hell do not pretend to be one.
The tools in Live are far from sub-par none the less and I've gotten great mixes using a hell of a lot less gear in my time.
I sure as hell don't use all those tools on every composition for example and rarely compose anything with a track count higher than 15-18 tracks tops (usually between 9 - 14 tracks is more than enough this end).
However we do all work in different ways and have different needs or desired goals we wish too achieve.
So the question itself seems an odd one to me as I would classify Live's effects as composing and production tools rather than mastering ones in general.

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:21 am

timothyallan wrote:Is Live a good sequencer for trance!?

Is Trance a good genre for Live?

-M

hardshell · Post by **hardshell** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:39 am

A good friend of mine who is a fully qualified sound engineer told me you should never add mastering FX to a mix before the mix itself is absolutely spot on. This means leaving the compressors, gates and limiters in the bag until your tune already sounds great without them.

Once your mix is perfected, you can then think about mastering but it would be best to send off a fully mixed stereo file *without any mastering at all* to a proper mastering suite rather than trying it yourself if you want a professional sound, unless of course you happen to be a fully trained matering expert!

I think as musicians/techie-types we can all get a bit anal about this. At the end of the day it is still the music that the average punter gets into, not the intricacies of the mastering process or whether there is slightly too much compression in the mid-range! If your music sounds good then people will like it regardless of the final sheen.

woodengun · Post by **woodengun** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:44 am

Good one, Fax-01
Live is a tool for composing not for mastering.
Live is not Logic, not Protools, not Nuendo. You dont expect those big studios using Live for their final treatments.
But for general using, Live's Fx is good enough.

microlive · Post by **microlive** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:22 am

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:
timothyallan wrote:Is Live a good sequencer for trance!?
Is Trance a good genre for Live?

-M

What is this sccchraaanz????

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:28 am

a misleading poll (but certainly warranted).....

live's plugs are great. That does not mean they "mastering" plugs.

let's review please......mastering is a very complicated process that is usually "out of house" so to speak. There are very very very very very VERY few home daw's that can handle true "mastering"...........that's just a fact.

ploy · Post by **ploy** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 1:57 pm

eyeknow wrote:There are very very very very very VERY few home daw's that can handle true "mastering"...........that's just a fact.

and even more an outwashed myth.

Cryptic UK · Post by **Cryptic UK** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:01 pm

technochris81 wrote:are ableton's plug-in's good enough for mastering the master out?

if so, what is the best way to use them?

if not, what should i buy to replace them?

thanks,
-chris

Are Abletons plugs good enough for you?

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:02 pm

no... for serious mastering you need something else.

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:26 pm

i'll take revolver over pepper any day.

poll: are ableton's plugs good enough for mastering?

are ableton's plug-in's good enough for mastering the master out?

How about the Liquid Mix?

Re: poll: are ableton's plugs good enough for mastering?