Ableton Forum

Hi, I'm thinking about getting Audition. I already know its a great wave editor, but is it any good for mastering finished tracks? Or should I just look into the PSP vintage warmer and mastering pack?

Well if you're going to be using plugins to master, then I doubt audition is any better or worse than other apps for mastering, although like you say, it is a great wave editor.

The only nag I have with it, as far as mastering goes, is that you can't put fx on the master bus (but you can still load everything up on a bus or track inserts, so it's not an issue if you're just polishing up a mixdown.) However, it would be very handy when arranging, to be able to load up the master bus with mastering plugs and listen through those a bit, to get a feel for how the mix would be affected by limiting etc, while still doing the track mixing.

I get great mixes with just Live or Acid, but I'm looking for something that will make those mixes LOUDER. I see your point on fx and master bus. Live does what I need with wave editing and using the PSP plugs within live would allow superior routing flexibility. I guess to me Audition is more of a software lust than a need. Thanks, Moonburnt. Anybody else have any comments on Audition vs. plugins for mastering?

i am a big fan of the izotope ozone plugin...
http://isotope.com

and also of course the waves L- series maximizers/compressers...

but keep in mind that LOUDER does not really equal better.

i would tend to think that if you are
pleased with the actual mixes that you are getting in ableton and acid
then really all you need is a decent wave editor/host with which to further
tweak and tinker

Yeah, I'm looking at izotope also. My wallet is not fat enough for the waves brand though. Like I said Live and Acid give me good mixes, but would like to be able to take those mixes even further with a program that is centered around mastering/mixing and not spread across the board. Jack of all trades Ace of none.

adobe audition1/cool edit pro was ok. not intuitive enough for monkey. I wouldn't trust it.I use Har-bal for final mastering. Very cool software at a reasonable cost.Worth a look. A harmonic balancer that can analyze other songs/mixes(not a morph proggie) and compare and reference graphically. Make adjustments with your 10,000 band eq.Nice.

Hey Novochile, could you post a link for Har-bal, much appreciated!

You could maybe find Wavelab on Ebay, no need of 5 ( need surround ?)version 4 or even 3 will do the job. Honestly I cannot imagine working without external editor and it works quick in Live setup.
What is the Har-bal like, I look the webpage, heard the mp3 but like to know from real user ?

Is there anything like this for the Mac?

PP

loudness was always my bugbear but i found that the t-racks plug-ins worked pretty well. (mac/win).

http://www.t-racks.com/

i used it to master the tracks on my website. and regarding loudness, don't forget bob katz's booklet :

http://www.tcelectronic.com/Default.asp?Id=1459

cheers,

j.

i also dont know what ever happened in the development
of this app, since i stopped paying attention,
but i remember being impressed (esp for the $$$)
of the goldwave editor.

its an editor along the lines of sound forge, so no
multitracking as far as i know, but then again, maybe you
could try using the free protools and check out whether or not
the quality in mixes is different to your ears...

I will try to post a example soon of what I have salvaged with the use of har-bal in a extreme case(http://www.theparisexperiment.com/). I really works miracals and I'm sure I am still not taking full advantage of all the features. Like the previous poster said you can really get a great mix with ableton, do all your editing and just final it through har--bal.
It put the final touch quite nicly.
You want it louder - no problem.There is a process though. You can lose the real essence if your not cautious.He is a paragraph from har-bal-


"Har-Bal is an advanced equalization system and not just a spectrum analyzer. Beyond that, even if your EQ software/hardware is superior you will be hard pressed to be able to come up with an equalization for a given track in the time and with the ease with which you can using the EQ in Har-Bal. This is because the filter is designed by modifying the spectrum directly and because the designed filter is realized to preserve perceived loudness. The latter is simply not possible to do accurately with conventional EQ equipment and techniques"

Get the Demo,read the manual.Experiment. It took me months to really fully realize its full potential.

Hope this helps.

http://www.har-bal.com/
http://www.har-bal.com/files/hb10s102.zip