Mastering Help

[Doddy]

Hi

Im just wondering if any 1 has any helpfull tips on mastering a tune , Ive done alot of remixes and tunes and i have a prob when the tune is built and i put it on 2 cd , I use it on my decks to mix with , the only prob is - is that my tune sounds dull compared to tunes that ive bought etc . Do i have to send my tune to a studio or sumat like tht ? ive got a mastering plug in for software i use 2 build tunes but i cant seem 2 get it sounding like 2days tunes
Cheers all , any coments would be apreciated

 

[R J]

Unless you have alot of experience and the right equipment you are pretty much fighting a losing battle in getting it sounding like something thats been mixed and mastered by a professional.

If you think the tune has enough potential then get it to a studio engineer who will mix and master the track for you ..

 

[Doddy]

Unless you have alot of experience and the right equipment you are pretty much fighting a losing battle in getting it sounding like something thats been mixed and mastered by a professional.

If you think the tune has enough potential then get it to a studio engineer who will mix and master the track for you ..

Cheers mate , I can see that costin abit

 

[ilovepiano]

Easy things you can do to make it sound better:

Turn the gain down a bit on the bassline. It's overpowering everything else. Same with wooshey sounds, they seem a tad loud and distracting

Turn up your drums a bit. Kick especially. You won't be able to do that if you've used a loop though. If that's the case, add another track with an isolated kick drum to fatten it up a bit.

Piano sounds a bit muddy and muddled. You could try adding a stereo ping-pong-type delay to give it a bit of width. Also try rolling off bottom end with the eq a bit.

Doing stuff like that will deffo improve the mix.

Mastering though, like Rick said, isn't a skill that is easy to grasp. The mastering process is applied to the whole mix - kind of like a final spit 'n polish.

Hope that helps

 

[pleasuredrom2]

Damn thought u want advice on keeping the mrs in line

 

[Doddy]

Easy things you can do to make it sound better:

Turn the gain down a bit on the bassline. It's overpowering everything else. Same with wooshey sounds, they seem a tad loud and distracting

Turn up your drums a bit. Kick especially. You won't be able to do that if you've used a loop though. If that's the case, add another track with an isolated kick drum to fatten it up a bit.

Piano sounds a bit muddy and muddled. You could try adding a stereo ping-pong-type delay to give it a bit of width. Also try rolling off bottom end with the eq a bit.

Doing stuff like that will deffo improve the mix.

Mastering though, like Rick said, isn't a skill that is easy to grasp. The mastering process is applied to the whole mix - kind of like a final spit 'n polish.

Hope that helps

Cheers mate , Using Your comments and others ive found a way 2 sort it out

Damn thought u want advice on keeping the mrs in line

My whip does that mate Haha only joking incase any1 gets afended by tht

 

[Hawk]

AAMS Auto Audio Mastering System - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

Found this 21 day trial for windows XP. It runs as an application and you just load in the tune file wav/aiff/mp3,SD II, choose a parameter and it takes about 30-40 minutes at gas mark 6.

Its been totally Trial and error (very like cooking infact, ive burned several)
I can see why the mastering engineers are well paid, its immensely complicated and critical to the sound of the track --they are obviously as much an artist as the engineer.

Iv'e tried a few presets on tunes i thought were ok and the general 'finish' was real nice, but bass drowned out the mid and hi range out. Even though i had balanced it in my headphones and on the monitors, the levels were still not right when eventually mastered...
So before processing I re-burned it with the bass parts down to -6db, the software seemed to sorts the frequencies out and crushed it all together according to the preset, which will increase the bass to suit the mid & hi range.. using its digital compressors, a huge EQ and a bit of normalising...

Doing it by ear & VU is a completely different ballgame.
You may have seen 'a porky prime cut' etched into alot of tunes...
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Porky+(5)
This guy is the masterchef of mastering..

 

[blue jammer]

For ages I used to just turn the volume up and hope for the best

I then had a play around with some plug-ins using sound forge 6

The best one I found is called 'Waves L2 Ultramaximizer' (see image below)

Simply used the setting "Hi Res CD Master" from the drop down menu and fired my tracks through that, it gives the tracks more body/punch without compromising your original sound or any overload of bass.


Not sure how much it 'costs' - I got mine for free

For mixing, mastering, and more, the L2’s legendary combination of look-ahead brickwall peak limiting, level maximization, and ultra high resolution give you the power and extra gain you need with crystal-clear results every single time.

Read more here: Waves | Plug-ins | L2 Ultramaximizer

 

[Doddy]

Ive Used AAMS before now It did make my tunes sound better , I used the Electronic preset or the house 1 , There were loads to choose from if i remember correctly . It was a decent prfogram i thought My demo ran out tho i tryed downloadin it again but it wont have any of it because my ip address has already bin used to download it

 

[parky]

i'm no expert at all. my mastering is duff lol
but i know a few people who have really got a sweet sound without expensive mastering ,but just on a home pc

i dont know how much you people know, so i might be waffling
but he said when you are working with samples or recording synth sounds or beats, instead of just recording them. get each seperate item and then process it with tools like a type of software like cool edit or soundforge e.tc. and then you can save resourses by adding reverb and compression rather than doing it later

getting each seperate sound sounding sweet before you lay it down. instead of tarting it up later .

i try this with beats and before i add them to the sequencer .maybe compress them with software
a friend also said that if you are making something on reason or ableton. dump a few sounds and patterns out and stick them in protools to master it
but i not really gone down that road yet.
i find a good fiddle with levels and e.qs on all the seperate tracks
adding compression here and reverb there. a bit of delay e.t.c

after a while you sort of get that depth in the sound.

but i dont think you can get the business done without some proper hardware
software is good but nothing like sound produced on nice hardware.

its a good topic. i will keep coming back to see peoples tips.

 

[Deleted member 6141]

lie on your arm til it goes numb then it feels like sum1 else is doing it.
sorry thought you said masterbating help

 

[ilovepiano]

Har-Bal and T-Racks are both handy little tools

Har-Bal - Worlds First Visual Mastering Equalizer

T-RackS 3

 

[sample_city]

Har-Bal and T-Racks are both handy little tools

Har-Bal - Worlds First Visual Mastering Equalizer

T-RackS 3

i use T-RackS 2, (never knew there was a ver3, gonna have to get it!)
i think its great, generally the presets are fine, but i like to fiddle, you can even master in real time

 

[bin shaker]

help

masterin requires different techniques for every track and also requires a set of quility monitors and a neutral listenin enviroment plus a good set of ears is the most important. if your track sounds a little dull rather than boosting the highs try and subtract sum lows and muddy mid frequences. sometimes simple a/b comparisons can help to a get a particular sound u want if your listening enviroment isnt perfect. after this then work on boosting highs. the waves plugins are very good for natural sounding adjustments and also the vintage emulations add a nice analog sound to things. remember to always use the limiter and never push it too hard. eq is the most important tool in mastering but subtle compression can also help gel your mix together. the best bet is too train your ears for cd mastering and leave vinyl masterin to the pros. i probly havent helped but i hope i may have given a little insight

 

[Baz9]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Ozone 4 by Izotope.
It really is a fool's guide to mastering. My tracks have always sounded quiet and muddy. Over time I learned to nock out the muddy frequencies and get a decent EQ balance but my tunes still didn't have the volume, depth, width, or that magical 'sparkle' which polishes off a tune.
Then I got Ozone 4 and my tunes went from average sounding to effing fantastic sounding. I still haven't a clue how it does what it does, maybe one day i'll look into it further, but to be honest, it does what I want without me knowing what i'm doing. Which is nice!

 

[Doddy]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Ozone 4 by Izotope.
It really is a fool's guide to mastering. My tracks have always sounded quiet and muddy. Over time I learned to nock out the muddy frequencies and get a decent EQ balance but my tunes still didn't have the volume, depth, width, or that magical 'sparkle' which polishes off a tune.
Then I got Ozone 4 and my tunes went from average sounding to effing fantastic sounding. I still haven't a clue how it does what it does, maybe one day i'll look into it further, but to be honest, it does what I want without me knowing what i'm doing. Which is nice!

Ive tryed this but cudnt get it 2 work , what program are u using it with mate

 

[pleasuredrom2]

iZotope Ozone 4 Complete Mastering System

few torrents for this with keygen 2 if u need em arron

 

[Doddy]