Finalising Recordings -ACID Product Family - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Finalising Recordings Posted by: mtb Date:7/29/2002 4:33:42 AM I'm now at the stage where I'm burning my final mixes out to cd but the final audio quality I get on the cd isn't that great. What can I do to make them more 'professional'? I'm adding compression and a little amateurish EQing on the master track but does anyone have any advice on: - Tricks inside Acid (Pro 3.0f) that will polish up the final sound or, - Affordable plug-ins that could do the same? Thanks,
Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings Reply by: Jessariah Date:7/29/2002 9:46:47 AM By audio quality, do you mean "sound" or "presence?" Most loops are fairly well EQ'd. You might want to throw WaveHammer at them (or some other mastering compressor -- I prefer the one made by Sonic Timeworks). Some people like to use the BBE sonic maximizer (now a plug in) to give their music some zip. You really need to listen and determine what exactly it is that you don't like. "It doesn't sound great" is like calling a mechanic and telling him that your car doesn't run and asking him to tell you what's wrong with it over the phone.
Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings Reply by: mtb Date:7/29/2002 9:53:43 AM Point taken. I guess it's that the final mix sounds muffled and muddy - I loose a lot of clarity and definition of various top-endy sounds and loose a lot of the bottom end (esp on bass lines rather than drums). I have Cubase VST but don't use it much. Am I better off importing it there and using some of the compression and eq functions?
Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings Reply by: Jessariah Date:7/29/2002 3:05:45 PM Plugins are plugins. You might get a different sound with each software when you render, depending on their engines. Make sure you're rendering (or exporting) as a wave, 16 bit, 44.1. If that's not the case, then maybe it's your speakers or hi-fi system. A good way to check this is to render the project out, then throw the mixed wave onto a track in the project. Hit the solo / mute button of the fully rendered track and see if there is a difference in sound quality between the individual tracks of the project and the full render. If there is, then there is probably a render setting you need to tweak. If they sound the same, then it's the system you are playing the CD on. Hope this helps.
Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings Reply by: Iacobus Date:7/30/2002 11:21:24 AM Sounds like you need a digital audio editor to massage your final mix. You might want to check out Sound Forge XP Studio 5, which comes free with ACID Pro 3. Only works with up to 16-bit files, but it's a start. HTH, Iacobus

Subject:Finalising Recordings

Posted by: mtb

Date:7/29/2002 4:33:42 AM

I'm now at the stage where I'm burning my final mixes out to cd but the final audio quality I get on the cd isn't that great. What can I do to make them more 'professional'? I'm adding compression and a little amateurish EQing on the master track but does anyone have any advice on:
- Tricks inside Acid (Pro 3.0f) that will polish up the final sound or,
- Affordable plug-ins that could do the same?

Thanks,

Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:7/29/2002 9:46:47 AM

By audio quality, do you mean "sound" or "presence?" Most loops are fairly well EQ'd. You might want to throw WaveHammer at them (or some other mastering compressor -- I prefer the one made by Sonic Timeworks). Some people like to use the BBE sonic maximizer (now a plug in) to give their music some zip.

You really need to listen and determine what exactly it is that you don't like. "It doesn't sound great" is like calling a mechanic and telling him that your car doesn't run and asking him to tell you what's wrong with it over the phone.

Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings

Reply by: mtb

Date:7/29/2002 9:53:43 AM

Point taken. I guess it's that the final mix sounds muffled and muddy - I loose a lot of clarity and definition of various top-endy sounds and loose a lot of the bottom end (esp on bass lines rather than drums).

I have Cubase VST but don't use it much. Am I better off importing it there and using some of the compression and eq functions?

Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:7/29/2002 3:05:45 PM

Plugins are plugins. You might get a different sound with each software when you render, depending on their engines. Make sure you're rendering (or exporting) as a wave, 16 bit, 44.1. If that's not the case, then maybe it's your speakers or hi-fi system. A good way to check this is to render the project out, then throw the mixed wave onto a track in the project. Hit the solo / mute button of the fully rendered track and see if there is a difference in sound quality between the individual tracks of the project and the full render. If there is, then there is probably a render setting you need to tweak. If they sound the same, then it's the system you are playing the CD on.

Hope this helps.

Subject:RE: Finalising Recordings

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:7/30/2002 11:21:24 AM

Sounds like you need a digital audio editor to massage your final mix.

You might want to check out Sound Forge XP Studio 5, which comes free with ACID Pro 3. Only works with up to 16-bit files, but it's a start.

HTH,
Iacobus