Subject:What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Posted by: jam

Date:1/9/2003 4:12:43 AM

Hi there,
after doing some good stuff in acid, I'd like to have my overall sound sounding 'more professional'.
Can you give me the (best) method(s) to follow in order to get a top quality sound?
What can be the best tools to use and how?
Thank you in advance,
Reagrds,
jam

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: dkistner

Date:1/9/2003 6:45:47 AM

Jam, I was trying to find the links for you that I've found helpful. I know there's a good Ozone tutorial online that has general information that's helpful, even if you don't get Ozone (although from what I've heard, it's fantastic for mastering work).

Somebody on this forum posted a great link to reams of information on mixing, pre-mastering, and mastering how-to. You might search for "master" in the forum and see what you turn up.

But I'll tell you: I've heard more than once to get the mix right and don't worry about the mastering until you really know what you're doing. Let a mastering engineer put the professional gloss on your mix for you. Now, I personally cannot afford that...but mastering is an art that one doesn't learn overnight. (So is mixing, come to think of it.) A tool like Ozone could help you a lot. I've used the Warm Tone Pro plugin to put a bit of a gloss on mixes I've done, but I don't have much experience with other tools.

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:1/9/2003 7:51:35 AM

Those who have a "PhD" in audio will go on and on about the rigors of mastering. While it is a craft, and not something you can "master" overnight, I have to admit I've seen the other end of the spectrum -- where people spend a ridiculous amount of time tweaking the EQ on a ride hat until it's "just right" -- and, in the end, your average listener wouldn't have known the difference.

To me, if you've got a big budget, you've got the money for a pro. If not, using your own ears is a good start (and good way to learn). While a mastering professional will, more often than not, give you a finished product that sounds great, they can't do anything to fix a bad mix. Concentrate on the mixing. Mix on a good pair of studio monitors -- not computer speakers with a sub woofer. When you've got a good mix, you can get a lot of mileage out of an EQ plugin and a mastering compressor, like WaveHammer. Sweeten it up & give it a pinch to boost the levels a bit. At least it's a good start. MHO...

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: asopaque

Date:1/9/2003 8:10:12 PM

i'd agree with the 'get a good pair of monitors' advice, and LISTEN TO WHAT YOU LIKE on those monitors. If you get your ears accustomed to professionally mixed/mastered work in your work environment, then you can really compare apples to apples with your own work.

some things that have helped me along the way:

1. Watch a professional mix at some time. Maybe you can talk your way into a mixing session with a friend's band or a mate who works in a studio. Just sit in the back, shutup and listen and watch. You can start seeing 'where' they are placing elements in the mix.

2. PAN and EQ. If you place each element in the mix in a different L/R space, and each element has it's on EQ range, you can fill up an immense amount of space, but you can still hear each element.

3. A/B your own mixes in with Professsional work. Even doing something like making a mix CD of a few Pro tunes you like, and slam in one of your mixes right in the middle. Take it in the car, or on your walkman. Set it at a comfortable listening level, and just listen. When your song comes on, DONT CHANGE THE LEVEL. Is your tune just as loud as the others? Is it clear and full sounding? Whatever criticisms you have of your work are the elements you need to work on.

4. Mastering plugins. Wow. Before i mixed on a computer, i only had a cheap compressor and no mastering hardware. Now, my fave choices have been Waves L1 Maximizer and T-Racks (Opto and 1/2 inch preset smokes!). Funny thing is that my first demo was professionally mastered. When i started mastering my new CD, I was able to get a hotter signal, and a better sounding tracks on my own mastering than the demo tape that was done by a pro. Sure, i learned a thing or two in the 3 years between (at least i hope so), but current technology mixed with good ears makes good sounding tunes!

5. Give your ears a rest. Mix your song...then go have dinner, take a walk, snuggle with your significant other...whatever. Then go back and listen to it again.

6. Listen at different volumes. Or, even set the volume at a comfortable listening level, then go into another room. What do you hear first? This is particularly helpful if you A/B with Pro mixes. When you hear a popular song from a distance or a low level...What do you hear? Try creating that with your own mix and see if it works.

anyway...good luck...mixing and mastering is a process, where you hope that your current mixes are always better than what you've done before.

have fun!

rich

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: Weevil

Date:1/10/2003 12:55:40 AM

My approach is to try to keep the whole process as simple as possible.

First write some really good music and then arrange it really, really well. Play the music on good sounding instruments and play those instruments really well. Put a good microphone in front of the bits where the noise comes out and press record.

Presto.

If you used a good sound card, in all likelihood you will have already made a very good sounding piece of music.

You certainly can tweak it a little; tinkering at the edges of what you already have.

Try to detach yourself, listen to the energy, feel, dynamics and atmosphere of what you have. How does it make you feel? What sounds good and what doesn’t sound good?

Leave in all the things that sound good and remove all the things that don’t sound good...The whole thing should be sounding very good by now...

Try to get some perspective, listen to a few pieces of similar sounding music from the outside world. How do they make you feel? Listen to them back to back against yours. Now how does yours sound?

If you have taken away all the things that don’t sound good, you should only be left with things that do sound good. In that case mastering (what this whole message is supposed to be about) should pretty much be a case of simply making the whole thing a bit louder. A good plug-in (I use the Waves L2) should be able to do this nicely.

How easy was that!

...Naturally everything comes down to your (and everyone else’s) interpretation of this ‘good’ business.

...And that’s the tricky part...

Because that’s where other hopelessly open ended words like ‘talent’ and ‘experience’ come into the play...

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: jam

Date:1/11/2003 5:01:45 AM

Thank you for all your great advices.
I totaly agree concerning mixing. A good one makes the difference.
In fact, a little point I wanted to insist was: ACiD. Do you think it is better:
1/ do a COMPLETE Mix into Acid (Pro 4), mix down and then apply some corrections/enhancements on these 2 tracks - got the final product
2/ do a COMPLETE Mix into Acid (Pro 4), apply some corrections/enhancements on each tracks, then mix down - got the final product
3/ do a partial Mix into Acid (Pro 4), export each track into a multi-track audio application, apply some corrections/enhancements on each tracks, then mix down - got the final product

I think solution 3 might be the best, but i guess a confirmation might be helpfull.

One last point tho, I think the first important step is choose a "way" (1, 2, 3... or a other), and the second step, related with it, is choosing the good (simpliest) tools.

Regards,
jam

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: jam

Date:1/11/2003 5:02:45 AM

Thank you for all your great advices.
I totaly agree concerning mixing. A good one makes the difference.
In fact, a little point I wanted to insist was: ACiD. Do you think it is better:
1/ do a COMPLETE Mix into Acid (Pro 4), mix down and then apply some corrections/enhancements on these 2 tracks - got the final product
2/ do a COMPLETE Mix into Acid (Pro 4), apply some corrections/enhancements on each tracks, then mix down - got the final product
3/ do a partial Mix into Acid (Pro 4), export each track into a multi-track audio application, apply some corrections/enhancements on each tracks, then mix down - got the final product

I think solution 3 might be the best, but i guess a confirmation might be helpfull.

One last point tho, I think the first important step is choose a "way" (1, 2, 3... or a other), and the second step, related with it, is choosing the good (simpliest) tools.

Regards,
jam

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:1/11/2003 10:03:27 AM

I'd say 3 as well.

While you can accomplish a complete mix in ACID, I always suggest the use of a digital audio editor of some sort at some point along the process; there are just some tools not available in ACID that are available in a digital audio editor, like normalization. (I believe SoFo made that intentional; each tool has its purpose.) The same can be applied when discussing the features of a multitrack app like Vegas.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: What are the best ways/tools to master a acid song?

Reply by: jam

Date:1/12/2003 8:12:14 AM

Thank you for your advices Iacobus.
It's much appreciated.
Regards,
jam