Totally newbie question -Sound Forge - PC - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Totally newbie question Posted by: vogelfrei Date:7/21/2004 1:02:05 AM Well lets say i know nothing. I have just finished my song made with Reason and Acid pro 4. What is the next thing I shlould do? I mean Render as.. ok but what about the bitrate and equalisation or the magic normalise button. I dont have proper monitors just computer speakers so all info must be graphic. Sory but I really dont know what Im doing with this expensive software as I have no clue. It was an investment as I thnk my music is good enough to present it to record companies so... next step mastering the stuff. My ignorance is complete so please remember that if you reply. See yall.
Subject:RE: Totally newbie question Reply by: DJMic Date:7/22/2004 12:56:54 AM If ya think your music is good enough to send to record companies my advice (if ya have a little spare cash!) is to send it to a professional mastering studio. They can do a much better job of mastering than you will be able to do at home, no matter how good you are (but especially if you are a novice and haven't got decent monitors!!!). If that isn't an option then you really have to read up on it as its a whole new ball game! Get your hands on Wavelab and use that to master. Basically you have to add some fairy dust (maxx bass type thingy), eq (using some high pass/low pass filters as well to cut off any rumble etc), compress (mutliband), limit and then above all dither - then burn to cd. Some good plugins such as Izotope ozone can be used as an all in one solution which may help ya. Good luck.
Subject:RE: Totally newbie question Reply by: heinz3110 Date:7/22/2004 2:09:53 AM >> I dont have proper monitors just computer speakers so all info must be graphic.<< If your mixdown is eh..uh..crap over other soundsystems because your computerspeakers doesn' t have a reasonable frequency response and such,you can pull out every trick for mastering/mixdown ,but you never can tell if a mix is good or not. Music isn't graphic.Buy a pair of nearfields.Saves you a lot of frustrations...especially on mixdown .Even nearfield monitors on the low price sector(300$) will do the job better and more adequate.And if you think about taking your final mixes to a mastering plant,it will give the mastering engineer better material to work on.Serious-Rely on your ears first,then your eyes. I wished I had some good speakers when I demo'd on a 4 track 15 years ago.Should saved me hours of frustration.Good speakers ARE the key! Gerard
Subject:RE: Totally newbie question Reply by: kbruff Date:7/22/2004 7:16:20 AM Buy a pair of Sennheiser HD280, monitor closed back headphones. These are good way to hear your audio with minimal coloration, and without ambient disturbance. Next buy a decent sound card, check: http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.htm Excellent website for HONEST sound card review Now -- if I were you, I do some reading about mastering, there are many books which provide good information. Choose a mastering software environment, there are a few which are notable - Do some experimenting - and then spend your money on professional services, furthermore you can put work on so many websites, which permit free download and even web promotion -- Kevin --

Subject:Totally newbie question

Posted by: vogelfrei

Date:7/21/2004 1:02:05 AM

Well lets say i know nothing. I have just finished my song made with Reason and Acid pro 4. What is the next thing I shlould do? I mean Render as.. ok but what about the bitrate and equalisation or the magic normalise button. I dont have proper monitors just computer speakers so all info must be graphic. Sory but I really dont know what Im doing with this expensive software as I have no clue. It was an investment as I thnk my music is good enough to present it to record companies so... next step mastering the stuff. My ignorance is complete so please remember that if you reply. See yall.

Subject:RE: Totally newbie question

Reply by: DJMic

Date:7/22/2004 12:56:54 AM

If ya think your music is good enough to send to record companies my advice (if ya have a little spare cash!) is to send it to a professional mastering studio. They can do a much better job of mastering than you will be able to do at home, no matter how good you are (but especially if you are a novice and haven't got decent monitors!!!).

If that isn't an option then you really have to read up on it as its a whole new ball game! Get your hands on Wavelab and use that to master. Basically you have to add some fairy dust (maxx bass type thingy), eq (using some high pass/low pass filters as well to cut off any rumble etc), compress (mutliband), limit and then above all dither - then burn to cd. Some good plugins such as Izotope ozone can be used as an all in one solution which may help ya. Good luck.

Subject:RE: Totally newbie question

Reply by: heinz3110

Date:7/22/2004 2:09:53 AM

>> I dont have proper monitors just computer speakers so all info must be graphic.<<

If your mixdown is eh..uh..crap over other soundsystems because your computerspeakers doesn' t have a reasonable frequency response and such,you can pull out every trick for mastering/mixdown ,but you never can tell if a mix is good or not.

Music isn't graphic.Buy a pair of nearfields.Saves you a lot of frustrations...especially on mixdown .Even nearfield monitors on the low price sector(300$) will do the job better and more adequate.And if you think about taking your final mixes to a mastering plant,it will give the mastering engineer better material to work on.Serious-Rely on your ears first,then your eyes.

I wished I had some good speakers when I demo'd on a 4 track 15 years ago.Should saved me hours of frustration.Good speakers ARE the key!

Gerard

Subject:RE: Totally newbie question

Reply by: kbruff

Date:7/22/2004 7:16:20 AM

Buy a pair of Sennheiser HD280, monitor closed back headphones. These are good way to hear your audio with minimal coloration, and without ambient disturbance.

Next buy a decent sound card, check:

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.htm

Excellent website for HONEST sound card review

Now -- if I were you, I do some reading about mastering, there are many books which provide good information.

Choose a mastering software environment, there are a few which are notable -

Do some experimenting - and then spend your money on professional services, furthermore you can put work on so many websites, which permit free download and even web promotion

--
Kevin
--