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soon
from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 20:44 [#00810900]
Points: 227 Status: Regular
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Hi everyone! I was wondering if any of you could make some recommendations for Audio mastering software.
I am quite unfirmilar with this part of music making. I have some tracks i have worked on, and i would like to finish them off.
Names and Links (if at all possible) would be truly appreciated!
Thanks,
Soon.
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JivverDicker
from my house on 2003-08-05 20:49 [#00810904]
Points: 12102 Status: Regular
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Try the TC electronics site, they have some nice things.
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soon
from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 20:58 [#00810927]
Points: 227 Status: Regular
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Thank you for the suggestion!
Would i be rediculous to think that i could get such software for free?
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J Swift
from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:12 [#00810948]
Points: 650 Status: Regular
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I'd say the best, basic, and decent sounding thing you can get is T-Racks.
It's really straight forward, just a (good sounding - for software) EQ, compressor, stereo enhancer, multi-band limiter and clipping stage... All much simpler than it sounds...
Won't really transform your sound too much, but good for getting a nice loud recording and glueing everything together a bit.
Be careful NEVER to over-use those things - Almost everyone over does the effect at first.
Otherwise, PSP's Vintage Warmer is a more advanced multi-band compressor - And Waves do a mastering bundle.
T-Racks is still the easiest to get decent results from. You can get 'em all from Soul Seek easy enough..
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manticore
from London (ON) (Canada) on 2003-08-05 21:13 [#00810949]
Points: 651 Status: Addict
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uh, mastering basically involves the adjustment of sound levels so that all of the tracks on a particular release (such as an EP or a full-lenght album) are relatively equal in their volume levels and can be played back without much audiable loss in sound-quality on all stereo equipment. no extreme highs (ie. spikes in volume) or extreme lows - just a nice even soundwave, to the best extent possible.
any sound-editing software will do the trick provided it allows for volume adjustment. i personally recommend COOL EDIT PRO 2 (and yes, you would be a fool to think you can get this for free - which is what SLSK and Kazaa were invented for! duh!). just load up an MP3 of a track by, say, squarepusher and compare sound levels (as represented visually) to your own tracks (converted into WAV format) and adjust them accordingly.
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J Swift
from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:25 [#00810963]
Points: 650 Status: Regular
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Nowadays, especially in techno/electronic music, mastering involves quite a bit of level boosting - Using compression, limiting, clipping and saturation to get a loud recording level, and higher bit-depth.
Then you MAY choose to go in for the multi-band processing option too - Which gives much more potential to mess up potentially good recordings - But, used properly, can make your recordings REALLY come to life.
I personally NEVER use anything digital for final mastering - You can get away with it on demos - But digital processing can be VERY destructive, and won't give you the smooth results you'd get using analogue gear... Which is why a label will normally make sure you supply them with completely unmastered mixes.
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J Swift
from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:29 [#00810968]
Points: 650 Status: Regular
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Also, mastering involves technical things - Like making sure the needle won't jump when playing a piece of vinyl - By separateing the bass-end and using an M-S matrix to make it mono...
Mastering's generally considered the VERY top, most highly skilled job in pro-audio - I'd recommend only using subtle compression and EQ in general, preferably not digital... Unmastered music doesn't sound BAD, but over-processed mastered material can be almost unlistenable.
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soon
from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 21:33 [#00810972]
Points: 227 Status: Regular
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Well maybe i was thinking of something else? I had some things in mind which you all covered.
In particular i have this track where i use an older sample. Being that it was broadcast long ago (30 - 40 years) it has a dramatic crackle and kind of an ambient hum/hiss combo. More hiss i suppose. As in you can tell when the sample kicks in because of background (static?)
It is hard for me to put into words....
Is this better?
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J Swift
from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:38 [#00810974]
Points: 650 Status: Regular
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I don't think you could use mastering to get rid of that too easily... You could use some kind of restoration software on the original sample though - That'd definetly be the best plan.
Waves do restoration stuff - So do Steinberg and prolly quite a few others...
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