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Mastering Software?
 

offline soon from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 20:44 [#00810900]
Points: 227 Status: Regular



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.


 

offline JivverDicker from my house on 2003-08-05 20:49 [#00810904]
Points: 12102 Status: Regular



Try the TC electronics site, they have some nice things.


 

offline soon from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 20:58 [#00810927]
Points: 227 Status: Regular



Thank you for the suggestion!

Would i be rediculous to think that i could get such
software for free?


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:12 [#00810948]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



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..


 

offline manticore from London (ON) (Canada) on 2003-08-05 21:13 [#00810949]
Points: 651 Status: Addict



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.


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:25 [#00810963]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



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.


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:29 [#00810968]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



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.


 

offline soon from the moon and 2002-07-30 12:55 on 2003-08-05 21:33 [#00810972]
Points: 227 Status: Regular



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?


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2003-08-05 21:38 [#00810974]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



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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