cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL
Registered User
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Germany
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 Posted: Wed May 17 2006 19:37
Mastering |
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Hi friends,
I got a question about mastering.
Do you use extra Tools to master or equalize your finished tracks?
Mastering to me means just to set the volume of the channels in Madtracker and put some reverb or other effects on it.
But my weakness is equalizing actually.
Some tracks of mine sound a bit...uhhmm...how to explain that in english?
Kinda dull....well....sometimes too much or too less bass.
Is there any good tool with presets to work around with it?
Or is anyone of y´all good at mastering and have some hints for me?
Thx in advance! |
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G3ronimo
Hot & Sexeh
Joined: 27 Dec 2005
Location: The Netherlands, Wezep
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Posted: Wed May 17 2006 21:03
Re: Mastering |
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| cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL wrote: |
Hi friends,
I got a question about mastering.
Do you use extra Tools to master or equalize your finished tracks?
Mastering to me means just to set the volume of the channels in Madtracker and put some reverb or other effects on it.
But my weakness is equalizing actually.
Some tracks of mine sound a bit...uhhmm...how to explain that in english?
Kinda dull....well....sometimes too much or too less bass.
Is there any good tool with presets to work around with it?
Or is anyone of y´all good at mastering and have some hints for me?
Thx in advance!
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I like to use xcita for drums&base... ^^ |
www.soundsector.net |
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Sonitus
Beta-Tester
Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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QBical
Registered User
Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Utrecht , The Netherlands
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Posted: Thu May 18 2006 12:08
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the process you describe is called mixing, that is when you take all your tracks and make it sound nice by using some eq, compression, verb and just general volume adjustments...
You can find lots of mixing tutorials on the net, check them out if you need more help with the eqing and stuff.
Mastering is another thing completely, when you master a track you take the mixdown ( that is all the tracks neatly mixed and exported into one stereo track ) and do you stuff on that, with mulitband compressors and stuff like that. It's for the best if you let someone else master your tracks, however you can find some tutorials on mastering aswell on the net |
PC: P4 HT 3ghz, 1gb ram, 500GB+ Storage, plextor DVD-rw, M-audo Audiophile 2496
Laptop: Apple Powerbook G4 15inch
Other Stuff: Phonic MU802 mixer, Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Monitors, Ipod 2nd gen. 20GB, maxtor firewire HD 80GB |
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bigandymac
Registered User
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Location: Leeds UK
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Posted: Thu May 18 2006 12:27
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there are a few vsts that i use for the final mixing in madtracker.
for kicks i use a little bit of eq to increase the bass and take out high frequencies. i also use a bit of compression sometimes if it sounds weak.
percussion i pretty much always use x-cita (and on kicks as well) and c3 multiband compressor to bring out the high frequencies and cut away the low mid frequencies.
vb striptool is another good vst, it has compression/eq and a couple of other bits included and is good for use on individual tracks and the master mix.
if some lines in a track sound a bit flat its worth playing around with eq to bring those sounds out more (eqing down rather than up works much better and sounds much cleaner btw, so try reducing everything else rather than increasing the volume of one thing).
compression works really well for things like percussion and bass in my experience, but on the final mix im very sparing with compression cos it can completely flatten the dynamic range of a track. classic compressor, classic limiter and also eq are all great plugins and are mainly what i use.
i also downloaded http://www.luxonix.com/home/en/products-lfx1310.html# recently, which is a really good plugin to give a bit of warmth and life to tracks (ive not really figured out everything it can do yet but it seems really good).
ive also found that if it sounds like different instruments are overlapping and making the mix muddy then eqing or filtering out frequencies of one or other of the instruments makes them much easier to hear (eg eqing out high freqs of synths to make room for percussion).
these are a few things that i do and they seem to work, but by no means is it a definitive (or even correct) answer. bope it helps though.
cheers
andy
edit: for mastering, i dont know what im doing so tend to leave it well alone, either that or just a little compression and use a limiter to get the peak level of the mix at around -2db. i tend to cut away frequencies below 40hz as well, cos we cant hear them and most speakers dont know what to do with them. |
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Franklin van Uden
Registered User
Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Location: The Netherlands
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Posted: Thu May 18 2006 19:15
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Hmm, the good old mastering question 
I have to go with qbical on this one ..
Maybe this topic will clear things up 
cheers .. |
Music ... is endless ... Work in progress ...
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Elijah
Registered User
Joined: 20 Jan 2004
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Eh?
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Posted: Thu May 18 2006 20:07
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lool no kiddin, i cant wait for atlantis to come tear another strip outta this thread. |
- Elijah |
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cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL
Registered User
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Germany
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Posted: Fri May 19 2006 10:59
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Thank y´all for your comments.
And thx Frank, I read that other topic right now...very helpful.
Well I guess I just play around and try things out.
The Problem what I have I think is, that I have crappy speakers at home and that I do everything by headphones.
When I burn my songs on a cd and hear them in my car they sound good, but when I listen to other songs there (Hip Hop for example) then they sound more powerful with more bass and stuff.
I put some more bass on my tracks either and checked that again but I felt it was too much then.
The other thing is, I don´t have a professional Studio, I do everything in my living room, I have a 2$ microphone, a cheap turntable, Madtracker and Cooledit.
That´s all  .
Someone told me that it´s good to let someone else (who knows about mastering) hear your stuff too...cause it´s good to have anotehr opinion.
Some of you downloaded some tracks of me...what did you think about the mastering? Did it sound ok? Is there anything to master anyway? |
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Inge
Man-At-Arms
Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Nieuw Lekkerland @ Holland
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Posted: Fri May 19 2006 12:26
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| cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL wrote: |
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Some of you downloaded some tracks of me...what did you think about the mastering? Did it sound ok? Is there anything to master anyway?
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Based on Kein Plan and with the luxury of having monitor speakers here (krk rokit 5): it's a miracle what you did, since it's definately not wise to mix tracks with your headphones. Your sound is overall very transparent, which I think to be good. You do lack some pumping mixing and mastering to make the final result less flat. The bassdrum needs more strength, not in volume, but in placement in the final mix. The high could also use some accentuation and bright sounds to make it sound more sparkling. I think your work is excellent material to mix and master, which is a good thing.
If you want to take this seriously, you should start reading a lot about these two topics, and experiment a lot with tools for this purpose. T-racks 24 (http://www.t-racks.com/Main.html?prod_TR_24) would be an excellent tool to play around with and get to know stuff like master equalizer, compressor, enhancer and limiter. |
Care for a game of Monopoly? |
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Sunbuster
Registered User
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Finland
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Posted: Fri May 19 2006 12:32
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It's always good to get second opinions on your creative work, but remember in the end it's your decision. A big part of finding something that works well is about trying out your material on as many different sets of speakers as possible. This is especially important in the beginning, when you don't know your system and how a certain sound on your system will sound on other systems. This information only comes from experience.
It might be a good idea to get a set of proper speakers for your home, but don't throw away the crappy ones, they can work as a reference for crappy setups  I currently have 4 different speaker setups that I listen through: my home stereo setup; my crappy plastic boxes; my studio monitor speakers; and my AKG headphones. Mixing to me is about finding a balance that sounds good on all of these setups at various volume levels. |
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cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL
Registered User
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Germany
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Posted: Fri May 19 2006 12:45
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Thx Inge!
I´m gonna check that out and play around when I get home.
@Sunbuster:
I agree.....I guess I´m gonna invest in some good speakers the next days.
Thx for your answers everyone...this really helps.
I think there´s no better community than the MT2 commmunity!!!
Peace! |
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Nine
Regular
Joined: 11 Nov 2005
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Posted: Fri May 19 2006 19:57
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My magic tool for EQ'ing my song is Classic EQ from Khaerjus. It works pretty good, and it's easy to use but I don't doubt other people ways. |
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XinetdD
Registered User
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Sat May 20 2006 11:59
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My mastering process goes as following.
1) make the track <- always a good start
2) set my levels so they sound about right (this is called mixdown) (having proper studio monitors is a must from here on....)
3) then i start to eq (EQ is ur best friend) I use the Waves Gold Bundle to help master my bass and kicks (RBASS and MAXX Bass) and sony's track eq to set other sounds, eg Lead, riff, perc. ect. (I found MT eq'in to be a tad limited only with a 3band eq. and can be dramatic with the mid area.)
4) once im happy with it, i export it at 24bit, 48khz with 129-point filter and sinc interploation.
5) then i open the mix in Sound Forge (Make sure when you export the wave that it doesnt CLIP) where i apply the C4 multi band compresser. This is realy go to kill those high spikes u might have in ur mix.
5) i apply a 20band Eq on the mix just to boost a tad here and there that i think is missing.
6) Lastly i apply the waves L2 maximizer to make the entire mix louder.
Make sure you do your mastering when your ears are FRESH!!!! otherwise you waisting your time!!.
Reading Tuts on the net about sound is a realllly good idea. Understadning how other frequ can react on others is very important.
Iv also read many times that it is better to cut than to boost when i comes to eq'ing. This normaly applys to when the samples have bn prossesed already and have bn mostly eqed. U just got to decided for yourself if the sound sounds better or "squashed"
This has worked for me in the past and still today, but im constintly finding new ways and tricks. Best to read,experiment and learn.
Lastly i would listen to a few tracks before hand. So you can get a clear idea how its suppose to sound. Make sure its not a track of a mixed album as they have there own eqs they apply for there mixing.
Hope some of this helps someone.
Take care and enjoy
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Pc Specs: P4 3.0, 1Gig DDR 400, 280gig HHD, Dual Monitors, SB Audigy 2ZS.
Speakers: Active KRK Rokit 5
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