The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 19:00Ok, so we're winding up and I'm thinking about how I'm going to master my album. I basically have song order set (I conceive of songs and albums as separate units of art, this time it is a unitary album... I hope)
But I am wondering, as a practical matter, how people are going to be mastering their albums for RPM. I know lots of people will say: C) not really mastering it per se or D) paying someone to do it, but do people have a relatively efficient workflow to get the thing tied together?
Here is my proposed workflow, let me know if this makes any sense, ye mastering gurus:
I'm thinking I'm going to mix each song on its own, trying to get my levels and overall tonal balance to be even, try to leave a little headroom, then render everything to 32-bit wav. Then I'm going to load all of the tracks into one huge 40-minute project file (in FL studio). I'll do the transitions and mix-ins.
Then, I plan on going back and forth through the whole thing and tweaking EQ and to some extent dynamics for each track so the whole thing sounds put-together, balanced, warm and crisp. (enough buzzwords for you?)
After that I think I'll add a mastering plugin on the entire thing to pump up the levels and gloss it up a little.
I don't have monitors, so for mixing I'm going to be switching back and forth between my Etymotics ER-6s (very flat but not much bass) and my $20 powered PC speakers, which are really bad, but I've had them so long and used them so much that I can hear right through them.
During mastering I htink I am going to continuously switch betwen the $20 speakers, my old & busted Logitech multimedia speakers (have a sub so I can check out the bass-bass.) my radio shack silver headphones (the ones with the rubber headband and the harsh high end- I think you know the ones), the Etymotics, and my Sennheiser HD 555s so I can test how they sound in a "hi-fi" situation. I figure if something is off in the low-mids or high-mids I'll hear it on those.
Anyway, long post, for those that consider themselves knowledgeable, is this a viable plan?
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I've 'bombed the bass' pretty bad unknowingly, sounded fine in the studio, then I take it to a car stereo, which tends to have bass boosted just as a general rule... and BOOOOOOOOM -- rattles the windows. Oops, let's lower that just a tad...
heh.
Have you messed with the Fruity Multiband Compression? nice toy.
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homemadehitshow
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 19:14I've never subscribed to the "Oh oh no monitors" school of thought. Mixing and mastering for the home musician with headphones is a simple process providing you know your equipment and know how it relates to the world.
Usually I make full band style songs and I use the PSP Vintage Warmer or Ozone to master. For the RPM I'm doing acoustic stuff so I've focused on trying to get a clean sound on each track and I won't do much mastering
check out "philosophy" on my profile for an example of the multiband on extreme setting.
Post edited by: Kemmler, at: 2008/02/20 19:21
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room34
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 19:35I think it's definitely possible to "over-master" a recording. I can see needing to do some mastering if you're taking recordings that were done in separate sessions over a long stretch of time, where the levels and mixes are a lot different from each other, but in my recent experience, if you're recording the whole lot together, and they're all pretty much recorded and mixed the same way, mastering just serves to smudge out the details. (Maybe I suck at mastering.)
I'd normalize everything and maybe do some EQ if necessary (strike that and reverse it -- EQ should definitely be BEFORE normalizing), and leave it at that. Definitely check it on different speakers though. I do all of my recording with headphones (earbuds, at that!), but I try listening to everything with my 2.1 computer speakers (my "monitors" as such) and ABSOLUTELY in the car as well. In the past I've had to EQ away about 50% of the bass range on some of my electronic tracks because I had no idea there was so much fat synth bass lingering down there in the lower frequencies.
Last thing: Don't fall prey to the temptation to compress the hell out of your dynamics just to sound like the latest emo album. There's no dynamic range in anything anymore! (Frankly, I wonder if the record companies are deliberately trying to make us think stereo CDs suck -- or that MP3s on iPods, etc. suck -- so we'll all start buying our music on 5.1 surround DVD-audio formats instead.)
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Kemmler
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 19:47@room34: I agree, I'm just thinking that tonally and dynamically I don't want to have any "sore thumbs" on the album. I wrote them all independently so generally they won't exist in the same frequency ranges the same way. Does this make sense or am I getting too worried about nothing? I'm definetly not going to take this album to the loudness war trenches either. Just want it to have some punch.
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ilovejen
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 19:48room34 wrote: Last thing: Don't fall prey to the temptation to compress the hell out of your dynamics just to sound like the latest emo album.
Agreed. For me using compression on the entire track (e.g. the master out) is a deadly sin. Fix your levels track by track, not my smushing everything together on the master out.
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1st off, I was digging your stuff yesterday... (NS!) so I hope that whatever it is that you do works out! Sounds like your on the right track. I'm not sure if it matters really, but truncating and song spacing/X fading are often the last things to get done. It may be cuz you would want to get the songs maximized, before you start messing with X fade volumes, and all the math that gets in them... just a thought.
don't be afraid of a GOOD multiband compressor... there are things out there that work like multibands that suck, and some that are ok, and then there's the good ones... get your hands on a good one!
Your talking about using broken speakers (ha awesome!) I know!! it's tough, but it's probly THE most important thing... to be able to hear what your really listening to. radio shack headphones?? ahh!!
Everyones right about checking it outside your studio, in a few places. be sure to check it against a pro release that you know and like as well... that can really help!!
EVERYONE! don't be afraid to compress some! we don't need to over react to the fact that the majors have been squashing the life out of there product... a little still goes a long way!!
and if all else fails... GO TO A PRO!! i'm still doing the $100 RPM special!!
hehe
Chris
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Everyones right about checking it outside your studio, in a few places. be sure to check it against a pro release that you know and like as well... that can really help!!
Chris
I think I am going to be using Ozone for dynamics toward the end of the chain, and that has a pretty decent multiband in it. Hopefully I won't need to use it much though.
I'm thinking I will use "don't be afraid of love" by Lo-Fidelity Allstars as my mastering reference... what do you say?
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Chris Decato
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/20 20:07Well, I've never used the Ozone, but read a few things that were favorable... you'll know if it's working for you (or against you!) Trust yourself, you got a good head on ya!
Nice Work!!
looking forward to hearing what you get!
Chris
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Gumbo
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Re:The Mastering Theory & Practice Thread - 2008/02/21 01:48Kemmler wrote: I'm thinking I will use "don't be afraid of love" by Lo-Fidelity Allstars as my mastering reference... what do you say?
This is about presentation of existing sound dynamics, not getting the album LOUD. His comments on the loudest (ie the loudest that aesthetically well mastered cd can be without compromise):
Some of the CDs in the following group may be slightly compromised in their transient clarity. Other recordings in this group do not depend on transient clarity for their musical value, and so they could be made hotter without an esthetic sacrifice. Producers should judge mastered product on its sound, not on intrinsic loudness, for we have learned that there is a limit above which a particular recording will suffer. And this limit varies for each style of recording, evidenced by the CDs that are above this line! In an ideal world, it would be polite to reduce the intrinsic loudness of this group for the benefit of all, but I doubt that I will see this in my lifetime!
anyways it's an interesting list and something to check out.
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Hey Lightbox!! I've been talking about a $100 mastering job for any and all RPMers!! I've been mastering local stuff in the NH seacoast area for 10 years!! and normally charge $300 or so depending on the project. Shoot me an email with "RPM Mastering" in the subject if your think that sounds like something your interested in!
chris@decatosound.com
Thanks!
Chris
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