Mastering Engineers

[Keyflo]

Whats is the difference between Electro Mastering and Opto Mastering?
Is one better than the other?

[Cellotron]

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to - but in the case of compressors "electro-optical" refers to a type of compressor design where the audio signal feeds a light source and then has a light detector to trigger the gain reduction, as opposed to other methods to control the gain (such as VCA, Variable MU, FET, diode bridge).

Some compressors that use optical detection designs often used in mastering studios include the Pendulum OCL-2, the Prism/Maselec MLA-2, Manley ELOP and the TFPro P38. It is also very common to find compressors used in mastering that use other designs.

Each compressor design will give a different sounding result - what is "best" completely depends on the source material and what is the desired sound for the master.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[ripper]

if you're refering to the "choices" certain plug-ins give, i'd say the difference is insignificant...
'cause you're still using a plug in!!!!

[macc]

Sounds like you're talking about Waves RenComp to me

I seem to remember from years ago the manual saying about RComp's electro mode tending to shorter release times under heavy compression, and opto tending to longer release times.

But the P38 is better (just installed mine) !

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by macc

Sounds like you're talking about Waves RenComp to me

oh - I think you're right. I still really like this plugin for in-the-box mixing - particularly on vox - but would personally never use it across the 2-bus (but have used it once in a blue moon on stems).

Anyway from the manual - http://www.dc.umich.edu/dmc/emusic/D.../waves/RCL.pdf -

Electro (the original mode of the v1.0 software) has a release time behavior that is increasingly faster as the gain reduction approached zero, but only when gain reduction is less than 3dB. When GR is above 3dB, the release time becomes slower, behaving more like a leveler in high gain reduction situations. Therefore, when used with moderate compression, the Electro mode produces a great increase in RMS (average level), and is ideal for "loud" applications, such as voiceover and certain genre of music.

Opto is actually the inverse of Electro. Opto-coupled behavior always "put on the brakes" as the gain reduction approaced 0dB, i.e., the release time gets slower as the "needle comes back to zero". As in Electro, this is true only
when the GR is less than 3dB; when greater than 3dB, the release time is faster. This is the vintage emulation that sounds so great for drums and more!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[macc]

Ah, i got it the wrong way round. Not a bad guess considering I ain't read that in 8 years or something

I did used to really like it, but I went right off it. There are much (!) better software comps around nowadays :)

[Virtalahde]

Originally Posted by Keyflo

Is one better than the other?

One is definately better than the other in some cases.