If any of you have an extra minute

Brain.wavs · 22nd September 2010

Hey everyone! My name's Nick and I'm a long time reader of the forums. I never post because I honestly feel like I haven't reached true slut status yet at this point in my career. If you all only knew how often I use this place as an educational tool you would understand the respect I have for all of you. Ok... so without jerking you all off too much here's why I'm here. I recently finished mastering my first full EP for a group from Boulder, Colorado. I've been doing mastering work for the past year and a half from my home studio and whatever actual studio I can get into. I'm constantly learning and only recently have started offering my services to people I don't know free of charge. I'll continue to do this until I feel confident enough with my skills and experience to start charging for my services but, for now I still feel like I have a GREAT deal of learning to do. Basically I'm here to have all of you rip this EP I worked on to pieces and tell me everything I did wrong or right if that's the case. Here's a basic run down of what I did.

I received the EP as 24bit/48k stereo files.

-First I ran them through a Neve V3 I was able to use at my old sound school. I just wanted the saturation and natural compression from the board so I cranked the pre's pretty hard and left the sends to the HD system relatively low. I wanted to get as much out of the board as possible and pushed it pretty hard because I wouldn't be using any other truly colored analog tools. I recording everything into the HD system at 24bit/96k. Using the 24 track would've been nice and my chosen method but unfortunately I just didn't have the time in the studio as kids that are currently attending class there obviously have first priority.

I brought the session to my home setup where I have Pro Tools LE, an M-Box Pro, SSL X-Desk, SSL Duende, a Few Waves Plugins and the Sonnox Bundle. I'm also using Adams A7 as my monitors (I know I need a sub badly just very poor) I used the SSL Channel Strip plugin from my Duende to do some broad EQ and filter work for most of the tracks. Next I ran the SSL Stereo Bus Compressor with about 2-3db worth of gain reduction. After I compressed most of them I used either the Sonnox Oxford EQ or the Duende's X-EQ to make any precise eq adjustments before I did any limiting. I wasn't able to run 4 of the tracks through the Neve and they also had the URS saturation plugin on them as well as Digi's Reel Tape Saturation plugin.

Before I slapped a limiter over all of them I ran them through my SSL X-Desk and pushed it pretty hard to squeeze some more room out of the tracks. I find it especially helps to widen the image quite a bit when I'm working with music that's made almost entirely within the box. All the songs were recorded back into PT LE at 96k. I used the Waves L316 Limiter over all of the tracks and they are as loud as I was comfortable making them. The artists wanted it pretty loud and I think we found a good compromise that maintained most of the original songs dynamics as best as possible.

For the dither process I bounced everything out mono to 24bit/48k and then opened a new session at 24/48k to dither down to 16-44.1. (is this the correct way to do this?)

That pretty much sums it up and I thank all of you in advanced for your time. I've never really been trained in the art of mastering and just really like the idea of it so I've been teaching myself for quite some time using the various tools available on the internet. Please don't be easy on me as making me aware of all of the mistakes I've made will only help me to learn more. I've never had any mastering professionals critique my work and I can't really think of a better place to ask for advice than here. Below is a link to download the EP as 320kbps mp3 files.

Link: Robotic Pirate Monkey - Disturbing Pleasant Streets_Thissongissick.zip

I apologize in advanced if I should have posted this in the advice requested section of the forum. I just figured I could have a more direct mastering savvy audience here.

Oh yeah the music is dance music with styles from glitch-hop, electro, house, dubstep, breaks.

Thanks again for your time everyone,

Best,
Nick

SPORT · 22nd September 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brain.Wavs

I'm also using Adams A7 as my monitors (I know I need a sub badly just very poor) I used the SSL Channel Strip, SSL Stereo Bus, Sonnox, Duende's X-EQ, URS saturation plugin, Waves L316 Nick

hi. i'm not me but just want to say to mach plug ins end no monitors for mastering. some people use better monitors for mixing

saludos.

Suade · 22nd September 2010

Hi Nick,

It's much harder to appraise your work without before and after versions of the files. Is that possible?

Oliver D. · 22nd September 2010

Hi! It sounds over my loudspeakers (Cabasse) a little bit boomi. In the area between about 150 - 300 hertz it is too prominent to me. Greetings, Olli.

Brain.wavs · 22nd September 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suade

It's much harder to appraise your work without before and after versions of the files. Is that possible?

Yeah of course this is possible, here are 5 of the original .wav files before I ran them through the Neve. My server is currently choked up & at near capacity or I'd upload all 10 for you. Thanks!

Link: files.me.com/nlucini/or51s2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver D.

Hi! It sounds over my loudspeakers (Cabasse) a little bit boomi. In the area between about 150 - 300 hertz it is too prominent to me. Greetings, Olli.

Thank you for taking the time to listen Oliver! thumbsup I'll keep this in mind when I work on new projects. Hopefully a sub will help me to tame the low end more effectively in the future.

Brain.wavs · 22nd September 2010

I'm also very aware all of my gear is very much so less than conducive to mastering work but, I'm making the best with what I have and have access to. I'll never get better if I don't start somewhere. I figure if I teach myself to master music with what I have, I'll be a much be a much better me for it oneday. As opposed to simply saying I can't do it (due to lack of expensive tools) and not trying to teach myself through experience which is really the only way I learn.

For those of you who don't want to take the time to d/l the whole album here is a link to a SoundCloud set featuring one of the remixes from the EP, before and after mastering.

http://soundcloud.com/user6495496/se...ing-examples-1

Surbitone · 22nd September 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPORT

hi. i'm not me but just want to say to mach plug ins end no monitors for mastering. some people use better monitors for mixing

saludos.

I'd say with a sub or 2, the A7's are high enough resolution to master on. I know what you mean though

22nd September 2010	#1
Brain.wavs Gear interested Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 27 Thread Starter	If any of you have an extra minute Hey everyone! My name's Nick and I'm a long time reader of the forums. I never post because I honestly feel like I haven't reached true slut status yet at this point in my career. If you all only knew how often I use this place as an educational tool you would understand the respect I have for all of you. Ok... so without jerking you all off too much here's why I'm here. I recently finished mastering my first full EP for a group from Boulder, Colorado. I've been doing mastering work for the past year and a half from my home studio and whatever actual studio I can get into. I'm constantly learning and only recently have started offering my services to people I don't know free of charge. I'll continue to do this until I feel confident enough with my skills and experience to start charging for my services but, for now I still feel like I have a GREAT deal of learning to do. Basically I'm here to have all of you rip this EP I worked on to pieces and tell me everything I did wrong or right if that's the case. Here's a basic run down of what I did. I received the EP as 24bit/48k stereo files. -First I ran them through a Neve V3 I was able to use at my old sound school. I just wanted the saturation and natural compression from the board so I cranked the pre's pretty hard and left the sends to the HD system relatively low. I wanted to get as much out of the board as possible and pushed it pretty hard because I wouldn't be using any other truly colored analog tools. I recording everything into the HD system at 24bit/96k. Using the 24 track would've been nice and my chosen method but unfortunately I just didn't have the time in the studio as kids that are currently attending class there obviously have first priority. I brought the session to my home setup where I have Pro Tools LE, an M-Box Pro, SSL X-Desk, SSL Duende, a Few Waves Plugins and the Sonnox Bundle. I'm also using Adams A7 as my monitors (I know I need a sub badly just very poor) I used the SSL Channel Strip plugin from my Duende to do some broad EQ and filter work for most of the tracks. Next I ran the SSL Stereo Bus Compressor with about 2-3db worth of gain reduction. After I compressed most of them I used either the Sonnox Oxford EQ or the Duende's X-EQ to make any precise eq adjustments before I did any limiting. I wasn't able to run 4 of the tracks through the Neve and they also had the URS saturation plugin on them as well as Digi's Reel Tape Saturation plugin. Before I slapped a limiter over all of them I ran them through my SSL X-Desk and pushed it pretty hard to squeeze some more room out of the tracks. I find it especially helps to widen the image quite a bit when I'm working with music that's made almost entirely within the box. All the songs were recorded back into PT LE at 96k. I used the Waves L316 Limiter over all of the tracks and they are as loud as I was comfortable making them. The artists wanted it pretty loud and I think we found a good compromise that maintained most of the original songs dynamics as best as possible. For the dither process I bounced everything out mono to 24bit/48k and then opened a new session at 24/48k to dither down to 16-44.1. (is this the correct way to do this?) That pretty much sums it up and I thank all of you in advanced for your time. I've never really been trained in the art of mastering and just really like the idea of it so I've been teaching myself for quite some time using the various tools available on the internet. Please don't be easy on me as making me aware of all of the mistakes I've made will only help me to learn more. I've never had any mastering professionals critique my work and I can't really think of a better place to ask for advice than here. Below is a link to download the EP as 320kbps mp3 files. Link: Robotic Pirate Monkey - Disturbing Pleasant Streets_Thissongissick.zip I apologize in advanced if I should have posted this in the advice requested section of the forum. I just figured I could have a more direct mastering savvy audience here. Oh yeah the music is dance music with styles from glitch-hop, electro, house, dubstep, breaks. Thanks again for your time everyone, Best, Nick Last edited by Brain.wavs; 22nd September 2010 at 05:52 AM.. Reason: explain the genre of music the post is pertaining to.

22nd September 2010	#4
Oliver D. Gear interested Joined: Apr 2010 Location: Rheinhessen, Germany Posts: 9	master Hi! It sounds over my loudspeakers (Cabasse) a little bit boomi. In the area between about 150 - 300 hertz it is too prominent to me. Greetings, Olli.

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22nd September 2010	#3
Suade Gear maniac Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 155	Hi Nick, It's much harder to appraise your work without before and after versions of the files. Is that possible?