DIY mastering tricks

[Unclenny]

This thread is mostly a pretty good read.

My first few GS threads were in this same vein........I figured that there had to be some aces up somebody's sleeve.

These days I just play the hand I've got to the best of my ability. Every once in a while I get a really good mix going and I am reminded of the most important tenet to come from this thread.......

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Do a really great mix and don't worry about mastering!

[greggybud]

Originally Posted by justin81

@greggybud
i was wondering if you could share with me some of your work?
(i'm curious if it backs up your ego....)

I'm going to assume you know the difference between mastering and mixing even though the example you gave as a trick was a mixing issue.

I apologize for the lame humor, and subsequent ego. Still to this day the SNL skit with Will Ferrell makes me laugh.

And yes I can get clearance for a couple current projects.

PM sent for your email address.

[RasCricket]

Originally Posted by justin81

@greggybud
i was wondering if you could share with me some of your work?
(i'm curious if it backs up your ego....)

Youre wise. Ive found I simply do not, and can not, believe much of anything some of the individual artists/producers who hang out at GS say, unless that have a tag or two posted of their own music. Ive been drastically shocked before when Ive heard someone talk really big here at GS, and when you check them out - they have very little talent and are no one you should ever listen to - they simply have an internet connection and a false sense of self-importance.

Im only saying this, cuz yes ~ thers a lot to be said about the "put up or shut up" phrase. Weeds out a lot of people you shouldnt listen to, is all. Id say, and it doesnt look like you are, but dont be offended by the inquiry, Greggybud, to hear some material.

EDIT: Lol, however - looks like youll do it privately instead of posting something for us all to hear? Thats....a bummer. I think we would all like to hear

[greggybud]

Originally Posted by RasCricket

Youre wise. Ive found I simply do not, and can not, believe much of anything some of the individual artists/producers who hang out at GS say, unless that have a tag or two posted of their own music.

Hi Ras,

Feel free to PM me your email address too, and I'll send you the same I'm sending the other guy to hopefully justify my existence...or credibility.

To me it really is a waste of time, but I do understand where you are coming from.

As a matter of fact you will notice over the past 2-3 years an increasing absence of talented ME's at Gearslutz, and people who simply know audio. It's unfortunate, but when several people take their time to explain the same basic answer in a thread, and the person who starts the thread refuses to accept the same basic answer, then I feel like it's been a total waste of time. Perhaps there's a communication breakdown, but in this example it seems he is still searching for the silver bullet, when there isn't one.

Since I don't posses the wit of Dave Collins, I resort to SNL and ST.

As you say, this forum has been diluted by some who repeat what they read, and then post the same for various unknown reasons. But just because I don't have website examples or a discography shouldn't be the criteria for contributing should it? If you read enough here and stay around long enough, it's easy to skip over bad advise.

My continuing rants lately here have focused on the obsession of loudness and the endless new tools to make it loud. Bob Ludwig or Brian Gardner don't rely on a limiter at the end of the chain. But if you read the gear-shoot outs here, it's obvious most overlook the process or methods and instead rely on the magic tool and it's presets. And then the same old question is asked why it's not as loud as.......

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally Posted by justin81

...mr olhsson, i wonder, as you were part of the greatest music machine this earth's ever seen, was there a constant idealistic babble-gabble going on between engineers? or were music makers just making music?...

We were very advanced technically. In fact there's been remarkably little innovation since then. Some of the things we pioneered were punching in overdubs, having multiple echo sends, mutes on a console, automatic input switching, parallel compression, the use of noise gates, vocal tuning and comping, the use of headphones for overdubbing, bi-amped, equalized monitors, the second 1" 8 track studio, the first 10 2" 16 track machines, locking multiple multi-track machines together, automated mixing, and vca grouping. We also had the third or fourth Moog modular synthesizer.

None of us engineers were musicians although I had a year's college music lit and ten years of violin lessons under my belt. (I'm a horrible violinist!) Because I witnessed the transition into modern recording methods first hand, I've become critical of many because I saw some earlier methods work out lots better. I was very lucky. My mentors in studio recording at Motown after I moved out of mastering had worked for Tom Dowd and Bill Putnam.

Motown was started by two songwriters, Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy who was his manager and publisher. Berry had owned a jazz record store where he developed relationships with most of Detroit's top musicians. They came in and helped him record demos, along with a few early records in his sister's basement where he had an old broadcast console and an Ampex 400 mono tape machine. Because of space limitations and the fact that the musicians were much better than the singers, he started recording just backing tracks and took them into a studio to overdub and then edit vocals. After he had a few hit records on Jackie Wilson, he bought a photography studio in Detroit's ad agency/studio district and converted it into a recording studio. Unhappy with the sound, we had RCA Victor design a room treatment that turned out to be extraordinary.

Motown was a music publisher and artist management company that had its own record label. Berry Gordy was very hands on in the early days and would be considered a co-writer of most of the hits prior to 1967 in today's music business. The songwriting under his guidance was utterly amazing. So was just about everything else about the company including the sales and promotion staff.

"was there a constant idealistic babble-gabble going on between engineers? or were music makers just making music?"

BOTH and a whole lot more!

[headspin]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Do a really great mix and don't worry about mastering!

I spent all day trying to get fancy with a master. Hated everything I did.
Went back to the mix, threw a little extra compression and overall eq, and done deal....

Great advice.
thumbsup
Seriously.

[Weiss]

Originally Posted by lu432

6) Always have fresh coffee around.

thumbsup

[Herbeck]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

In fact there's been remarkably little innovation since then.

Check out my new SRC, your input would be valiuble.

SRC with new unique filtering.


All the best

Herbeck