Looking to do my own mastering. Need some gear advice.....

[ringemaster]

Hey all -

Thanks in advance for the advice. the detailed background below will hopefully pre-answer some of the questions I assume I'd get had I just said "what do you think of this gear chain?" On to the post:

Over the last two years, I've gone from being mostly a guitar player to a home studio owner that engineers (when recording full bands, I usually engineer at a different studio), mixes and masters smaller name projects as well as does some writing for tv, film, etc.

Most of my mixing/mastering work as well as producing my own songs is done out of my own studio using Logic Pro, Apogee converters and the Waves SSL plugs. None of the stuff I've done to date has needed to be big budget....mostly small bands who just want demos or an album project for a friend, so I've been happy to get really good with the simple tools I have (I believe learning to be a better engineer/mixer/ME should come before buying better gear).

Now that I'm starting to get more work and am co-writing with some songwriters that I want to put out records with, I want to put my best foot forward and am feeling like I could improve the production quality of the music coming out of my studio. Based on my current setup, I feel like the best place for me to do this is mastering since most of my own work is made electronically (e.g., acoustic drums samples, piano samples, guitars recorded direct, etc. so I don't need high-end mics or pres) and I'm already using decent gear when recording bands at other studios.

I've considered spending the money to have the work I'm doing mastered professionally and improving quality that way. I've also considered spending the money to acquire some analogue mastering tools since I'm putting out a high volume of songs and really like the idea of being able to do it myself (I feel the last two years of getting good results with cheap/stock plugs have given me the skills and confidence to be able to do good quality masters...I also feel I've tapped out the tools I have). I really like the second option.

After doing some research on gear prices and reviews, I've developed a budget and think the following purchases would be manageable as well as provide a solid improvement in quality (assuming I learn how to use them properly):

- A-Designs Hammer EQ
- Chandler LTD-2 Matched Compressors for Mastering
- Waves L3-16 plug bundle (currently available for $418 at Sweetwater)

I work with mostly rock and indie style music (U2, Muse, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc.) and want to know what you guys think of my situation?

Is there a better way for me to improve quality (aside from experience and better musicians...the stuff I have no control over right now)?

Are there better pieces of gear that would fit a similar budget?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks!

[jackthebear]

Congratulations on taking your 1st step.....

The first thing I'd look at is your room and monitoring situation for this is the foundation of your set up. The best gear in the world won't give you the benefits if the room is giving you a false picture......

As far as your gearlist is concerned I'd look at a different option to the Chandlers as a primary compressor......

I suggest you look at something a little more flexible like an API 2500 for example or a Vari-Mu...they offer more options than the Chandlers.....

No experience with the Hammer.....but I have clients who swear by them especially on the mix bus....

[ringemaster]

Originally Posted by jackthebear

The first thing I'd look at is your room and monitoring situation for this is the foundation of your set up. The best gear in the world won't give you the benefits if the room is giving you a false picture......

Ah...good point. I forgot to mention that I've got a reasonably treated room and monitoring situation that I'm used to/comfortable with. I know the ins/outs of how my mixes translates, so I don't feel like spending more money in this department will have as much of an impact.

[dhiltonlittle]

i agree about the chandlers. probably not the best option for your only hardware compressor. i'm not sure what your exact budget is but you could do something like the api 5500 for eq and use a more surgical eq plugin for the time being in addition to it. there are a lot of great options these days. the 2500 is a great comp. since you're doing a lot of tracking/producing as well, it would make since that you would want to pick up gear that is going to perform well in both scenarios. i highly recommend looking at a pair of crane song trakkers for you compressors. with the limiter, there are better/cheaper options then the waves bundle imo so maybe you can save some $ there and put it into the hardware. thumbsup

[piotr]

I agree with the comments above.
I have the api 5500 and 2500 eq/comp combo and it really is a stellar set for the 2 buss. I am very happy with this set.
p.

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by ringemaster

Ah...good point. I forgot to mention that I've got a reasonably treated room and monitoring situation that I'm used to/comfortable with. I know the ins/outs of how my mixes translates, so I don't feel like spending more money in this department will have as much of an impact.

reasonable is not enough
room acoustics and monitors with amp is a crucial thing
you can actually have a great room with great monitors plus good d/a
and you are sorted,
buy some good plugins, do research
if you have money to burn, then pay acoustician for checking your room - well worth investment,

agree with suggestions, api2500 is great vca comp, very transparent,
you can check tfpro products - fully recommend too,
thermionic is superb, but pricey...

[KyleDiSanto]

Monitoring and room treatments/acoustics should really be your first step.

[S-N-S]

hi

i would recomend you to look at acustica audios nebula plug-in,theres some really awesome programs being released for this,and its not that expensive

[Weiss]

another vote for Api 2500...

any opinion about the Hammer eq???

[lucey]

Your monitoring is not where it could be. Great monitoring and mastering fully ITB beats above average monitoring and hardware. Upgrade your DA, AD and speakers first, second and third. You can't help or fix what you can't hear. And you don't know what you can't hear until you hear it elsewhere ... so get out to some mastering rooms and bring your refs to compare.

The Chandlers are too distorted for everyday use, just because someone has made them famous, doesn't make them a good idea for you. If your monitoring was better you'd hear that, and you'd hear what you need.

Hammer for boosts is fine
A nice digital eq for cuts is fine
A compressor that's versatile, maybe the Vertigo or Mpressor or p38 on a budget
Waves L3 sucks ... search here for more ideas on limiters

A lot of your sound is AD, so don't skip over that one either.

[ORC]

I concur. Room treatment, Monitoring, and A/D D/A conversion first!

[ringemaster]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm not sure I have the budget right now to fully upgrade my acoustic treatment AND converters AND get some mastering plugs, but I'll work on something. Thanks!

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by ringemaster

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm not sure I have the budget right now to fully upgrade my acoustic treatment AND converters AND get some mastering plugs, but I'll work on something. Thanks!

Then start with the room acoustics before anything else. At the very least it will mean you can hear properly whatever monitors you test in your room before you purchase anything.

Second improve your monitoring so you can hear what those pieces of hardware or software you are considering actually sound like. There is absolutely no point in doing it the other way round.

I would do the converters next. These are in the 3rd place because so far you have been doing everything in the box and as far as monitoring is concerned, I think investing money here gives you the least bang for your buck compared to speakers and acoustics. Once you decide to send signals out for processing, then it becomes important to make sure that the signal doesn't get degraded on the way out.

By now, once you can actually hear exactly what you are doing, you might have decided that you need to invest more time/tools in your mixing rather than in mastering. Don't forget that often mastering engineers don't do anything to a mix when it comes from the top mixers simply because there really isn't that much to improve. There is some kind of myth that punch or sheen or whatever comes from the mastering process. For good mixes that is simply not true.

Of course all this advice is given without knowing how your room sounds, what monitoring and what conversion you are using now and what your current mixes sound like. Still, I think most Mastering Engineers here will agree that there is a pretty good chance that this is the best order in which to do things even without knowing the specifics of your situation.

PS: Waves L3 sucks. Forget about it.

Alistair

[ringemaster]

More info on my room/monitoring situation:

I live in a 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of Los Angeles. After doing some tests, I had to put up about 12 2'x4' bass traps and a few diffusors to get the room evened out. Being in an apartment, I don't really have the option of modifying the structure anymore, so I'm limited to what I can put up in the room. Hopefully that will change next year when I move to Oregon and buy a house For now, I'm stuck with what I've got.

For monitoring, I'm using the Yamaha HS80ms and matching sub, all of which are isolated on Primacoustic monitor stands. Given the budget I had 1.5 years ago, these seemed to have the flattest frequency response I could find/hear, so that's why I went with them.

For converters.....I'm running an Apogee Ensemble. I know they're not the best converters in the world, and I could probably spend a lot of money making them better.

Please remember I don't expect to have the world's most amazing stuff since I don't have the budget to have a pro place yet.....I just want to be able to compete with what I've got so I earn more work in the future.

From what I'm hearing, this would be the best course of action:

1. Save most of my budget for acoustically treating the place I hope to move into next year

2. For now, upgrade my monitors

3. Hopefully get enough cash by the time I move to invest in some high-end converters.

4. Use the plugs I've got for now and only after I've addressed 1-3 THEN look at some analog gear. Is there anything you'd suggest I look at in terms of plugs that would significantly add to my tools over the stock Logic Pro and Waves SSL plugs or are those sufficient for now?

[edva]

Originally Posted by ORC

I concur. Room treatment, Monitoring, and A/D D/A conversion first!

+ + + Mastering 101.

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by ORC

I concur. Room treatment, Monitoring, and A/D D/A conversion first!

nuff said!