Any Programs Out Aimed Mainly At Mastering

[rallycapmusic]

Not really looking for a plug-in but a program aimed more toward mastering or audio enhancement of you song file.

Not a program for multitrack recording but a dedicated program where i can import my song file and touch up with some compression, limiting, eqing and some stereo enhancement.

[Docmattic]

I recently used the mastering section in Adobe Audition 3.0 and thought it did a decent job. I certainly liked the results

[tonymission]

Wavelab, Sound Forge, Peak, Audacity, Audition... kind of step 1 in DAW production.

dont confuse "touching up a file" with mastering though, but I got ya ...

[rallycapmusic]

the mixes are pretty decent so i didnt wanna just "stick" a plugin on my master fader along with all the multitracks. i wanted something i could bring the stereo file into and sorta "sweetin" it up.

[Scott Zarific]

I use Peak for the basic the mastering stuff I do. It's a pretty simple straight forward program. Even I can't mess it up....Check it out!!

[Esteban]

Sound Forge

[bgrotto]

Pyramix, Sonic Solutions...

Wait. You do realize that as long as you're using the same plugins (I'm guessing there's no hardware on your end), the DAW hardly matters beyond what's compatible with your workflow, right?

Just use whatever you got.

Or better yet (assuming the tracks matter to you), hire a professional.

[7thangelz]

samplitude master is another one

[phillysoulman]

Ozone 3

[Docmattic]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

Ozone 3

That looks alright. does it work out of protools?

[diatonic]

For my mix polishing, I used Adobe Audition. Samplitude Master also looks interesting but I haven't tried it. I am now back to working within Cubase where I am also tracking. I used to get CPU overload putting more plugins on the mix bus, but now I use UAD which has freed up CPU.

As far as plugins go, ozone is great bang for buck. ozone 4 has just been announced.

[mdjice]

+1 wavelab

[Docmattic]

Originally Posted by diatonic

For my mix polishing, I used Adobe Audition. Samplitude Master also looks interesting but I haven't tried it. I am now back to working within Cubase where I am also tracking. I used to get CPU overload putting more plugins on the mix bus, but now I use UAD which has freed up CPU.

As far as plugins go, ozone is great bang for buck. ozone 4 has just been announced.

Im getting the cpu overload now. I cant even playit for more than 5-10 seconds. Would getting a new computer with a better processor and ram help fix this?

[Traxx]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

Ozone 3

I second that....Is this what it is coming to now? I'm seeing and hearing more and more ppl asking for programs or something that adds that something "extra" or "punch" or "touch-up" to a track. I'm not quite sure where the mastering art form is headed because it seems as if most ppl don't care about getting a good master job, they just want loudness to compete with other records...Nothing against the original poster i'm just simply saying more and more ppl are asking for the same types of things and doing they own mastering which in most cases i've seen, it always comes out limited to hell with no dynamics and its generally distorted..Just a thought

[rallycapmusic]

well im running into more and more ppl who have horrible mixes and dont no a thing about mixing but yet their songs sound so much bigger than mine.

i try to stay within my limits as far as mixing and not clipping but it seems like my overall final mix is dull and flat. i know what its missing but can seem to find the proper tool to do it. my sound sounds small and not wide at all.

[Traxx]

To be honest with you, i own and use some of the best plugs money can buy and some of the best eq's and compressors money can buy. With that being said, i've mastered songs with just plugs and mastered with my analog equipment. I have never gotten the depth out of plugs that i've gotten from my hardware. With that being said, plugs can definitely help you but I don't think its going to solve your problems. So spend your money wisely...Btw, what monitors are you using? As well as interface and mic pre's? This can be a big help in recommending something that will make a bigger difference than just buyin new software.. One hardware piece i'd recommend would be an avalon 747....That will help do the trick while having everything all in one unit...Just my advice...At the stage you are at, I think that will make a big difference for you...

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by Docmattic

That looks alright. does it work out of protools?

Yes

[tonymission]

Originally Posted by bgrotto

Pyramix, Sonic Solutions...

Wait. You do realize that as long as you're using the same plugins (I'm guessing there's no hardware on your end), the DAW hardly matters beyond what's compatible with your workflow, right?

Just use whatever you got.

Or better yet (assuming the tracks matter to you), hire a professional.

100% correct. Previous post you responded to made me chuckle a bit ... I put a "plugin" on the master and its even a nature plug to logic go figure ...

Think for the most part it works out ...

[Docmattic]

Originally Posted by tonymission

I put a "plugin" on the master and its even a nature plug to logic go figure ...

Think for the most part it works out ...

do you mean what you used came with the program?

[diatonic]

Originally Posted by Docmattic

Im getting the cpu overload now. I cant even playit for more than 5-10 seconds. Would getting a new computer with a better processor and ram help fix this?

If you want, you can PM me with your setup and I can try to help.

[smoke]

Originally Posted by diatonic

As far as plugins go, ozone is great bang for buck. ozone 4 has just been announced.

Interesting surprise....

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by rallycapmusic

well im running into more and more ppl who have horrible mixes and dont no a thing about mixing but yet their songs sound so much bigger than mine.

If their, um, horrible mixes sound better than yours, perhaps you should be giving them more credit...

A good final product doesn't have much to do with the "mastering" (I put that in quotes because one could hardly consider what you're talking about here mastering). It's all about the tracking, the arrangement, and finally, the mix. Mastering engineers have the least control over the final product; it should go without saying that there's really not all that much they can do to improve the sound quality. They can, on the other hand, improve the way a mix translates, but that's a much, MUCH different thing. I can't really emphasize this point enough.

Now don't get me wrong, I've heard and had MEs perform genuine freakin' miracles. But these were on mixes that were generally good to begin with. A far cry from those other guys' "horrible mixes" you mentioned above; in other words, it seems you're either underestimating the other guys' mixing chops, or overestimating what an ME is capable of, or both. And in any case, you're most certainly overestimating what you as an ME is capable of. A couple VST plugins on the mix buss ain't gonna turn you into a genius mix engineer. Hell, Bob Ludwig on a good day with all the high-end hardware in the world ain't gonna turn anybody into a genius mix engineer. Like the old adage says, "garbage in, garbage out".

I'm sorry if I'm coming off like a dick, but it's really disheartening to hear the way people talk and think about music and the process of making and recording music. All too often, it's entirely unrealistic. "If I just had this one thing, I'd be able to make great-sounding recordings." It has nothing to do with gear. At all. That "one thing" is years of experience, talent, and the drive to make it all happen. Few people have even one of those things, let alone all three.

Again, I'm sorry to be coming off like a dick; believe it or not I actually encourage anyone who wants to pursue this stuff to do so. Just don't get caught up in thinking it's anything but YOU keeping you from "making it" (in whatever way you define that phrase).

Good luck. I really mean that.

[smoke]

As a hobbyist that makes music along with other amateurs, one thing that I'm noticing is that the others get their sounds "bigger" because they don't follow or even know the rules. They just do what sounds good with no apprehension.

Of course they have a clue, and they listen to music and have ears... they just arent hindered by this HPF and that threshold setting, they go willy nilly on the limiter, no second guessing their moves from something they read on the internet, etc...

...their music isn't of professional sonic quality, but it is big and in your face, and when listeners hear it, they generally love it. No one says anything like "you should get that mastered, I heard an artifact, it's over compressed, etc" because the soul and emotion is in the music itself.

Funny when you step off the internet poeple have an entirely different ideal of what the point of music is.

...nice sig BTW, Rally.

[irthwirm]

Originally Posted by diatonic

For my mix polishing, I used Adobe Audition. Samplitude Master also looks interesting but I haven't tried it. I am now back to working within Cubase where I am also tracking. I used to get CPU overload putting more plugins on the mix bus, but now I use UAD which has freed up CPU.

As far as plugins go, ozone is great bang for buck. ozone 4 has just been announced.

say's it will be formatted for PT 7 but that's when PT 8 will coming out...

[filterayok]

Originally Posted by smoke

As a hobbyist that makes music along with other amateurs, one thing that I'm noticing is that the others get their sounds "bigger" because they don't follow or even know the rules. They just do what sounds good with no apprehension.

Of course they have a clue, and they listen to music and have ears... they just arent hindered by this HPF and that threshold setting, they go willy nilly on the limiter, no second guessing their moves from something they read on the internet, etc...

...their music isn't of professional sonic quality, but it is big and in your face, and when listeners hear it, they generally love it. No one says anything like "you should get that mastered, I heard an artifact, it's over compressed, etc" because the soul and emotion is in the music itself.

Funny when you step off the internet poeple have an entirely different ideal of what the point of music is.

...nice sig BTW, Rally.

I agree to an extent, but you gotta remember that amateur stuff gets listened to with different ears sometimes... Sometimes the mix, the production, and sound quality are at a low level thats almost charming... The record works within itself, because you got this slightly amateur production, with a slightly amateur mix, vocal sound etc, so the ear almost disregards the sound quality and focuses on the music (which is probably how the producer was thinking)... But the problem arises when you take that record and put it next to REAL records... When you enter the world of professional stuff it gets harder to give the amateur record the benefit of the doubt...


Dont get me wrong tho, i'd rather hear a song that focused on the music then the sound quality ANY day! i actually have a theory that the obsession with sonic quality is what holds ALOT of producers back! Its the focus on the non-relevent things that screw everyone up, BUT at the end of the day, if you can get something MUSICALLY superior, you really do owe that record a good sonic quality at some point.. Maybe not at the demo stage, but you want the public to subconciously feel like they bought something of QUALITY. (and scary enough, i know a lot of ANR's OBSESSED with sound quality, which is both baffling, and irresponsible on their part, but non-the-less, they are the people shelling out the bucks and if they pay 15 grand for a record, they want that record sounding like 15 grand from the get-go.)

[tonymission]

Originally Posted by Docmattic

do you mean what you used came with the program?

yes... and i know im not the best beat mixer here but no one can question our shit slams hard for the most part.

ive bought ONE plugin (and dont have any cracks) and that was a transient shaper for my snares ... everything else is stock.

[CuzCutz]

Anyone using 'Soundtrack Pro'?