Final CD mastering

I

Ivo

Guest
Hi guys,
Can you give me some advice into final CD mastering... I have the final mixdowns (wave files edited etc. ), and used WAVES L1 Ultramaximixer + to increase the volume level and to limit all tracks with the same level. I used the function called "16 bit final master, highest resolution", but the increase of the volume wasn't the same as comparing it to other released music. So tried another variant 1 step "16 bit pre-master edit ready" and then applied "16 bit final master, highest resolution" - the result was excellent - according to the levels, but I've noticed a minimal amount of noise? Ok I can reduce this noise with cooledit pro's noise reductor, but I still have the feeling that something is wrong.
So can you tell me some other ways to do that final CD mastering, or to advice into configuring the plug in?
 
I've used Waves with Sound Forge. L1 is a good software compressor for mastering. In your audio editing program ( in my case Sound Forge ) choose a region of the song with the highest gain and open L1. Try using "16 bit final master, highest resolution" then adjust the source level ( the one to the left ) a few dbs below it's original peak levels. Leave a little headroom, too much compression will kill the dynamics of the song. This has worked fine for me.

If this is a serious recording and you will be releasing it I suggest you let a professional master it. Mastering is not only compressing the mixed material, it's much more. A good mastering can be the difference between good and incredible sound.
 
Thank you guys for your replies!
Originally posted by scarr3d
i'm not familiar with WAVES. do you have Sound Forge?
Click to expand...
Yes I'm using Sound Forge 6.0... Can you suggest something about that?

I've used Waves with Sound Forge. L1 is a good software compressor for mastering. In your audio editing program ( in my case Sound Forge ) choose a region of the song with the highest gain and open L1. Try using "16 bit final master, highest resolution" then adjust the source level ( the one to the left ) a few dbs below it's original peak levels. Leave a little headroom, too much compression will kill the dynamics of the song. This has worked fine for me. If this is a serious recording and you will be releasing it I suggest you let a professional master it. Mastering is not only compressing the mixed material, it's much more. A good mastering can be the difference between good and incredible sound.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is will be a serious CD release (actually it will be our debut full lenght album) and it is really importand to me to do it the right way.
Ok, here's what I did yesterday, got that noise sample in Cool Edit and cleaned the noise on the whole file. But the result was terrible - it badly changed the quality.
All I want is to increase the volume levels without having clips or any distortion, keeping the clearence of the file... and with once applying "16 bit final master, highest resolution" it didn't work out. I've tried it.
Actually in my country (bulgaria) we don't have that well established experts into that kinda music, and I can not trust somebody to do the final CD mastering, so I really have to do it by myself.
 
Originally posted by Ivo
Yes, this is will be a serious CD release (actually it will be our debut full lenght album) and it is really importand to me to do it the right way.
Ok, here's what I did yesterday, got that noise sample in Cool Edit and cleaned the noise on the whole file. But the result was terrible - it badly changed the quality.
Click to expand...

I know. Noise reduction plugins should be avoided after the final mixdown. They might do some good on separate tracks with much noise but they really change the sound quallity alot.

All I want is to increase the volume levels without having clips or any distortion, keeping the clearence of the file... and with once applying "16 bit final master, highest resolution" it didn't work out. I've tried it.
Actually in my country (bulgaria) we don't have that well established experts into that kinda music, and I can not trust somebody to do the final CD mastering, so I really have to do it by myself.
Click to expand...

You could first try to normalize the songs in Sound Forge. I think 'Normalize' is under 'Process'. I don't have Sound Forge on this computer so I can't check....
Anyway, normalizing the tracks will maximize the volume without any compression or clipping. Just remember to scan the levels for each song before normalizing. After that you could try to use L1 to do some final compression. Depending on how much compression you used during mix down 2 - 4 db should be enough. Just use default settings in L1. The only thing you need to adjust is the source level or incoming level ( the one to the left ) to maybe - 2 db and see how it turns out. If you want more compression just add an other - 2 db with L1. But be careful not to use too much compression. If you get some clipping when using L1 try adjusting the output level to - 0.1 db.
 
Ok, I finnaly got it!!
Found the source of the noise in the Ultramaximizer - it is the shaping function, whatever change I made - from ultra\moderate\normal - it adds a minimum amount of noise at the begining of file (the blank 1 sec of silence I added)...So, I stopped that function, put the threshhold volume slightly down and it increased the level of the sound without any clips\distortions etc.
Actually, Andy tried the normalizations as you said, but the volume indicator signals for clips (tried both variants - peak level and the Average RMS power? Maybe I didn't configured it correctly?
 
I was using the L1 yesterday after I had been posting here and found I had been confusing stuff, sorry about that. What I yesterday referred to as input or source volume was in fact threshold...

So here's how it's supposed to be done. Keep the input at 0 db ( maximum ), adjust the threshold to about -2 db ( between maybe -2 and -4 db depending on the track ) and keep output at 0 db ( or -0.1 if you get some clipping ). Then play around with the other settings to find the best result...

When normalizing you should use peak level. If you get clipping adjust the normalization level to -0.1. Usually I first normalize a track before using any kind compression or EQ because normalization doesn't effect the dynamics of a song only increases the output level.

If you have Waves L1 you should also have Waves C4 compressor. The C4 is a very good 4-band software compressor. Just try it out and play around with it for a while to see what it's capable of.
 
Ok, but I've found a very serious bug into that Maximizer...
Do you remember that minimum amount of noise I was telling you about, which appeared before... then I found a new version of the WAVES gold bundle 3.5 and after applying the effect, there was no noise. I was a bit surprised, but tried a few more boostings of the volume which wasn't very succesful btw... After all I give it up and returned to the default settings on 16 bit final mastering, applied it to 5 of the songs without any noise and on the 6th song it appeared again... I restarted a few times, re-installed the program, checked the file types, but nothing changed...damn it!!
Btw,the normalization didn't work out again... coz it didn't give me enough volume boost - this is with the max settings...
 
Well, normalizing a track doesn't always mean it will boost the volume much. It just increases the peak level to 0 db. If the peak level is already at -1 db the change is very little, if it is -3 db the change is noticeable.. But it's still a good place to start when mastering.

Personally I have had no problems with Waves adding noise to any track I've used it on. They do tend to move the whole track a few ns forward but that is due to the latency in the plug-in. When I have found noise in some tracks they have been there from the beginning and using the Maximizer has just made them audiable.
 
Well, I'm sure that the noise is added by the plug in, coz it only appear when I start it, previewing it or applying it - the indicator shows it - then I put 3-4 times max volume, just to hear what kinda noise is it...
Besides that it is on the sec of silence I added after the mixdown, which is not only supposed, but it is pure blank of noise...
Anyway, Andy you helped me a lot into searching... I think that I'm done with the tracks - I decided to use another default setting into the maximizer - 16 bit heavier limiting which gave the optimal volume boost with the absolute clearence of the sound data, but I switched off the noise shaping function, coz this was the source of the noise...Anyways Thanks a lot man... maybe should put your name into the thanks list too ?:):)
 
No need to mention me in any thanks list :)

I guess you're all done with mastering for the time being but next time it might be good to check out a few other mastering tools/solutions.

FreeFilter: An EQing plug-in to get a more consistent EQ between the tracks ( a.i. the tracks would all have the same sound )

T-Racks 24: It's a total mastering solution with EQ, master compressor and multi-band limiter.
 
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