let's talk mixing and mastering. I need some help

[Harry Hughes]

I agree with Morgan.

A good sound engineer is who he is because he has ears that are developed enough through intense listening, because he put in the hard work, because he was determined. dedicated and disciplined and because he can get the tools in his hand and be confident in his ability to work with those tools.
He isn't who he is because of his tools.

 

[Shaun Werle]

Why would someone spend thousands of $ on a package they have no idea how to use when they're just starting out? No-one goes and buys a 5150 and a Les Paul when they're starting to learn guitar. This is why everyone assumes you've cracked it.

I am not completly oblivious, I know the basics i guess you can say but i am not good with them. I bought it from this guy, the deal was to good to pass up

 

[Shaun Werle]

Am I going to notice a difference when upgrading from T-Racks on the master bus with preset "mastering" settings to buying Izotope4? That seemed pretty popular from what I found on here. I kind of have trouble getting that hi-fidelity polished sound I would like. I usually just gate and verb when needed and then T-Racks the shit out of everything to compensate for bit or punch. I use the standard eq band that come with my daw nothing fancy, could that be a problem? When I highpass the OHs and equalize everything else, getting a mix that is good to my ears, and upload an mp3 to Myspace (just keep reading lol) it loses like ALL of the "shine" or "crisp" or what have you... When the file is compressed my mixes sound like SUPER flat and dirty. When I go to pages of you more experienced gents that don't have topnotch converter but know how to get the best out of your firestudio's, 002 rack, motu's, you don't have that problem when your mixes are down to a 96kpbs stream... As some have said, investment in a room is a major element- but even people with a slightly treated bedroom are getting good results. I'm temporarily stuck as a mobile service (without a snake), so I have to clear our bedrooms and dampen garages/halls and work with that. I don't think it could be tuning or recording technique since people approach these problems, adapt or just replace entirely and manage- and I really doubt it mixing when I'm pretty much applying everyone's general advice to get what sounds good. The final mp3s sound good, but it's when I turn the mix down and or export to a low bit rate, I can just hear this like flatness that drives me insane. Like everything is individual in a bad way, whereas comercial recording produce something that can be turned up or down and still sound like one complex element that like blends

When I first bought my firestudio I was using magneto (cubase/nuendo guys) on the master bus because it has that whole "hi-fi" knob to compensate hahaha but I'm sure the people that know about this plugin know about the pumping and you're probably thinking "...wtf..."

I just stopped attempting to "master" my tracks entirely because I know I'm doing something wrong here because the end result isn't exactly what I want without it and worse when I try to

My posts always turn into fucking ten pages, sorry hahaha




To sum it all up into a few points, if my book up here was explained well:

Like I said, I experimented with Magneto and tried T-Racks and just didn't get what I wanted.

Is this problem due to lack of a good mastering plugin such as Izotope? Or could a good saturating-type plugin help this at all? Or is it my approach? I also haven't been able to find any Y/N if recording in 96 makes a difference over 44.1 if it just gets bounced anyway... Does that make a noticeable difference in pre's and then the final product?

Like, I could just crack Waves, but aside from stealing I wouldn't learn anything from it or know how to apply it to make it better...

I'm going to be finishing a song that I am recording tomorrow night and will have it up on here very soon so maybe that will help if you actually hear what I'm talking about. I think I've outgrown T-Racks by now... But if this is really the problem I will go buy that shit right NOAW

Haha same here everytime i post it's a forever long post haha
But anyways I think my problem is when i bounced that i had so many plug ins going that i think i effed it up hard. I would love to hear your mix though let me know when you post it up.
Also to everyone i have come to the conclusion i am just going to figure out as much info as i can, myself.
Get my self on youtube/google! hahaha

 

[shogger]

Hi Shaun,

What are some rules to follow when mix and mastering?

That is a question that calls actually for the reactions you got. It's too general. And it sounds as if you know basically nothing, which isn't true.
Some good but also general answers could be:
Balance the frequencies over the whole spectrum. Use good references. did you read this? http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...n-tips-compendium-newer-guys.html#post8536738
I listened to your track only after I read the whole thread and found out that your mix is way better than your post suggested me.

What plug ins should i be using?

The ones that get the job done. Sorry for the straight answer but you have to learn some concepts, learn to apply them with the tools you have. Your questions will become different ones and the answers will become different ones. If you would know the limitations and strengths of your tools you wouldn't ask like this.
I give you this link, lotsa good stuff in there:http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...4-all-tutorial-requests-here.html#post7521525

Shogger

 

[Terminus]

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 things affect a good recording.

Fixed says the guy who is never happy with his tunes, let alone the damn mix

 

[Masticore]

I totally agree with practice practice practice. Youll never get good if you dont develop a understanding of the tools. Theres always someone posting thier own projects on here for all to mix!

 

[The StabbinCabin]

You might get more out of a copy of "Mastering: The Art And The Science" by Bob Katz than any cracked software. Just a thought...

When I'm not on here looking for tips, or working, I'm online elsewhere looking for the answers. I appreciate the reference to the book I will check that out, but if the last part was just assuming I'm just one of those people that bitch for torrents and just want shit magically to happen, then I don't appreciate that. If that was simply just you way of telling me to check out that book Shred, then I didn't take it personally at all and thank you for the advice.

But I don't like the respect issue some people on here have though. Just because I'm young and just getting into something someone else may have been in for over a decade doesn't make it fair for them to just lump me in that category of dishonest people who ruin this forum that was meant for discussion by posting threads blatantly asking for shit that they can find out on their own or by doing the right thing and getting the hands on experience and equipment on their own.

I had $1,200 of drum microphones stolen from me in September 2008- needless to say, I am against theft in any form. That was the beginning of a shitstorm of my life that isn't appropriate to put on here. So I take it as an insult to be compared to someone who does chose to rip off expensive software online and just ask people online to do it all for them. I respect the shit out of the seniors here that are here and only post anything on here when I cannot find the answer or haven't seen the question asked.

I'm not throwing anyone under the bus or trying to start arguments in any way, but it's hard to READ sarcasm or hostility rather than to hear it in someones voice. I just needed to clear that up.

I mean, if "practice practice practice" is really the only answer to those like 4 questions I asked, then I'll stick to it and practice. But when I see Member since Nov,2007 say "Oh yeah I totally abuse that plugin! Love it" I assume it's safe to simply ask if that might potentially make a difference if purchased and used properly.

I hope this doesn't seem rude to anyone- just doesn't seem fair that only members from 2007 and before are allowed to casually name drop high-end products without getting their head bitten off.

I'm going to post my latest mix with all the details hopefully by tonight and maybe you guys will hear what I'm talking about

 

[Shaun Werle]

I appreciate all the advice from all you guys! i have been practicing a lot and learning some new sweet stuff, Does it sound appropriate (spelling ugh) to cut 500hz about -3 db on my master bus?

 

[P-E]

It can be good, but ideally you should cut it where it's too much in the mix, or else you're raping a bit of 500hz everywhere it could come from.

 

[Harry Hughes]

3db is A LOT to cut on the master bus.
I think if you have to cut that much during the mastering, you need to just go back to your mix and examine what's wrong with it.
A good mix should need either none or very little EQ-ing (half decibel steps at most) in the mastering phase