Mastering magix or mix magic?

[fistula]

im listening to prof stuff and must say cant understand - whats different - it sounds like my mixes/masters - but the sounds is concentrated on the center (by frequences) cant get that effect... any advices? my masters\mixes sounds muddier that prof too... maybe its the mastering stuff?

here's my mix sample... reference cd for this mix was The Black Dahlia Murders - Nocturnal cd...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=801717&songID=6429847

 

[colonel kurtz]

first of all, you have to remember that "professional"(whatever that means nowadays) mixes were often recorded with top-notch mics, preamps, outboard gear, and instruments, and in much better sounding rooms than the typical home setup.

after accepting that your mixes are probably going to be inhibited by being behing the "pro" curve at tracking, a few things that i think would help a lot of people would be to...

a)don't track so hot. this can turn into an endless argument, and fast, but just remember that most converters put 0dbvu ANALOG at between -20 and -16dbfs in the digital realm.

b)use subtractive EQ more than additive

c)use hi and low pass filters to cut out what doesn't need to be there...this'll add definition to your mix if done properly

good mastering helps too, but things really need to come together earlier than that for a great mix

 

[gorath23]

I think we become accustomed to a certain way of CD's being represented, this is often done through the mastering phase. I'm not sure that it is necessarily better/worse than other ways of representing a mix, it just reflects an industry standard. Maybe I'm being complete naive though. Sometimes, when coming to the end of a mix and attempting to self-master I like the results and don't always feel that the overall sound I get is 'worse', it just differs from that norm that we have become attuned to and thus I feel it is worse. Obviously though, this is only part of the mastering process, and the skill and technique of mastering plays a large role in really bringing the mix to life.

 

[SpewChunks]

You might need this age old book of secrets...

 

[fistula]

ahahahahaa) yeah thats exactly what i need)

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Some really good advice is to keep working at it!

 

[broken81]

Sorry to change the subject but...

I'm running protools and just curious how i should set my recording levels. Should i use the peek function on the meters and if so then at what level should they peak?

I'm kinda confused by this whole thing "0dbvu ANALOG at between -20 and -16dbfs in the digital realm."

How do my levels relate and what should i be looking for and doing to stay same and get healthy levels?

 

[Where She Wept]

Sorry to change the subject but...

I'm running protools and just curious how i should set my recording levels. Should i use the peek function on the meters and if so then at what level should they peak?

I'm kinda confused by this whole thing "0dbvu ANALOG at between -20 and -16dbfs in the digital realm."

How do my levels relate and what should i be looking for and doing to stay same and get healthy levels?

Read "Mastering Audio" by Bob katz, it explains all sorts of stuff like that in detail. it gives me a headache and i have to read sections over and over to really get it. but the knowledge is worth it.

 

[broken81]

Thanks im gonna have to buy that one.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I'm kinda confused by this whole thing "0dbvu ANALOG at between -20 and -16dbfs in the digital realm."

it basically means that if you were to run pink/white/whatever noise through a preamp, and crank it so that the meter stayed at exactly 0dbvu, this signal, with most A/D converters, would show up at between -20 and -16dbfs in your DAW. the differing range of signal levels will depend on both the manufacturer and how the converter is calibrated(if that's an option).

basically what i do to ensure proper gain staging is to make sure that i don't overload my preamps on the front end, which in turn keeps the converters and the digital signal from clipping further down the chian.