Problems with mastering

[estigma2001]

Well the problem is this: i have final tracks (mixed down) and i wanna add some compresion and equalization, so i only use the eq to cut some high freq that bothers me, the rest was flat, then i compressed the wav file with a 30 ms attack and 1.2 s release time, the ratio was 2:55:1 and sounds good to me but after this with and with out diph i ripped them in a cd and when i listen them suddenly i noticed a digital noise or something like high crispy noise mainly when the guitar stayed alone, what is all that? of course that noise wasnt there before the mastering, thanks in advance

 

[MR NINE]

HI!
first of all a fast attack for a mix compression is a "no, no!"
Too much compression can seriously kill a mix.
Can you post a sample of it?
Your description of the " high crispy noise" can mean a lot of things...

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

first of all a fast attack for a mix compression is a "no, no!"

I respectfully disagree Why ? Because I guess it depends on the material... For example you have a snare that is really prominent and want to keep the smack of it (I believe it to happen in the very first ms of the sound), a 30 ms attack and gentle compression is the way to go I think.
Concerning your problem Estigma, I think it's a dithering problem, but that's weird. Did you downgrade the final tracks (from 24 bits to 16 bits for CD burning, if they originally were 24 bits of course) as the very last processing element of your master ?

 

[estigma2001]

well actually my mixed tracks are on 16 bits, and on t racks there´s no threshold, i think that my tracks are loud enough, like 0 db or +1 db what if i normalize the mixed track to -0.5 that would help me?

 

[Ermz]

You shouldn't really go any higher than -0.3dbFS. The risk of clipping digital equipment is too dire. It would help if you were to post a sample for us, so we can isolate your problem. It could well just be digital clipping.

 

[estigma2001]

when mixing is it better to have the final track under 0 db? or less please give me your reasons and experiences thanks, about my problem i deicided to mix teh tracks again, coz i had some clipping

 

[Ermz]

You want to keep EVERYTHING under 0dB when it comes to digital equipment. The simple reasoning is that digital clipping is VERY bad and you never push above 0. When working in dBFS, 0 represents the cut-off point... if you push your waveform above that level, it'll simply get squared off and sound nasty.

 

[MR NINE]

I respectfully disagree Why ? Because I guess it depends on the material... For example you have a snare that is really prominent and want to keep the smack of it (I believe it to happen in the very first ms of the sound), a 30 ms attack and gentle compression is the way to go I think.
Concerning your problem Estigma, I think it's a dithering problem, but that's weird. Did you downgrade the final tracks (from 24 bits to 16 bits for CD burning, if they originally were 24 bits of course) as the very last processing element of your master ?

HI Brett!
Oh! I'm afraid I wasn't very clear about my previous answer and in a way I do agree with you!

So, Estigma 2001:

I should mentioned in my previous post that it depends on the ratios you're using, 'cause if you use a fast attack and you're compressing with a high ratio (let's say 4:1 or 6:1) and specially if you're using multiband compression and your target is for example a loud snare hit, don't forget that while you're compressing that loud snare hit you're also compressing everything that goes in that frequency range, like the guitars or vocals. So you end up with a lifeless squashed mix! But if you're compressing with a 2.1 ratio then your problem could be in your mixing; if you go over 0dbfs in digital you'll get digital distortion, that's for sure! And sometimes even before that! Believe it or not!
But if you're mixing it again it's a good sign already!
"If at first you don't sucseed..."

 

[MR NINE]

By the way what kind of gear are you using for recording your final mix?
Cd, Dat, DAW?!...

 

[estigma2001]

By the way what kind of gear are you using for recording your final mix?
Cd, Dat, DAW?!...

well im gonna use cd but the cd manufacturer said soemthign about cd audios not cd r, i didnt get it, any idea of that or advices please

 

[estigma2001]

and for a guitar solo is it ok to use fast attack and slow release?

 

[Ermz]

on what? a gate...a compressor?

 

[estigma2001]

i mean on lead guitar i´m gonna use a compresor any advice?

 

[Ermz]

hmm, I haven't had much experience compressing leads, but I'd say a relatively short attack time would probably let it cut through more. Just experiment a bit, see what works for you.

 

[estigma2001]

cool thanks, well i´m using adobe audition, wave 8-24 sound card form gadget labs, t racks, wavelab-sound forge, my pc is a pentium 3 with 256 and hard drive of 80 gigas, as soon as i can im gonna post a sample of my job ok
thanks

 

[Razorjack]

well im gonna use cd but the cd manufacturer said soemthign about cd audios not cd r, i didnt get it, any idea of that or advices please

They want you to use a blanck CD-A, a recordable CD that can only be used for audio.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Which is probably bullshit, i read an article giving a very interesting account of why that is... but i lost it hah...

 

[Razorjack]

What would be bullshit? I am interested to know.

 

[estigma2001]

yeah we wanna know?

 

[Impy]

They want you to use a blanck CD-A, a recordable CD that can only be used for audio.

It can be used for other things as far as i know but it's made for audio