mastering your tracks

[topmo3]

hello

how do people get that punch in their tracks? when i make a tune and listen to it on my computer, it sounds alright but when i test it on a big system it sounds all vague and quiet, the low-end doesn't really stick out either the way i'd like it to. i try to mix the track a bit louder and try various eq's and sound fatteners but that just makes the volumes peak and when i render the track it just results as crackles and pops all around the tune due to the peaking. any advice?

[RmoniK]

i have no idea, i can't even get my mix right.

[DJ Crackle]

Don't try to mix louder, that's gonna hurt. Find the gain structure / money shot thread and read through that.
As far as "mastering", I use izotope's ozone to add some punch.
shit's fucking dope.

[tripwire22]

put some money in get it mastered?

[topmo3]

Don't try to mix louder, that's gonna hurt. Find the gain structure / money shot thread and read through that.
As far as "mastering", I use izotope's ozone to add some punch.
shit's fucking dope.

is ozone free? if not, is there a similar, free program? thanks for the tips!

[DJ Crackle]

it is not. $250.
don't know of any allinone mastering suites as sick as ozone
but it's comprised of an EQ, loudness maximizer, stereo imager, multiband compressor, reverb, a harmonic exciter, and some other shit. you can get the parts individually, i'm sure there's free plugins that take care of those parts individually

[Basic A]

Address it as problems with your mixdown, not as problems with your mastering.

Youll never buff a turd into a diamond, try ll day, serious, give it a shit.

[paravrais]

Just read the moneyshot/mixing and mastering thread and it will solve all your problems. Once you have a decent MIX then if you really need it stick a limiter on the master and push the track up that way. You don't need to fuck about with stuff like ozone if you don't know how to use it, you will probably do more harm than good.

[tripwire22]

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1626

read that thread

[DJ Crackle]

Just read the moneyshot/mixing and mastering thread and it will solve all your problems. Once you have a decent MIX then if you really need it stick a limiter on the master and push the track up that way. You don't need to fuck about with stuff like ozone if you don't know how to use it, you will probably do more harm than good.

True.

[paravrais]

Self mastering is like having a wank. It kinda gets the job done but if you get someone else to do it then it's a lot more pleasurable for everyone involved.




Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting you toss off your mastering engineer.

[lowpass]

hello

how do people get that punch in their tracks? when i make a tune and listen to it on my computer, it sounds alright but when i test it on a big system it sounds all vague and quiet, the low-end doesn't really stick out either the way i'd like it to. i try to mix the track a bit louder and try various eq's and sound fatteners but that just makes the volumes peak and when i render the track it just results as crackles and pops all around the tune due to the peaking. any advice?

Hi

'Punch' to me is taking good sounds and balancing them eq and compression wise to get a 'full' sound that is not overly or underly dynamic and has good harmonic distribution across the full frequency spectrum.

'Vague' sounds like the drums aren't high enough in your mix + maybe some overly present frequencies that are dominating your mix and not letting the 'punch' through.

'Quiet' sounds like you haven't turned the volume control up enough when playing out

Low-end is a tricky one, it's about getting enough of it there without one single frequency overpowering the rest of it. So search down there for a particular 'sore' bit that really stands out when eq sweeping, when/if you find it then use a narrow cut to reduce it a bit before being able to make a broader boost to bring up the rest of your bass.

Turn the output down to avoid clipping, focus on getting the song to sound as loud as possible without limiting / compressing heavily the stereo bus. Once you have that sorted send it over to the mastering engineer (with enough headroom) and job done!

[topmo3]

hello

how do people get that punch in their tracks? when i make a tune and listen to it on my computer, it sounds alright but when i test it on a big system it sounds all vague and quiet, the low-end doesn't really stick out either the way i'd like it to. i try to mix the track a bit louder and try various eq's and sound fatteners but that just makes the volumes peak and when i render the track it just results as crackles and pops all around the tune due to the peaking. any advice?

Hi

'Punch' to me is taking good sounds and balancing them eq and compression wise to get a 'full' sound that is not overly or underly dynamic and has good harmonic distribution across the full frequency spectrum.

'Vague' sounds like the drums aren't high enough in your mix + maybe some overly present frequencies that are dominating your mix and not letting the 'punch' through.

'Quiet' sounds like you haven't turned the volume control up enough when playing out

Low-end is a tricky one, it's about getting enough of it there without one single frequency overpowering the rest of it. So search down there for a particular 'sore' bit that really stands out when eq sweeping, when/if you find it then use a narrow cut to reduce it a bit before being able to make a broader boost to bring up the rest of your bass.

Turn the output down to avoid clipping, focus on getting the song to sound as loud as possible without limiting / compressing heavily the stereo bus. Once you have that sorted send it over to the mastering engineer (with enough headroom) and job done!

guess i'll just keep on making the thin-sounding low-volume tunes that have no balls. but thanks anyway for the effort man!

[paravrais]

That's not what we're saying. The point is that mastering won't give balls to a tune that doesn't have them in the first place, it will only make them bigger. Your tunes need to grow their balls in the MIXING stage so turn your SPEAKERS up until it sounds loud enough (but don't produce the whole time like this only for a few seconds at a time to check it's still punchy) and once you have a MIX that's punchy, clear and solid then AND ONLY THEN will mastering help you in any way.

[tripwire22]

dudes right which is why I linked a mixdown eq thread but let him master his poor mixdown he will learn

[Astral]

Be sure to adress your core sampling to. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so start out with strong individual elements.

[logic pro]

all good advice here, the last one especially, you cant polish a turd.

and i do say this often, but as it seems not often enough.

slapping ozone on the master aint mastering.
slapping ozone on the master aint mastering.
slapping ozone on the master aint mastering.
slapping ozone on the master aint mastering.

youll just feel its louder and go wow louder (remember to compare at equal loudness).
but what you have done in reality is introduced some (ugly) distortion and some bad multicompression that could fuck up your bass for example.

it is possible to selfmaster, but its a hard learning curve and you ll learn to mix right before youll produce any good mastered song.

[CBK81]

If you know what you're doing with it, ozone is a fantastic tool. I use it on some individual tracks now for widening and saturation as well.

[macc]

Sounds to me like the OP simply needs to work on mixing - it's not a mastering issue exactly. The gain structure thread linked earlier will help a lot!

On a sort of related note, if you're mastering your own stuff, the first question in your mind as soon as you change anything should be 'why didn't I do this in the mix?'. Or to put it another way; How are you going to hear things to fix, if you've not heard them during the umpteen hours spent the mix?

Mixing isn't mastering, mastering isn't mixing

[th@-pu$$y]

Check this out. Only $15 per tune. They do a great job.
http://www.symphonicdistribution.com/pa ... vices.html