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Basically I have finished a remix for a competition and obviously the mixdown and mastering is the next stage to make it sound phat (without killing it), but I am no expert on mastering and have no idea about it. The hosts of the remix say they would get it professionally done if it did indeed win, however I was wondering if there is something I could do in the meantime to just make the overall sound a bit fatter and louder with out over doing it obviously.

Cheers in advance.

Yes!!! Read this its quality, doesn't matter if you dont have ozone either
http://izotope.fileburst.com/guides/Mas ... _Ozone.pdf

if your tune is too loud they'll think "fuck we cant get this mastered anymore" -> they cant release it -> you dont win.

in those competition its about a lot of things, but definetly not how loud/phat your tune sounds. they have the money and gear to fix that shit, make sure your mixdown is clear and everything works well together and let them worry bout the loudness.

hasezwei wrote:in those competition its about a lot of things, but definetly not how loud/phat your tune sounds. they have the money and gear to fix that shit, make sure your mixdown is clear and everything works well together and let them worry bout the loudness.

Although I would say make sure your track isn't too quiet compared to the competition, If they pick your track as the winner, are they gonna ask you for the original file/project so they can master it, or are they just gonna take the tune that you submit (if it is submitted in a lossless format)

benjaminC wrote:Yes!!! Read this its quality, doesn't matter if you dont have ozone either
http://izotope.fileburst.com/guides/Mas ... _Ozone.pdf

Thanks, this was really helpful

hasezwei wrote:if your tune is too loud they'll think "fuck we cant get this mastered anymore" -> they cant release it -> you dont win.

in those competition its about a lot of things, but definetly not how loud/phat your tune sounds. they have the money and gear to fix that shit, make sure your mixdown is clear and everything works well together and let them worry bout the loudness.

Thanks for the advice

Limiter?

hasezwei wrote:if your tune is too loud they'll think "fuck we cant get this mastered anymore" -> they cant release it -> you dont win.

in those competition its about a lot of things, but definetly not how loud/phat your tune sounds. they have the money and gear to fix that shit, make sure your mixdown is clear and everything works well together and let them worry bout the loudness.

+1 I can't say better.

Stretch DR wrote:Basically I have finished a remix for a competition and obviously the mixdown and mastering is the next stage to make it sound phat (without killing it), but I am no expert on mastering and have no idea about it. The hosts of the remix say they would get it professionally done if it did indeed win, however I was wondering if there is something I could do in the meantime to just make the overall sound a bit fatter and louder with out over doing it obviously.

Cheers in advance.

If the hosts of the competition are going to master it...perhaps just concentrate on getting your mixdown sounding how you want and let them deal with the rest. If you think you've nailed the mixdown, then raising the volume through gain staging can be a simpler process for you i.e. less distortion and artifacts being produced as a result, it may not be at the 'commercial level' you want but it seem's that the hosts will get this done for you anyway.

making things 'fatter'; hard to tell without hearing it, but going through individual elements and processing/EQ'ing where needed will go alot further than processing the stereo file as a whole (E.G. some compression/limiting might benefit one aspect of the track but ruin others)

Tracks To Wax wrote:If the hosts of the competition are going to master it...perhaps just concentrate on getting your mixdown sounding how you want and let them deal with the rest. If you think you've nailed the mixdown, then raising the volume through gain staging can be a simpler process for you i.e. less distortion and artifacts being produced as a result, it may not be at the 'commercial level' you want but it seem's that the hosts will get this done for you anyway.

making things 'fatter'; hard to tell without hearing it, but going through individual elements and processing/EQ'ing where needed will go alot further than processing the stereo file as a whole (E.G. some compression/limiting might benefit one aspect of the track but ruin others)

Thanks a lot man, I was just wondering when it comes to EQing kick drums I have heard you should roll off the bottom end so it doesn't clash with the sub bass, is this true?

I high pass my drums between 70-80 hz

ehbrums1 wrote:I high pass my drums between 70-80 hz

I'm just curious to know why manufacturers are still fighting to tailor their subs so they can reach the lower octave.

Well my sub is usually around 40-50 hz...

I think high passing a bass drum between 70 to 80 Hz doesn't help to get a fat sound.

Well it gives some weight to the kicks with out interfering with my sub

If it works on your music, that's perfect. But this frequency range is usually critical kicks because their root note is there.

Where 40-50? Maybe for an 808...

The usual specification of the corner frequency for a filter is done for a - 3dB attenuation. High passing a kick in the 70-80 Hz range, has a serious impact on its sound. A real 808 BD goes down to 20Hz...

laurend wrote: High passing a kick in the 70-80 Hz range, has a serious impact on its sound. A real 808 BD goes down to 20Hz...

no shit. If it didn't have a serious impact on the sound, i wouldn't bother doing it.

To some people in some tunes, the perfect kick drum's nothing more than a top end click.. opposite end of the spectrum, but you get the idea.