DIY guide?
Just wondered…a few things really.
Is there a really basic guide to mastering for the ‘Home recorder’?
I know you can’t possibly get the same as a pro, but if you’re skint and need to try something yourself how would you go about it?
What do the common terms mean when people talk about mastering…WITHOUT ANY JARGON?
ie. Normalising? What’s that? Can anyone explain in English?
DC Offset correcton anyone?
Using a limiter anyone?
What’s the order of all the techniques used? What comes first?
Are any of the ‘auomatic’ mastering vst’s any good?
How come when I visit sites that offer mastering…and listen to their ‘before and afters’ all I can hear is exactly the same but louder?
Seems like they just compress then amplify…
Cheers!!!
Craig
google for Bob Katz and go to his website -
then try this link -
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/f/31/0
M.R.
i could explain it all in american english, but not british. sorry.
The Bob Katz book is indeed very good. I have read it at least 15 times. It is one of those reads that has just so incredibly much in it you remember something new every time.
To answer your initial questions…
Normalization: Adding or subtracting a constant gain value to all samples in a file. Often times this also entails normalizing to a specific peak level. If the highest peak is -6db and you want to normalize to 0db, then all samples will have 6 db added to their value.
DC offset: This is where the recorded zero point value either hits high or low on the y axis.
So silence with really bad DC offset might show up as a non zero value of like 2db off of the zero point.
Yes, I use a limiter when and if necessary.
Mastering sites… most are quacks… especially the $10/song guys. So yeah… they probably are the same just louder.
As a for instance of my work, much more than just louder I think:
Before: http://warsaw.innova-partners.com/~cburke/TomGaddMix.mp3
After: http://warsaw.innova-partners.com/~cburke/TomGaddMaster.mp3
Van Nuys. It went from ordinary to possible.
The Guide to Mastering with Ozone has excellent explanations about the whole mastering process.
Even if you’re not using thier software, which, btw, is excellent, they make it easy to understand what the various processes are, and how they are used or applied.
Have you gone to any studios? With your voice you might be able to deal. Give a little voice get a little mixing. Go to a studio that has add traffic. A studio that does commercials.
M.R thanks for that…MUCH info to go look at!!
Jdet…hhmmmm not sure I understand American English…I mean…for example when you guys say ‘color’…SURELY you mean to say ‘colour’…right?
Way too complicated for me… 
Bubba…sorry you completely lost me in the first paragraph… 
Looks like I ain’t ever gonna get me a mastered sound without parting with big bucks!
(Jdet…I threw in ‘ain’t’, ‘gonna’ and ‘bucks’ just for you there my friend)
Point taken with the mastering though Bubba. Even when I got both tracks to the same volume level in my 'phones, there was a world of difference. Good man. I hate you.
Poppa you are as mad as a chair. After spending the time googling Van Nuys I discovered a district in Los Angelis. (bear with me I’m English you know)
Michael, Great resource there. Thanks for that!
Levi, I’ve never tried that but thanks for the vote of confidence!
Would it work do you think?
Man I’m considerate replying to everyone!!! Seriously though, thanks all.
Cheers
Craig
Quote:
Looks like I ain't ever gonna get me a mastered sound without parting with big bucks!
Use of a double negative would improve this line for ya.
Looks like I ain't never gonna get me a mastered sound without parting with big bucks!
Keep reading and learning, master Craig. (pun intended - I'm just that sharp)
Doesn’t DC offset cause the cone of the speaker to be pushed out or pulled in and held there? I thought I read that somewhere…
hhhmmm a double negative ‘don’t make no sense tho’…ha ha pun intended!!
You’re sharp Poppa…you’re sharp.
Tom I heard that Dc offset can damage speakers but have no clue how or why. 
Quote: (spreadercraig @ Nov. 18 2008, 6:54 PM)
Tom I heard that Dc offset can damage speakers but have no clue how or why.
Yep. As Tom alluded to earlier, extreme DC continuously applied can overheat and damage the voice coil. The voice coil(s) are actually cooled by moving air over them with cone movement. If DC is applied the cone moves to a rigid position and no cooling takes place while current is still applied. POOF! Blown voice coil...
D
Quote:
Yep. As Tom alluded to earlier, extreme DC continuously applied can overheat and damage the voice coil. The voice coil(s) are actually cooled by moving air over them with cone movement. If DC is applied the cone moves to a rigid position and no cooling takes place while current is still applied. POOF! Blown voice coil...
the same doesn't apply to children. they can scream and go into rigor mortis tantrum mode for what seems to be hours without a hint of a blown voice coil. i go to worship rehearsal and run through the first song, however, and all of the sudden kurt cobain and lemmy sightings are happening.
takin' the thread and heading for the end zone!
C - van nuys is indeed a suburb of L.A. (if i remember right, it may of ill repute along with chatsworth) didja get da joke yet?
Quote:
didja get da joke yet?
Joke? I've had a cold for two weeks... today it got too hot in the conference room and I went into a spastic coughing fit and had to leave or else totally disrupt the proceedings. Can't smell, can't hear, can't BREATHE... If there is a joke in there, you'll have to spell it out S.L.O.W.L.Y.
D - the snot filled one...
You're both funny - then again, I'm easy.
Quote:
then again, I'm easy.
That's what SHE said...
D
to you! Of course!
in van nuys and chatsworth, EVERYONE’S easy. for the camera. so they say. i don’t watch those things.
Late again to the party but here’s my
£0.02…
One benefit of having your stuff mastered externally is your music gets processed by another set of ears that have heard hundreds of other songs too. That’s hard to do at home unless you have another set of ears in the cupboard (closet?). BUT you can put the song away for a week or two and come back to it with fresh ears as long as you don’t allow yourself to go back to mixing.
I tend to think of mastering as the process of getting all the songs for a cd together, lining them up in order, making them sound sonically similar and similar volume - Usually with compression (multi band or vanilla). When I’ve had stuff professionally mastered in the past the engineer has also used the odd volume curve adjustment, say on an intro, to make one song flow to another better.
So what I do is to pull all of my mixes into my DAW of choice on separate tracks but end to end in the timeline. Sometimes I’ll normalise them before I start but usually I don’t bother. I then work from song to song making sure that as the transition occurs it sounds natural (or unnatural if I’m trying to make a point). I do this most often with a compressor (multi-band) on the FX for each track. Sometimes I might tweak the EQ too. ans sometimes I might use a “sonic maximiser” for a bit of added sparkle (but I must admit my ears get very tired, very quickly of that kind of sound).
I might stick a limiter over the whole mix too to catch any stray peaks.
I’ll even play with the gaps between songs sometimes. 2 seconds is the “cd norm” but a slow/quiet song following a fast song may need a little longer for the mood to settle.
Plently of A/B-ing too when I do this. Listen with “mastering” effects, listen without. Just to make sure that I’m actually making a difference.
Having compressed/tweaked/limited each track I’ll put it on a cd and listen to it in the car to make sure it’s comfortable and also on headphones to check out any subtle pops, clicks, squeeks etc. Last chance!
Final point - mastering will not make a rubbish mix sound great. The mix should be finished and you should be happy with it before moving on.
OK, that must be
£0.03.