Mastering your track
category: music [glöplog]
Heya folks!
One of the big mysteries of a finished product is the mastering process. How does it work, and is it really worth it? I can tell you as much - it REALLY is worth it. My good friend Jonas Kroon is a soundengineer of extraordinary talents, and he has recently made his services available to the outside world.
His mastering is not done "in the box". He runs everything through a classic analog mixing console (Neve) and will treat your track with that subtle warmth digital sometimes is missing. I will not go into much more detail - but if you are looking for a mastering engineer you can trust - this is your man. He has done my mastering the last few years, and the difference from my mix to the finished master is incredible. He has also done mix and master for movies, TV commercials and well known bands in Norway.
I thought I would share this here, since there are a lot of online services that are crap. This one I personally guarantee a great result.
Go to the link below for more information, and do not hesitate to ask me any questions regarding this.
www.am4em.com
Klaus
One of the big mysteries of a finished product is the mastering process. How does it work, and is it really worth it? I can tell you as much - it REALLY is worth it. My good friend Jonas Kroon is a soundengineer of extraordinary talents, and he has recently made his services available to the outside world.
His mastering is not done "in the box". He runs everything through a classic analog mixing console (Neve) and will treat your track with that subtle warmth digital sometimes is missing. I will not go into much more detail - but if you are looking for a mastering engineer you can trust - this is your man. He has done my mastering the last few years, and the difference from my mix to the finished master is incredible. He has also done mix and master for movies, TV commercials and well known bands in Norway.
I thought I would share this here, since there are a lot of online services that are crap. This one I personally guarantee a great result.
Go to the link below for more information, and do not hesitate to ask me any questions regarding this.
www.am4em.com
Klaus
Price range?
50€ per track.
Step 1: Order & payment.
Riiiight.
Some examples would have been nice. NEXT!
Riiiight.
Some examples would have been nice. NEXT!
well, if he masters xerxes work.. nuff examples there ;)
I miss samples of work too. Few original->mastered track (or just clips), would be really ace. People are not going to buy to try, if you are not Vengeance or Cutting room.
Running tracks thru this and that does not tell anything about quality, results are more important than tools. Not to say that is bad, i just happen to know people that have tons of very good gear, still results are more bad than two presets on Waves.
Xerxes: You probably have some examples you could share?
Running tracks thru this and that does not tell anything about quality, results are more important than tools. Not to say that is bad, i just happen to know people that have tons of very good gear, still results are more bad than two presets on Waves.
Xerxes: You probably have some examples you could share?
maali: or Xerxes tracks are already too good to be ruined?
yeah it doesnt have to be just analog or expensive, although that might help in some situations :)
there should be some clips of pre-master and after mastering on the site...
there should be some clips of pre-master and after mastering on the site...
My stuff isn't worth 50€/track, so I just check the bass and treble balance with various sound equipment I'm familiar with (a couple different headphones, living room stereo, car stereo, multimedia speakers), and run the mix through Voxengo Soniformer's "mastering compression" preset. And Voxengo Elephant as the final limiter, where I also check that the RMS average level isn't too hot. (-14dBFS should be enough... sometimes I'm not careful and I squash it to -6 or something) I used to check mono compatibility with a goniometer but I don't bother anymore.
Read "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz, and then you'll be freed from the idea that you could possibly master tracks. Just call it quick and dirty balancing, and you'll be fine.
Read "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz, and then you'll be freed from the idea that you could possibly master tracks. Just call it quick and dirty balancing, and you'll be fine.
Yzi: hope you adjust threshold in soniformer preset ;)
But you speak quite the truth.
Mix should be already so good, that you dont need to add loads of processing to get it "there". Usually just mono the lowend, drop excessive low and high freqs, smooth compression (2:1 maybe and 1-2dB GR), soft clip peaks, limit.
Normally we (SoftKnees, ovrWatch) dont have to limit more than 1-2dB and we are already at -10dBFS - -8dBFS .. depending on tune.
Also hinting to get some of these:
https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/downloads/
(all free)
and some from here:
http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/
(free versions also)
But you speak quite the truth.
Mix should be already so good, that you dont need to add loads of processing to get it "there". Usually just mono the lowend, drop excessive low and high freqs, smooth compression (2:1 maybe and 1-2dB GR), soft clip peaks, limit.
Normally we (SoftKnees, ovrWatch) dont have to limit more than 1-2dB and we are already at -10dBFS - -8dBFS .. depending on tune.
Also hinting to get some of these:
https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/downloads/
(all free)
and some from here:
http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/
(free versions also)
Jonas will come on here himself and explain some stuff and he will post audio examples on his site. He is a bit busy at the moment, but should hear from him soon. His studio:
www.sagastudio.no
The sole purpose of this service is to master electronic music. As yzi said, mastering may not always be needed. But when all, or most of, your sounds come from synths - the sound tends to be a bit flat sounding, sometimes harsh.. and very digital. Personally I love when you add a bit of warmth, a bit of roundness in the signal. Obviously, this is all about personal taste.
Lastly, I do not have very good ears for how a final mix should sound. Nor do I have the equipment to make such judgements myself. So having Jonas do that last finish in a state of the art studio, with his ears - I trust what ultimately is released in the end. It costs a bit of money, but compared to the amount of hours spent making the tracks, it is totally worth it.
As an example, the track I submitted for the last Hugi was unmastered. The version on my soundcloud page is mastered by Jonas.
soundcloud.com/xerxes/mayflower
www.sagastudio.no
The sole purpose of this service is to master electronic music. As yzi said, mastering may not always be needed. But when all, or most of, your sounds come from synths - the sound tends to be a bit flat sounding, sometimes harsh.. and very digital. Personally I love when you add a bit of warmth, a bit of roundness in the signal. Obviously, this is all about personal taste.
Lastly, I do not have very good ears for how a final mix should sound. Nor do I have the equipment to make such judgements myself. So having Jonas do that last finish in a state of the art studio, with his ears - I trust what ultimately is released in the end. It costs a bit of money, but compared to the amount of hours spent making the tracks, it is totally worth it.
As an example, the track I submitted for the last Hugi was unmastered. The version on my soundcloud page is mastered by Jonas.
soundcloud.com/xerxes/mayflower
Quote:
Lastly, I do not have very good ears for how a final mix should sound. Nor do I have the equipment to make such judgements myself. So having Jonas do that last finish in a state of the art studio, with his ears - I trust what ultimately is released in the end. It costs a bit of money, but compared to the amount of hours spent making the tracks, it is totally worth it.
I understand this, but to hear how something should sound is to compare and learn your own equipment (eg. monitors, headphones, laptop and such) and how tunes sound from them. I'm not saying that a mastering service should not be used. :)
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Mix should be already so good, that you dont need to add loads of processing to get it "there".
THIS.
Spend weeks on mixing… hours on mastering.
I guess most of us can make decent mix and master our tracks (?). Still i would pay for mastering if i would release commercial track ever again.
If i can get that little extra out of my track, why wouldn't i? I can cook too, still i am not chef.
If i can get that little extra out of my track, why wouldn't i? I can cook too, still i am not chef.
I agree with everything said here, lots of valid points. From a personal standpoint - mastering (and specially from Jonas) is worth it. He really has exceptional skills, and he will offer so much more than the usual online mastering service. When you pay for his services, it will be him spending a few hours on your track personally.. I wish you knew how special that is. I posted this info here, and on the Renoise forums; if any of you decide to try him out - please post your experience here.
This track was both recorded and mixed by Jonas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1FAlHt_Ys
One final point. Mastering will NEVER save a bad mix. But it can make a good mix magical.
See YOU in Saarbruchen in a few weeks ;)
This track was both recorded and mixed by Jonas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1FAlHt_Ys
One final point. Mastering will NEVER save a bad mix. But it can make a good mix magical.
See YOU in Saarbruchen in a few weeks ;)
Quote:
This track was both recorded and mixed by Jonas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1FAlHt_Ys
is it just me or does this video have a strong flight of the conchords vibe?
masterful, tho!
Quote:
I guess most of us can make decent mix and master our tracks (?)
No Rebb, i at least haven't got any kind of clue nor equipment of either!
Like one Brainstormer once said "i wanna do music, not tweak the knobs!"
Quote:
The file in Hugi is either .it/.xm or mod, so that isn't comparable without changing the application in which you listen to it.As an example, the track I submitted for the last Hugi was unmastered. The version on my soundcloud page is mastered by Jonas.
I'm happy that you are happy though :)
Serpent: You are not counted, take a beer and tweak those numbers in right column!
numtek, no. the file in Hugi is an mp3 - composed in renoise and mixed in logic. if you have found it as a mod file - that would be absolutely amazing :)
Rebb: Beer and falling on keyboard with edit on produces the bestest things!
numtek: Apart from what xrs said... what exactly does the source format have to do with all this when comparing before/after?
How about MOD/S3M/XM mastering service? :) I mean so that the output is still in the same tracker format.
Yzi: that would .. take a lot of time but it would be doable :D