DIY "mastering" 2016

[marqueemoon]

I'm in the middle of a recording project that's about 2/3 done. It's probably destined for Bandcamp, and that's about it. It will be mixed in the box on a nonexistent budget. It's being recorded in Sonar by a friend.

My main concern is the song-to-song balance. I don't care if it's bright and shiny and radio friendly sounding. The songs just have to sit side by side together.

Any specific plugins, techniques, etc... you guys are using to get stuff kind of mastered-esque these days? It's been a while since I messed with this stuff.

[marqueemoon]

Anyone?

[tremolo3]

I'm interested on this too now that I'm about to record like an EP for bandcamp... or not.

And I think the best way to do it is the typical "check someone else's job" and just try use that as your start AND end point.
EQ, limiters and compressors is what I think one will mostly use when doing things like this, well, and also different sets of speakers. Another set of ears will help a lot too. And doing this on different days or after having loooong breaks is important since the ear fatigue is your worst enemy IMO. There must be like some kind of analyzers to look for peaks and normalize all these things given any set of parameters too.

The hardest part of doing all this mastering thing IMO is the lack of dynamics the song might end up being with. Like you need to know how loud or quiet a calm/slow passage must be... same as a wall of distortion.


Have you asked/checked on Gearslutz forum by any chance? There's plenty of information right there, and you will get more feedback on this matter since that's what they all do over there.

Sorry if I couldn't help! I'm not an expert at all, I guess all this is what I will do given the time.

[mackerelmint]

I can already tell you what they'll say over at gearslutz:

"you can't mix ITB, first off. You really need at least an external summing box and probably the neve one. After that, just buy all the mastering hardware from black hills and use that. Otherwise it's all going to sound like someone farting into a tin can, I'm sorry but that's just the truth. "

Then people will start arguing dangerous vs neve and whether black hills really makes the best compressor for the job.

[parry]

I can already tell you what they'll say over at gearslutz:

"you can't mix ITB, first off. You really need at least an external summing box and probably the neve one. After that, just buy all the mastering hardware from black hills and use that. Otherwise it's all going to sound like someone farting into a tin can, I'm sorry but that's just the truth. "

Then people will start arguing dangerous vs neve and whether black hills really makes the best compressor for the job.

[marqueemoon]

I can already tell you what they'll say over at gearslutz:

"you can't mix ITB, first off. You really need at least an external summing box and probably the neve one. After that, just buy all the mastering hardware from black hills and use that. Otherwise it's all going to sound like someone farting into a tin can, I'm sorry but that's just the truth. "

Then people will start arguing dangerous vs neve and whether black hills really makes the best compressor for the job.

Yes. This is why i tend to avoid recording forums these days.

My biggest recording regret was taking stem mixes to a "real" studio with one of my old bands. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but taking incredibly complex mixes and trying to make them work in an unfamiliar space when you're super pressed for time is NOT a good situation. Any sonic benefits of running through a nice analog console and outboard gear were nullified by not being able to do it properly. I was the drummer on the recording and I'm pretty sure the close mics on the toms and the overheads are panned opposite each other on some songs.

The friend I'm recording with knows a mastering guy who's pretty affordable and does good work so it's possible we'll go that route, but I still want to take a crack at it. I have some decent analog outboard gear and an ok DAC, so we may be able to cobble something together to do some old fashioned analog tweaking.

[cpeck]

Saff Mastering might be an option to consider.

[eigentone]

I'm in the middle of a recording project that's about 2/3 done. It's probably destined for Bandcamp, and that's about it. It will be mixed in the box on a nonexistent budget. It's being recorded in Sonar by a friend.

My main concern is the song-to-song balance. I don't care if it's bright and shiny and radio friendly sounding. The songs just have to sit side by side together.

Any specific plugins, techniques, etc... you guys are using to get stuff kind of mastered-esque these days? It's been a while since I messed with this stuff.

My biggest concern would be getting the tracks from different sessions to sit well together. DIY recordings could occur in multiple rooms, over multiple years/sessions, with an evolution of gear. Tracks, not mixes. It's easy to create presets and have the same starting point for a mic'ed drum kit - but that really only makes sense if the mics, drums, and tuning did not deviate significantly between all the takes. I don't know the genre, but if the rhythm section and vocals are consistently recorded -- then consistently mixed, you should be able to get close with little resistance.

Now… there are tools for this. It's not a new problem. Personally, I consider many of these tools just a way to seal it up and send it off without taking the time to do the job right. Yeah, I venture many people have applied a preset for their Multi-Band Compressor to all mixes and called it a mastering job. Even compression, limiting, and EQ falls into this camp - if not used lightly.

Spectral analysis of your mixes can help you visualize some differences. There are even plugins which will match one signal's spectral profile to another signal's. So you could apply that to your mixes to determine/hear deviations in your mixes. Not that deviations are bad. Expect deviations in spectral profiles, especially as arrangement changes.

So yeah, there are a few "Magic Wand" tools for mixing and mastering, but the best approach IMO is still the old fashioned way of setting the bar high early in the recording process. If your initial tracks work well together, then the subsequent stages often come together easily (eg mixing, mastering).

That said, you should consider consulting with a Mastering Engineer. There are people that specialize in this, who will work directly with you and your recordings. They have trained ears, good rooms, and good monitors. You can tell them you can tweak mixes (if needed) and/or provide stems. That way you can do most of the job, with a little help and guidance from a pro. Just try to find one locally whose work you like.

Good luck

[eigentone]

I can already tell you what they'll say over at gearslutz:

"you can't mix ITB, first off. You really need at least an external summing box and probably the neve one. After that, just buy all the mastering hardware from black hills and use that. Otherwise it's all going to sound like someone farting into a tin can, I'm sorry but that's just the truth. "

Then people will start arguing dangerous vs neve and whether black hills really makes the best compressor for the job.

Yes. This is why i tend to avoid recording forums these days.

My biggest recording regret was taking stem mixes to a "real" studio with one of my old bands. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but taking incredibly complex mixes and trying to make them work in an unfamiliar space when you're super pressed for time is NOT a good situation. Any sonic benefits of running through a nice analog console and outboard gear were nullified by not being able to do it properly. I was the drummer on the recording and I'm pretty sure the close mics on the toms and the overheads are panned opposite each other on some songs.

The friend I'm recording with knows a mastering guy who's pretty affordable and does good work so it's possible we'll go that route, but I still want to take a crack at it. I have some decent analog outboard gear and an ok DAC, so we may be able to cobble something together to do some old fashioned analog tweaking.

That's icing, if it improves the sound.

Modern pro DAWs have more than enough tools you need to get a great mix -- in the box. Computers can add just fine

If a track's not sitting well, it's usually better to re-cut it than form it into something it's not using plugins and/or edits.

[jorri]

I downloaded the Vlagd plugins Limiter6 and Molot...and a whole bunch from 'variety of sound' for free...

then the main thing is just to go through various checks...and make sure its in check with a dynamic range plugin...

In terms of sitting side-by-side I guess the main thing is to use some kind of loudness analyser to help...Melda labs have free everything including this...it also shows 'true peak' which is useful, because stock meters down show those intersample peaks it saves guessing.

The main things i check are the stereo field often by listening in mid/side monitoring, frequency range (which you can also check with various auto-eqs or listening with a bandpass, even grey noise if you don't trust your ear), and of course dynamics which are helped along with those loudness plugins that show crest factors, dynamic range etc.....I also check with headphones and various speakers, sometimes i add some inverted loudness curves to them too, lets' face it none of us are going to have a mastering quality studio unless we are a mastering engineer but there are ways around that...

You could do this all with stock reaper plugins, and have it done better than some corksniffer on gearslutz, because its the technique first and foremost. Sonar must have plenty already at your disposal. Its an art, but there's various things to check, so in that sense its a bit of a science when it comes to mastering too...Of course, ideally if you mixed perfectly you wouldn't have zero to do, aside form a bit of normalisation possibly limiting, which is the confusing part mastering yourself as i guess it only starts once you've bounced down and you've drawn a line over your mix.

[marqueemoon]

Thanks for all the advice. I agree that monitoring correctly is half the battle.

For kicks we threw the mixes into LANDR. Let's just say the results were not good. Granted we just did the free thing, and MP3s are hardly the best way to judge, but even at "low intensity" the mixes got pretty harsh. The guitar sounds are pretty raw, so they don't need any help in that department. Song-to-song balance (which is decent to begin with) actually got worse.

The friend I've been working with gave me a referral for a local guy he likes who is pretty affordable. If that pans out I might go for it. I'm still going to take a crack at it I think.

The general plan is:

throw all the two track mixes of songs into a single project on separate tracks in the correct sequence
apply some light multiband compression and minor subtractive eq on each song where needed
spend a LOT of time adjusting song levels relative to each other and listening to the whole sequence
once I'm happy with that work on the master level, use a limiter to control any remaining spikes, and brighten it up a touch (again, listening a bunch)
from here "save as" to create a version for each song, mute the others and scoot the song I want to run off to the zero mark, add fades, and export it
throw all 4 songs onto a playlist to make sure the gaps are right and they sound ok-ish with some similarish commercial recordings

[marqueemoon]

So, the above plan worked reasonably well. It was super fiddly though.

With any luck that is just going to end up being the backup plan. Hopefully the guy we hired will better it significantly, but it was a interesting exercise.

[noisepunk]

I have an album I'm finishing up as well, and I asked an engineer I'm kind of friends with if he knew anyone cheap.

I've decided I want a fresh set of ears on my project before it goes out the door, so self masting isn't something I want to try and do, but this guy suggested that I just master it myself in logic, which, in his opinion, is a pretty great DIY mastering program, stock.

That might be worth looking into- i'm sure there are plenty of blog posts, youtube videos, etc. show why it is or isn't and how to best use it for that.

[RuffiansFC]

there are some decent free multiband compressors out there that can get you a little oomph and limit without clipping the song to hell. there are some videos on youtube of people mastering with 3-4 free vsts. I've tried a couple of methods that I liked, but make sure the tracks sounds as good as possible before you send it for mastering. Get rid of the mud and harshness, make sure the low end is right. The mastering engineer can only do so much. Plus, if your pre-mastered tracks are good enough, the ME won't try to put too much of his/her signature on the sound.

[Ben17e]

Izotope makes the Ozone 7 suite which is pretty incredibly powerful and has great presets as a starting point. It is fairly pricey but if you can get an academic discount I think it costs about $300...If you want a simple master sound, the basic tools are a subtle amount of eq, compression and/or multi band compression, and limiting. All should be used subtly for sure. If you can swing Ozone, it is a great ITB solution IMO. Berklee Online uses this in their mastering course as well.