When home recording on the computer, do you also do mastering? The reason I ask is because I don't master my home recordings (I don't know how) and as a result they sound kinda quiet to me. Do you all master?

Maybe someone can give us a basic overview on what mastering is, for all us neophytes?

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

I've been using Ozone 3 (now part of M-Audio) for mastering. A set of plug-ins, VST or AU, and available for Windows or Mac audio programs. Ozone is often described as the Swiss Army Knife of mastering plugins, since it includes EQ, Comp, sonic maximizing, reverb and others. All this for about $200 (beats Waves stuff at $2000!).

Worth trying out. Very high quality plugins.

Of course, you have to know how to use them, and therein lies the challenge...

Rev.

www.revwillis.com
www.willisclow.com
www.slajo.com

dp
the "way-basics":

Mastering is a process used to balance the sonic dynamics of a recording, or collection of recordings.

Mastering uses tools such as equalization, limiting, reverberation, compression, dbx, noise reduction etc. in order to achieve a "listenable" balance within a single recording, as well as among a collection of related recordings.

Mastering is a way to "polish" a collection of mixed-down recordings.

Mastering is used to prepare mixed-down recordings for distribution via CD, DVD, mp3, webstream, TV, radio, cinema etcetera...each media has it's prevalent "dynamic standards" for recorded program material. In order to conform to the standards of each type of media, a mastering technician must make adjustments to the dynamics of a recording project.

Mastering can be quite involved, but, thankfully there are many very good "how to" type reference books out there.

I say, find a decent introductory book to read up...and then start giving it a shot. Your music will thank you...

good luck,
-dp

a good one, you can find at amazon:

Mastering is a art form in itself and this book will get you started on that path. I've been home recording for awhile and will leave the mastering to a pro, but to get and an idea of what it will sound like, you can finish your two channel mix and use a stand alone product such as the Sony pack Soundforge/CD Architect http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/Products/ShowProduct.asp?PID=961

It's a bit much for someone just starting out but it one of standards that many mastering shops use.

Another way to get and Idea of what the finished porduct will sound like is to use a good limiter as the LAST processor in the stereo mix. Checkout this video from SawStudio on Live Session Recording and in the last cell call Tip and Tricks you'll see how if you use a limiter as a last process you will get a near press ready output.

http://www.sawstudio.com/LiveVideoPromo.htm

Here's a link to a project where I followed the last step use of a limiter.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jvanhornrlh/music/BreakingSurface.mp3

(think B movie western)

Hap
The Neptunes

RevWillis
Limiting as a last stage... be careful, here, for a few reasons.

Use of Maximizers is controversial. Basically they maximize the loudness of a recorded work by using a look-a-head algorhythm to find peaks then matching the rest of the sound to that level. Fun to play with, but completely destroys dynamic range and sense of air to a recording. All the sound is mashed into about 3db of dynamic range. Unfortunately, the use of a Maximizer is pervasive, particularly in rock/pop recordings, and, I think, is a reason why people complain about "CD sound." Recording engineers hate using Maximizers, but the demand is there by groups so their CD is as loud as all the other CDs on a CD changer.

I'll use about 3db boost from a Maximizer to give a little more heft to a recording. But if I've recorded something particularly sweet, like in a great room with great musicians, I don't want to treat it at all. Keep it natural.

Anyway, I think this is what is meant as using a "limiter" at the end of a mastering chain.

Rev.

True.
It is very much over used in the pop rock world.

When I use my limter is after mix down, a few test passes are done to listen for the clutter occure (rested ears work best not eyes) then back off just a pinch (-3db). Then the normalizer to bring up the volume to just under max.

Lots of times I can hear how much comes up through the mix after mastering and can re-adjust for that. Like when reverb sounds great here but after mastering it's way over the top, big time.

I my case since I have SawStudio, the Levelizer comes with a normalizer built in which I set for 98% of max.

But still I would send out projects just mixed and let them master it to the density you want. And alot of times they will comeback with really good advise.

It is an Art Form. It can make or break your mix.

Hap

Yeah, and whenever you can afford to, go to a real mastering studio, with a good mastering engineer. Not cheap, but worth the money.
Ran

The Scimitars

Anyone out here have recommendations of good mastering studios? I need to sit down and hammer out the nitty-gritty with our recording engineer for whether or not he will master our new disc when we're finished recording, but if not, I am curious if there is a particularly good place to go, and ideally, how much should I budget for it?

~B~

A couple days before we got our album mastered we found out he mastered Sonic Bullets: 13 From The Hip. And he may have done Dumb Loud Hollow Twang Deluxe. I haven't checked. He is a friend of the band and he runs the studio we got into for dirt cheap considering how nice it is and what a part of the history of Seattle music it is.

Eddie,
I hear ya on the home-mastering. I am also considering getting a stripped-down laptop that I can outfit with SoundForge and keep just for audio purposes.

I am guessing we'll have the guy who engineered our CD do the mastering as well. I trust his abilities at the board, and I know the fellas and I always like having a little say in what the final final sounds like.

~B~

Ran,
Thanks for the heads-up, but unfortunately my only upcoming foreign travels will be in Italy and France, so Israel is a bit far out of my range.

I agree with you on the "home mastering" aspect - granted, I don't know peep about home recording and all that, but people who do it professionally have literally thousands of dollars worth of equipment at their fingertips.
For all you dissentors, I know that no one knwos your music like you do, and just because people have the technology doesn't mean they know what to do with it.

I am confident that our engineer, who does audio production stuff for a living can get us a sound that we want. At least I hope so....

~B~