• Mastering Music
    14 replies, posted
I currently "master" whatever I come up with in FL Studio. I recently started thinking of looking into a program that was more meant for mastering though. I know that Sony Acid Pro is a program meant for this, but haven't looked much into it. Could anyone recommend to me programs you have found useful? Also, use this thread as a general discussion so it doesn't go to waste.
I use Cubase 5, I haven't run into anything that I can't do with it.
Reason is a pretty good mastering suite, though it's pretty expensive if you choose to buy it.
[QUOTE=Kagrenak;23045455]I use Cubase 5, I haven't run into anything that I can't do with it.[/QUOTE] I have Cubase SX, but I haven't learned to do much with it except recording and fading in and out of songs. How would I go about to master something? [editline]10:34PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Nevermind me;23045505]Reason is a pretty good mastering suite, though it's pretty expensive if you choose to buy it.[/QUOTE] I also have Reason, but I thought it was only made for making beats and synth lines?
[QUOTE=CorpseRida;23045518]I have Cubase SX, but I haven't learned to do much with it except recording and fading in and out of songs. How would I go about to master something? [editline]10:34PM[/editline] I also have Reason, but I thought it was only made for making beats and synth lines?[/QUOTE] Read the operations manual, I'm not too good at writing guides, and the operations manual is really good.
[QUOTE=CorpseRida;23045518]I also have Reason, but I thought it was only made for making beats and synth lines?[/QUOTE] You can do both those things, even write whole songs, but it's got so much stuff for mastering, all you have to do is import your work as a MIDI file and then go to town. It's probably simpler than even that, plus Propellerhead has a ton of info about mastering using Reason. I'm really biased though, Reason's basically what I learned on.
[QUOTE=Nevermind me;23045806]You can do both those things, even write whole songs, but it's got so much stuff for mastering, all you have to do is import your work as a MIDI file and then go to town. It's probably simpler than even that, plus Propellerhead has a ton of info about mastering using Reason. I'm really biased though, Reason's basically what I learned on.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I had someone show me basics of Reason and Cubase, and I was pretty much taught how to make a few beats in Reason, transfer them to Cubase, and then how to record guitar/bass/whatever over that. It's all still new to me, and lately I've been deciding it's time to move on from FL for a while and test new things.
pro-tools is the best DAW for mastering with but ofcourse to master properly you will need years of experience [editline]01:53PM[/editline] also mixing down =/= mastering juts incase you where refering to mixingdown
[QUOTE=Nevermind me;23045806]You can do both those things, even write whole songs, but it's got so much stuff for mastering, [B]all you have to do is import your work as a MIDI file and then go to town.[/B] It's probably simpler than even that, plus Propellerhead has a ton of info about mastering using Reason. I'm really biased though, Reason's basically what I learned on.[/QUOTE] Uh, what? MIDI is just data. How would importing your "work" (I assume you mean your unmastered track by this) as a MIDI help at all when it comes to mastering. You could fix some off-notes or something I guess yeah, but what..?
[QUOTE=healthpoint;23053317]Uh, what? MIDI is just data. How would importing your "work" (I assume you mean your unmastered track by this) as a MIDI help at all when it comes to mastering. You could fix some off-notes or something I guess yeah, but what..?[/QUOTE] You know what, you're right- I've gotten so used to importing from Finale which is just a notation program, and then assigning tracks for mixing and adding effects.
Just to make things clear:[quote] Mastering is widely misunderstood, often mangled, and sometimes mistaken for mixing. So, what is mastering? It's the audio step that comes just before manufacturing a CD. Some people would even say it's a crucial step. Once you have finished recording and mixing your songs, the tracks are shaped, sculpted, scooped, equalized, compressed, and finessed into sonic splendor (well, you hope) through the audio process known as mastering. Mastering is what gives depth, punch, clarity and volume to your tracks. It is part science, part craft, and part alchemy. . . just like songwriting, singing, performing and recording.[/quote] [url]http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/gman_mastering.htm[/url] [quote]Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). The format of choice these days is digital masters although analog masters, such as audio tapes, are still being used by the manufacturing industry and a few engineers who have specialized themselves in analog mastering.[/quote] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_mastering[/url] TL;DR - Mixing and Mastering are not the same things.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;23056166]Just to make things clear: [url]http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/gman_mastering.htm[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_mastering[/url] TL;DR - Mixing and Mastering are not the same things.[/QUOTE] exactly thank you. glad someone else here knows the differece between the two!
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;23056166]Just to make things clear: [url]http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/gman_mastering.htm[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_mastering[/url] TL;DR - Mixing and Mastering are not the same things.[/QUOTE] This is what I'm wanting to learn. Using the EQ and such on my songs to have that perfect tone on each track.
[QUOTE=CorpseRida;23058844]This is what I'm wanting to learn. Using the EQ and such on my songs to have that perfect tone on each track.[/QUOTE] Again, that's not mastering. That's mixing.
I've been researching mastering for the last couple of weeks and it is a bit confusing what the difference between mixing and mastering is at first. This is the best example I can make to get across the difference. Let's say that you make a song and you tweak everything so that it sounds well, the tracks go well together and you have all the effects you want. Now you export that as an audio file. What you do after that is just work on the audio file, you don't do anything with adjusting the tracks, you just work on the finished product. You may do some equalization, compression (a lot of people will tell you not to), adding reverb to make it seem like the instruments were played in the same room, dither, and perhaps other effects. When you really think about it, when you want to master something, you should have a mix that could be a finished product. No issues, flows well, and everything is to your liking. The reason is because most people send their mixes to be mastered by a pro. You wouldn't want to send them something where the mix needs more tweaking, because they can't do anything about the mix. They can probably make it sound better, but any flaws will still be there. There is a lot to it, and most people will tell you that the professionals have made it into an art.
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