HELP on mastering songs

[badongrodrigs]

mga sir, i need help in mastering.

recordings are as follows:

drum tracks - studio
guitar tracks - home recorded (guitar > EFX > AMP > mic > line in of PC)
bass tracks - same as guitars
vocal tracks - home recorded (mic > line in)

and we've produced slightly competent and somewhat OK quality tracks.

my problem now is mastering everything.

any tips and rules of thumb?

dati ang ginawa ko sa track placement eh drum tracks are both 100% left and right speakers. ung vocals at bass din. tapos isolated ung guitars. i copied the entire waveform of the guitar track to another track, and then i isolated each track, one on the left and one on the right speaker, aroung 60-70% each. tapos ung isang track inusog ko ng ilang milliseconds para lumitaw ung pagkakahiwalay nila between speakers. okey naman ung kinalabasan.

any tip would be appreciated   thanks in advance!

[BALDO]

the USUAL advise eh take your recordings to a MASTERING HOUSE!! i know i know.. why? because :
1. they have the best listening environment to do the work.
2. they have the best equipment to do it.
3. a professional will do it better....
 unless you have no budget for it...
always remember if the recording is really WORTH IT.. go to the professional route.. if not then you can always do it yourself.
always THINK of the possible outcome of your project and consider the following:
1. amount of time and effort each and every member contributed in the song
2. amount of money spent on the project
3. purpose of the song ie. if it was meant to be a demo or for broadcasting purposes - cd sales
4. members input - everyone should be unanimous in the decision.
So after weighing all the factors, what you should ask yourself is.. if the song NEEDS that professinal touch or just go the DIY route.
PS
you still didn't indicate if the song was MIXED by you too..  

[BALDO]

Granting the project will be a DEMO, you can use soundforge 8, wavelab and other MASTERING software and their corresponding plugins.
hope this helps...  

[badongrodrigs]

3. purpose of the song ie. if it was meant to be a demo or for broadcasting purposes - cd sales

this is it. kc nakapasok kmi sa Finals for the Nescafe Soundskool, and they required us a SUPER CLEAN demo cd, pero they didnt give us enough time to do it. they told us na they were going to use those songs for promotional stuff at radio tours! nagworry tuloy ako bigla na we were going to give them [gooey brown stuff]-made recordings. waah

thanks a lot sir!

[BALDO]

If it involves your future in music why not let the professionals do it? IMO it will benefit you better in the future since most opportunities only knock once   .. Give them the best you've got.. you might not get a second chance..

[badongrodrigs]

boo.. sana last week ko pa ito natanong para kahit papano may time pang magpamix and master. salamat sir! we have to hand it today na kasi. DIY nalang  

[badongrodrigs]

pero for future reference sana, any DIY tips would be welcomed  

[BALDO]

Sayang nga..  kahit na pseudo mastering sana natulungan kita.. well, maybe next time..

[KitC]

dati ang ginawa ko sa track placement eh drum tracks are both 100% left and right speakers. ung vocals at bass din. tapos isolated ung guitars. i copied the entire waveform of the guitar track to another track, and then i isolated each track, one on the left and one on the right speaker, aroung 60-70% each. tapos ung isang track inusog ko ng ilang milliseconds para lumitaw ung pagkakahiwalay nila between speakers. okey naman ung kinalabasan.

What you did here is the basis for chorusing. Longer times will give you slapback delay. Would have been better if you double tracked the guitar.

[starfugger]

badongrodrigs, when u say drums are 100% left and right speakers ... i just want to clarify if you used two overhead mics on drums (becase u also mentioned this about bass and vocals --- typically mono tracks -- i am guessing that perhaps you have two mono drum tracks that you panned hard left and hard right. if so, then u will still get a mono sound out of those tracks, which means they will come out dead center (if your left and right are of the same amplitude).  

sorry this has nothing to do with mastering, but a proper mix is much needed to come up with good masters.

in DIY mastering (and DIY mixing) it is always best to compare your mix/master constantly to an already commercially released cd (your reference track) close to your genre.  take note of the overall loudness, the stereo image (width), the eq curves, the vocals (being the most important part of a mix), etc. and see if you are close to your reference track.  the processors usually used in mastering are the following: mastering eq, mastering compressor limiter, stereo enhancer (there's nothing to enhance is you have a mono track), noise supressors, exciter, dehisser, multiband compressor, etc.  your best bet is to use software plug ins (which is way cheaper than mastering-grade hardware).  you can chain these processors in wavelab or sound forge, or find an all in one mastering suite. in any case it will still set u back a couple of thousand bucks still ... maybe the money will be better spent just having it mastered in Tweak Studios or some other mastering facility out there.

[KitC]

Here's a mixing example I did for the guys at yupangco during last year's Jam 3 session:



Pasensya na lang kung medyo large ang image, but notice the automation. And that's only EQ, you should see the FX automation as well. This project was done using Cubase SL2. I now have projects with Sonar 5 - just waiting for my Sonar 6 to arrive.

[nongx]

starfugger ... your correct mixing is different than mastering.. before you master make it sure that mixing is properly done.. balancing,, panning or automation. any effects in addition for vocal
or adding some compressors & limiters. then export as wave file. depend how many bits you want.
and now you can master your song to soundforged or any software  that can do mastering

but if you dont have an idea about mastering bring your song to the pro studio



regards
nongx

[badongrodrigs]

mga sir! sobrang salamat po sa mga infos at dun sa offer ni sir baldo at hazel...natouch ako    salamat talaga kaso lang we've already passed the demo eh...sayang talaga sana last week pa ako nagtanong.

ambabait talaga ng tao here sa forums!! da best dito! dami ko din natututunan!

salamat po! sige bigay ko na sa inyo ung girl sa left sa avatar ko!! hehe pero akin ung nasa right!

[starfugger]

thanks for the girl, i'll pass lol.

Nice one Kit! matrabaho talaga mixing especially when u do Level, Panning, EQ and effects automation.  i look at automation as another process altogether.

good luck badongrodrigs.

[BALDO]

kitC paano mo nailagay yung screen (captured) na ganun? *taka*
hhmmm iba talaga si master kitC sa paliwanag hehehehe, kulang na lang i POST IT sa NOO natin yung pix hahahaha  

[KitC]

kitC paano mo nailagay yung screen (captured) na ganun? *taka*
hhmmm iba talaga si master kitC sa paliwanag hehehehe, kulang na lang i POST IT sa NOO natin yung pix hahahaha  

hehe...

just use the Print Screen button on your keyboard then open up MS Paint and paste (Ctrl-V). Works like a charm everytime. Resize as much as you want and save as jpeg. Ayos ba?

[BALDO]

ok na ok..pati yung pagka INVISIBLE mode mo nakakapagtaka din hehehe.  

[KitC]

Not online, pare. Just concentrating on work... 9 songs to convert kasi.