Hi guys
Interested in hearing what level people take polish to before mailing out for interest.
Do you just use Abletons(insert other DAWname here) plugs? or off the self? Are the third party noticeably any better. If so what do you recommend?
Do you do any mastering yourself, I would love to hear a before and after on that note.
Will monitor speakers improve my EQing? I just got some reference headphones to not annoy the neighbours. with the monitors still on the shopping list.
have you found any good resources about eqing? I understand the principles but what I struggle with is knowing when/ what to cut or boost. (outside of the usual roll off the the sub and lows on most things bar kick etc.)
Ive seen a few product tuts showing physically how, but not going into why they came to that decision.
Alot of questions I know but hopefully we can get some good tips flowing, after writing the tune I find this is my big hurdle
thanks guys and have a safe new year:D
How polished is polished?
…When you can see your face in it :laugh: 
But seriously though, when you ask about plugs, are you talking about plugs in the master chain or in each individual channel?
Thing is, I’ll be honest, when it comes to the channels, i use what I use, more often than not it’s Abletons own plug in’s but there are the odd few external, there is no right or wrong, just whatever you are most happiest with when it comes to the final sound.
However if you’re asking about the master chain… well, i keep things limited, two reasons for this really;
- My track should be good enough without the need for lots of plug ins ‘doctoring’ the audio.
- I’d rather leave the mastering to the professionals.
So what do I put in there? Ok well look, i’ll have a small handful of things just for purposes of when i’m sending my tune to people to have a listen too for thoughts, or when i’m playing it out, and also when i’m sending the track to labels for possible signing.
These plugs are usually an EQ, compressor, sometimes my Izotope Ozone and i used to put a limiter in my master but i’ve lately followed some advice from a pro producer that limiters in your master chain isn’t a good idea (actually can’t even remember why lol), so i’ve not been using that, just as long as my master isn’t peaking into it’s red.
When you’re sending a track out to be mastered… take pretty much everything off your master chain. Although you can still get away with keeping EQ on there if you so wish, just as long as your EQ isn’t heavy.
My way isn’t ‘the correct way’, in fact no way really is, i’m 100% sure other people will post with ‘their way’, but when it comes to it… it’s all about finding ‘your way’.
Hope this helps.
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]
have you found any good resources about eqing? I understand the principles but what I struggle with is knowing when/ what to cut or boost.
[/quote]
I’m gonna jump in on this bit because i personally feel that to many people think there is some kinda magic way of eq-ing and that cutting certain **** will make a bad track into a super heavy hitter lol.
Eqing imo is to be done using your ears and not a set of numbers, only cut if you need to cut (because a sound is clashing or just doesn’t fit 100%) most tracks these days are paper thin and have no real guts to them and i personally feel this is down to producers cutting everything. we all know that to much mud is bad for the mix but like any good doc will tell you “everything is good in moderation” we never want to remove all of the offending frequencies because as we attempt to do this we end up removing others that sound good. i also personally find that eq is probably the least used of my plug-ins once i take notice of how my track has been mixed, panning a sound and finding the right place in the mix almost always eliminates the need to EQ.
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]
Will monitor speakers improve my EQing? I just got some reference headphones to not annoy the neighbours. with the monitors still on the shopping list.
[/quote]
Good monitors are nothing with out good placement and that on its own will help you figure out Panning and eventually lower the need for Eq (so yes hahahaha)
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]
Do you do any mastering yourself, I would love to hear a before and after on that note.
[/quote]
I don’t personally do my own mastering but i would say if i was gonna start down that road i’d buy this [url]http://www.slatedigital.com/fgx.php[/url] download the demo and check it out, really is the tits for home mastering.
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]
Do you just use Abletons(insert other DAWname here) plugs? or off the self? Are the third party noticeably any better. If so what do you recommend?
[/quote]
Usually during the creation part then I’ll use abletons or Logics built in plugs but later down the road i may swap them out for Waves, Nomad, BBE and I love Glue (Compressor!!! not the sniffy stuff) I’m not sure if they make any difference but it makes me feel good so they do their job, after all if you feel happy with your tracks you stand more chance of finishing them 
Answers in bold dude
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]Hi guys
Interested in hearing what level people take polish to before mailing out for interest.
Do you just use Abletons(insert other DAWname here) plugs? or off the self? Are the third party noticeably any better. If so what do you recommend?
I used to use logic plug ins but then i found that i could get a better sound with the waves (its barley noticable but its enough)
Do you do any mastering yourself, I would love to hear a before and after on that note.
((Yes i do my own mastering but when labels sign something i send them the un mastered wav)
Will monitor speakers improve my EQing? I just got some reference headphones to not annoy the neighbours. with the monitors still on the shopping list.
(senheiser cans can be ok but id recommend getting monitors. i have krk’s at the moment tho im looking at getting something else when i have a bigger studio)
have you found any good resources about eqing? I understand the principles but what I struggle with is knowing when/ what to cut or boost. (outside of the usual roll off the the sub and lows on most things bar kick etc.)
Ive seen a few product tuts showing physically how, but not going into why they came to that decision.
(future music mag is a good one i have a full mixing, mastering and synthesis copies so i have been reading through those and testing things out. The SA tech tips help too)
Alot of questions I know but hopefully we can get some good tips flowing, after writing the tune I find this is my big hurdle
thanks guys and have a safe new year:D
[/quote]
All good stuff there guys.
Im savvy enough to understand that there is no magic bang in on and wow its a hit plug. However my tracks are missing the dynamic range when I compare to completely mastered tracks.
Having heard only my own tracks and fully mastered I can only surmise the in between.
Im sure the quality difference is largely down to my inexperience.
Thanks for all your candid replies though they are all appreciated
[quote]hindsite (30/12/2010)[hr]All good stuff there guys.
Im savvy enough to understand that there is no magic bang in on and wow its a hit plug. However my tracks are missing the dynamic range when I compare to completely mastered tracks.
Having heard only my own tracks and fully mastered I can only surmise the in between.
Im sure the quality difference is largely down to my inexperience.
Thanks for all your candid replies though they are all appreciated
[/quote]
obviously volume is a huge part of a track and more often than not with this sort of music a loud track always sounds better than a quiet track so when comparing tracks and mixes i will usually turn down the mastered track tot he volume of my track before making comparisons.
if i was to pay for mastering, at the risk of selling less tracks i would always choose an engineer who goes for more dynamics than one that competes for volume.
[quote]Roben (30/12/2010)[hr]How polished is polished?
…When you can see your face in it :laugh:
But seriously though, when you ask about plugs, are you talking about plugs in the master chain or in each individual channel?
Thing is, I’ll be honest, when it comes to the channels, i use what I use, more often than not it’s Abletons own plug in’s but there are the odd few external, there is no right or wrong, just whatever you are most happiest with when it comes to the final sound.
However if you’re asking about the master chain… well, i keep things limited, two reasons for this really;
- My track should be good enough without the need for lots of plug ins ‘doctoring’ the audio.
- I’d rather leave the mastering to the professionals.
So what do I put in there? Ok well look, i’ll have a small handful of things just for purposes of when i’m sending my tune to people to have a listen too for thoughts, or when i’m playing it out, and also when i’m sending the track to labels for possible signing.
These plugs are usually an EQ, compressor, sometimes my Izotope Ozone and i used to put a limiter in my master but i’ve lately followed some advice from a pro producer that limiters in your master chain isn’t a good idea (actually can’t even remember why lol), so i’ve not been using that, just as long as my master isn’t peaking into it’s red.
When you’re sending a track out to be mastered… take pretty much everything off your master chain. Although you can still get away with keeping EQ on there if you so wish, just as long as your EQ isn’t heavy.
My way isn’t ‘the correct way’, in fact no way really is, i’m 100% sure other people will post with ‘their way’, but when it comes to it… it’s all about finding ‘your way’.
Hope this helps.[/quote]
Yeah I’ve never been told why lol but i know two mastering engineers both of which tell me to learn how to get volume with out using a peak limiter, I have worked out that you lose punch, depth and most of the dynamics of the track also if over used the track becomes harsh.
a peak limiter can and probably should be used once you have the volume but they should only be set to barely tickle the track.
I’ve also been told that I’m better at mastering than some of these online £25 a track sites Lol.
I would love to have some practice at mastering but i really don’t have the set up to be fair.
Remember, you can’t polish a turd… but you can roll it in glitter 
:laugh:
[quote]Roben (31/12/2010)[hr]Remember, you can’t polish a turd… but you can roll it in glitter :laugh: :D[/quote]
just what your mum said the day you were born, NO WONDER you like Diamonds hahahahahahahahahha
[quote]Roben (31/12/2010)[hr]Remember, you can’t polish a turd… but you can roll it in glitter :laugh: :D[/quote]
hahahahahahahahaha:D
Stating the obvious, but polished is when you think that your track is at the level it should be. Just keep doing A/Bing with other commercial tracks and remember to turn them down to match the loudness of your track. I would use Sonalksis Free-G metering to adjust the commercial track to the levels of your track.
Don’t try to master yourself, send it to an experienced engineer who does not have tunnel vision and has a proper room/tools/experience to master your mix.
Just make sure you follow all proper steps to get your mix polished.
Start out by having a good arrangement, then proceed to adjusting levels of the mix, then use panning and when needed use EQ. Mix at low levels (below 82dBC).
Hope this helps.