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PecheyTheLizard
Average Member
United States
172 posts
Joined: Apr, 2016
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 Posted - 2016/09/06 : 15:44:38
As of right now, i have my first DJ Edit track finally finished in a long ass time! Woo! My problem as of right now, and what my question is, Is where do i start now? My last full track i finished was my remix of Elysium, which had "OK" mastering involved, but i didnt do dip to make it sound any better and generally it was all unmastered. As a college student, i was wondering how i can master this so called track, meanwhile keeping my money in my wallet? Are there ANY free mastering plugins worth dip? i would really like to make some small cash off of this track, and i want it to sound as good as possible! Thanks. i can post an example if requests are made! Thanks!
-Pechey
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Impulse_Response
Advanced Member
United States
724 posts
Joined: Jun, 2013
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Posted - 2016/09/06 : 16:10:36
The problem for me is trying to define what "mastering" even means for singles, as the term more properly applies in album preparation and manufacturing. In this genre it usually means maximizing the loudness, and often at the expense of quality.
As for the actual mastering, I can't provide any help. Whatever you end up doing though, the important thing is to perform a proper comparison at the end to make sure the mastering is actually improving the track. This is where everyone else screws up, because they don't seem to do it. Cut out the loudest part of the track (maybe the chorus) in both versions and reduce the gain of the mastered one until they play back at the same perceived loudness. They should be matched as closely as possible. Then solo back and forth and see which one you like more.
Also, make sure you use a true peak meter to make sure you don't have intersmaple peaks that go above full scale and cause clipping. The true peak level should be no greater than -1 dB, which will put the peak sample value somewhere between maybe -3 and -1 dB. I use the free plugin MLoudnessAnalyzer.
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Producers and record labels, please stop "loudness war" mastering everything. It sounds terrible.
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ViolonC
Average Member
Germany
243 posts
Joined: Sep, 2014
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Posted - 2016/09/06 : 16:34:28
If you can't do it yourself you likely have to bring some money to the table. There are some cheap options. While i haven't used it myself Nakura and X-A7T, both being smaller Artists but here for a while, offer a mastering service for small money. Nakura mastered the Hardbooted compilation and X-A7T does Mastering work for Venom Drive. You can always go a little bigger and ask M-Project and alike. But i don't know their rates.
I would not recommend using Monarch or LANDR.
"Free Plugins" are only useful if you have a clue what you are doing. There are quite a few tutorials explaining usual EDM mastering steps. But unless your track fell out of a Vengeance/Cymatic sample pack there likely will be some more tweaks helpful than a preset will get you.
Also: don't expect to really make cash of a track unless you have the capacity to reach enough people.
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https://soundcloud.com/violonc
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DjZelous
Advanced Member
United States
553 posts
Joined: Oct, 2012
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Posted - 2016/09/07 : 14:35:01
Try fiddling around with T-Racks, You gotta buy it but its great for mastering if you know what you are doing
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Soon to be Audio Engineer :)
Listen To my station!: http://tunein.com/radio/The-Rave-EDM-Radio-s278768/
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Guest
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,511 posts
Joined: Feb, 2015
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Posted - 2016/09/11 : 19:20:57
just make all your mixer channels in the green in your DAW, EQ everything again if needed, then export, and normalize it to RMS averages, if all peak remain in the lines -12db or whatever, then its mastered
tutorials all suck ass and know nothing about anything, along with most other wannabe engineers
if channels arn't in the green, then your bass will have random volumes and all the teenage problems, when you turn it up loud on any pro hardware that is using RMS, like PA systems and cars
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youtube channel / soundcloud and mixcloud suck
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Edited by - Guest on 2016/09/11 19:30:50 |
ViolonC
Average Member
Germany
243 posts
Joined: Sep, 2014
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Posted - 2016/09/11 : 20:57:04
quote:
Originally posted by Guest:
just make all your mixer channels in the green in your DAW, EQ everything again if needed, then export, and normalize it to RMS averages, if all peak remain in the lines -12db or whatever, then its mastered
tutorials all suck ass and know nothing about anything, along with most other wannabe engineers
if channels arn't in the green, then your bass will have random volumes and all the teenage problems, when you turn it up loud on any pro hardware that is using RMS, like PA systems and cars
Don't forget to charge yourself a 1000$ for this professional master.
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https://soundcloud.com/violonc
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Guest
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,511 posts
Joined: Feb, 2015
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Posted - 2016/09/11 : 21:46:36
you have to work with the maximum energy cables and PCB can handle, which is RMS, or you loose frequencies and everything goes to shits, pro cables will be ofc and shielded, and a few mm's thicker like normal sub-bass speaker cable, more AWG's your cable has more energy they can manage, but you still need RMS for the hardware it goes to
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youtube channel / soundcloud and mixcloud suck
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Edited by - Guest on 2016/09/11 21:47:27 |
Guest
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,511 posts
Joined: Feb, 2015
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Posted - 2016/09/11 : 21:53:55
buy a decent rackmount AMP for 100->200 and use it for your monitors, instead of all the middleclass rubbish with noise cancelation etc
so when its mastered, it does'nt matter about the final file having the gain put up and above the peak lines, it will sound the same on whatever soundsystem or hifi you play it on
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youtube channel / soundcloud and mixcloud suck
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Edited by - Guest on 2016/09/11 22:11:23 |
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