Help!!

[JMix]

Originally Posted by mindundermatter

the ME has to do what they say because they sign the checks. .

okay Im getting this now, so are "they" the label or whoever is paying them?

Originally Posted by mindundermatter

If making 'audio legos' was all MEs did, all of us here at the forum would be multi-millionaires and could teach others to do the same in about ten minutes (probably less)

I appreciate it, you basically summed it up for me (No wonder why I never found a tutorial for what I was looking for..)

thanks for the help yall, any more tips and hints I highly appreciate it

[mindundermatter]

okay Im getting this now, so are "they" the label or whoever is paying them?

To quote Wesley Snipes in 'Demolition Man', "Exactamundo."

[garageband]

Try this: Shelf off -12dB/octave from 50Hz down and from 8kHz up. Normalize track. Limit at +4.5dB. Fade in. Fade out.

Now you have reaally loud fake mastering! Yay!

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by garageband

Try this: Shelf off -12dB/octave from 50Hz down and from 8kHz up. Normalize track. Limit at +4.5dB. Fade in. Fade out.

Now you have reaally loud fake mastering! Yay!

Then you'll sound just like the last two Metallica albums...

You can run free software with your DAW and measure the Avg/RMS dB levels.
The've been rising significantly.

Typical levels in the 80s:
Average RMS: -18.0dBFS Peak: -9.0dBFS

Today:
Average RMS: -8.0dBFS Peak: +0dBFS Red


= Home Theater: Metallica Fans Petition for Remix

Some even say the album sounds worse on CD than it does in the video game Guitar Hero and they've got the charts to prove it.

Death Magnetic is the first Billboard number-one album with a mix awful enough to attract a story in The Wall Street Journal. In the middle of the credit crisis, no less! I especially like the pen-and-ink drawing of Rick Rubin that makes him look like Karl Marx.

What do people mean when they refer to the loudness war? As John Atkinson of our sister publication Stereophile explains: "The higher the average level of a recording—achieved by squashing the transient peaks with a compressor—the louder it sounds, and the record industry seems populated by peculiar people who naïvely believe that more loudness is always more better. Ultimately, you can achieve maximal loudness only by minimizing the music...."

In response, Metallica's Lars Ulrich denied there's a problem: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.... It's 2008 and that's how we make records.... Part of being in Metallica is that there's always somebody who's got a problem with something you're doing."

Actually, he has a point. This isn't the first time Metallica fans have assailed the band with a petition. A 2005 petition urging the band to dump then-producer Bob Rock attracted more than 20,000 signatures. Sounds like his replacement, Rick Rubin, isn't so popular either.

But really, doesn't the buck stop with the band? Two petitions add up to a pattern, one suggesting that Metallica should exercise a little more quality control. You don't have to be young and golden-eared to perceive dynamics or a complete lack thereof.

[Freddy G]

Without quiet there can be no loud.

learn how to use the volume knob on your stereo

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Freddy G

Without quiet there can be no loud.

learn how to use the volume knob on your stereo

The problem with that is I can't turn the volume up anymore. It won't go any further to the right!

[Freddy G]

Originally Posted by JMix

okay Im getting this now, so are "they" the label or whoever is paying them?

It's gone beyond that...new artists are insisting that they have the "lego block" treatment too because that is what they hear from everybody else. It's insidious, it seems that none of the great unwashed have the balls to step up to the plate and say "enough of these stupid loudness wars, I want my master to have punch and texture and dynamic range."

Here's an e-mail that I received from a producer / engineer just yesterday after I completed a mastering job for his indy rock client.

"Hey man
***** likes the master but wants it hotter. I think it's perfect but
all this guy cares about is "standing out"...whatever. Can you
squeeze it a little more?"

My reply was, "sure, I'll smash it into a pulp if he wants, just leave my name off the credits"

ARRRRRGGGGG

[whomper]

[QUOTE=TonyB;129884]

Originally Posted by whomper

YES I KNOW THAT! Sheesh! I was just trying to distinguish between sending it to a dude offering FREE mastering services and one that does REAL mastering services.

Get a grip dude! I'm sick of your attacks!

nobody is attacking you

you must really feel insecure to be so defensive

why are you so afraid of other viewpoints or additional info being put forth

if it is wrong - you look good
if it is right you should have intellectual honesty to man up and admit that factoid


i never saw anything comparing free mastering to paid
and why should paid necessarily be better than free
odds are that it should be - but no guarantee

learn to apply hanlon's razor
i have to use it all the time here

[TonyB]

[QUOTE=whomper;130068]

Originally Posted by TonyB

nobody is attacking you

you must really feel insecure to be so defensive

why are you so afraid of other viewpoints or additional info being put forth

if it is wrong - you look good
if it is right you should have intellectual honesty to man up and admit that factoid


i never saw anything comparing free mastering to paid
and why should paid necessarily be better than free
odds are that it should be - but no guarantee

learn to apply hanlon's razor
i have to use it all the time here

What other viewpoint did you provide?

I attempted to address three major levels of mastering:
1 - in the home (pretend as Brandon calls it; little m as I call it)
2 - external, online, free (once again, cautioned that this is little m mastering; one advantage-you got independent ears)
3 - external, pro, pay-for-it, with proper gear (or what I call big M mastering)

No where did I suggest everyone needs to go to a pro Mastering house; just laid out some possible reasons for doing it.

I've done all three. Never was impressed with the free or $10 online mastering. It may work for others. 1 and 3 work for me as I explained.