using wavelab for mastering

[majormusic]

You HAVE to use both programs to manipulate the file using cubase. And then doing the official after-mastering with Wavelab.

[normz_4299]

i ve been using wavelab 4 for my home studio mastering too. just wanna knw...since i m so new in this...wat is da basic step in mastering? what r da chain fx should b in da mastering chain? should i compress first or eq ? should i eq or compress da tracks evrytime mastering da songs?

tq

[fortyseven]

Originally Posted by normz_4299

should i compress first or eq ? should i eq or compress da tracks evrytime mastering da songs?

I prefer to compress or eq the signal before it gets recorded. Generally I go by the 'garbage in, garbage out' way of thinking. Its easier to master a well-recorded and good sounding track than to try and fix it up later.

[profjack]

Combining cubase. sonar, cool edit pro with wavelab produces finer results. I advise mastering using wavelab if your computer suffers on resources. Cubase demands a lot of power when mastering but you are limited to one song per master.

In wavelab, you can do a batch processing when mastering. You see, experiment with the softwares at your disposal and stick to the ones you understand and favour most.

[angelestevisjr]

you can master on cubase nuendo or whichever you want...master it then import it into wavelab...and burn it to a cd...it will give you red book specs automaticaly....thats what wavelab is really for.......thanks

[lab19]

Can somebody do a video tutorial on mastering?Im a total noob to this. I make beats but i want them mastered?any1 help out evn if its just a basic mastering???

[garageband]

Why aren't my mixes loud enough.
Have a look at what I wrote (as well as the rest of the thread) and see if that doesn't help.

[audiocurry]

Hi! If you can lay your hands on a great book, try "Mastering Audio - the Art and the Science" - by Bob Katz. He's the master of mastering. Not too expensive either!
Have a great day!

[glenlata]

i record with samplitude and master with wavelab 5 using the Ozone 4 plugin along with a long list of others. and i gotta say wavelab makes everything alot easier, not that i master my own tracks anyway because i was taught that that was bad practice. one of the biggest benefits of mastering is that you get a third party involved that didn't watch you spend 5 hours recording and didn't sit there and put in 3 hours or so mixing. he doesn't know what went into the mix so he can make unbiased decisions on whats going on. you should also not be considering getting individual tracks mastered that is a waste of money or time. and a video tutorial on mastering wouldn't be as useful as you might think, because all projects are different. most of the same process used in mixing are employed in mastering as far as eq and compression, reverb and exciters and such but in small amounts or not at all. but if you do want to get into master i will say this and i'm sure you have heard it before and will hear it again, LOUDER isn't always better.

[Danny Danzi]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

In my experience Wavelab, Sound Forge, and the other stereo editors are not designed for the task of taking a collection of mixers/tracks/songs and making an album out of them.

I'm also of the opinion that if processing is required on the stereo mix to achieve your creative sonic goals it should be done in the final stages of the mixing process. The biggest reason for this is if you decide, for example, that the tune needs a high shelf boost (which is very common) it should be done while you still have access to your mix. When you add this shelf, it's possible that the apparent levels of individual elements can change.

The notion of simply loading up a mix you've done and tweaking it in some kind of stereo editor seems like a step backwards to me, personally.

Brandon

Hi Brandon,

I would have to disagree with the above and I'll explain why. First off, Wavelab is completely album ready with a feature in it called "Audio Montage". This allows you to bring in your entire album and master it as an entity. You also can enter your codes, gap your pauses and make sure the entire mix is consistent instead of doing song at a time. Audio Montage specializes in complete audio mastering and is something everyone that owns WaveLab over-looks or never tries.

Secondly, the processing on a stereo mix should not be intense. All the stuff you mentioned about getting the mix right etc is completely correct. However, the stereo master NEEDS to be polished in a way that only the mastering engineer can do. If you only have one set of monitors, you'd not be able to master correctly anyway. Also, as I've heard your mixes, you do a good enough job to where you probably can't hear what you would alter anyway, am I right? Seriously....think about it man...when you render that audio and export that song, in your mind you're done unless you listen to it and want to make changes. How could you master it on the same speakers you mixed on and decide what to enhance? See my point? I mean all of the above with the utmost respect and hope what I'm saying doesn't upset you or seem controversial. Not my intent at all man.

See, when your tune is completely finished, the first thing the mastering engineer is going to do is listen for things you can't even hear because you are way too close to the material man. Way too close! You figured, you have been working on this for how long? Maybe a month...maybe 6 months...who knows? You will struggle to make the right calls if you engineer, mix, perform on the material for long periods of time. The mastering guy has a fresh set of ears...he's not heard the mixes 20,000 times like you have when you did what needed to be done...and he's not biased. He'll listen to it and make mental notes about what he thinks may need to be changed on speakers that are perfect for the job.

As he makes his notes, he'll listen again to make sure what he has written down is what he thought he heard. On the 3rd listen, he'll have a scope up to see if his thoughts about what he would change eq wise are close. Now keep in mind, if you are thinking the master is supposed to come back to you sounding like something completely different, you hired the wrong mastering engineer. The object is to preserve the mix you have given him, he removes sub low rumbles, extreme high end, levels and compresses the mix and if it loses any spaciousness, he adds it back in. He checks for clicks, pops, artifacts, hums from guitars being left open where someone may not have slip edited a clip...the list goes on and on man and all of this can be done in WaveLab using Audio Montage. So when you hear back your tracks, it's like you are literally listening to a full CD all at once in WaveLab. This is why it is so powerful man and it does exactly what you were under the impression it didn't do. Hope you understand where I'm coming from...not meaning to be confrontational with disagreeing with you, but in my experience, all that I've said to you is true life experience on my end.