Ozone Izotope 3

[ferguson66]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Do you think you are cheating yourself out of some of that experience by going into "auto mode"?

Brandon

I am cheating myself like Gene Simmons backstage for sure. The first thing Ozone showed me is what was possible. I thought I had done all I could do and then flipped on a preset and BAM, so much better than what I was doing.

I'm not saying I won't start plugging away at mastering, but for now I sure do love the results of hitting a preset. When I hit a preset it turns on as many as 6 different tools. I can then go into each individual tool and look at the settings and see how they are achieving that sound. So it is beginning to be a great educational tool for me as well.

I've just completed the "Mixing in Pro Tools" tutorial book and plan on the "Mastering in Pro Tools" book next. Maybe then I won't need Ozone or I can use the individual tools within Ozone rather than using the presets.

[brandondrury]

Cool. Thanks for answering without getting defensive. (Usually I word my sentences wrong and sound more confrontational tht I want to). I can see why a person in your position could beneft from the preset thingy at first.

I'm not saying I won't start plugging away at mastering, but for now I sure do love the results of hitting a preset.

With that said, if you "love" the results of mastering, you are probably over-mastering. If it sounds good, it is good. However, the general, dumb, golden rule is to never boost or cut more than 1-2dB. If you need to do any more than that, you need to re-mix. This dumb, golden rule was created because excessive mastering can sound okay on one system but has a way of wrecking the mix on other systems. I'm sure you are aware of this.

To take it further. When I was down at Eric Conn's, he let me hold the switch to bypass his API equalizer. When I pushed the button, I thought to myself "I wonder if my hearing is inadequate because the difference I'm hearing is so small". Food for thought.

Brandon

[ferguson66]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

With that said, if you "love" the results of mastering, you are probably over-mastering.

At this point I am not even sure what I should be expecting in the mastering stage. Here is what I "loved" about the results of hitting that preset.

1. It brought the volume level of the song up to a commercial level. Prior to me doing this, I had to turn up the volume to listen to it and the next song on my playlist (a commercial song) would blast my speakers.

2. It made the song brighter. I never looked at what it actually did but I imagine it used the muti-band EQ to boost the high frequencies on the overall mix.

From what I understand, the volume maximizing should be done in the mastering stage. I should probably be going for that brighter sound in the mix or maybe a combination of in the mix and at the mastering stage.

I am just happy as hell to be learning as much as I am. I'm not afraid to break things because that is usually when I learn the most. Between this forum and my tinkering, I am getting better and better.

[brandondrury]

There are times when adding add a high shelf boost on the 2bus can do good things, but this is a broad way of tweaking the song. I prefer not to need anything on the 2bus at all other than limiting and MAYBE a compressor. (I've been liking the Antress clone of the Manley on the 2bus lately).

In the end, I don't do that much limiting either. It really depends on the song and tracks I'm working with. Sometimes I've intentionally push the drums to hit the 2bus limiter kind of hard. Other times I'll limit them on the drum bus. Other times, I won't do either. I haven't really figured out a pattern to this yet.

Brandon

[Y.E.]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you guys expecting mastering to do?

Brandon

Vocals, Drums, hi hats, snares ect.

[brandondrury]

You are expecting mastering to play vocals and drums?

In all seriousness, I'm not sure what you are saying. My question was intended to mean "what instruments do you want to master?". My question was intended to mean "what do you expect to gain from mastering?".

Brandon

[Y.E.]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

You are expecting mastering to play vocals and drums?

In all seriousness, I'm not sure what you are saying. My question was intended to mean "what instruments do you want to master?". My question was intended to mean "what do you expect to gain from mastering?".

Brandon

My Fault, I thought you meant what instruments do I want to master...from mastering a plan to gain clean, and hard hitting kits, for my production

[brandondrury]

Mastering only occurs on the 2bus. It doesn't deal with individual components in the mix. That's mixing you are talking about.

Brandon