Mastering

[joeburnem]

I got T-Racks for my birthday 2 years ago. I played around with it but really didn't understand it enough to get any real usage out of it. From this forum and other sources I have gained some insight on what mastering really is.

Can true mastering be achieved from a home PC product like T-Racks?

 

[Relic]

www.Harbal.com <- that what I use and I love it! Perfectly harmonically balances your mix and masters!
Love it, I got a cracked T-Racks and as a result I cant use it :-(

 

[DJ Redrum]

As long as you have a good set of Monitors and you understand a good quality of sound theory you can, it also helps with having a treated area.

I've never used T-Racks before as i mainly work with Waves Diamond & Ozone 3.

 

[dacalion]

As long as you have a good set of Monitors and you understand a good quality of sound theory you can, it also helps with having a treated area.

I've never used T-Racks before as i mainly work with Waves Diamond & Ozone 3.

Very good answer in general, and I'm gonna be general as well. Mastering is like a whole different world of music. The top Mastering Studios in the world are actually built to a specific size, who would think that the size of the room matters? Well it does. Thats just a glimpse of how tidious the mastering process truely is. Can true mastering be done from a home PC with T-Racks? I hesitate to say "NO" because if you've got that one in a kabazillionth (lol) perfect combination, then I would be lying...so lets just put it like this...chances are SUPER DUPER EXTREMELY good that you can't.

MAN ON FIRE

 

[StressWon]

i don't think you can ever stop learning about mastering. I'm no well, uh, "master" but I'll drop a technique Steezo told me about a few years ago. This was when I had no monitors but only headphone monitor joints. Use whatever plugin/software ya usin and always do it at a low volume (kind of like mixing) get it to were you think it sounds nice, get up and walk away. I have to. Give ya ears some rest. Have a smoke or sumthin and come back. Listen again. If you are happy, save it as "Name-Master" and get back to it. I really think takin small breaks inbetween mixin/masterin is good. Once you come back, listen on the monitors or headphone jammys, and then get a good set of stereo monitors and listen thru there. Go between the two and just explore. I'm not a technical dude, but I think this could work for anybody.

 

[thedreampolice]

"Can true mastering be achieved from a home PC product like T-Racks?"

no

to do true mastering you need an acoustically treated room. Nice monitors (10k or more) proper power treatment and so on. Anyone who says otherwise is not informed. Now you can get good results at home. But not like a real mastering house.

 

[Ash Holmz]

i kinda disagree .. if u mastering engineer had a propoer room and was using t-racks he prolly could do a good job. I think he was talking about the software not the room.. of course the room is the biggest factor in mastering, But yes u can master with software if u know what u r doing an your room is tight. I know a guy who mastered with software for years and his shit sounded unbelivable.. now he has some hardware incorpoarted into his setup but he started out on all software.. but his room was tight ... so ultimately the answer to your question is yes, with a proper room.

 

[dacalion]

They actually have a fomula (per se) for software mastering thats incorporated into software mastering programs. The fomula pretty much says "if you use me, you won't need all the specs. of a real mastering studio and I will get you close to perfection." Alot of cats use these programs to finialize their projects and they come out very well, but, "can true mastering be achieved at home using T-Racks?" (emphasis on the word "true") YES IT CAN, if, but not limited to...

1. you're the child of some celebrity.
2. your parents have stupid money.
3. you have stupid money.

otherwise HEYELL NO! forget it.

As Ash said, you can achieve good results at home, just not "true" results.

MAN ON FIRE

 

[LDB]

Those who think you can't master a song without hardware are the "analog dinasaurs" of the music industry. And we all know what happen them! I pump 'em in my gas tank weekly! But like others have said, it's more about the facility or room that you're working in. Har-bal is a stand alone program that I feel gets you really close to perfection in a home studio environment. But to do it on a "big boy" level you need something like this