What do you use for mastering your tracks?

[Relic]

Its not auto, I meant without compromising clarity.
I love how people shit on harbal then shit when I play a track that I put through it. It also doesnt do all this completely automatically, there are manual things you have to do .
BUT if you want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a bunch of high end stuff and then spend years to become a mastering engineer forgetting all about production in the process then be my guest.
Im going to continue to get good results by using that as a tool in my chain .

Its not a cure all , but if you made a good mix to start with its going to make it better , period.

 

[thedreampolice]

whoa, calm down its all good.

Har-Bal is ONLY an EQ there is so much more to mastering than just that.

 

[Klangboks]

One of you asked what I use for making beats; haven't made that many so far, but use Cubase 5 and the included GrooveAgent softsampler (MPC-style drum plugin) and some free vst's (Shortcircuit and Highlife). Also have an M-audio Axiom unit.

Relic; any tracks online where you used Har-bal? Sounds very interesting, would be cool to hear an example.

 

[thedreampolice]

yea, that will work. I would say just get to it, make a bunch of beats. Get them in the showcase and get some feedback. Then keep working on it. Its a fun journey

and of course any questions along the way feel free to ask.

 

[dacalion]

HarBal/Waves = Dope combination

 

[Sucio]

Har-bal is so old school. I need to get my hands on it, I heard it's pretty easy to use as well..

 

[Shonsteez]

Yo Dream, how heavy of an emphasis is there on using PT in these video tuts by Mitch Gallagher? ie. Is this stuff you can follow along with perfectly fine if your using LP8, or something else?

 

[thedreampolice]

No you can use any DAW, there is nothing Pro tools specific. Its just what he happens to use.

 

[dacalion]

Shon, do you use or have Waves?

 

[Shonsteez]

No you can use any DAW, there is nothing Pro tools specific. Its just what he happens to use.

Word, was just curious cuz Ive seen a couple video tuts in the past that were really just tools to sell the partnered software more then anything else. Ima have to peep this out tho if you say this guys the truth on the knowledge tip.

PS - Elephant is one of my favorite limiters. That thing just has a nice coloration that it adds to the mix versus something like the L3. Both are great tools though.

@Dac - yes, i use and have most of the waves stuff, but the plugs I typically reach for from the waves bundle are more for mixing then mastering usually, I do use them on occasion though.

For Mastering EQ, ive been experimenting a lot with FabFilters Pro-Q, Ive also really been digging a kind of slept on compressor/limiter by Cytomic, called the Glue...that thing is just awesome. For limiting, I always like using the Voxengo Elephant at least 80% of the time cuz I like the color, but recently I started experimenting with SpectraPhy and it seems kinda cool too, still isnt as dope as the Elephant tho.

 

[dacalion]

I used to play around with HarBal a few years ago and they have a great tut covering Mastering Tips and Secrets using it and Waves...Since, I found it to be extremely helpful...Check it out...they use SoundForge and Wavelab in thier example to get the RMS of their test track but the same thing can be done using Waves Candy (if I'm not mistakened...). http://www.har-bal.com/index.php?/mastering-tutorial.php

 

[2infamouz]

i mainly use Izotope

 

[dacalion]

iZotope is OK but it can't even come close to "truely" mastering a track. There are so many other factors that it doesn't have the ability to accomplish. I use iZotope more or less to clean up bad mp3's or as a converter but I would never go any further than that with it.

Now if you're just making beats for the internet, it's more than enough so I can't knock it.

 

[thedreampolice]

LMAO @ Dac Izotope makes more that one product. I would guess he is talking about Ozone not RX, and Ozone is a fantastic mastering tool.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/

 

[dacalion]

Oh yeah, you're right! Ozone never crossed my mind...I'm a die hard Waves guy though so it doesn't matter...lol. Go Waves or go home!

 

[thedreampolice]

Waves got nothin on Ozone.

 

[dacalion]

You've bumped your head! Please go get that checked out.

 

[thedreampolice]

Try it out and let me know if you don't just love Ozone.

 

[dacalion]

I know Waves too well, it would be like me trying Reason AGAIN...lol. j/k. I may check it out tonight.

 

[Formant024]

An example for mastering hiphop;

de-ess with fatso > hammer eq > api2500 > diy tube preamp> siemens 276 > logic compresser > adlimiter > ozone dithering MBIT+

Then sonoris ddp creator for authoring redbook.

It really depends ofc, people with great mixing skills will benefit on their mastering since(=more) less needs to be done. But as said before, mastering is a skills on its own, considering most people dont have the proper conditions, those masterings are rendered to random quality or "to make it phatter". Save the bucks if you're not getting the gear, bring your tracks to a proper mastering studio!