New Mastering Challenge - May 2013

[shoma]

Hi everyone...I think, I'd like to participate with my attempt on "Mastering" of this nice little track

Tried it at first in Cubase with various Freeware-Plugins but I felt, I could not do what I felt this song needed. I liked the overall tonal balance of the original, but it sound a bit "harsh" to me and a little "thin". I didn't want to eliminate the "boom", as I think. it's part of the arrangement, so I just reduced the frequency a bit in this area and added a little in a deeper area. A little "boost" in the midrange helped the snare to cut through in the chorus and adds some body to the vocals...maybe it's a little to much, but that's a matter of taste, I think...
The tool of my choice was "HarBal 3.0" and i used it's internal EQ and Dynamics....

(sorry for mistakes...english is not my native language )

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/301 ... ma_eq.flac

[litzblitz]

Hey, I gave it a try.

One hour quick and dirty digital. Bass seems troublesome in the chorus but I like the song .

http://soundcloud.com/litzblitz/masteri ... 3-may-v1-1

cheers

[litzblitz]

double post sorry.

[bmanic]

I haven't really read the rules, I did that one before checking this thread. "Subjective opinion" blah blah. Yeah, I'm modest only when I need to be.

You modest? Ain't seen that happening, ever.. but we all love you dearly for it! You don't happen to be maddox in disguise?

I disagree about the resonance at ~2300Hz, there's no way to do this differently without ruining the overall balance and getting a "weak" mix,

However, you are way off on this point, way off.. I have absolutely no problem transparently reducing the problem. I have superior equipment you see, and I am also correct.

Absolutely nothing at all goes wrong with the mix. In fact, my guess is that very few actually noticed it or are used to that kind of targeted listening but most will notice the difference when it's gone and it is NOT due to the mix getting ruined or anything.. that's just not it.

.. yeah, that might be harsh but I'm an asshole like that when speaking to assholes like that.

/badly portrayed sarcasm

In short: You can disagree all you want but you are wrong.

Cheers!
bManic

[Shy]

Badly portrayed indeed, and anyway, you're wrong.

[s_t]

Maybe ears are different. Or listening equipment.
I never felt that the 2k presence was too much or too harsh. Actually, I would have been happy even if it was more. (Although the tamed version sounds good too). I'm not a mastering engineer, but speaking in terms of mixing, long ago I used to be a bit 'shy' with my mixes. No rough edges, no harsh elements, no surprises, no nothing that would offend. Now I'm getting towards the opposite. Such imperfections (or 'artistic visions' ) make the mix much more interesting. Personally I don't do my mixes for radio or compromised listening environments. And as such, I don't care.
I appreciate that in mastering engineers point of view things may seem different.

There are many fine entries in this competition.

[HanafiH]

10,000 on the studio

5,000 on the 900 grade tape

100 on I'm right and you're wrong.

Just what you need from the mastering engineer.

[nIGhT-SoN]

Just for fun I did my version too, I used 5 plugins. Give it a listen and tell me what I did wrong.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vr1gb3a41uabu ... 13%29.flac

[IrionDaRonin]

Ok, 16 participants for now. 17 if we count the AAMS automated master i'm doing with this program, i just want to check how good or bad it is.

·Davias
·APZX
·Compyfox
·S_T
·Bmanic
·75ips
·HanafiH
·darkflame23
·erickUO
·Irion Da Ronin
·Blue-S-Man
·QuintoSardo
·ChuckD
·shoma
·litzblitz
·nIGhT-SoN
·AAMS

Are we all in the list?

Here goes what AAMS program did with the unprocessed file.
AAMS automastering

I will make an Archive.org page to upload all the tracks there, this way we will have all mastered tracks in order.
I just need one thing from Bmanic, as i saw many entries from you in a few posts i got a bit confussed which one is your final version in flac or in wav format.
I don't have too much time to read the whole thread for now, sorry.

Once the competition has finished, i will delete all tracks for the next challenge so your tracks won't be spreaded all over internet without your knowledge.

Have a nice day

[litzblitz]

Thanks Irion,


for anybody interested I tuned my version slightly with eq. This might sound a bit more like the original intention of the mix.

http://snd.sc/10o1h4M

cheers lb

[yomanfree]

Hi Guys

I've just bought Alloy2 recently and for my fun (even if I know that it is in theory a mixing tool) I've taken the opportunity of this thread to use/learn it for the first time.
Then just alloy2 used (except some metering tools), 4 modules: Compressor / Exciter / EQ / Limiter . Headphones used ....

https://soundcloud.com/yomanfree/kvrmasteringyomanfree

Yo

[PAzevedo]

Hi everyone, I'd like to submit my version to the contest. The track is louder than stated in the rules, hope ain't a deal breaker. Anyway feedback is always appreciated.
https://soundcloud.com/paulo-azevedo-13 ... -kvr-3-mix
Plugins
P. Alliance Vertigo
Sonnox Inflator
P. Alliance maag eq4
Fabfilter pro-q
Sonnox limiter

[Davias]

Mmmh already 19th may here, time for me to give it a new spin (didn't had time to listen other competitors, sorry), I must read the loudness rules

[Davias]

Here is my 2nd and final try, I hope I didn't distort too much this time

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u5hscst02it5k ... %20try.ogg

5 plugins used :
Audio Teknikk - Equilibre : Mid-Sid Eq
SKnote - StripBUS : 4K SSL Compression, Stereo reduction
Platinum ears - 5orcery : Multiband Compression
ToneBoosters - ReelBus : Tape
Variety of Sound - Nasty VCS : Saturation and Eq

I'm curious to listen what the others made
Good luck everyone ^^

[s_t]

Many have posted more that one version. Is it ok to do so? I would like to fix couple of things...