Advice on mastering effects

[P.T.]

What you need is to do some reading and then look for gear. Learn some principals first.

[martian]

Can some Professions that release music or that work on tonstudios tell me which are the best software mastering effects and what is important in mastering to get a professional sound.

I do trance, the problem is that i still can´t do my mixes to sound 100% like professional mixes, if someone listen to my stuff and for example astral projection or hallucinogen he will notice that my mixes don´t sound professional. I don´t talk about the used synths, i just talk about the mastering of my tracks. I heard someone hear says something about RMS, can you explain what this is?

without knowledge and experience no tools will help you. its far too broad a subject to be answered here. start reading, and most importantly, listening.

some to get you started:

http://digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/ ... page_id=1/
http://www.tcelectronic.com/TechLibrary
http://www.mtsu.edu/~dsmitche/rim420/re ... ither.html
http://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/index.htm
http://www.allchurchsound.com/ACS/edart/fmelc.html
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

regards,

[BobYordan]

I am interested in Rms, i think, iknow its important to have the loudest possible final mix, right?

Yeah, if you mean that you can compromise.
Eg trade for dynamics vs lower loudness.

A mix does not have to be as loud as possible before being mastered, though. Because then you leave no head room for the mastering session.

Making it as loud as possible is called the 'loudness war'. At the same time you get a mix that lacks dynamics. And when eg playing such a mastered mix on a commercial radio station, makes it sound like a wimp.

RMS is the average loudness level of a mix, that also contains peaks and lows. Dynamics is the way different frequency bands interract during the playback of the mix. If you push the RMS to high you will probably get clippings in the mastered mix from the peaks.

This is when the dynamic peaks in any of the frequency bands hits 0dB and it shows up in the waveform (that represents the mix) as a squared wave form top. Eg the top is cut off. If this clipp/cut was very big, then you probably get digital distortion, that sounds rather horrible in the speakers.

The 'art of mastering' is not just to get a as loud mix possible, it should also be well balanced in sound/frequencies etc and compatible to the other songs you master.

Cheers Bob

[martian]

I am interested in Rms, i think, iknow its important to have the loudest possible final mix, right? How would i find an rms reading, or how specifically, would i compare spectrally simons work from mine? When i open a song of mine in Evil Sony Forge, i noticed the peaks go through the roof, all the way to the top,, i can fix this now but my question is, is it possible to have a mix with peaks not near the top to be louder than one that is sky high,,,,,hmmm, i assume this is rms? or something similar... And to achieve a higher audio signal you compress with high ratio,,, please point out any fallacies to my reply

my simple explanation:

the brain doesnt follow waveform peak level, it processes average level (*similar* to rms = root mean square). ie. we hear a sine as a constant tone.

it stands to reason then, that even with a sound that peaks at 0dbfs, if you raise the lower level regions of the waveform, you raise the average level and thus percieved volume, despite still peaking at 0db.

this is effectively what you do when using a limiter to maximise volume, except it does the opposite to achieve the same. it turns down the peaks then raises the entire volume, the outcome being the average level is louder.

the trade off is a loss in dynamics, potentially audible distortion or pumping etc.

dynamics in audio concern the ever changing amplitude of a waveform. subjectively they are experienced in the short term (transients) and the long term (loud section vs quiet section in a song). they make up the life, punch, and general contrast throughout a piece, and are of similar importance to the piece being musically or tonally dynamic.

although with certain music, reducing short term dynamics (transients) for loudness can be meaningful, as we cant appreciate the difference.

regards,