KVR Audio

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:18 pm

Hi guys

I had an idea, I've been playing around with a really good mix I got from SOS. I think it's an ideal candidate for our little Mastering Challenge. But this time I kind of wanted to give it a twist.

We want to keep the steps minimal, 3-5 steps. Do as much as you can with some basic EQ & Compression and you can use tape and VCC or something if you want as well. I don't think we need to worry about limiters because who cares how loud it is, it's not a commercial master and most ME's would probably do very little limiting on a track like this if they had the choice.

No our purposes here are to bring out the best of the track, make it all it can be and you can be heavy handed if you want.

If you guys want to participate download the unprocessed mix here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov10/a ... eaudio.htm

No prizes here besides a "well done but someone else can likely have done it better" and maybe I'll get you a hat. "KVR certified M.E."

I think you can submit 1 versions each. Don't be afraid to give them some atttitude. We'll judge them somewhere around the 20th. We'll take a vote.

Btw the reason for only 3 steps is to keep things clean and simple so we can easily see what changes effected what. It helps keep things focused I think.

Davias · Post by **Davias** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:42 pm

Hi there

I'm interested to give it a try ^^

Do we have to download the file "6. Cytomic Review: Mix Unprocessed" ?

Also you said EQ, comp or whatever.. so are we authorized to use something else than EQ and comp amongst the 3 Fx ? Like a tape for example ?

In the same field

Does a channel strip count as one or more FX (or Ozone for example) ?

Finally, if we don't care about the loudness, will it not be hard to make 1:1 comparison ? Do we need to make it even with the original mix to keep the overall loudness sense ? Or maybe we should use some loudness meter and fix same level for everybody. I personally use MLoudness from Melda for this purpose, but maybe someone can suggest another good free tool that maybe doesn't need installation (just a DLL copy), like that everybody could put it in his vst folder for the time of the contest without too much hassle.

My 2 cts

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:53 pm

Davias wrote:Hi there I'm interested to give it a try ^^

Do we have to download the file "6. Cytomic Review: Mix Unprocessed" ?

Also you said EQ, comp or whatever.. so are we authorized to use something else than EQ and comp amongst the 3 Fx ? Like a tape for example ?

In the same field Does a channel strip count as one or more FX (or Ozone for example) ?

Finally, if we don't care about the loudness, will it not be hard to make 1:1 comparison ? Do we need to make it even with the original mix to keep the overall loudness sense ? Or maybe we should use some loudness meter and fix same level for everybody. I personally use MLoudness from Melda for this purpose, but maybe someone can suggest another good free tool that maybe doesn't need installation (just a DLL copy), like that everybody could put it in his vst folder for the time of the contest without too much hassle.

My 2 cts

Okay

1) Yes

2) Yes Tape etc, use a stomp box if you want

3) Tricky. I don't know. Lets not call it a strict rule then, but a general minimal feeling. Try to be as minimal with the processing, 3-5 steps.

4) I think the rule should be to make it match the original in volume as much as you can.

Perhaps it will be much easier for everyone if we just submit 1 version.

Davias · Post by **Davias** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:16 pm

Okay thanks

I don't have Ozone anyway, but maybe I will use VoS Nasty VCS:D But then I would only use the saturation stage and the EQ. Sad we can't post 2 versions finally ^^ I would have liked to post a quick master first as I'm not too pro in this aera, and then maybe try to improve in the second version after hearing what results the others members are achieving.

Anyway thanks for the thread, I see it as a nice way to train myself in situ

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:24 pm

Davias wrote:Okay thanks I don't have Ozone anyway, but maybe I will use VoS Nasty VCS:D But then I would only use the saturation stage and the EQ. Sad we can't post 2 versions finally ^^ I would have liked to post a quick master first as I'm not too pro in this aera, and then maybe try to improve in the second version after hearing what results the others members are achieving.

Anyway thanks for the thread, I see it as a nice way to train myself in situ

Go ahead, as long as we have 1 final version from each on the 20th. I like the idea of 2 versions but it's just going to be too much to sift though.

Davias · Post by **Davias** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:39 pm

Ok, here is my first try, 5 VST used : https://www.dropbox.com/s/2r9xv32l5v3xw ... %2001.flac

EQ -> Buss Compressor -> Multiband-compressor -> Tape -> Channel Strip (for EQ and a little bit saturation)

Feel free to make comments because I'm here to improve myself more than to compete ^^

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:49 pm

Okay, didn't do extensive listening but did a little while I had the time. I'd say it's got a nice character but I would be very unhappy if this were my track and you were the ME. I find it unbalanced compared to the original, as in the highs are muffled a little and the bass seems a bit bloated.

I am hearing some distortion too and compression pumping.

I do like the direction though and how it got more energy in the low end.

Davias · Post by **Davias** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:01 pm

Thanks for the feedback !

When you mean unbalanced, do you talk about the stereo image ? I did a little widening and also put some wow

Since I'm not native english speaker, I'm not sure exactly about what you mean by bloated for the bass

About the muffled side, I guess I'm overdoing it these times, seems like I'm ultra sensitive to high freqs and all my mixes ends muffled. Before that all my mixes were too harsh

so I tend to cut too much I think.

I guess the distortion and the pumping are not nice or too presents :p

I've send two files for blind test to a friend who is not at all into music production (or this style of music

) and he choose my version but he couldn't say why, for him the two were too much similar

But since he is listening to heavily distorted electro all the time, I see why maybe

I will try to make it more polished later ^^

IrionDaRonin · Post by **IrionDaRonin** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:22 pm

I will try to do a couple of masterings, one manually by myself in FL Studio with my typical mastering effects, and another one using that new free tool called AAMS.
I want to see how good (or bad) is this thing.

Have a nice day

waltercruz · Post by **waltercruz** » Thu May 02, 2013 4:42 am

I will gonna try it! But i'm with a crap internet connection theses days, as soon as it get fixed I will download the track.

erickUO · Post by **erickUO** » Thu May 02, 2013 6:34 am

Which file(s) should i download, Mix "(auto-release)" or all of them?

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Thu May 02, 2013 9:09 am

*sigh* Limitations good and fine, but we should definitely write down some rules these days.

I like the idea to have a FLAC file as result, so no problem from my side. Though I don't know what the final format should be (don't know the source file Sampling Rate/Bitrate). I assume it should be 44/16.

Having no loudness limitation is also hard for judging. But I hope people won't go for -6dB RMS.

By 20th May should be possible.
Might give it a shot just for sh*ts and giggles.

APZX · Post by **APZX** » Thu May 02, 2013 9:19 am

So, I claim to be no mastering engineer or such. Anywho, I used 5 steps of processing and called it good.

Ze Master

It went like this: Compressor > EQ > EQ > EQ > Limiter

Compressor - Saturation and a bit of upward style stuff with it.

EQ - Very gentle, wide boosts and cuts.

EQ - M/S to give some more width and brighten the mix a little.

EQ - Parallel EQ to do some final enchantments before the limiter.

Limiter - Not doing anything with it really. Just there for the ever slight final boost.

@Davias,
I'm not sure what you did to get the vox to get them to sound phasey, but it just does not sound right at all. Also, I'm not sure how the extra noise got there, but there is most definitely some extra noise added. I definitely like how the kick is more hard hitting and you managed to get the mix to pump to it a little bit, but the rest of the low end sounds a bit off in comparison. However, this is not without issues caused to the rest of the mix. In particular the quite noticeable audible distortions caused by it. I don't mind it being a little darker though. I kind of like it like.

To be honest the mix just sounds kind of dull and lifeless compared to the original.

solidtrax · Post by **solidtrax** » Thu May 02, 2013 9:49 am

This can be fun and it's nice to test our new mastering chain anyway. Let's see what we can come up with!

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Thu May 02, 2013 9:52 am

Could it be that some of you use the individual tracks (STEMs) rather than the "unprocessed" mix?

Oh and... could we stop saying "steps"? Unless we mean "steps in the chain".

Editing steps would mean for example: 1) upsampling, 2) adding FX, 3) downsampling, 4) encoding into WAV/FLAC, 5) uploading.

New Mastering Challenge - May 2013