Mastering question

[Todd24]

So I EQed and limited a track. It sounded good on my monitors (crap by the way) It sounded good in the car. I took it to a friends house. It sounded like it had no bottom and the upper mids were pished out front. Other cds did not sound like this on his system. I think his reciver does some wierd surround processing.

Does this sound like a phase issue? Do I just have too much upper mid in the mix? Any ideas?

[chagzuki]

Surround processing on consumer stereo systems often means just making the left/right signals louder and the middle quieter; a mild form of vocal removal. This means that if your bass is located dead in the center it'll become quieter.

[IIRs]

post the track?

[Todd24]

http://audioshots.com/auditorium/viewtopic.php?t=2347

I dont get this whole mastering thing. I dont care about LOUD, I just want it to be listenable on multiple systems. I wish I understood what makes it consistant. Great monitors?

[Todd24]

Surround processing on consumer stereo systems often means just making the left/right signals louder and the middle quieter; a mild form of vocal removal. This means that if your bass is located dead in the center it'll become quieter.

You know I belive this drum track was recorded mono. It was suposed to be a scratch track but I liked it and didnt re-track. could be the problem.

[chagzuki]

Unfortunately you have to accept the fact that different systems will treat the stereo image differently. The problem is more severe if there's a badly configured subwoofer - that'll really throw the mix. All you can do is aim for the middle ground: a mix that's so balanced that even when a hifi deforms it, it still sounds good.
It takes a very very long time to master the art of mixing / mastering. You have to be prepared for a lot of trial and error; a lot of frustration.

[IIRs]

http://audioshots.com/auditorium/viewtopic.php?t=2347

I dont get this whole mastering thing. I dont care about LOUD, I just want it to be listenable on multiple systems. I wish I understood what makes it consistant. Great monitors?

I think you would be better off working a bit more on the mix to be honest, rather than mastering: its mainly the bottom octave that needs attention. Try dropping this 3-band comp preset onto a drum sub-group to add some extra dynamics..

Many of my clients are suprised to learn that a well mastered CD can sound warm and clear on a wide range of systems, from low-end to high-end. How can this be done without compromising the integrity of the sound? Perhaps suprisingly, the answer lies less in using the right processing and EQ techniques (though these are the key), and more in the intelligent use of an accurate, high resolution monitoring system.

IMO you should "fix" your monitoring so that your raw mixes travel well before getting into mastering..

[Todd24]

Thanks for the help guys.

I will try that preset IIRs.

Monitoring is a major problem for me that I still need to resolve.

[Todd24]

Thanks for the preset IIRs. It really opens you ears to using the expansion. I had to move the crossover up a bit but other than that it worked as sent.

I also did some carving on the guitar bus. There was actually alot of energy down in the bass area. I was able to go lower with the bass low shelf. Sounds much better. I also moved the bass off center.

Thanks again

[rockstar_not]

Repost the new mix in the auditorium please? I agree that the lowest octave of the bass of just the bass guitar is what was missing. Kick drum seemed o.k. to my ears, but I've never been a fan of thundering kicks.


-Scott

[chagzuki]

Moved the bass off-centre? That's likely to sound odd, if you mean that you panned it and left the source mono. Better to have a bit of stereo chorus, and adjust the width carefully (perhaps with MDA image) to make sure the bass is neither dead-centre or spanning the entire stereo field. This will move it off the kick, assuming the kick is mono.
Of course, there are millions of ways to fry a fish, all depends what you're aiming for.

[Stairsteps]

I like your music track alot you have potential, however like the previous poster suggested try moving that bass a little off center as to not cancel out the bass drum, a mistake alot of ppl make including myself sometimes, Also the vocal track is washing out a few frequencies cause of what I believe is Vocal doubling, Personally you dont need to double the voices in that track and I would try to go for a stronger single voice track with a little Low mid range boost added in to thickin it a bit. But overall a nice guitar and nice feel to it I personally like it.

Also a good idea to get a pair of good moniters but not the most expensive ones but a good plain reference design like Yamaha or something not to expensive, the key here is for it to sound good on crappy car stereo and a great system as well but you want to try to get it to sound good on that car stereo if you want it to be mainstream standard.
Alot of ppl think the better the speakers the better it will turn out but thats not totally true so get a GOOD pair of small moniters no bigger than a foot tall.

[Modeler]

I dont get this whole mastering thing. I dont care about LOUD, I just want it to be listenable on multiple systems. I wish I understood what makes it consistant.

You and me both dude, amen...

[lharless]

i have some imput.

as far as getting the bass to come forth even when it's going through a surround system, try doubling the bass track, setting all parameters on both tracks the same, panning them slighty off center to each side for the both of them. leave a center track as well.

in these days of different translation systems we find the need more and more to compensate for the systems that will destroy the purity of a stereo mix. so prepare for the worst case scenario. and it seems like the worst case scenario for you would happen to be the 5.1 playback system, since you are mixing on a stereo set up.

pan right and left, and add a center track. 3 tracks in all for bass. if bass is importanrt to you, you may want to adopt this technique. many engineers do this for "safety". it's a good practice to follow.

i have used this technique for a "metal" client that had issues with a "pre-master" that i delivered to him. that was my fix. and after many discussions with more experienced professional engineers, i found that this is an accepted and much used avenue of production in the "tower of babel" world that we live in now days, with all of the different translation systems out there.

careful with where you place things in the mix, and be ever congizant of the 5.1 issue.

thats all i have...

[IIRs]

wtf ??

Copy the bass track 3 times and pan them differently? what difference will that make, except to make it louder?