M
MASSIVE Mastering
Guest
Using "band-aid" tools (exciters, harmonic enhancers, MBC, etc.) during the mastering phase is almost always to make up for a poor mixing job. A *good sounding mix* usually reuqires nothing more than a tiny bit of polish - Not bodywork.
Using "band-aid" tools in the mixing phase is almost always to make up for a bad core sound during tracking.
*Great sounding instruments* rarely need little more than a quality microphone and a quality preamp to make them sound good.
Some of the better sounding records I've worked on had maybe a couple compressors and outboard EQ on them, and only minimal EQ at the track level.
The best tools are the ones you DON'T NEED to use.
Tonight, I'm working on a rather crunchy metal project. It sounds very nice... about ONE dB of gain reduction on the V-Mu and another dB of peak limiting on the Dominator. That after a very mild EQ pass (with the UAD Precision EQ plug, BTW) to make up for what the Mu and the Dominator are going to mess with. 3 cuts, 1dB each and one .5dB boost which is making a world of difference.
The problem with this project is distorted transients - Distorted vocals, etc. It's exactly what the mix engineer and producer wanted though.
MY job isn't to change it - It's to get the most out of it while changing it as little as possible. So far I've re-drawn about 200 transients that were messing with the limiter. Re-drawing sounds better than the limiter, so there it is.
If it sounded like crap, then yeah - Maybe I'd put an exciter across it or something. Maybe some MBC would actually do something *positive* to it -
But not as positive as asking the mix engineer for a remix...
They're tools that I have - They're not tools that I'd want to use though. They come only as a last resort.
Warmth, clarity, airiness, fullness - Those should all be in place before the "RECORD" button is ever pressed.
Using "band-aid" tools in the mixing phase is almost always to make up for a bad core sound during tracking.
*Great sounding instruments* rarely need little more than a quality microphone and a quality preamp to make them sound good.
Some of the better sounding records I've worked on had maybe a couple compressors and outboard EQ on them, and only minimal EQ at the track level.
The best tools are the ones you DON'T NEED to use.
Tonight, I'm working on a rather crunchy metal project. It sounds very nice... about ONE dB of gain reduction on the V-Mu and another dB of peak limiting on the Dominator. That after a very mild EQ pass (with the UAD Precision EQ plug, BTW) to make up for what the Mu and the Dominator are going to mess with. 3 cuts, 1dB each and one .5dB boost which is making a world of difference.
The problem with this project is distorted transients - Distorted vocals, etc. It's exactly what the mix engineer and producer wanted though.
MY job isn't to change it - It's to get the most out of it while changing it as little as possible. So far I've re-drawn about 200 transients that were messing with the limiter. Re-drawing sounds better than the limiter, so there it is.
If it sounded like crap, then yeah - Maybe I'd put an exciter across it or something. Maybe some MBC would actually do something *positive* to it -
But not as positive as asking the mix engineer for a remix...
They're tools that I have - They're not tools that I'd want to use though. They come only as a last resort.
Warmth, clarity, airiness, fullness - Those should all be in place before the "RECORD" button is ever pressed.
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