Masterization

[Guest PiNG]

Hey were can I learn masterization techniques??? i have been playing around sound forge and i do some nice things with Wave Hammer andMulti Band Compressino although i am very far of making a correct masterization. where can I learn??

[Guest ALMAN]

It is something you will learn with time. If it sounds right to your ears record it on a cd and test it by having friends listen to it without knowing it is your work(because they may get biased) and see what they have to say if that goes well try it at a party and then congratulations you have learned how to master. GOOD LUCK and just keep on trying. Listening to alot of different styles of music will help you alot

[Guest cielspacing]

Sounforge is quite an excellent tool...

However for masterizarion you will have to find the correct settings for most tools/effects and pluggins. It is not like other(external) masterization tools that come sort of ready made. Check TC electronics masterization tools, may search for reviews on specialised magazines or forums like www.soundonsound.com (previously www.sospubs.co.uk), Harmony central, the gas station, etc.

There are a lot of simple tricks that can be learn and tried from those sites.

 

 

It is very possible to do lots with Soundforge, its just you will have to find your way thru the multiple choices.

 

Anyway you can still do some of your side of the job without other equipment/software by "training" your ear;

1-firstly find very good monitors(or headphones for that matter) experiment with the placing of them until you get the best sound.

2-Then select what you consider are the best sounding original CDs, and play those tracks on soundforge. Learn to do frequency analisys, look at the shape of the kick drums on the wave display, notice how the bass is layered on top. See the difference in the graph as it corresponds with the sound.

3-Try to see the whole picture, how a particular sound relates to a particular freq analisys or wave shape, ie. dense tracks or bass driven, or thin sounding, dirty,etc.

 

You may compile a CD with extracts of the parts or totals you like; Kick drums, basslines, highs, or overall sound, just for comparison.

Whenever you are mastering any track or sound you'd made; this will be your best guideline. listen to what you are doing and fastly switch to your reference.

 

Hope this helps.