what up

wanted to get some thoughts from ya'll on mastering...I have spent the last year really refining my production skills and I've mastered my vs1680 so my tracking and mix game is getting real solid but the last piece of the puzzle imo is going to be mastering. you can master to some degree on the mixer but it lacks that magic dust I have heard when stuff is run through old tubes.

anyone around here have some mastering rack units, compressors etc? I love the way old tube shit sounds...anyone rocking any vintage units? or even a newer unit?

i have a joe meek 3q compressor wich is used for vocals but is ok to compress sounds and i got the alesis 3630 limiter/compressor too; i used them with my tascam dp01fx; some months ago i was more "hardware fever" and i was trying to buy beringher enhancer effect also, but soonly i came back to pc because of searching a good sidechain compressor effect; so now there i master my tracks...
i still keep the 2 compressors on the desk anyway, who knows...

cool thx for the reply ella...

I have been thinking a lot on this today and it seems like this road could get very slippery since there are diff compressors for diff applications and the old vintage units you don't know what you are getting sound wise depending on wear and tear...so I'm thinking of just getting a proper interface so I can run my tracks from the vs1680 with efx/layering into a DAW like Pro Tools and master there...

More opinons??

Well I came across a Joe Meek VC1Q in good condition at a really great price 300$ (they are the older light green joints made in England)..supposed to be a really warm and colorful unit, I'll let ya'll know how it goes...if this doesn't satisfy me I may finally cave in and go the ProTools route with VSTs/plugins ad nauseum

Mastering, in it's true definition, is more than just warming up a digitally created 2-track, although that can be part of it.
For the 'bible' on it you'd do well to check out http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audio-A ... 0240805453
To have something mastered correctly- you need an acoustically measured room- where the walls and materials are built around the speaker placement so "the truth" is heard.

Analog gear for mastering can cost more than an automobile.
Many producers do what I call "microwave mastering" where you use WAVs plug-ins like the L2 and L3 maximizers and just "smash" the 2-track up to almost brick wall.
Check out this video as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJ-33hDtTE

btw I used to use the VS-1680 and that thing is awesome. I used to employ the digital output whenever possible.
Do you have the FX board? There was one we used to use all the time- a preset- it was like "stereo compressor something" I can't remember the exact name but it used to pump up drum tracks big time.

Also- listening to your track side by side with a major release that you love is helpful

Yo thanks a lot for the reply HxC!

Yes the vs1680 is a bad ass, def a great multitracker.

You speak the troof...mastering is a lot more involved than just buying an old unit to run your stereo mixdown thru. The acoustics in my lab are far from professionally engineered but I do have a lot of good sound treatment material up and I feel like I hear a reasonable approximation of the truth - but yea acoustics is sooooo heavily slept on my people that do home recording. You can be mixing a track and not even hearing reality!!! That's where the gem you dropped came in of using professionally mastered music as a reference b/c you can see how properly mastered sound behaves in your space.

What I was referring too isn't really mastering as you pointed out - is basically just adding some additional gloss and warmth to the recordings to give them a more alive professional sound...but that isn't really mastering in the true sense - it's more like decorating lol

In the case of the unit I bought, the VC1Q, I also record a lot of vocals so this unit should be of great assistance for improving my sound quality in that area and I'll def use it on various channels on my beat mixes and the mixdowns to see what results I can get -

PEACEEE

I love the JoeMeek stuff- new & OG. The compression is pretty heavy though- sticky icky which is a pro if you know how far to go.

Comparsion lisetning is a great way to get closer to what's in your head. try to have it so you can immediately switch back and forth between your track, and your commercially released favorite - this is why computer multitracks are good becasue you can run them through the PEZ meter and scientifically see what frequencies "theirs" are bangin' at vs. yours.

(no spelchekc)

Cheerz

I can't wait to play around with this unit. I chose it over a newer unit like say the sixQ b/c the newer units are supposed to have a more transparent sound the vintage ones have more distortion/warmth...so I sprung for an OG model since it was a good deal as well. We'll see how it works out.

And word up on the frequency analysis, I still keep my Adobe Audition 3.0 on the comp b/c I love visual layout and ease of use of it's Frequency Analysis Tool in the edit mode.

thx again for dropping your toughts.

PEACE

i wonder how he means about the ones and zeros shifting and making the sound different, when you copy the file ?