Possible mastering problem?

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Member Since: Aug 07, 2005

Hey everyone, I always run into the same problem everytime I record. First, I have two computers. My mac G5 is the computer I record everything on and run protools on. Then I have a standard PC just for personal web surfing. I record my song on the mac and it sounds great through my monitors...really full and thick and almost professional sounding. But after I dither and bounce it and burn it onto a CD and bring it to the PC to put it online it sounds weak and sort of cluttered and not nearly as good as it did on my monitors. I know that It will obviously sound better on my monitors than other speakers but when I listen to some of the recording up here and big name bands and things the songs sound very powerful and not cluttered on my PC speakers. What am I doing wrong? Am I dithering wrong or bouncing my song wrong? I use Itunes to burn the CD is there a higher quality CD burner or does that even matter? I suppose it's probably my mastering. Do you recommend and good matering plugins that will help me and solve my problems. I hear that the Waves series is good...Possibly GOLD?

Here is a song of mine to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. www.purevolume.com/setittoflames

click the song never enough. Thanks a lot.

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JR Productions
Member
Since: Mar 03, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 01:08 pm

Hey Jamie

Do you listen to other commercial bands through you monitors. I know when I'm mixing, I think everything sounds great and full, but then I take a break or listen to some other music and I can tell its too boomy, too brittle, ect. Try taking a break or coming back to a mix the next day.

Also, Im sure someone (if not everyone) here is going to recomend har-bal. I don't have time to listen to your mix now but I will when I get home.

Josh

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jul 26, 2006 01:57 pm

that is way to much MP3 compression... thats why it's falling apart... the file doesn't have enough bitrate to reproduce bass and cymbals... if I was to guess I'd say it was 64kbps ... bump it up to 256kbps and it will sound much better...

Member
Since: Aug 07, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 05:49 pm

hey zek, thanks for the help. where and when do i change that? in protools? when im converting it to mp3? what? thank a lot. ive looked into har-bal but isnt it just for pc?

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jul 26, 2006 05:58 pm

You would change it when you convert it to MP3. There should be some kind of options for the bitrate you want. I always go 192 or 256 (128 is "near" cd quality so they say) to get a truer picture of how things are sounding.

And yes I believe Har Bal is only PC at the moment. It truly is wonderfull though, and I believe they did mention MAC somewhere on the forums as something they are looking into.

Member
Since: Aug 07, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 06:11 pm

Well what I do is when I'm bouncing it off of protools. I bounce it as a .wav file at 16 bit stereo interleaved I believe it is. Should I be converting it to an MP3 on there or what should I be doing?

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jul 26, 2006 06:29 pm

Have to wait for someone smarter than me on the interleave/dithering.

JR Productions
Member
Since: Mar 03, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 07:36 pm

I would convert it from protools. I would guess that the mp3 converter in pro tools is a little better than in itunes.


Edit: I also took a listen to your link and the mp3 quality is definetly the problem. The other factor that plays a large role is the streaming quality of most any online audio host. Can you hear how odd the cymbals sound? and how weak and undefined the bass guitar and kick drum are? Like zek said, it just cant sound accurate with that low of a bitrate.

Member
Since: Aug 07, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 08:14 pm

alright so I guess what I'll do is by the $20 digidesign converter because it doesnt come standard with protools and see if it sounds any better it says its highest bit rate is 320kbps should i bounce it at that or 256 like zek said. any more suggestions are much appreciated

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jul 26, 2006 08:27 pm

I think MP3 support isn't included in protools... it wasn't in SONAR but I didn't upgrade past SONAR 2.2XL before moving to linux... and only used protools LE in Feb of 2002 for one project before their tech support pissed me off. If it's still not included it'll be a nonfree upgrade as mp3 is patented... it should be included as it only costs $0.75 for a bulk license... though cakewalk discovered they can charge $50 to the user...

anyway

I'm assumeing you export from protools as .wav and then burn it to an audio CD... and then Rip the CD to .MP3 or .WMA to upload on the internet.

If thats the case the settings would be somewhere in the ripping software. If you let Windows Media Player handle it I think it's saved as .wma but thats doesn't sound like the stock compression from WiMP.

Unless you're burning the .wav to a data CD and just copying them to the PC and runing the wav file through an mp3 encoder... which it doesn't sound like you're doing :)


Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jul 26, 2006 08:28 pm

agh! ya beat me.

to answer your new question ... bitrate directly effect how fast the song will load when streamed... so though a 320kbps file will sound better... it may take just enough time to load that people will leave... most people use 256kbps as it's good enough.

Member
Since: Aug 07, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 08:34 pm

This is what I do....I export from protools as a .wav then burn to an audio CD and bring it upstairs to my PC convert it to MP3 on Itunes up there and then put it on the internet. If I get this digidesign converter it will make things a lot easier i can just bounce it as a mp3 and put it on the internet on the same computer. and hopefully get a better sound. can you tell me the differance the different bit rate make? Why did you suggest 256 when there seems to be a 320?

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jul 26, 2006 09:20 pm

the bitrate is how much data per second the song requires in order to play. Whensongs are steamed online it's important that it downloads faster than it plays otherise it will stop playing in the middle of the song while the rest loads or the player will wait until the entire song is loaded before it starts playing.

example:

on youre purevolume opage you have the player... the player has the grey/darkgrey striped "timeline"... when you hit play a ..uhh... grey... bar scrolls across filling up the timeline indicating how much of the song has been downloaded... then the ... umm... other grey bar... which indicated the "now time" scrolls indicating actual playback... For me, the song starts playing when the song is halfway downloaded... if the "now time" ever caught up to the ammount of the file downloaded, then playback would stop and I'd probably leave the page :) Using smaller bitrates that produce "good enough" quality prevent people from having to wait in streaming playbacks... If the file was downloaded on the otherhand, the higher the bitrate the better because the somg is on the local hard drive, which is very fast compaired to over the network. ... UNLESS... a significant portion of your listening base is overseas where broadband internet is less available... in which case file size is still important, and the snmaller the bitrate the smaller the file will be.

Member
Since: Aug 07, 2005


Jul 26, 2006 09:40 pm

thanks a lot zek!

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 26, 2006 10:51 pm

Just for note. mp3 support was available in Sonar for those who started with the orignal Pro Audio 9 I believe. It was added actually earlier but then turned standard. Then it was added permanantly in Sonar 3 and upgraded in 4 and 5.

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