On a few tracks recently, I have noticed that when the bass kicks in or certain other effects happen, drums for example will reduce in volume, like wise, at a quiet moment in a track, the quieter sounds will gain volume.
I have tried bypassing the suite and I don't get these problems. If anything, I have noticed things like kicks, being to prominant... Only problem with bypassing the suite is that, my sound quality has droped a long way
I was wondering what you lot do with the suite, or do you bypass it completely? Any advice is appreciated
__
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by brucifer: 04-08-2009 05:29.
I try to do the mastering when producing the tune (as much as possible; mainly EQ&band distortion to "push" the good harmonics into the right places(in fact cut the bad ones, but u get the point i guess...)). I don't wait with it till my tune is "finished" (to avoid surprises like u describe).
This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by Saikonutta: 04-08-2009 10:12.
Sounds to me like a Compressor that does the job to well (you're compressing to hard). Turn it down a tad.
It's a good idea to EQ and compress each instrument while adding it and not rely on some miracle solution to polish the mess when you're done.
I noticed that with a mastering suite in position while still composing I was boosting certain instruments upto rediculous levels to make them push through the mix. When bypassing mastering the instrument would then scream so loud that you could hear it 3 blocks down the road
So I decided not to master anything untill I'm completely satisfied with the way the different instruments sound together. Mastering is glue and some extra shine, nothing more. If you need mastering tools to bring out your bass or lift the lead or cut down on some unwanted frequencies then you are doing it wrong.
__ Check my soundcloud (exclusive tracks on there)
like bd said, it sounds like a compressor doing too much on the master channel....you could try mixing everything much lower and leaving lots of headroom on the master, its much easier to add gain to the mixdown to bring everything up. lately ive been mixing with like 5-10dB of headroom , then using compression/ limiting to boost everything after. pushing the compressor too hard on the mix will kill the dynamics of the track and make it sound like a squashed wall of noise....i reckon a much better approach is to mix relatively low, try to retain some dynamics and let the mix breathe, then you can compress/ limit to taste.....but then again, thats just my two cents
rule number one with Reason - don't use the default mastering suite! ur talkin about the quieter sounds becoming louder, sounds like the compressor is doing this, try just bypassing the compressor on the mastering suite (or adjust the threshold and make sure the ratio is set really low eg 2:1 or less) also try using the soft knee option it makes the compression less obvious and a bit more smooth
finally just make sure that ur mixdown is as best it can be before it goes into the suite the more even the mix the easier u will find to deal with the master
mastering suite in its default values may be good for acoustic guitar, for any faster music involving loud sounds it sucks huge donkey balls. its compression speed is slow with lots of release, pretty heavy eqing for a master unit etc etc.
no use of it whatsoever. the limiter (maximizer) on its own can be of use but dont overdo as it easily destroys dynamics. I keep it on just to make sure nothing clips as to not damage anything while in reason, I bet, as many people did succeed at getting the right sound with reason itself. but its a lot of fiddling around with reasons coarse mastering devices, its a lot easier and saves trouble to rewire and use a proper VST ina rewire host, or render out reason tracks with no compression and work on the audio files. the stereo unit is good only for monoizing, in any other scenario of boosting stereo makes sounds turn to shit, like its adding a load of noise, sounds loose its character and turn to plastiky shit
youre left with the compressor and eq. while the compression unit does its job, and you can utilize its sidechaining possibility to an extent, I never push the input gain knob higher than -2 as it easily distorts. instead, I eq prior to compression and if a boost is needed crank up the output gain
a lot of people find the reasons eq bad, I dont think its that bad, granted its a little unprecise but for what basic eq techniques need its good enouigh
I'm going to try doing some stuff without the suite. I use a multiband compressor on my drums most of the time, That really fattens the sound up. I'm going to try compressing other element before the mixer instead. Hopefully, this will help getting rid of the muddyness in my tracks.
I also tried mastering a track with Ozone which hadn't been through the suite. It sounded a lot cleaner than the track that had gone through the suite. Also, most of the presets in Ozone sounded nice instead of over processed with the mastered version.
__
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by brucifer: 05-08-2009 01:08.
yeah .. i always use a maximizer on every track now .. works a treat .. and my tracks sound more fuller and rounded .. but dont over do it .. there is 1 nice combi patch thou that is good 4 the main output to get more punch and that doesnt really interfear with ur track .. and thats the dance patch in the mastering suite file folder .. it has a compresser in it .. but if u dont over do it , only use a little bit of the compressor .. it works nicely .. try it ull see it gets a nice punch ..u dont have to use it thou .. just check it out !!
might be, but if you really want to make your mixdown punchy in reason, simply dont use anything on the master channel. dont forget you can use it as a send (attached to a bus)
you will get MUCH better results by inserting fx units into busses, most notably the NYC compression method
that way you get more control over each channel as opposed to being stuck with one device on the master channel
