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Old 11-28-2005, 07:15 PM
gustavof gustavof is offline
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Default mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

hey guyz... about a month ago I took 5 songs to a major mastering house... well.. the engineer there told me that my songs sounded good and the only thing that need it to be adjust was the vocals which I knew already since I'm recording with a KSM44sl and a Eureka Pre (I get a dry signal from this two).. he said that the bass was a little too low... well he gave me a reference CD... I took it home listen to it on my car... and my stereo... he boost the bass and the vocals sounded smoother... but the sound was very similar to the one I did my self... (a little better of couse)... ok... I notice he didn't ask me for a wav file CD or nothing... he told me to bring a regular CD... and he mastered everything from it... he put the CD on this CD player looking thing... and he did it... well... my question is... is there anybody out there that can do that??... I got great results from that session...but I don't want to pay that much money again... Can anybody with experience help me??.. I'm planning on mastering 5 songs (5 Intrumentals)... the stile of music is urban latin (hip hop, reggaeton/merengue).... and like I said... I don't want to send WAV files... just a regular CD... i guess acd format... (I think...)... I hope I made my self clear.... thanx...
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Old 11-29-2005, 11:37 AM
gustavof gustavof is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

is there anyone that can give me a hand???..... please
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Old 11-29-2005, 12:41 PM
Sharritan Sharritan is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

Sounds very odd that the ME didnt master from the 24bit files. hmmmm.
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Old 11-29-2005, 12:53 PM
gustavof gustavof is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

is there really a difference???... cause like i said... i got great results... plus the CD I took sounded good already... all he worked on was the bass a vocals... and getting the volume at a standard point....
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Old 11-29-2005, 03:26 PM
Chris Cavell Chris Cavell is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

Quote:
is there really a difference???
Usually yes...rarely but occasionally no.

I know of no mastering engineers that would ever prefer to work from a 16bit audio cd over the 24bit source files when possible. If our hands are tied by the client, we'll do it...but we sure as heck don't have to like it or recommend it.
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Old 11-30-2005, 01:23 AM
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JFreak JFreak is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

Quote:
Quote:
is there really a difference???
Usually yes...rarely but occasionally no.

I know of no mastering engineers that would ever prefer to work from a 16bit audio cd over the 24bit source files when possible. If our hands are tied by the client, we'll do it...but we sure as heck don't have to like it or recommend it.
It's all about dynamic range of the mix. Surely mastering engineer converts the 16bit file to a 24bit file before he does anything, that's a given. The important question is: will there be something lost in the 24bit-->16bit-->24bit conversion? 16 bits carry 96 decibels of dynamics, so there's probably very little difference in delivering the final mix in 16 or 24 bits. If there's a big difference, then the final mix is really quiet or really dynamic; if it's the former, then the mix is probably not yet seen its final version, and if it's the latter, it will probably be transferred in 24 bits anyway.

Point being that while mastering engineers always prefer the purest form of final mix, the good ones can always do a better master mix from a 16bit file than an apprentice masterin engineer does from a 24bit file.
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Old 11-30-2005, 04:45 AM
Chris Cavell Chris Cavell is offline
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Default Re: mastering question.... I need the pros....!!!

JFreak, yes, something is usually lost when going 24 to 16...and nothing is gained or restored when going 16 to 24. Sure, we'll convert to 24 if we're going to do any digital processing, but it doesn't add back what the client has already chopped off by delivering it in 16 bit.
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