Mastering Acoustic Tracks

[fpalmieri]

Hi,

I've been trying to expand my limited knowledge of mastering and have gotten some great info from my PT colleagues here. Thanks, everyone!

As an experiment, I've been mastering and re-mastering a song of mine using various combinations of compression, EQ, Massey limiter, new Enhancer from PT 8 and am getting closer to the sound I seek. What I've noticed is that although just about everything sounds pretty good now, a cello patch I'm using sounds slightly distorted in my final mix. The track is basically voices and acoustic guitars, with a soft kick drum and stick and some piano, cello and strings sprinkled about. It's a pretty quiet acoustic track. What I'm wondering is this: for acoustic tunes should one use fewer effects in mastering? I liked my pre-master, but I was trying to give it more presence in the final master. I'm wondering if the reason the cello sounds a little off is because the advice I've been following has been based on the usual pop/rock tracks that involve drums, compressed electric guitar, etc.

Any help would be appreciated!

Frank

[daeron80]

Could be. If the cello passages are loud enough to hit the limiter, you might need a slower release time. Compression is technically a form of distortion, and it shows up most audibly with fast attack/release times. To look at it another way, when the attack and release are short enough to create oscillations in the audio band, it becomes waveform distortion. Brickwall limiting is always waveform distortion, and should be used with great caution. It's ubiquity is a recent fad, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's a short-lived one.

Or it may be - not trying to knock your technique, just throwing out possibilities - that the cello sound has distortion in it that's too subtle to be heard until you pump up the details of the sound.

[fpalmieri]

Thanks for your insight, I'll check out those possibilities. And feel free to knock my technique anytime. I'm one of those songwriters who loves to write and play music but is painfully slow at learning recording/engineering and appreciate any help I can get in that department!

[albee1952]

You could also try using more than 1 mastering limiter and set each for gentle gain reduction.

[eyrespace]

Use less compression and much less limiting. Acoustic music benefits from a large dynamic range. Import an acoustic song that you want to emulate into your mastering session and use it as a reference with respect to levels and presence.

Mastering engineers have systems worth more than the average house. Their space is designed treated to let them use their highly developed sense of hearing and do a very specialized job. Owning a hammer doesn't make one a carpenter, but you can learn!

[Wasaia]

Originally Posted by eyrespace

Use less compression and much less limiting. Acoustic music benefits from a large dynamic range. Import an acoustic song that you want to emulate into your mastering session and use it as a reference with respect to levels and presence.

Mastering engineers have systems worth more than the average house. Their space is designed treated to let them use their highly developed sense of hearing and do a very specialized job. Owning a hammer doesn't make one a carpenter, but you can learn!

I totally agree with you on this!! Give your acoustic music space and dynamics. Don't fall for the modern 'all must be limited and compressed'. Maybe try just some good master-eq'ing and leave the dynamics of the mix alone? Or maybe some very gentle peak-limiting...

Some things to read:

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articl...nd-forever.htm

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...fidelity/print

[fpalmieri]

Thanks very much for all the helpful advice. There's so much to learn, but I've found this forum to be great for improving my engineering skills. And yes, I want more presence, not loudness--I want to hear all the nuances of the instruments...laying off the compression and limiting is already making it sound better. Thanks again, everyone!