mastering

This video demonstrates the effects of using compression in a mix.

Discussing compression is opening a can of worms. Robert Henke (Monolake) avoided compression on his latest release, commenting:

Radio, and more recently mp3 players and laptop speakers influenced the way popular music is composed, produced and mastered: Every single event has to be at maximum level all the time. This works best with music that is sonically simple, and music in which only a few elements are interacting. A symphony does not sound convincing thru a mobile phone speaker, and a maximized symphony does not sound convincing at all.

My take on compression is that extreme compression would ideally be left to playback devices, unless it’s being used as a creative tool. If you’re listening to that classical symphony or Monolake release in your car, you could push the “compression” button and hear the quiet bits, without the need for for the track to be squashed. Read more…

Sony has introduced Sound Forge Pro 10, the latest version of its professional digital audio production suite for Windows.

Update features include event-based editing, the élastique time stretch and pitch shift plug-in, interactive tutorials and a mastering effects bundle.

Details below.

If you’ve used Sony Sound Forge Pro 10, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

NAMM Show News: iZotope announced Ozone 4. iZotope has updated and expanded Ozone’s processing algorithms, optimizing them for low-latency DAW environments.

Ozone 4 features a new Intelligent Loudness Maximizer mode, mid/side processing for superior control over the sound stage, hybrid crossovers, a re- designed interface and a completely updated preset manager featuring innovative MacroPresets. In addition, numerous interface improvements and ease-of-use additions make Ozone even more accessible to musicians who want to quickly finalize their projects, while also offering precise tools for professional engineers.

Ozone 4 ships January 30th, 2009 for $249 MSRP. Ozone 4 is distributed worldwide by M-Audio, and will also be available by direct download only. Customers who bought Ozone 3 after October 1, 2008 are eligible for a free upgrade to Ozone 4 when it is released. Existing Ozone 3 customers will be able to upgrade for only $79 USD. Read more…

Voxengo Elephant is a mastering limiter plug-in for professional music production applications. According to Voxengo, the new limiter “brings sound limiting and loudness maximization without any audible “pumping” effects.”

Elephant features a variety of limiter modes that can be deeply customized, and a comprehensive set of level metering tools. Elephant limiter can be used for mixing and mastering of both stereo and multi-channel music and sound material, at any standard sample rate.

Elephant, also featuring a DC offset filter, and a high-quality bit-depth converter with an optional noise-shaping, allows you to finish your music and audio productions with a spark.

Elephant retails for $89. Read more…

Remember that little record, The Slip, that we reviewed a few weeks ago?

The audiophile geeks at HydrogenAudio took a look/listen at the files with a scanning electron audioscope and noticed some mastering errors.

The story has a happy ending, though, because the NIN guys are audiophile geeks, too. They’ve released remastered versions of the free tracks on The Slip and they are available as free downloads.

Here’s what Trent Reznor had to say about the situation at the HydogenAudio site:

Gents-

Thanks for the heads up regarding this matter. The corrected files are now posted on our site and if you re-download them they will be the correct ones.
What happened? We mastered this on Friday (5/2) and released it Sunday night. The files went right from mastering to the server without the proper scrutiny (aside from a cursory listen for errors). The last two songs were different because they were redone due to an audible error we did find.
Bottom line: some sort of mastering shenanigans took place.
In addition, there are now 24/96 FLAC files as well as wave files.

BTW, the record was recorded at 24/96 using a Lavry AD122-96MKIII, Antelope’s Isochrone OCX clock and mixed in analog through the SSL AWS 900+. We mixed back into Pro Tools through the Lavry as well as a separate rig running at 24/192 using Apogee A/D. The mixes we chose varied song to song based on what sounded best to us.

Trent Reznor

More info at the NIN blog.