Hello
I 'm useing a cakewalk program, guitar tracks pro 3.
I can get a pretty good mix , but my final track just sounds
weak . if you play it in your (say) car you have to turn the volume up higher than normal . Can anyone help with this problem?
gawain_en
181
AFfinity Poster
Member 22 years ago
01 July 2004 to 03:33
#2
Your problem is that mixing is not the final step in teh production of a record. After mixing there is a process called mastering which aims at making a good souding record whatever the system you play it on is.
I'm sure there are people on the forum who know alot more than I do about mastering. It is often overlooked by home recording enthusiasts but is really important.
lowfreak
2
New AFfiliate
Member 21 years ago
01 July 2004 to 06:54
#3
Thanx for the reply
now if I mix everything to one track then compress eq and so forth then normalize, would that be considerd mastering?
revrb
217
AFfinity Poster
Member 22 years ago
01 July 2004 to 12:29
#4
well you need to bring up the overall final sound level, some people so hard limiting, where the highest point on a track peaks at -.1dB
Ronan_en
24
New AFfiliate
Member 21 years ago
10 August 2004 to 15:50
#5
Quote: Thanx for the reply
now if I mix everything to one track then compress eq and so forth then normalize, would that be considerd mastering?
Mastering is the final stage where a mastering engineer does over all compression, EQ and limiting to the final mix. This gives it a lot of the bigness that you hear on commercial records and helps it trnaslate well on many systems.
You can do it yourself, but its a really good idea to get an experinece mastering engineer to work on your material. I have made hundreds of records and my most important records ALWAYS go to a real mastering guy. There is some software and such that can do an OK job of quickie self mastering but I recomend that you process sparingly if you use them.