Mastering with DP

[Maløku]

Mastering with DP5, excluding additional plug-ins that don't come with DP's app.

Any tips that somebody could lend me, to make my track sound fuller?

Should i mix/master in audio or MIDI? (does it matter?)

Is there any plug-ins that come with DP5 that someone thinks would achieve this process most efficiently?

Any tips at all would be most appreciated.

Thanks

[jarok]

Hi

you can read these first:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =mastering

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =mastering


If you do a search in this forum you will find much more threads about mastering with DP.


jarok

[Maløku]

Hi

you can read these first:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =mastering

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =mastering


If you do a search in this forum you will find much more threads about mastering with DP.


jarok

Thx for the links jarok, i read these be4, and i am not totally clueless about the art of mastering.

Just was curious if anyone has some cool tips about DPs effects plug-ins that they use, for example on percussion/melodies/bass lines etc.. To bring fullness or even a unique sound to there track.

Any modulators, verbs, delays, amplitude effects....

Basically, im asking if any1 has certain tricks that work well with a certain instrument that there willing to share with me.

Cheers

[Shooshie]

A good one is parallel compression of an instrument, which works well with lots of things, including voice, but I often use it with bass tracks. You do a send of your track to an Aux, and there you add a compressor at about a 2:1 or 2.5:1 ratio, and a very low threshold of maybe even -55 or -60 dB. Make the attack very fast (1ms) and the release fairly long (250 to 500 ms).

The two tracks need to be in phase with each other, so put a delay on the original track so that it will line up perfectly with the send, which now has a bit of delay thanks to the compressor plugin. Oh, wait... on second thought, that's not necessary anymore. DP has automatic plugin delay compensation. As long as that's turned on, you don't have to worry, the two tracks will line up perfectly. If you need to use a delay, or if you're concerned about whether they are lining up perfectly, flip the phase of one track using the Trim plugin, while bypassing the compressor. When you can get the two tracks to cancel perfectly (no sound), they are lined up. Then remove the Trim plugin and un-click the compressor's bypass.

Output both tracks into another Aux, so that you can control the summed volume through a single fader.

The result? Fatter sound, compressed without losing the original impact, and without the typical artifacts of compression. As the sound gets louder, the compressor, running in parallel with the original track, contributes less and less, relatively to the original. When it is quieter, the compressed track contributes more. In other words, you get "upward compression" instead of squashing the audio with downward compression.

There are plugins that do this more-or-less without having to set up parallel tracks, but this can be done with MOTU's simple Dynamics plugins, or with the Masterworks Compressor. I learned it from an audio engineer friend of mine about 8 years ago, but came across it again just a couple of weeks ago in Bob Katz's book on mastering. It was kind of cool to learn the history of a technique I'd been using all this time.

Shooshie

[kassonica]

just a related question shooshie i'm useing DP4.61 and i can't remember off the top of my head if it has delay compensation could you please clarify it for me as I use parallel compression quite a lot.

Cheers

[Maløku]

A good one is parallel compression of an instrument, which works well with lots of things, including voice, but I often use it with bass tracks. You do a send of your track to an Aux, and there you add a compressor at about a 2:1 or 2.5:1 ratio, and a very low threshold of maybe even -55 or -60 dB. Make the attack very fast (1ms) and the release fairly long (250 to 500 ms).

The two tracks need to be in phase with each other, so put a delay on the original track so that it will line up perfectly with the send, which now has a bit of delay thanks to the compressor plugin. Oh, wait... on second thought, that's not necessary anymore. DP has automatic plugin delay compensation. As long as that's turned on, you don't have to worry, the two tracks will line up perfectly. If you need to use a delay, or if you're concerned about whether they are lining up perfectly, flip the phase of one track using the Trim plugin, while bypassing the compressor. When you can get the two tracks to cancel perfectly (no sound), they are lined up. Then remove the Trim plugin and un-click the compressor's bypass.

Output both tracks into another Aux, so that you can control the summed volume through a single fader.

The result? Fatter sound, compressed without losing the original impact, and without the typical artifacts of compression. As the sound gets louder, the compressor, running in parallel with the original track, contributes less and less, relatively to the original. When it is quieter, the compressed track contributes more. In other words, you get "upward compression" instead of squashing the audio with downward compression.

There are plugins that do this more-or-less without having to set up parallel tracks, but this can be done with MOTU's simple Dynamics plugins, or with the Masterworks Compressor. I learned it from an audio engineer friend of mine about 8 years ago, but came across it again just a couple of weeks ago in Bob Katz's book on mastering. It was kind of cool to learn the history of a technique I'd been using all this time.

Shooshie

I can't thank you enough for this detailed explaination. This was exactly what i was looking for. People like you are the reason why i read these forums.

Thanks again

[Shooshie]

just a related question shooshie i'm useing DP4.61 and i can't remember off the top of my head if it has delay compensation could you please clarify it for me as I use parallel compression quite a lot.

Cheers

If you want to check to see whether your original track and aux track are lining up properly, you'll need to add a Trim plugin to one of them. Then flip the phase using the Trim plugin's "Reverse Phase" checkbox. If the two tracks are being properly compensated for time, they should cancel when summed together in a 2nd Aux track. Adjust one fader until they cancel. (be sure the compressor is set for 1:1. I said bypass earlier, but that would probably bypass the delay of the compresor, too. You'll change the compressor back to 2:1 or 2.5:1 later)

If the tracks don't cancel, then you'll need to add a delay plugin to the original track. If you do this, the send must be "pre-fader." The delay must be "post-fader." Add time to the delay until you find the spot at which they cancel.

Once you add the right amount of delay so that they cancel out each other out, then you right the phase in Trim, then revert the compressor on the Aux back to 2.5:1. Now, they should be in alignment, and you should get true parallel compression. Changing the Aux's fader gives you more or less compression.

Shooshie