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Mastering in the Home Recording Studio
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- / mariodisanto
mariodisanto.bandcamp.com/
SUPER COOL AND SUPER SECRET EMAIL LIST: forms.gle/FeKwa4dMWZEk1rTq7
~CHAPTERS~
INTRO - 0:00
DEFINTION & BACKGROUND - 2:05
E.C.L. - THE BASICS - 10:05
DISTORTED PROPORTIONS PROCESS - 25:30
CONCLUSIONS/FAN MAIL - 31:30
OUTRO - 37:00
In today's video we are going to talk about mastering in the home recording studio
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Go listen to my album nerd: ua-cam.com/video/xpAjPfDtwUI/v-deo.html
Put it on vinyl dweeb! (please)
I appreciate the slow outfit change throughout the video
Nothing is perfect ... if it sounds good it is good👍Mario
I really dig your videos. Always super packed with history and info. I am 45 and have played guitar for over half that but am just now exploring recording. So your videos help a lot. Also, I will admit I admit a "Boomer genres" player. LOL I love the blues, 80's rock, anything elvis, 50 - 60s rock. So yeah, your stuff is my jam! Keep on rockin'!
Ain't nothing wrong with "Boomer genres"! I always juss called 'em "Dad Rock" though. Every time I jam with people it always turns into some form of blues anyway. I must admit the I IV V blues get's old on the drums though...
Mario it's all about using what you've got. When I started recording I used two tape decks to record a few songs and it kind of evolved from there. As you said though, there's not really a right or a wrong way to master songs. If it sounds good coming out of the speakers at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
I think "using what you've got" to be the best motto to go by in ANY hobby. Better gear/tools comes down the road when you've proven you're worth.
Some of the greats made a lot with very little.
Cheers Scott
Very well researched - absolute valuable information on mastering 👍👍👍
I found you by typing how to write garage rock songs. What a find. I’m digging your videos and have shared your channel with fellow home recordists. Thanks!
So glad to hear it friend!
This kid is pretty sharp. Neat stuff in the background, too.
Super cool to see a vid like this. Often the home audio forums are full of people dogging on alternative ways of mixing. Misses the point, which in the end is down to listening and making as informed decisions as possible.
Stoked as, as I just got my sweaty hands on a motu interface with optical outs so I can run my DAW mixes through a Soundcraft desk and print mixes to a Tascam 32 R2R.
When I studied music technology (only a few years back) we learnt to mix in hybrid, but generally printed the mixes back into Protools. I love the tactile, quick workflow and how it forces you to use your ears.
I’m Not hugely confident with mixing, and that’s probably due to a lack of practice, but I also think all of the nerdy ‘my way or the highway’ territorial sound guy jargon can cause people to feel like they’re either lacking gear or knowledge.
Love your work! Love the openness and sharing of knowledge. Ka pai! 🤓
25:40 that Scary Movie cop where her hat would just get bigger and bigger
The limewire icon made me lol, and bring back great memories.
Does anyone else remember the scam advertisements on Limewire where you would download a popular song and instead of it being said song it was someone doing a Bill Clinton impersonation saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, I did however go to totallyafakewebsite.com to receive my free money" or something like that. Anyone? Just me? Fever dream? Okay.
You're adorable. I use Studio One. It has a mastering project suite. You can "master" as you go. If you change your mix the mastering suite will ask if you want to update. It's fast and painless. I commit to sounds on the way in with outboard gadgets.
Studio One Pro has everything the home recording studio needs. I wasted time trying to find plugins and then finding a free version that did the same thing only to discover SO has everything already. But after messing around for a while I finally came to a conclusion. I’d I’m producing a single song why would I open the mastering page when I could just put the plugins I would use on the MAINS? The only real answer I’ve gotten is to actually let someone else master it to get a second set of ears. 😃
Well said! Finally we hear someone talking who hasn't lost their sense of reality
Thanks for watching friend.
Love the album, sounds a lot like the first few Zappa albums! 🔥🧨💪🏽🤠👍🏽🧨🔥
Freak Out!
I love this.
Love this video, I have a computer less setup. Tascam Model 24, can’t say enough good stuff about it, it definitely has the analog saturation of the old school Tascam Portastudios from back in the day. I use old school outboard gear:Ibanez DM1000,HA1000,Roland SVR2000 and Lexicon MPX500. UA610MKII and ART TPS preamps and a AudioScape G Buss Comp. I mixdown to a Tascam DP-03 8 track which has mastering function, totally without the use of a computer. After working with ProTools since it’s inception (1997-98), I love this setup so much more coming from a hands-on recording and mixing background with SSL and Nieve boards in audio engineering school. Keep the videos coming, love the latest album btw. Starting to work on some surf/garage rock stuff with a old school Truetone amp I just acquired and my Hank Marvin Strat.
I share the same views of the Model 24. I really enjoy that machine and I think that's the best unit for someone who wants to move into the "analog" world without having the fully dive into the world of tape.
Thank u so much for this!!!
You bet man! Cheers
Referring to LUFS as Loofahs from now on
"And producers in the 60s and 60s-"
-Mario DiSanto, 2023.
The 60s was the only era of music recording as far as I am concerned lol
Love the retro mono of your album.
They do say "mono" is very contagious.
Perfect! I agree with and practice everything you said...except for the final mono mixes.
Next album is definitely going to be stereo.
i was terrified when i heard that he actually ended up going with the mono masters loool
but gotta remember, that i come from a completely different world stylistically and genre-wise. his move is as far to the extremes of our modern common audio production environment as it can get and come still across as stylistic/artistic choice, rather than insanity. if we’re talking of a vintage garage rock or any rock of the time of 50s-60s for that matter, not much stereo was going around. all of the early beatles’, stones’, etc. records were released in mono format. so while by eliminating any panning and cutting yourself from a hell ton of tools and techniques available only for stereo recording, it’s at the same time a gesture of full commitment to your creative and stylistic vision. often the latter type of argument overweights technical restrictions and inconveniences in music production and art in general.
so I consider his decision to be quite a bold artistic move which i greatly respect.
@@kowloonbroadcast I don't have a problem with releasing mono today. But, I will say that commercial mono 45s were released well into the 70s. The Beatles first stereo single here in the U.S. was "Get Back" in 1969. The Rolling Stones issued "Brown Sugar" in mono in 1971, and Motown and Stax were releasing mono singles until at least 1972. Several other assorted singles were in mono in 1973.
Your videos are always a treat, and this one answers a lot of my questions about your mixing and mastering process. Love the new album, man it sounds great! Take care Bro!
Hey man! I am glad I was able to answer some questions about my process. I'm kinda making it up as I go though lol! Seems to be working so far.
every cut i am excited what changes next in his outfit... :-D
I just got a “new” dual cassette technics from my dads buddy for FREE. Couldn’t be happier. Then my man dropped a mastering video. Perfect!
The Technics dual cassette player I have is from my Dad. Maybe it's the same one I got! The thing is a peice of junk for recording purposes but hey that's what I like lol!
@@Mario_DiSanto on further inspection, the deck that doesn't record, just playback sounds so good I could cry. the deck that records is definitely having issues with playback, the output is missing pretty much all high end, maybe a bad resistor? i haven't done a test record, hopefully it works okay lol. its just something to put all my finished crap on at my dads, where my computer or sp404 isn't. keep it all analog too, why not. its an rs-d550w. I got a field recorder JVC from 79, its my baby, was recording some mono drum recordings off both channels onto my DAW only to find it had the same problem on the left channel, a serious drop in high end and maybe even a bass boost that was causing like phasing issues or something in my mix and ruining my stereo masters. but I won't make that mistake again lol.
@@shawnlennon1947 it's always a process with old junk! I never ever ever have had a cassette player that worked 100%. There's always some issues somewhere
Dang! Never knew Mike from Stranger Things knew so much about Music 🤣 love the video!
How dare you. I am calling the UA-cam CEO to remove this comment immediately!
LOLOLOL
watching that and listening to your album on my tiny BT speaker right after. absolutely worth the mono trick!!
and your songwriting (and your in-between soundscape bits ) is amazing!
Thanks Mike! Glad you agree. I also see you joined my Patreon! Thank you so much man!
How to push you back when I agree with you :-)
Dude! Excellent vid! Dress down style complimented your content delivery. Thank you n keep killing it!
Thanks so much man. Glad people are digging my dumb opinions. Cheers
Mono good! Mario Cool!! Thanks for the video, Broseph!!!
Ha, thanks Chuk! Mono or Bust
The master disc you mentioned brought me back to 2015. At the time, I was working as a technician at Optical Disc (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) manufacturing plant, and that's how we printed ALL of the discs. Any CD or Xbox (One at the time) game that was printed had a master disc that was used as a stamp in our mold to create the product. It was so cool to see, but I left that job since I hated working 6 days a week from 6pm-6am.
Dumb question but I thought all CDs were recorded with a laser? How does a stamp work with that?
@@Mario_DiSanto So I saw this notification way earlier, but I was at work. I'm going to be as streamlined as I can.
Before the manufacturing process, a master mold is made of the CD out of a pure metal disc (I know it was an aluminum blend, but I forget after years out of it). The mold room was only shown briefly to me, so I'm not sure the exact process it took to make it, but the mold had the final production's information embedded into the grooves of the metal similar to a vinyl.
After we get the master mold/stamp, it would go into the manufacturing process on a 2-part machine to make the discs.
Part 1 of the machine is an injection mold where the plastic of the disc is formed and cooled as it made it's way through the rest of the process.
Part 2 of the machine process involves the plastic disc getting a resin cure on it before it heads into a metallizer getting a coat of metal onto it. The master mold/stamp is given the metalized disc where it presses the information onto the disc. It makes its way down the line getting another few layers of thin resin (like a clear glue) to cure the discs and make sure the disc is readable.
This is why the discs are read by lasers, and the metal reflects the laser back so it can be read by a media player (computer, CD players, your Xbox or Playstation). Simple way to describe how discs are massed produced for video games, movies, and CDs.
Now, writeable discs are molded into a blank CD as opposed to being burned into the replications. (Which you can read a bit more on wikipedia or something about CD manufacturing)
Once again Mario's here giving away his lightning in a bottle for free. Thank you for all knowledge another great video.
You're welcome! Thanks for stopping in byyyyyy mannnnnnn!
I love you bro you have awesome ideas and great musicality man
thanks ,bro..
best wishes from vienna✌🏴☠
Cheers mate
I like how by the end of the video I was being instructed by Luffy from One Piece
My next tattoo definitely will be this strobo cup on my shoulders (check at 37:17 min) Mario is a legend!
Lol that's my favorite party cup
Love this really great thanks so much!!!
You are so welcome!
Love your takes on a lot of the topics you cover. As a live sound engineer, mastering serves a different purpose for me, however the process is very similar. A general “glue” compressor, followed by some EQ, then saturation simulation, then compression again, then finally a limiter is anyways on my mains/mix bus. The loudness war is something to keep in mind even in this environment, so I only feather my limiter/compressors. Keep up the fantastic content!
Very interesting. How do you dial in the EQ in a live situation. Does feedback take priority? Or is it more of the general EQ or the room?
@@Mario_DiSanto if there’s a particularly bad frequency I’m dealing with feedback-wise I’ll cut it with the master EQ, but it’s normally just to adjust the mix to the room or the PA system.
The noose is loose!
Interesting video Mario - very different from most mastering videos on UA-cam!
Great, exactly what I was going for! I see a lot of regurgitated information out there. I might not be correct in the things I say but at least it's different ha.
Mono mixes are also often better in a club setting. I might not go so far as releasing a mono mix, but you can get a lot of the benefits by checking your mix summed to mono throughout the process.
Hey analog man🎉
I love the board
30:45 regarding the text on screen. Have you considered that eq causes phase shift, and if you look at the mono wave print you'll see slight asymmetry, which would cause increases in peaks (even an eq cut can cause an increase in amplitude on transients as a result of this). Something worth considering.
Great video btw
Best advice here is to listen on several sources. I listen through two sets of earphones my Presonus monitors and then through my PA, 15” YAMAHA speakers. One more thing. I added a Behringer sub woofer. THAT made a difference on my mixing especially cutting low end from tracks you would not think had sub frequencies! I’d advise every home producer to get a sub, even if it’s a cheap one. 😃
This is fantastic advice. Something I shamefully do not do. I am often hapzard with my low pass filters. Sometimes I forget to use it and sometimes the I forget to turn it off! Lol
Gratitude & Appreciation💯
Great video man. I like your approach
Oh shit Bro , I lost it in the beginning with the DAW graphic 😂. Always appreciate the humor sprinkled throughout. Always a blast to view your creativity.
Really appreciate the part about the mix down performance. I always found that process fun on cassette 4tracks .
Cheers Mate!
Great my friend ¡¡
Thank you! Cheers!
Mario eres un grande
I love your channel dude!
Woohhoo thanks!
25:25 "I hope this video can cause a conversation below. I definitely agree, and this video was definitely insightful.
I've noticed in my 15 years of playing guitar how full of shit and "stuck in their ways" people are with gear. Most of the time, people listen with their eyes and spew out random things people heard on some online forum. I shown a song I was working on to this guy I know, and he was like "Oh, that guitar sounds thick. It HAS to be a Les Paul." He was blown away when I told him "No, it's just my American Strat with a DiMarzio Humbucker."
I amount of BS regarding guitar tone is hilarious. People definitely get stuck in their ways. Personally, I don't really understand the obsession with emulating a guitar sound anyway. Sure influence is always good but carbon copies can lay flat to the ear if it's overdone.
@@Mario_DiSanto I completely agree with you on that! People get so stuck on their ways, and it's pretty hilarious.
I know the sound I want, and I just go for it with whatever gear I'm currently playing at the time.
I swear I wish I could breakdown concepts like you. I feel you bro, $hit ain't gotta be so complicated or mysterious 😂
Lol that's good to hear, I always think I have trouble breaking down stuff. I think people make things seem more complicated than it is to feel a little smarter I swear!
ohh ok i use now as a second monitor speaker my phone speakers
Great idea. I always check my mixes with my cellphone.
Hey man you're pretty good. Your music I mean.
New sub here.
Im currently using a Yamaha AW1600
Workstation. And. I.
HATE IT.😅
I so miss the old analog tape.
The little lcd window is a nightmare.
It's a good unit in perfect shape but im old, so, there's that.
I might just pop for an even more modern daw where I can actually see all the tracks.
That would be helpful.
Either way, im just trying to record some stuff on a hobbyist level.
I think the problem is being sort of stuck in the less user friendly area.
Great stuff man!
I think the simplicity of a tape machine makes it the best user-friendly recording gear. I find it funny when people who never ventured out of a DAW say that the analog world is so confusing. I think it's the exact opposite! I lasted about 15 minutes using a DAW for the first time before I said screw trying to figure that out and bought a proper tape machine. It was so much more intuitive when I was learning.
Very interesting video. Thank you ❤
About tape, saturation and vibe. In my opinion there is an effect and it is pretty noticeable. Of course if you use tape only for one track in your mix it won't give you a 60s, 70s or 80s mojo. You can get similar results with plugins. But when you record the whole song on tape those small effects add up. Effects like frequency masking, harmonics come into play. Also sometimes tape and saturation machines has eq additionally to harmonics, which is not that obvious and can't be replicate that easily in DAW with plugins.
It, OBVIOUSLY, doesn't match the effect of real tape BUT I see a lot of 'in the box' producers/mixers using Waves NLS for this cumulative tape effect. (You can dial in the harmonics with your level of Drive and mix/matching the boards (ssl/neve/some other one) that you're emulating and stacking).
@@nilespeshay1734 you've missed the point. Those differences in sound accumulate as you increase the number of tracks.
@@DenysZhuravel Guess so. Thought that's what you were talking about. oh well.
It's not necessarily that I don't think tape has a "sound". Cream's Desraeli Gears is a great example of a "Tape Sound". It's more that I don't think the "juice is worth the squeeze". Meaning, recording on tape has WAY more to do with the workflow and limitations than the "sound" it can give you. Which is why I choose to stick with tape or an equivalent digital format like an Alesis HD24. Sure the sound of an Alesis HD24 pails in comparison to a tape machine but it still has the same workflow/limitations that I tend to enjoy.
I think emulating a "tape sound" in a DAW with plugins is utter hogwash but that is my very opiniated view. I don't really see the point in trying to fake a tape sound...either get a real tape machine or embrace the digital realm is the way I see it. (this opinion makes people very upset lol). Besides by the time I apply my low-end compressors and reverb units, it sounds "analog colored" anyway, regardless of medium.
I hold this opinion for a lot of my hobbies and interests. For still photography, why fake a film look when you can shoot on film? It makes no sense to me to fake it. It's way more enjoyable shooting/developing/printing actual film as opposed to messing around with parameters in Adobe Lightroom to fake film grain or light leaks.
I think it's so funny when I watch blockbuster films where they degrade the look of the movie to look like it was shot on film...LIKE WHY! Bro just shoot it on film! If you had the budget of a blockbuster film with 100s of millions of dollars, why not shoot on film??? I mean I know the answer.....I touch upon this in the video. Because of computers, people are obsessed with controlling every single aspect of their mix, or movie, or whatever they are editing on a computer. People need to embrace the imperfections. (Tim if you are reading this I will eventually convince you to shoot "Doped Up Dogs" on film).
Anyway...I am rambling...per usual.
Mario
@@Mario_DiSanto Not rambling, at all!
I understand what you're saying.
I love tape and I think about it often. (It's the reason that I've watched your channel, VICARIOUSLY, for a year!)
Soundwise: Almost all of my foundational music listening experiences have been from tapes -- culminating in early 90's rap and alt-rock.
Processwise: I started making music on a 4-track and moved to an 8-track HD unit (Fostex vf-80?). The inability to 'double-back' on my decisions was sooo freeing and I made more music, faster, than I've ever made since. UNFORTUNATELY, I just don't have the musical talent to make the music that I want to make - on tape. (Non-destructional editing is absolutely required for me to eek out anything worth listening to.) But the ability to undo ANY of my decisions is "killing" me. (e.g. I've got 8 songs I'm currently working on where I'm terrified to print even an individual track b/c then I can't double-back and tweak some random thing that probably doesn't need tweaking in the first place.)
If I could play instruments half as well as you (I love your drumming!), I would undoubtedly work on an 8-track hard drive again.
I'm currently throwing tape effect on at least one track per song b/c I love the way it rubs up against the, obviously, digital sounds. I'm interested in running entire songs through tape effect not for the 'tape sound' but simply to make my sound less thin. Beefier.
I assume everybody else does this with compression, but I just don't feel confident enough about compression. Especially on an entire track. I'm trying to immerse myself in "the Andrew Scheps of things" and play with a bunch of parallel and OVERLAPPING compressions. I'll see how it goes.
I dunno. I really miss the freedom and *sense of abandon* that I had with tape more than the 'tape sound' itself but I just don't know how to get there again. It all feels/sounds like a simpler time, to me.
(Tim, shoot "Doped Up Dogs" on film, ya dingus!)
Yell!!!!
Lemmy Kilmister says The Beatles are supposed to be heard in mono.
Definitely, it's the only way I allow in my household.
Technology has blessed and cursed the medium by overwhelming the process. The learning curve for digital DAWs has intimidated me for over decade, well since my Fostex 4 track cassette porta studio quit on me. Digital is cool , but I didn't even transition to CD for the longest time as a listener, and poof! that medium, as well all physical medium, is dinosaur bones! Yucky cell phone & Bluetooth listening has joe public back in tiny mono a.m. radio laundry room listening hell. (I'd take a cassette walkman over these new fiddly app abominations) Really tho, the quality was in the content, not the delivery system. But a 'nice' stereo speaker system IS a revelation to behold. Like REALLY tasting a food you've had improperly prepared all your life, for the 1st time. Crappy ear buds are a crime against the hours you'd spend mixing everything just so. (Maybe I just need the tape hiss to cover up my tinnitus?)
They should make one of those noise machines to help you sleep where it's just the sound of tape hiss.
@@Mario_DiSanto”They” should always be converted to “I” in these cases. “They” implies that it’s someone else’s job; but it’s your idea… write it down, try to invent it if it isn’t a thing yet.
@@TarzanHedgepeth lol I need some investors
@@Mario_DiSanto true. But you make a prototype by modifying the tech around you - be clever and resourceful about it… if you have to use an old Kirby and a baby monitor to get it done. Something - then you design a more proprietary build on paper for your vision… then you get investors! 🤜
Hey Mario really been enjoying that new album. Let me know if you ever put it on vinyl. Would definitely have to get that. Btw The band finally found a drummer. We're getting ready to do some recording soon.
Awesome! Can't wait to hear whatchu guys come up with.
Joe Meek's a jabroni?? no wayyyy. haha
Lol that did feel a bit wrong.
Keep the ranting up :-) album is dope btw
I've been talking a lot with my producer about the compressions that Spotify and Apple music have in place. To me it seems like they do an extra round off of on the margins of the mix (high pitched stuff) and a lot of fidelity is lost especially when there's a lot of reverb. I've been A/B testing my mixes, one with reverb, and one with none then using some form of compression that resembles online distribution to see how they end up.
My biggest struggle is listening to the source in the DAW with all the tasty reverb and loving it, but then realizing that no one but me will ever hear this version. It HAS to be compressed to share it. My suspicion is that removing a lot of that reverb will actually help the listener in the end. Would love to see you do a video on the compressions of spotify and apple.
I was going to touch upon compression that streaming services apply but I cut it from the video. First for brevity sake. Secondly, because I have never heard any difference from my files to streaming service files. Any A/B I have done I couldn't tell the difference. I think that may be because I don't push the loudness of my mix. I know these services have limits to how loud your music file is so maybe your mixes are crossing that threshold? I dunno I have terrible ears so maybe the quality is diminished.
One thing I forgot to mention in the video though is that a lot of portable Bluetooth speakers come with built in compression though. This confused the hell outta me when I first started recording music. On some speakers it's VERY obvious during quiet parts of a song.
Thank you
You bet Dennis! Thanks for watching
Bouncing to tape does change the sound and you know it. Lol
I didn't say it doesn't change the sound. I said that's not a good enough reason to justify buying a tape machine. There's more important factors to consider.
coooool
Jannnnnney
25:30 nice hat. Very informative.
I've tried many formats as well in the past 5 or so years. IME: no luck with the VCR's - a hi-fi stereo one didn't track at all, another was mono/slow speed, which did record but with tons of flutter. Tape ADAT was a total miss. Did some recording to a stereo cassette - mine didn't have any NR but I'd still like to try one with Dolby's HX Pro, eventually running at a higher speed. Fresh tape/media is always nice, if not for sound quality, for the feeling of cracking it open for the first time!
Now I mostly use a rackmount Tascam CD recorder for the mixdown (I find it funny that 80s magazines would call 'mastering' the mixdown recording process!). Also got the Akai 4000DS, though I used it more as a delay unit since one of the channels was intermittent (if I did more mono mixes I wouldn't mind it lol). My ultimate dream is the ReVox PR99.
Mixbuss compression/limiting, IIRC this was not very common 'til the '80s - unless the studio had the 336o9s or the like - leaving it mostly for the mastering process itself. I tried my blackface dbx 166 and an Alesis 3630 for that purpose. The latter usually lost some low end so I just kept it in the rack for backup/parallels. The dbx OTOH was lovely, but since I only got one of these so far, I'd rather use it in individual instruments :P
I've had similar experience with VCRs. The biggest issue though is the clunky transport system. Forwarding and rewinding is such a pain. And all of my machines have no way to "zero" the tape. So it was all guess work when you were rewinding. I've had cassette tapes that had no counter but those are much easier to "gauge" how far you re winded.
I've also had SOOOO many problems with all the cassette decks/cassette tapes I have. Type I tapes in specific seem to perform all over the place. Cassette seems fun when I want to blast the shizznit out of it for some fun grit. My Tascam 22-2 is perfect for my mixdowns. Ain't something like a Ampex or a Studer but it does the job.
"Mixbuss compression/limiting, IIRC this was not very common 'til the '80s" yes you are correct.
I was thinking of getting a dbx 166 for live stuff, thoughts?
@@Mario_DiSanto I did a review on the 166 - there are english subtitles. Didn't get to use at gigs, other than for recording them...
Most of the VCRs I’ve used require a video signal to be sent to them to record anything to the tape, so you’ve got to send your audio in while also sending a video signal from your tv or something.
🎶🐈⬛cool and very
informative
channel👍😎 Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
Danke
30:50 on one occasion I went to meet a retired record producer to ask him how they'd do the song sequence on albums. He did mostly folk festivals in the 1980s, so the one that was better regarded by the jury would open the record and so on, and the B-side was reserved for the 'lesser' ones... or live, lower fidelity takes. I went just to talk about this and got back home with an effectron and a mxr flanger rack. poor me.
Anyways, I'd like to hear your input on the topic - how you define track sequence on your productions!
Also... when you talk about limiting, what are the time parameters on the compressor? Faster attack...?
There's definitely that preference to front-load the album with expected "hits". From various interviews, I've heard of efforts to kick off an album with something more exciting and to avoid putting songs that sound too similar together. I think engineers also preferred tracks with requiring less fidelity towards the end of the side, since with records the needle travels across more vinyl on the outer grooves.
Personally, the track sequence is meant to convey a narrative with secondary emphasis on the flow from one song to the next. For example, there is a (very) rough storyline to Distorted Proportions. It wasn't necessarily planned this way but the songs took on new meanings metaphorically once they were all pieced together. The "filler" songs that I like to call the "Four Track Medley" (Hang Ten, New Hey Song, Jem Bon, The Lost Organ Jam) were placed strategically to help the album flow better from one song to the next. There are also instances where I want to emphasize a hard cut. The transition of "Il Pagliacci to "I Hate You" is a good example of that.
For attack times I just turn the knob all the way to fast on my compressor. I think it's numbered as 0.5ms. Same for release which is numbered .1 sec. I wouldn't put much faith in those numbers though.
@Mario_DiSanto It's interesting that you approached the track sequence for your album like a writer. That really appeals to my Lit background. Very cool. And people think us "garage types" are a bunch of Neanderthals--huh, the joke's on them! Thanks so much for another great video.🍻
For many years - '70s, '80s and beyond - the strongest track i.e. the obvious single (or the single that charted highest prior to album release) was usually track 1, side two. Beyond that, only a strong opener was required. Might as well be random after that.
Mario, you are the shiz. I love your videos. I found you cuz some other lady on UA-cam was talking about the same Tascam tape machine you have. I’m a home recordist as well working in a DAW all these years that I’ve done it. But I hate it. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and started as a musician playing my first ever synth-a Roland Jupiter 8. As such, I just relate to knobs and buttons and tapes and shiz way more than I do the endless clickety-clack of a mouse with a computer. I honestly don’t care how hard working with tape would be, I’d prefer that to working in a digital medium any day. I still haven’t made the jump yet (cash reasons), but I want to. I’m considering the same tape machine as yours and an Audient ASP-4816 board. But I dunno yet. I’m still shopping. I’m wondering what that desk is that you have, and how you like it? Thanks for any reply, man.
Never mind. Found it online. Tascam M3500. But how do you like it?
The M3500 is decent. You can find them cheap enough. There are no bells and whistles. I long for more aux send channels and other minor features but for a simple entry desk it does the job well enough. Plenty of connections on the back. I don't have the balanced connections upgrade. Also the wires they use inside are the thinnest gauge I have every seen though. I had to resolder the faders and some connections a bunch over the years.
2:52 Jesus fucking Christ! Imagine if the guitarist missed his cue or a singer fucked up? That shit would be extremely expensive bro! Think god for DAWs!
Musicians had to be disciplined then!
imma some how work with you one day brotha, too much production knowledge in that brain of yours
Did you mention you must be in a room that is tuned so you get accurate mixdown.
Great video!! I do home recordings, too. I posted a couple of them on my channel. Home recording is where it's at as far as I'm concerned. Why plunk down a butt-load of money where you can DIY? Awesome album, by the way. Keep up the good work!!
I agree whole heartedly. I've been in a professional studio for only one project ever and I hated the end product. Way too polished and way too clean for the band I was recording with. Made our nasty "bar rock" band into a sterile pop-rock band. DIY is where it's at.
Dang Mario. We know it's hot in your house. But stop making the rest of us so thirsty with the old strip tease. 😆
Lol when I was filming this "gag" I didn't occur to me that it would look like strip tease. When I started editing the footage I was like....oh boy...I'm definitely stripping for the camera ha
My opinion would be that mixing and mastering in the analog realm is very forgiving as pushing analog gear into saturation/distortion can be quite tolerable or even pleasant (essentially it's just compression) and hence gives you more headroom; but digital distortion is obscene and disgusting and requires a lot of effort to tame dynamics and peaks to get things louder without clipping.
All the modern day online guru advice can be quite helpful for the latter realm of digital mixing/mastering, and can get very satisfyingly technical, but ultimately can be summarised as follows: download all the fabfilter plugins and learn how to use them :P
The forgiving nature is my favorite feature and why I prefer it. Modern tapes with their large headroom allows for really hot signals.
Often when I am recording on my Alesis HD24, I run into clipping issues for this reason. I am used to my tape machine.
NO WAY MAN!! WRONG! I am from the era of where tape was the only game in town. I have digital DAWS from the year 2000 and use Studio One in my computer. But I also still have my Fostex R-8 eight track reel to reel. When I take a high quality mix from my computer and record it through my old school Mackie mixer then to my reel to reel, it gives me that vintage feel. HUGE DIFFERENCE MAN!!!! I can really hear a big difference in the tape compression does to the drums and vocals.. Man I have even transfer stems to the reel to reel and then transferred them back and mixed them in my DAW....
💪😉🤞
I dig your videos! I am using my mixer's stereo 1/4 cable to RCA to send the mix into my tape deck or CD recorder. Question: How can I incorporate a compressor and or EQ to "master" before recording the mix to tape?
Not totally sure what you are asking me. Are you asking how do you connect the equipment? Usually you want the EQ before the compression stage. So it would be your mixer --> EQ --> Compressor --> Tape.
Does this answer your question?
Hi! My mixer's stereo out can either be a 1/4 cable or a L/R RCA out. Can I get away with sending either of the line out methods to a single eq or compressor. Will it turn into a mono mix (which I don't mind)?
@@voivodOfficial If your EQ and Compressor only have one channel then yes it will be mono.
@@Mario_DiSanto Thank you!
hi mario, thank you so much for these informative videos. Your music sounds amazing. I see youre using the tascam ms16 as your main tape deck, but i also see a tascam (22?) tape deck in your studio. the ms16 is 16 track correct? but track for track, how do the 2 machines compare? does the ms16 sound a lot different than the ms16? thanks again for your help man! rock on!
I would say they get a similar sound. I just use the 2 track for mixdowns though so I don't necessarily listen to tracks individually on it. I use the same tape formulation for both so I think that is the reason for the similar sound. I like both machines as they are tanks. When I got the 2 track someone had dropped it on its face and everything was bent the hell outta shape. I bought it for parts for super cheap but I wound up dedicating a few days "restoring it". It has a lot of issues but the thing keeps on turning an keeps on recording just fine for my "garage" level of fidelity. I love both machines.
I’m trying to obtain that 60s & 70s r&b/rock sound. I don’t much about tech. I have a focusrite Scarlett, garage band(DAW), studio monitors, ribbon mic & great vocal mic.
Is there anything I should get/upgrade ?
Really want a vintage sound plus really don’t like the GarageBand drums
Honest Advice would be helpful!
Also don’t have mixing & mastering experience either
First thing I recommend is get something analog that you can drive hard before hitting your interface. You can get some fun overdriven sounds this way without having to make a big dent in yer pocket. Something cheap like a Shure microphone mixer will be adequate.
Next after that is to get a mixer. Mixing music with yer hands is essential for an "older"/"analog" sound. Old approach = old sound.
Cool videos man. I also record analog. I’m curious, what program do you record into once you’re ready to move your recordings from tape into the digital world?
Audacity. I do not alter the audio at all.
I think we might be the same guy. Except I have a 90-16 vs ms-16… But same shit different toilet ya know lmfaooo. Keep it up, nice to see another gen-z tape head
Gen Z?? Boiii, don't you dare!
@@Mario_DiSantoWait, your bot my age?? Dude I thought you were early 20’s lmfaooo . You’re lucky af though, I wish I wasn’t gen-z
@@PrestonHazard I'm on the tail end of the millennials. If it makes you feel any better, people hate our generation just as much :) Lol we just gotta be stand up people to prove the older generations wrong. Cheers
just throw OTT on the master, trust me bro
what the frick is a OTT? Over the top?
@@Mario_DiSanto Yep. Painfully over the top compressor that comes stick with Ableton DAW (and as a free vst for other daws).
@@Mario_DiSanto yeah its a meme because it just obliterates your audio with the most over the top multiband compression lol
Would be cool if toy release your album on vinyl, i’d buy one
Working on it man!
Honestly dude, if it sounds good, it probably is good, except in the case its not. Then its anyones guess lol :)
Its odd that of the few that actually use tape to record, seem very cynical of using it for saturation. Steve Albini is another, who is all analogue yet tries to remove any of that as much as possible t make it as hifi as possible.
I am kind of a believer in doing things with mics rather than messing too much with saturation and the former will add more warmth imo (though i do often use plugins for saturation, of course!)
I do enjoy saturation, I use that to great effect. Most professionals, much like Albini, tend to view recording as a process in which you try to record and produce the most natural sound true to the source. This means compression, EQ, effects only when needed. Of course this is a lot easier when you are recording in a professional recording studio with proper acoustical treatment/design/whatever ya have.
I'd offer another tool: intentional clipping.
Are you referring to clipping in a DAW? I have tried several tests with my audio files in audacity where I push the amount of clipping. You can push the levels quite a bit before you hear any effects. I worry that steaming services/UA-cam limit the audio volume if you do this. For that reason I always have my final WAV file without any clipping.
@@Mario_DiSanto I am referring to applying clipping either by clipping one's AD converter or using a clipper plugin. This would preceed a limiter (or whatever else) in the mastering chain. One's music isn't going to be turned down for streaming based on whether there was any clipping applied. I set my final ceiling to -1dB.
Nice to see analogue recording, not a fan of digital computer editing myself either. cheers
how does the tascam 16 track sound in comparison to the the tascam 22 that i see in the background behind you in this video?
I think I just replied to your similar comment about the two machines. If not I can explain to you further.
Great video. Whats are your main microphone you use ?
Shiny Box Ribbon Mic or my EV635a
@@Mario_DiSanto Thanks . Keep up the good work Mario. Love your channel .
foot wonders what's inside that 50 cal ammo can?
My "Spector" pistol.
I want my kick to go boom boom
Turn the master buss low-end knob to 11.
Although I’m assuming this dude inherited all this gear, he did his research
I wish! With the exception of my 16-track, all of this gear was purchased over the past 4 years for cheap. The 16-track was essentially NOS condition so I paid a somewhat pretty penny (still less than what they are going for online mind you...). I had to save up for over a year to afford that one! I live mostly on rice and beans so I can afford big purchases like that. My family thinks I am a cheap F*** but really it's because I save all my money to finance my various hobbies.
I really need help on mixing for the cell phone speaker. I’m always so pleased on every system, then I hear the mix on the phone or laptop speaker and I cringe.
Your mix has tracks that are too loud… usually vocals; could be electric guitar, or bass. When you mix properly before a mix down, it can tend to sound unnatural to how you really want your song to sound… especially on vocals. We forget that if we can hear the words in the vocals alongside the bass and electric (and drums), then it’s about the same volume. We try to bring them forward ( or guitars sometimes; or our favorite instrument) to help them stand out, but that kills your ability to mix properly.
EQ each instrument or track to fit in the space that you want it to have… (you’re mixing down to ONE stereo track… meaning, you’re essentially CREATING ONE LARGE INSTRUMENT - or one vertical instrument in Mono)…
I just spent the LAST 3 DAYS ALL DAY getting a song sounding good on the phone.. and I figured it out. I’ll be uploading the song as soon as I get the video finished.
Feel free to tell me what instruments or style you’re doing - I believe I can navigate you to phone clarity. I made every mistake you can make and followed all the bad advice. SOME of the advice is good, but the answers often involve some expensive plugin or advice without context… and none of it was helpful because nobody is talking about what I discovered. At all. Nobody.
@@TarzanHedgepeth I never considered that, I am a guitarist and it is almost always the guitar thats too loud lol. I play every instrument in the recordings but the guitar is my most confident. im probably subconsciously making louder in the mix. I always thought it was the speakers fault and that those tiny speakers cant really reproduce how I like the bass or kick drum to sound next to the rest of the mix, but that cant be true, cause why do other bands sound great on a tiny speaker and the better systems. I got sidetracked in highschool with sample based hip hop beats like j Dilla or knx and it really messed up how I mix, cause I would honestly flood the daw with bullshit then put a sp 404 compressor on my master to get that pumping effect. essentially making a pretty vase (original mix), then smashing it to pieces (really aggressive compression and mix down to tape).
and cheers dude, cant wait to hear it, that 3 days will be all worthwhile when your mix sounds as sick on a crummy dell laptop as it does in your truck!
I don't understand the assignment because if i try listening to my favourite bands on my phone they sound cringe too
@@jorgepeterbarton cringe isn’t the same thing as distortion or crackling, the voice being too thin, the bass instruments being lost, etc…
Remember - if ANY OTHER SONGS sound fair enough and clear on a phone; then yours should, too. If it doesn’t, the mix is wrong. Bottom line.
Your favorite bands are getting their mixes wrong if they’re suffering any of the problems I mentioned.
Some people say, “I only make mixes for people who put in the effort to listen to music properly”…
Okay. Stay poor and/or alienate 90% of your potential fan base. Cool.
Normal people are going to listen on their phone when they’re cooking, or when they’re doing homework, or especially when their browsing - not everyone has the peace and luxury of being so immobile that they can get away with wearing ear pieces with their music… there’s all kinds of scenarios.
I love how you kept taking off more clothes the longer the video goes on but you left your shirt on :/ oh yeah and the mastering tips were nice
Made it to the end NVM but id like to hear you do a 70s mix on the next album to get that stereo width from the board
Lol. I am contemplating whether or not my next album should be mono or stereo. I prefer mono but....you're right it would be interesting to see what I can come up with if I do stereo. I would almost certainly over do it with my psych effects bouncing from ear to ear similar to "Piper at the Gates of Dawn".
Your music sounds amazing. Damn! Do you have physical records made?
This is great ps. Tradition inhibits innovation is all I have to say I mean you have so much energy and ppotential so I do wonder why so garaged but I recognize the freeness it inherently allows tho I wonder what else you can sound like that is not referenced and hinging off past events. Just some thoughts. Have you heard damaged bug ? I’m not annoying just want to turn you on to them but no your shit is great and hope to hear it all soon.
Love Damaged Bug, or anything Dwyer related. Really loved the adaptation of Michael Yonker's with the latest.
You’re not allowed to be a mastering engineer unless you spend all day making videos and posting in forums about how anything besides the $5k+ boxes you got from companies to shill are not mastering grade and then never actually use them to make music.
I thought this was a great video. Although this is more of a "MASTERING THEORY" than a "MASTERING HOWTO." Tip: You could have made 2 or 3 videos out of this video.
Really nice video. Your loudness wars part was fine, but you missed one key reason why it is so prominent now. You touched on it, but didn't hit it squarely. The advent of spotify or even just regular mp3 player lists. As someone who listens to a lot of music from before and after the original loudness wars, I have trouble making playlists with an equal volume throughout. If you want to listen to 3 hours of music, you don't want to adjust the volume multiple times. Since modern pop music is mostly at the highest end of the loudness spectrum, other people feel they need to match them. They might do a volume comparison test between their recording and a popular current song and think, "This professional made it louder, I should too." Or "I want my song to sound like everyone else's"
It would be nice if you went a little more in depth on what attack and release time mean, especially to the final product.
I found your opinions to be sound. The tape "warmth" thing I definitely agree with. If you want that sound in this digital age you can just add it as another track in the DAW but it certainly doesn't make it sound good, or hide blemishes like they think. That may be bleed over from video production. In Video production you want to record ambient noise to play over ADR tracks so you can't tell they were recorded in a studio. Nowadays many people learn audio engineering through video production. They might think that tape hiss covers up the studio for music, and forget that studio sound is what you want for most music.
"I have trouble making playlists with an equal volume throughout" interesting. I never really considered or noticed this. I tend to be an album guy over playlist guy though so this didn't occur to me.
For attack time and release times I don't but much thought into them when I am using my compressor as a masterbuss comp or limiter. For comp I have it pinned to slowest attack and fastest release. I do this to allow all transients in the mix while only compressing for a short time. I think this gives a punch mix that sounds good on small speakers. For limiting I pin the knobs to fast attack and fast release. This is just meant to catch the loudest bits and make them manageable. Drum transients are a big culprit here.
I think the numbers are irrelevant here because each compressor is going to behave differently at certain time variables. I put way more thought into my settings when compressing individual tracks.
My ASHLY is the only stereo comp I own so this is always what I have used. You can honestly turn the knobs in any direction on that comp and it will sound good.