Mastering at Home?

Hey!

So, I'm just finishing up a recording project and I'd like to have it mastered. But since I've done the rest of the production work myself, I think I might like to master in myself too. I have Sonar Home Studio Producer Edition and I try to crank up the volume and then compress the master files before I convert them to .wavs and I've been calling that 'mastering,' but I'd really like the finished files to be able to compete with the other songs on my iTunes.

Do you guys know of any good programs I can download that have a mastering function? I've been looking around for something, but have had trouble finding anything that looks really promising. I found a program called Amphiotik Synthesis that looks okay, but I haven't been able to find any specific customer reviews.

Thanks for any help folks!

Do you guys know of any good programs I can download that have a mastering function? I've been looking around for something, but have had trouble finding anything that looks really promising. I found a program called Amphiotik Synthesis that looks okay, but I haven't been able to find any specific customer reviews.

A mastering function?? I master all my songs in sonar and so can you. Yuo just need to learn what how to master. Having or getting a program doesnt mean you can master. Mastering is an acquired art. No program will master for you.
If you have sonar, and some dynamic controlled processing plugins and an EQ and some reverbs, well then, you can master using those and more. What you need to do is learn the tools you have. you also need some studio monitors and a room that is tuned. This helps in the mastering process. Your ears are the most important tool in mastering. Theres books on mastering. Yuo wont learn it in a day or 2. Ive been doing it for years and im still learning.

Oh, and I have Windows XP and about 20 gigs of free space on my computer, if that's at all pertinent.

Get another hard drive. 20gigs is nothing.
Cj

Mastering at home...vs paying a pro to do it...... another age old question.

Can you do it at home? ......Depends .... on what you want to do with the song.

If you are recording it for friends and family, to post on the internet song sites, to sell at gigs, to send as a demo tune to music biz folks...you can probably do a decent job at home....and save the money.

If you're recording it to release commercially to radio stations, and maybe to get a record company interested..... get it done professionally..... unless you really know your stuff with mastering.... both of those entities know what "professional" sounds like, and if your song is not "pro".....it gets canned.

My thought is you're probably in the first group..... if so... you can go to the music store...(Sam Ash, Guitar Center, and the online stores too) and buy some "mastering software" to use.

I have Ozone 3 ( I hear 4 is coming soon) which I bought at GC for $200USD. I don't feel like spending lots of time learning all the details of operating the various components required to master a tune. So I use O3 which has many presets from which I start. I find that it saves alot of time....and I am learning about what each module does as I go along. Ozone does a decent job.

BTW: you can download a demo of O3 from their website. get it and try it.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/Ozone/download.asp

You can also decide to buy some more expensive products as well..... your choice.

Check out Ozone. At least take a look at it. They offer a free evaluation. The program functions completely normal for 30 days (or something like that) and then it turns into a pumpkin

It comes with a ton of presets that seem geared towards just about any style of music. Plus it has that frequency copying routine where you can measure the curve of your favorite songs and apply them to your own mixes.

Bit you don't mean the mastering.. science.. art.. do you ?

On the cheaper end of things but not free you can get IK Multimedia T-RackS Plug-In Mastering Software for $99 now as clearance. The newer version 3 has come out so they are blowing out the older version.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/IK-Multimedia-TRackS-PlugIn-Mastering-Software-?sku=702379

For a free guide check out the Izotope "Mastering with Ozone" guide. Although written for Ozone it is applicable to the mastering process in general.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/guides.html

ozone 3 has pre sets that will do the job 4 you eeeezzzzzzzzzzzz

Bit you don't mean the mastering.. science.. art.. do you ?

"Mastering Audio, the art and the Science" by Bob Katz.

Should be on every home recordist's bookshelf.

Read it again. I was disappointed in it after the first read (not technical enough and too much emphasis on gear I'd never own). But I've now read it four times through over a three-year period. Each time I was surprised at how much more I got out of it.