CONSISTENCY???

What is the best way to copy the "frequency profile" of one track onto another?

I'm mixing down an album and I want to get as much sonic consistency as I can between tracks. Aside from trial and error with various EQs and frequency analyzer/imagers I have no idea how I would go about getting one track to "sound identical" another (with respect to its frequency profile [and by "identical" I mean "identical"]). Is there some plugin (SONAR or Protools) or something I could use to do this automatically? You know? So that the one track sounds like it was recorded in EXACTLY the same way (with the frequencies and the noise) as the other? Please help!

Kim,

Do you have any before and after examples you can provide for us to hear how it worked? It sounds interesting and it would be great to hear how it did. I know that mp3s really won't do it justice, but it would give a feel for how the analysis process done on the material.

Also, what type of music have you used it with so far? Is there a particular type of music that it works best with so far?

Lastly, when you say "reference" are you referring (pardon the pun) to the album of songs to be analyzed or are you suggesting that you find commerical material that you are trying to match?

Sorry for all the questions. It sounds like an interesting application.

Thanks,
Tom

ORIGINAL: tyacko

Kim,

Do you have any before and after examples you can provide for us to hear how it worked? It sounds interesting and it would be great to hear how it did. I know that mp3s really won't do it justice, but it would give a feel for how the analysis process done on the material.

Also, what type of music have you used it with so far? Is there a particular type of music that it works best with so far?

Lastly, when you say "reference" are you referring (pardon the pun) to the album of songs to be analyzed or are you suggesting that you find commerical material that you are trying to match?

Sorry for all the questions. It sounds like an interesting application.

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom,

I've only started using it recently. The songs "Devil Gurl" and "It Won't Last" has MAutoEqualizer applied during mastering. Sorry, I don't have the pre-mastered audio online for comparison. You can imagine it as the same audio but with a different tone. I've used it on another song that might be published soon too. They're all different genres, and different sounds. I see no reason why MAutoEqualizer would be more appropriate for some types of music over others.

Actually, MAutoEqualizer seemed to use much tighter EQ bandwidths than I used to use when I was adjusting the tone by ear. Maybe that's because MAutoEqualizer is more accurate - better than my ear at pinpointing frequencies, or maybe it's just a quirk of the algorithms. The EQ curve it usually comes up with looks strange, but sounds right. A little part of me died when I first began to realise how well it worked - I started to doubt the value of my own listening skills ("Why do I need to be good at EQing if I can get a machine to do it for me?"). Ultimately though, I have to hear the outcome and make sure it sounds right. I also don't really enjoy mastering. I'm not too bad at it (mainly because I understand the physics and psychoacoustic principals), but to me it's engineering. Not very creative or artistic. So I suppose it's not so bad that part of the process is automated by a machine.

The "reference" material I write about is the commercial songs. They are a reference point for the final tone and dynamic characteristics that you want your mastered material to have. It doesn't mean you have to copy them exactly, but they help you know when you're close enough.

Hope that helps.

-Kim.

Disclosure: I have a professional relationship with Melda Production.

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

Is that the outfit that advises that they can help "make your sound original"?

:-)

MAutoEqualizer is this.

About the quote... I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised - their English is a little odd at times. ;-)

-Kim.

That sounds like a reasonable explanation.

-Kim.

That...my friend is the entire purpose of Mastering your music. To get all the songs on a CD project to sound like that are part of the same project. The quick answer is to master the songs using a mastering setup.... something like Ozone would do the trick.

I think the consistency starts at recording.
I use the same synthesized drum kit, the same bass tone, and limit myself to the same 3 or 4 guitar tones.  The songs can be different, but if you keep those the same (similar to a band's live set) it's cohesive right from the start.
Then you can mix the tracks relatively similarly(compensating for differences in the song).  By this point mastering will be easy to keep the same, and the project will actually sound like one project.

Slugbaby

I think the consistency starts at recording.
I use the same synthesized drum kit, the same bass tone, and limit myself to the same 3 or 4 guitar tones.  The songs can be different, but if you keep those the same (similar to a band's live set) it's cohesive right from the start.
Then you can mix the tracks relatively similarly(compensating for differences in the song).  By this point mastering will be easy to keep the same, and the project will actually sound like one project.

Yes, I agree 100%.