artturner
Since this thread was a little long on opinions (mine included) and short on examples, I thought I would contribute.
 
This is an acoustic instrumental, the title was a happy accident, I really had no intention of doing this when I started this song today.
 
Here is the original after I had done what I could to it:
https://soundcloud.com/ar...y-choices-now-original
iZotope Alloy 2 on drums, Vintage Scooped Drums preset
iZotope Ozone 6 on master, Warm and Transparent preset
REmatrix on a reverb bus, Modern Feel preset
 
I fed LANDR the resulting master and here is what LANDR did with it on medium:
https://soundcloud.com/artturnermusic/what-are-my-choices-now-landr-medium
 
I kind of like the "pop" and clarity of the LANDR version. Can any of you true mastering gurus tell me what LANDR did to achieve this?
 
Thanks!

That's a lovely piece. Really like that violin sound. The LANDR version seemed to give more emphasis to the kick, but softened the whole first section down (in a good way).
 
Be nice to hear more users posting here;
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Songs-f89.aspx
 

I edited my post above to add the unprocessed file and the LANDR results on the unprocessed file.
 
To Andrew: Thank you!
To James: Thank you also. I have really enjoyed the violin since it's release a few months ago. I find myself thinking up ways to use it.

jpetersen
OK. In the meantime, I've been having a lot of fun with your two sound files.
 
First I reduced the volume of the LANDR one so both sound equally loud.
 
Then I flipped through the presets supplied with Ozone 5. Most are too heavy-handed, but I found one that is not too far off and started to investigate. The EQ is scooped at around 500Hz with curves that look similar to that of the BBE Sonic Maximizer. However, when the violin becomes dominant, it keeps it's mid-frequency character. Interesting.
 
One thing I'm finding when just applying presets is, liking one and taking it as a starting point is very much a matter of taste. Which one is "better"? Hard to say. Craig Anderton likes vocals, so he focuses on that. But unless there are flaws in the sense of Craig's "Public Service" video, whereby there are nasty resonances to find and eliminate, it's not really possible to find out how clever LANDR really is. Your recordings don't have such flaws (well - I have only done 3 albums, so what do I know?).
 
I have to work so I've left it for now, but will continue. It's keeping me fascinated.
 
But so far, a BBE-like effect centered at 500Hz.
Thanks!!! Educational stuff.

Out of curiosity, as you were playing with the Ozone 5 presets, did you happen to right click on the spectral display at the top of the Harmonic Exciter, Dynamics, or Stereo Imager and choose "learn" (is at the bottom of the list there)?

I'm sure Landr can be very useful to a narrowly defined demographic. And I have nothing against either them or Cake for including it...although it really is like someone giving you a puppy...before long you'll be headed to Petsmart and the vet and pulling out your wallet. But I was a bit surprised that the audio demo on Landr's own site sounded...at least to my tired ol ears...so much worse than the original track.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
If you were referring to my post the point I was making was in direct response to Craig's post, that we need to support the many users of our products who might be very experienced in other ways but not very technical with DAW's. Not sure why you drew the conclusion that people on forums were any less.
 
 

Hi Noel.....:)
 
I have to say I read your post in the same way as Beep, it came across wrong.
 
Just sayin'

SteveStrummerUK
 
 
Alex would know what to say. 
 
I miss Alex...
 

Is Alex gone? Did he leave or.....?

Art, that was nice. Thank you for sharing. Your song has been stuck in my head all day now. :-)

Grem

SteveStrummerUK
 
 
Alex would know what to say. 
 
I miss Alex...
 

Is Alex gone? Did he leave or.....?

Poor old Alex was 'pushed' or it may be closer to the truth that he was 'silenced' Everyone knows Alex or Doktor Avalanche was quite opinionated, and wasn't backward in coming forward about Cakewalks or Sonars problems and shortcomings, also keeping a list of all the reported and neglected bugs with Sonar and Cakewalks instruments. I believe Alex always spoke the truth, or at least the truth as far as he knew it to be and I think that was a bit to much for some people here, especially those in authority who would rather Cakewalks and Sonars shortcomings not be pointed out so publicly and continuously, you know how it is, everything is honky dory in Cakewalk land and most don't want to know about Cakewalks or Sonars shortcomings and issues even if it is the truth, best just not talk about it and continue on in ignorant bliss, well dear old Alex didn't roll like that and made a comment during a discourse with Anderton and or Cake employees something along the lines of "look just ban me" and well a short time latter that is exactly what one Cakewalk employee did, with a comment like "well I will agree to your wishes" I guess seizing the opportunity to silence Alex. Yes Alex could be annoying, but he didn't really do anything wrong, unless you count pointing out Cakewalks and Sonars issues and deficiencies, which of course aren't welcome here, so they seized the day and silenced him. Something everyone should learn from, keep up the illusion, keep everything smelling like roses and everyone will like you and you will be fine, start bringing attention to the issues and deficiencies, keeping track of neglected long standing bugs and well you may share the same fate as dear old Alex.

Chiming in to say that I tried LandR today and I think I'm going to learn quite a bit from it. There was more clarity on their version in the mid-highs than I've been achieving. That made a really positive difference, so I'm going to start by concentrating on improving my mixes and "masters" (ha-ha) in that area.
I already know I'm clueless about mastering and pretty useless at mixing too ... but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying :).
And that's the report from the peanut gallery for today.
 
Editing to add: Uh-oh. Seems like I picked a fine time to post.
 
 
 
 
 

maximumpower
Art, that was nice. Thank you for sharing. Your song has been stuck in my head all day now. :-)

Thanks! Shameless marketing in the guise of a helpful mastering post. :)