• SONAR
  • Take Our Blind Mastering "Taste-Test" (p.9)
2016/03/18 13:54:55
bandso
The page says to "please vote for your favorite master", so doesn't that make it a "master vs master" comparison and pick your favorite one?
2016/03/18 17:09:56
ChrisX
I chose track #2 . Also track #4 sounds good but maybe with a little less dynamics...
For my ears the rest of the tracks are too boosted in the low end and sink the vocal in the busy parts.
2016/03/19 02:26:47
hueseph
stevec
Soundwise
hueseph
if you had taken the time to match volumes you would have found that the transients were in fact more prominent in 2 and 4.

You can tell that just by looking at waveforms as well.




Exactly.     
 
I was listening on headphones, at work.  Level matching simply wasn't an option....    However, it was a real-world/outside the studio listening experience, as 99% of the target audience is likely to do.   
 


As a consumer, you turn up your player to a comfortable level. As a critical listener you should do the same for each individual track. Even then, you stated that you found the transients in 2 and 4 to be muted when clearly this is not the case.
2016/03/19 04:20:21
Kev999
hueseph
...the thwack of the snare is crushed into oblivion...

 
I find the snare drum in the choruses to be really irritating. The snare is least prominent in #1, so that's my favourite, even though it may fall short in other respects.
2016/03/19 09:39:22
Starise
Very subjective to the individual. 
 
It sounds to me as if track 3 has had a more personal touch which I like. If it happens to be a LANDR track then I guess I've been LANDRED :)
 
 
To my ears it sounds like there has been personal attention to the bass and bringing out the mids. Like the mix has some human elements to it. 
 
 
2016/03/19 22:35:34
kevinwal
I liked #4. 
2016/03/20 15:26:31
Jeff M.
I liked version #3 the best.
#6 was my second fave, edging out #5 by a little bit.
 
 
2016/03/20 18:21:23
bapu
Since it's open kimono time, I voted for #3 and commented (in the poll) that #5 was my second fav.
2016/03/21 06:43:13
ston
Another vote for the pre-master.
 
A very subjective test.  I'll be interested to find out which master was which though.
2016/03/21 07:01:14
Tom Riggs
Close your kimono dude! Ha!
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