Mastering ?

[mikebuzz]

Ok so I have 3 songs done in Saw Lite and one song from a cd ( cda version !! , they were supposed to send a wav file then went missing in action ) I have never mastered anything before so HELP !!

I know I should put all of the songs in the MT on a stereo track ( I think ) then I was going to use the levelizer to well , level the levels ?

My problem is this one song in cda format , WTF do I do with it ? rip it to a wav I guess also I will have different sample rates to deal with. I suppose I could downsample the Saw songs ( or will Saw do this for me ?? ) .

Also I need to add cd markers and have never done it before I have the que sheet generator ( demo version I just read it only allows 3 songs ! ), a simple explaination would be helpful. Maybe I can use WinAmp ??

Later
Buzz

THANKS !!! :eek:

[UpTilDawn]

I know I should put all of the songs in the MT on a stereo track ( I think )
Most of the time you'll want to do just that... and on a stereo track. Any adjustments you want to make to the individual songs before using the Levelizer can be written as automation moves... ie. raising or lowering the overall volume of individual songs, EQing songs so that they have the same overall tonal balance.

My problem is this one song in cda format , WTF do I do with it ? rip it to a wav I guess
Yes, rip it to a wav. in order to import it to Saw.

also I will have different sample rates to deal with. I suppose I could downsample the Saw songs ( or will Saw do this for me ?? ) .
You'll need to consult with the manual and the experts here, since I've never had to deal with this, but if I remember correctly, Saw handles playback of multiple sample rates on its own. I would guess that the "Build Mix" routine is where you'll bring them all to a common sample rate and resolution.

Also I need to add cd markers and have never done it before I have the que sheet generator ( demo version I just read it only allows 3 songs ! ), a simple explaination would be helpful. Maybe I can use WinAmp ??
I was gunshy of QSG for a while, but I can tell you that it's well worth footin' the bucks for the program. Practice a little with the demo to get the hang of how it works first if you have the time.... You can also simply mark each individual song length (B and E keys) and Build Mix for one song at a time to "New Song File", store them in a common folder, then open them up in whatever cd writing program you're using (Nero, CD Creator, etc.) and define the spacing between songs within the burner program.

I have never mastered anything before so HELP !!
Later
Buzz
No quick and simple answer there... takes much time, practice and patience.

DanT

[Cary B. Cornett]

I know I should put all of the songs in the MT on a stereo track ( I think ) then I was going to use the levelizer to well , level the levels ?
Buzz

THANKS !!! :eek:

Levelizer is a great tool, but you may be expecting something from it that you won't get.

Part of what you are often trying to do in mastering is to get the various songs to SOUND about equally loud. This is NOT the same thing as having the same peak levels!

Mastering is a complex art, and not learned in a day. I understand some of the basics, which took me a while, but it would take a LOT of experience to develop really professional mastering chops.

That said, if you are careful you should be able to help the project at least a little. For getting the songs to similar "loudness", I would suggest that you listen carefully and pick the one that sounds loudest "as is". Then you need to decide if that song is "loud enough". Usually you are comparing it to similar commercially released material. The bad news here is that current mastering practice is EXTREMELY aggressive, meaning that it
A) will be hard to "match" for loudness, and
B) does some real damage to the quality of the music.

Let's say that you have decided that the loudest song is already "loud enough". Your goal is then to get the other songs to sound equally loud. The simplest tool to use for this is peak limiting, and this is something Levelizer does exceptionally well. What you do is limit the highest peaks, and then apply gain makeup to match the maximum gain reduction. The more you do this, though, the more likely you will affect the quality of the sound.

The thing that you are trying to do is boost the AVERAGE level, and that is exactly what the combination of peak limiting and gain makeup will do.

Experiment with this a bit and use your ears.

There are lots of other "tricks" (which I am only just beginning to learn), but there is no simple and brief way to explain them.

I would strongly suggest that you visit
www.digido.com
and read some of the articles there.

[TotalSonic]

Mike -
A couple of good forums that go into great detail regarding mastering are at:

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/f/31/2475/

http://www.recording.org/forum-20.html

As far as your other questions:
Exact Audio Copy is a great program to do your ripping of CD Audio to a wav file - you can get if for essentially free (the author asks you to send him a postcard) at http://www.exactaudiocopy.de

As far as using the JMS Audioware CSG -
1) load the CSG plugin as the very last plug post fader on the output channel you are sending the complete stereo mix to (usually output 1)
2) load your wav files or regions onto the input channels in the multitrack order that you wish them to appear on your CD - with 0:00:00 on the timeline as the start of the audio on your CD. (note: I usually have the CSG set for no PQ offset - so I generally have the audio on the first track start at 6 smpte frames in so that the very first transient doesn't get possibly muted when played in CD players that have long unmute times.) In general I like to have a different track on a different input channel (so that the tracks "staircase" down) so that it's easier to set up unique settings for each track.
3) apply any compression, eq, limiting, fx processing, fades, pans, etc. you wish to each track.
4) click the + ("add") button on the CSG gui at 0:00:00 to create the initial track index id.
5) select "End" in the Track listing on the CSG gui and then place your cursor at the point you want the CD to end (I usually have this a second or 2 after all the audio ends so that the sound of the CD powering down doesn't break peoples concentration in an obnoxious way after the final fade). Hit the "Move" button on the CSG gui and then press "ok"
6) click the "Add" button at every point you want a track ID. In general I try to keep these points at about 5-6 smpte frames prior to the start of the audio in order to make sure that CD players with long unmute times (such as some car players) don't fade up on the start the track when someone clicks forward to the track.
7) If you want to add a "pause" id (where the CD player will start a backwards countdown to the next track id) - click the "Add" button and then hit the "-" key at the point you want the pause id to start.
8) click the "Disc" button to set all the parameters for the image creation. You enter the path or browse to where want the image files saved to. In general I prefer creating a cue sheet with a different wav file for each track (instead of a single wav file) as it allows revisions to be made much quicker. You can enter subcodes such as UPC (12 number barcode # preceded by a 0) or MCN (13 number "media catalog number"), CD Text for Album Title and Artist name in this dialog box. The "PQ Offset" allows you to have a number in milliseconds that the track id's will be automatically pushed backwards in time by. I prefer to keep this at "0" and enter the PQ offsets manually as detailed above.
9) click on each of the track id's listed in the CSG gui's track list and hit the "Edit" buttom to bring up dialog boxes where you can enter the track's CD Text tilte and ISRC (a code number that you can get for free from the RIAA to identify each track if you want to).
10) you can use the "Move" or "Kill" buttons to edit the track id's start times or remove them if needed
11) hit the "Setup" button and browse to the cue sheet compatible burning program under "program to launch...". I personally use Ahead's Nero 6 - http://www.ahead.de - but Exact Audio Copy works fine for this also.
12) you'll want either to have SAWStudio's dither enabled under the "Multitrack" options in the menu - or better yet - leave this off and use a dither plugin - my favorite is the Sonoris Dither available at http://www.sonoris.nl ) as the final plugin prior to the CSG. Make sure to leave a little headroom prior to dithering - i.e. the Levelizer should be at the most normalizing to 99% or if you use a Limiter with output ceiling noted in dB keep to this -0.1dBFs at maximum. It's been recommended by many ME's to keep output ceiling at -0.3dBFs in order to keep the possibility of intersample overmodulations to a minimum so that you don't induce any extra distortion when the CD is played back on junky CD players that have lousy DAC's.
12) after everything is set as you like it choose under the "Process/Mixdown" menu "Build Mix to FX" - and press ok when the dialog box comes up. This will create 16bit/44.1kHz wav files with all processing changes made to the folder you indicated in the "Disc" dialog along with a text file that contains all the PQ and subcode info (the cue sheet) with an extension of "csg"
13) If you indicated an app to launch in the "Setup" dialog it will automatically open as soon as the Build Mix completes - just hit "ok" and the burn will start.

Hope that helps.

Best regards,
Steve Berson