'Leg Up' Audio Service (New Pricing)

[Depone]

Ok first A/B example here -
Soundcloud

Artist: The Phantom Banger
Track: To the Future

Depone did a hench job here, now i can play out my tune without them sounding weak next to professionaly mastered tunes! Must be mad not to take advantage of this oppurtunity! Get in there before mr depone starts charging top rates.

Big up

Hahahaaaa that sounds so forced. Btw I before you all ask, i did not ask him to write that!

[collective]

whoooops

[Depone]

Ok first A/B example here -
Soundcloud

Artist: The Phantom Banger
Track: To the Future

Depone did a hench job here, now i can play out my tune without them sounding weak next to professionaly mastered tunes! Must be mad not to take advantage of this oppurtunity! Get in there before mr depone starts charging top rates.

Big up

Haha before anyone says, i didnt ask the phantom badger to write that. But thanks mate.

[collective]

ok lets talk about your process(es) then,


What is your signal flow like? Are you doing an mid/side work? Lets kick this off, from what it sounds like and I could be totally off:

sounds like you are going EQ > some sort of Harmonic distortion/exciter > Limiter

[back2onett]

Depone, what's your monitoring setup like?

[Depone]

ok lets talk about your process(es) then,


What is your signal flow like? Are you doing an mid/side work? Lets kick this off, from what it sounds like and I could be totally off:

sounds like you are going EQ > some sort of Harmonic distortion/exciter > Limiter

Your not far off actually!

It was Mid/Side EQ



then

'gelling' compression, High attack, low/medium release with ratio of about 5:1 just taking the peaks down by -3 - 5db

Then

Harmonic distortion via Sonnox Inflator

then

a touch of Parallel compression to fill the gaps and to further thicken the spectrum.

then

I noticed that the track was nearly all mono, so I used some multi-band stereo widening, as well as further mid/side EQ to enhance this a touch.

then

I used a hint of multi-band harmonic exciter

then

a very light touch of reverb as the track felt quite 'dry'.

then summed the parallel comp with the main channel.

Smudge of compressor again to bring everything together

Added my fav limiter et voila.

[Depone]

Depone, what's your monitoring setup like?

I have a pair of early 80's KEF 103 reference monitors. They sound amazing.

My room is longish, not to boxxy as it has an irregular shape which helps. and the usual bodge of soundproofing the highs and the bed opposite does a nice job of being a bass trap.

[Basic A]

ok lets talk about your process(es) then,


What is your signal flow like? Are you doing an mid/side work? Lets kick this off, from what it sounds like and I could be totally off:

sounds like you are going EQ > some sort of Harmonic distortion/exciter > Limiter

Your not far off actually!

It was Mid/Side EQ

then

'gelling' compression, High attack, low/medium release with ratio of about 5:1 just taking the peaks down by -3 - 5db

Then

Harmonic distortion via Sonnox Inflator

then

a touch of Parallel compression to fill the gaps and to further thicken the spectrum.

then

I noticed that the track was nearly all mono, so I used some multi-band stereo widening, as well as further mid/side EQ to enhance this a touch.

then

I used a hint of multi-band harmonic exciter

then

a very light touch of reverb as the track felt quite 'dry'.

then summed the parallel comp with the main channel.

Smudge of compressor again to bring everything together

Added my fav limiter et voila.

And imo, this is a fair bit too do for a measly couple notes...

The man has an ear, and knows his bits... as said, deps not trying to claim to be offering mastering just thorough mixdowns and enhancements.

[collective]

ok lets talk about your process(es) then,


What is your signal flow like? Are you doing an mid/side work? Lets kick this off, from what it sounds like and I could be totally off:

sounds like you are going EQ > some sort of Harmonic distortion/exciter > Limiter

Your not far off actually!

It was Mid/Side EQ



then

'gelling' compression, High attack, low/medium release with ratio of about 5:1 just taking the peaks down by -3 - 5db

Then

Harmonic distortion via Sonnox Inflator

then

a touch of Parallel compression to fill the gaps and to further thicken the spectrum.

then

I noticed that the track was nearly all mono, so I used some multi-band stereo widening, as well as further mid/side EQ to enhance this a touch.

then

I used a hint of multi-band harmonic exciter

then

a very light touch of reverb as the track felt quite 'dry'.

then summed the parallel comp with the main channel.

Smudge of compressor again to bring everything together

Added my fav limiter et voila.

I actually picked up a few bits from this! thanks man!

When you are using reverb for mastering purposes what reverb do you turn to, do you happen to be using ozone? (never really got into that one myself, but noticed it had some mastering reverb business on it)

What program are you mastering in if you don't mind my asking? Peak?

EDIT: Also, when you are utilizing parallel compression for mastering purposes, is it setup in the same way one would use it for a Drum bus or etc?

I am bursting with questions actually.

[komanderkin]

depone, do you accept other genres or is this dubstep only?

[nowaysj]

[HAACK]

When you mention side chain in your process, are you side chaining the drums or the whole tune?

[Depone]

ok lets talk about your process(es) then,


What is your signal flow like? Are you doing an mid/side work? Lets kick this off, from what it sounds like and I could be totally off:

sounds like you are going EQ > some sort of Harmonic distortion/exciter > Limiter

Your not far off actually!

It was Mid/Side EQ



then

'gelling' compression, High attack, low/medium release with ratio of about 5:1 just taking the peaks down by -3 - 5db

Then

Harmonic distortion via Sonnox Inflator

then

a touch of Parallel compression to fill the gaps and to further thicken the spectrum.

then

I noticed that the track was nearly all mono, so I used some multi-band stereo widening, as well as further mid/side EQ to enhance this a touch.

then

I used a hint of multi-band harmonic exciter

then

a very light touch of reverb as the track felt quite 'dry'.

then summed the parallel comp with the main channel.

Smudge of compressor again to bring everything together

Added my fav limiter et voila.

I actually picked up a few bits from this! thanks man!

When you are using reverb for mastering purposes what reverb do you turn to, do you happen to be using ozone? (never really got into that one myself, but noticed it had some mastering reverb business on it)

What program are you mastering in if you don't mind my asking? Peak?

EDIT: Also, when you are utilizing parallel compression for mastering purposes, is it setup in the same way one would use it for a Drum bus or etc?

I am bursting with questions actually.

Yes the multi-band exciter and the reverb were both from izotope ozone 4. I really like the plugin, even the limiter sounds slamming on certain tracks! Seems to keep the transients like voxengo's elephant does.

For this, I used Protools, but sometimes i use logic for specific plugs. And yeah the parallel comp was done with a send but before the second compression/exciting/limiting stage. I normally use sends, but because i wanted to avoid the other processes I bounced a version after the EQ. Why? Because I wanted the original snappiness to be audible before i compressed it in the first chain. Compressing it 3 times would not be good.

[Depone]

depone, do you accept other genres or is this dubstep only?

Yes! As i think i said in the title post, i can do any genre (so long as its not metal!)

[Depone]

When you mention side chain in your process, are you side chaining the drums or the whole tune?

I think you mis-read me. Im not side-chaining anything. I use parallel compression and thats a whole different kettle of fish se my vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fBESGojbkg

[GRAYSKALE]

depone, do you accept other genres or is this dubstep only?

Yes! As i think i said in the title post, i can do any genre (so long as its not metal!)

because it's difficult or because you hate it?? lol.

[macc]

FWIW, in the name of transparency, Depone PM'ed me and asked for my thoughts and we agreed it'd be better to jot em in here, add to any discussion and whatnot. I think - judging by the very kind and liberal sprinkling of my name in the thread - he's worried I might take offense or something. Couldn't be further from the truth. Based on what I have heard, having worked on his stuff, Depone's a pretty good engineer, takes his work seriously, and with work and application will have a bright future. The natural next step, as it seems he wants to make a living from it, is to get down in the trenches and start dealing with whatever it is people throw at you. Of course it makes sense to start taking anything and everything.

That said, being totally frank, I find a number of things about the first post/'concept' disingenuous. Once you start expecting money from it - donations or whatever - you are stretching things a bit to say you're doing it for the community; at that point you're definitely doing it more for your own benefit. Call me old fashioned (and I am TOTALLY aware that I am being old fashioned here, it's just my opinion!), but improving people's sound for them in return for increasing your expertise and experience is both a fair trade and infinitely more 'pro-community', in principle at least. Expecting money too, well... isn't the fact it is helping build one's experience, skill and reputation payment enough?

Similarly, what amounts to 'I'll do an x-track mix for a minimum donation of £15' reads as a bit cheeky. For example, I could say I'm offering my service on a donation basis. I'll master anyone's stuff for a minimum donation of 30 quid a track I appreciate the approach you're trying to take, but if you are taking donations then almost by definition you get what you're given, what people feel it is worth and what they can afford. Depone's time is worth something; that something, to me, at this stage, is self-development. Priceless.

Then again, if you can get money for it and people are happy to pay, then you're already on the road to being a professional. So what do I know?


It has to be said that I am acutely aware of my own bias here, as hard as I fight it. I went from being a paid professional (well, 75% pro) in mixing to nothing at all, and after a break writing stuff, subsequently started out again in mastering doing stuff for free, for anyone who would try me. I was doing that for 12-18 months (?) before I felt it wasn't taking the piss to ask for money. There were one or two occasions when people offered money (only one or two, haha), and I declined as I didn't feel I was 'there'. Depone's route may be different to mine, and to many others, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong (that's a note to myself there).

Anyway, that's my two penneth. Above all, absolutely sincerest best wishes to a bloody nice chap. Who's to say that there can't be some sort of discount collaborative mix + master service between us someday..?

[macc]

And don't say no to anything, metal or not!

[Depone]

FWIW, in the name of transparency, Depone PM'ed me and asked for my thoughts and we agreed it'd be better to jot em in here, add to any discussion and whatnot. I think - judging by the very kind and liberal sprinkling of my name in the thread - he's worried I might take offense or something. Couldn't be further from the truth. Based on what I have heard, having worked on his stuff, Depone's a pretty good engineer, takes his work seriously, and with work and application will have a bright future. The natural next step, as it seems he wants to make a living from it, is to get down in the trenches and start dealing with whatever it is people throw at you. Of course it makes sense to start taking anything and everything.

That said, being totally frank, I find a number of things about the first post/'concept' disingenuous. Once you start expecting money from it - donations or whatever - you are stretching things a bit to say you're doing it for the community; at that point you're definitely doing it more for your own benefit. Call me old fashioned (and I am TOTALLY aware that I am being old fashioned here, it's just my opinion!), but improving people's sound for them in return for increasing your expertise and experience is both a fair trade and infinitely more 'pro-community', in principle at least. Expecting money too, well... isn't the fact it is helping build one's experience, skill and reputation payment enough?

Similarly, what amounts to 'I'll do an x-track mix for a minimum donation of £15' reads as a bit cheeky. For example, I could say I'm offering my service on a donation basis. I'll master anyone's stuff for a minimum donation of 30 quid a track I appreciate the approach you're trying to take, but if you are taking donations then almost by definition you get what you're given, what people feel it is worth and what they can afford. Depone's time is worth something; that something, to me, at this stage, is self-development. Priceless.

Then again, if you can get money for it and people are happy to pay, then you're already on the road to being a professional. So what do I know?


It has to be said that I am acutely aware of my own bias here, as hard as I fight it. I went from being a paid professional (well, 75% pro) in mixing to nothing at all, and after a break writing stuff, subsequently started out again in mastering doing stuff for free, for anyone who would try me. I was doing that for 12-18 months (?) before I felt it wasn't taking the piss to ask for money. There were one or two occasions when people offered money (only one or two, haha), and I declined as I didn't feel I was 'there'. Depone's route may be different to mine, and to many others, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong (that's a note to myself there).

Anyway, that's my two penneth. Above all, absolutely sincerest best wishes to a bloody nice chap. Who's to say that there can't be some sort of discount collaborative mix + master service between us someday..?

Haha i knew you wouldn't take offence as theres no way im taking your clients.
Thanks for the kind words. Bout the donation shizzle, I think you have an interesting point made, one that i didn't look at. 2 sides of a coin shall we say. I may ditch the donation service, and i only set £15 for stem mixing as im taking a chunk of my day out to do so. But again as you said, im not a professional service, so im not sure how to approach this, or not offer it at all (the stems).

So far i have been offered work from digi labels as well as a few people on here, so its great to get a warm welcome. I was worried that people would take this as a joke, someone clutching at straws, almost 'pretending' they are an ME which i aspire to be one day, but its not my definitive goal. Other parts of the industry i want to explore are sound for film (had a high first for my efforts), foly, engineer etc... Keep my doors open to what comes around.

I actually did a recording job for a piece at university, recording my dads folk/acoustic group (think Tori amos) at one wednesday studio in Dartmouth. Because for my university, i was in control of the session and the engineers already there were just giving me pointers and helping me with their routing system etc... And a week later they offered me a job! Its an unpaid apprenticeship but a toe in the jam never the less.

[paradigm_x]

I've been thinking about the stems mixing thing for a while - i really like mixing, have a load of nice tools, and would be more fun for me than mastering - ive nothing like the kit, experience etc

But i havent really got the time to do it.

Id really like to work with an 'ideas' person whos got loads of good ideas but not much interest/ability in the technical side of things. I think i have more fun mixing that writing these days.