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Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:12 am
by jrisreal
Well do you? I see people sayin they bounce their final mixdown and bring it back in for a self-master. I always do the self-master in the project...is that a bad idea for any reason?

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:23 am
by distro
People work differently and it can be done from within the project of your sequencer.


IMO

I think it is good to seperate the program being used (from cubase to wavelab) and helps me to change my creative hat. I think it sounds better aswell when mastering in wavelab plus wavelab 7 is just amazing for spectral analysis etc.. :)

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:28 am
by wub
There is no right/wrong way of doing something. If it works for you, do it. If it doesn't find a different way that does.


Personally, I find myself more and more these days bouncing the stems pre-master, then mastering and bouncing the whole track. But again, this pre/post/master/mixdown thing is largely inconsequential - you can always just save multiple versions of the same project file with different mastering etc on them.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:40 am
by bRRRz
I tend to bounce the mix.^^

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:13 am
by deadly_habit
i tend to bounce the stems then open them up in a separate template i have setup, sometimes i do master in the original project, but save as a new version though

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:15 am
by legend4ry
deadly habit wrote:i tend to bounce the stems then open them up in a separate template i have setup, sometimes i do master in the original project, but save as a new version though
This.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:31 am
by therapist
I think some people (I do) bounce partly so you're not still distracted with adjusting the track, and in a way can start being a bit more objective about how it sounds. It's one of those aesthetic things I think, I want everything nice and clean and nothing in the fx chain. It's nice to see the waveform sometimes too.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:51 am
by BlackMath
depends on how big the project is..management of computer resources
know what I mean>?

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:58 pm
by sunny_b_uk
i always self master within my project in FL too, but some people say things like sawstudio and few others like logic have a better sound engine than most DAWs. i might have to experiment and see if this is true for myself..

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:04 pm
by jrisreal
thanks for all the input, guys. I've mastered a bounced mix before, but it just seems faster to do it in-project, so imma keep it that way.

and @sunny I only have FL Studio, plus I like using maximus for my masters.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:34 pm
by olyko12
What do y'all mean when you say bounce the stems?

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:40 pm
by deadly_habit
olyko12 wrote:What do y'all mean when you say bounce the stems?
bouncing all tracks in a project to separate wav files

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:51 pm
by olyko12
Ok cool.
I should probably read up on this, but can you give me a quick explanation on how to do this in FL?

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:50 pm
by deadly_habit
haven't used fl for years man so dunno

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:52 pm
by legend4ry
olyko12 wrote:Ok cool.
I should probably read up on this, but can you give me a quick explanation on how to do this in FL?
click split mixer tracks when you export.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:14 pm
by sunny_b_uk
jrisreal wrote:thanks for all the input, guys. I've mastered a bounced mix before, but it just seems faster to do it in-project, so imma keep it that way.

and @sunny I only have FL Studio, plus I like using maximus for my masters.
ahh right i personally wouldnt use maximus on a master, or anywhere lol it sounds crap imo. unless your being very subtle with it ;)
o & this might be slightly off topic but im willing to do anyone a free mix down & master if they send me stems lol :P
i want to see what kind of job i can pull off on something that isnt my own material + im bored with a fractured foot. iv got good monitors, done 2 years of music tech at college & iv been producing for 8 years so i wont do a shit job :mrgreen:

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:21 pm
by jrisreal
sunny_b_uk wrote:
jrisreal wrote:thanks for all the input, guys. I've mastered a bounced mix before, but it just seems faster to do it in-project, so imma keep it that way.

and @sunny I only have FL Studio, plus I like using maximus for my masters.
ahh right i personally wouldnt use maximus on a master, or anywhere lol it sounds crap imo. unless your being very subtle with it ;)
o & this might be slightly off topic but im willing to do anyone a free mix down & master if they send me stems lol :P
i want to see what kind of job i can pull off on something that isnt my own material + im bored with a fractured foot. iv got good monitors, done 2 years of music tech at college & iv been producing for 8 years so i wont do a shit job :mrgreen:
Opinion respected, but I like maximus, plus I paid for it I'm gona use it lol. Sorry about the fractured foot and thanks for the offer man, but I'll be fine without...plus I can't get FL Studio to render my stems properly since I use a lot of automation and sidechaining and controllers and whatnot :/

Speaking of maximus, what is the opinion for the saturation in maximus?

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:02 pm
by sunny_b_uk
my bad on the post earlier.. i got mixed up with fruity sound goodizer and maximus :L
i just had a go with maximus since i havent used it in a lot of years, it sounds fine and the saturation sounds decent & warm & the shaper on the left is interesting.. it works well on most material so its capable of make things sound smoother & more listenable. i dont like that the mids distort a lot easier when you start bringing levels up & low frequencies tend to sound less audible, so it doesnt do a brilliant job on my master wen i start pushing things when having a sub there. it is decent & tbh its worth using, however if you are trying to get your music somewhat as loud as commercial songs then i think it has its limits or maybe its just me because im used to using plugins that seem to bring more life into the track.

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:12 pm
by jrisreal
That makes sense man, but I've never had a problem with lower frequencies being less audible when using maximus. I limit each band individually and then bring that into the master limiter and then maybe apply a general limiter to the overall sound, too. and if any of the bands are too quiet, adjust the post-gain knob on that band to bring it up. For fear of clipping, I also usually bring the master post-gain down a bit and normalize the track in audacity. Its different from many other limiters, though, because it makes you draw the compression curve instead of adjusting knobs like threshold and ratio

Re: Do you bounce before self-mastering?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:26 pm
by sunny_b_uk
o right maybe i was pushing maximus too far on the master for more volume, i guess its more of a good maximiser than being using as a limiter. im liking the compression curve on the left, it seems to work really well on drums. i think i prefer other plugins when it comes to mastering but this is quite nice for certain sounds.