Sound Your Best - ACMastering - blog

Can You Afford to Record Your Own Album?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:44:06 -0800

I like many studio owners have really suffered from the downward pressure on the prices of our services. To a great extent, this is because people want to do their own production work. It's estimated that 80% of the studios even in Manhattan have closed their doors. And these are studios of all sizes - even Clinton closed their doors last year! So let's take a look at the cost of recording and mastering your own album - Derek Jones posted this list in the Independent Recording Artist Community Forum on Linked In:

Derek Quotes

"Yet, here we are, all us home enthusiasts with no budgets yet alone connections to the A-list world, getting pounded in both ears by software manufacturer's convincing us that yes, you CAN do it at home."

Most people feel this way...but the funny thing is, EVERYONE has a budget. Case in point...

Ozone - $199
Waves Mecury Bundle - $3749
Soundtoys bundle - $495
Komplete 8 ultimate - $999
Miroslav - $199
Steven Slate Drums - $299
Oceanway Drums Gold - $559
Softube Amp Room Bundle - $499
Softube Studio Collection - $999
Lexicon PCM native bundle - $1500
Fab Four - $395
Ministry of Rock - $395
Ministry of Rock II - $395
Omnisphere - $479
Trillian - $279
Stylus RMX - $379
Ivory II - $319

Total = $12,138 in plugins alone.

Add to it a computer that costs anywhere from $1000~$4000. An audio interface that costs around $400~1000 and daw software that costs around $250~$500... then at least one mic that costs $100~$500. Speakers that cost $200~$1500... that costs $14,100 to $19,500. no acoustic treatment added in yet!!!

So... a person's budget ends up being between $15,000 to $20,000 dollars when all is said and done. For $20,000 to $30,000 you can do a great album in a good studio that is moderately priced."

Technology and Audio 2

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:45:52 -0800

@ Jerry - thanks for the spelling correction!!

Derek has written quite a bit and he's a professional. And he makes very good points. Unfortunately the people who need to hear that message are not listening, they're on the way to the music store to buy more gear. LOL A couple of highlights that I would confirm.

1) Every room starts with the proportions. With incorrect proportions, no degree of treatment is going to take away the inherent problems. And yes, although the music manufacturing industry would love to sell you more gear and speakers, it really is not going to help.....The question I ask these days is, if you're a musician, don't you want to spend more time doing music? It's hard enough today that a musician is expected to spend so much time on social media.....Why as a musician, do you want to bother recording the music, or mixing, and especially mastering- isn't it more important just to write and perform the music really well?

The second point is that when you are involved in production, sometimes you can spend so much time overmixing, when you should just be doing another take.....

In regards to Standards - It's true, there are no standards today....which makes my job harder. Last fall I presented a paper at AES called "Achieving Great Sound in the Age of the Loudness Wars" and that's the real problem, there is no longer any standards in Audio. It's kind of like, what ever you can get away with, is acceptable. This is one of the factors that has led to the crises in fidelity that we are now experiencing. The reason why my job is harder is that the level is no longer 0vu like when cutting vinyl, rather it's how far can I push this mix...... In discussion at the AES Convention, we felt like the only player who could step in and set standards is iTunes...they are the biggest player, but they're not an audio company and they don't care.

In regards to iTunes, I would add that mp3 tracks are now mastered separately. The mp3 files are not made from masters for the CD. The algorithm for conversion is different enough that best results are attained doing two sets of masters. Of course, that's if you have the budget and really want to get it right. With many of my clients being Indie today, the budget often times does not allow for two sets of masters.

Another point I'd like to make is that indie artists today often do not want to hear criticism. Which may be the real reason why they do it themselves rather than involving other professionals. Even if it costs more to do it themselves. They use the excuse of budget but I never think money is the real reason behind anything. The real benefit of have a label behind you is not that they give you money (especially today) but rather you get a priceless amount of coaching by real professionals to do a better product. It isn't always easy, there are disagreements and growing pains.

Finally Budget is all about the planning. If you know recording an album is going to cost $20,000 and mastering is going to cost $2,000, just raise, save or borrow the money and make the album with the professionals who you feel will do a great job for you. And listen to them! You have to treat it like building a house - sometimes it's fun to have a DIY project but don't put on a cheap roof because your cost estimate for the foundation was low. Making great music is what will pay real dividends, not recording your own album.

As an artist, ask yourself a question before you think about your next album:

Would I rather be giving a better performance on my next album or would I rather be involved in production?

It's very hard to do both and the real dividends are not usually in recording...

A professional environment is everything from the proportions of the room to the expertise of the personel. And yes, although the music manufacturing industry would love to sell you more gear and speakers, it's really not going to help.....So the question I ask is, if you're a musician, don't you want to spend more time doing music? It's hard enough today that a musician is expected to spend so much time on social media.....Why as a musician, do you want to bother recording the music, or mixing, and especially mastering- isn't it more important just to write and perform that music really well?

The second point is that when you are involved in production, sometimes you can spend so much time overmixing, when you should instead, just be doing another take.....

Finally we have to look at human nature. Doing music is like showing you more delicate underbelly! And though an artist wants to make their music real by recording it, often times they do not want to hear any criticism. Which may be the real reason why they do it themselves rather than involving other professionals. Even if it costs more by purchasing all the gear to do it themselves. They use the excuse of budget but I never think money is the real reason behind anything. Budget is all about the planning. If you know recording an album is going to cost $20,000 and mastering is going to cost $2,000, just raise, save or borrow the money and make the album with the professionals who you feel will do a great job for you. And listen to them! You have to treat it like building a house - sometimes it's fun to have a DIY project but don't put on a cheap roof because your cost estimate for the foundation was low.

The real benefit of the record industry and having a label behind you is not that they give you money (especially today) but rather you get a priceless amount of coaching by real professionals to do a better product. It isn't always easy, there are disagreements and growing pains, but making great music is what will pay real dividends, not recording your own album.

Giving Good Audio

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:29:59 -0800

Getting a great sounding mix is getting harder and harder these days! Even though the tools are the same, if not better.

One of the keys to good audio is trusting your eyes less and your ears more. It's really easy today to get caught up in looking at the screen and seeing how things look....like look at that EQ curve....or look at that wave form.....but here's something to think about....the visuals are most often only limited representations as to what you're really hearing. Two masters can both look like sausages on the screen, but one still has dynamics and punch and the other doesn't. Why?

Then take for example, numbers...like THD. Remember that? It's total harmonic distortion and was used by audiofiles to evaluate amps. Turns out the lower THD numbers do not yield a better sounding amp! If you trusted the numbers, you were misled. Same in production....remember what Duke Ellington said: "If it sounds good, it is good!"

Technology and Audio

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:07:37 -0800

Have you heard the term, Creative Destruction? It's really about the two faces of technology - It's an analogy to the Hindu Deity, SHIVA. who creates and destroys - And it's something we're all living with in the music industry!

But consider the two faces of technology:

What a technological advancement offers most attractively, is a more efficient choice. Consider travelling to Chicago. With the technology of your body, you can make it from Princeton to Chicago in about 10 days 13 hours; With the technology of the automobile, 14 hours; And with the technology of the jet plane, under 2 hours.

And

Technology, in its fulfillment of efficiency, will effectively eliminate other choices. For example, with the advent of digital photography, film photography has become much less popular and the once established Eastman Kodak Company is now closing. Our North American Society, without extenuating circumstances, will choose the most efficient means to an end in terms of dollar cost, ease of use, and time investment. And in this way, newer technologies replace older technologies.

Notice I didn't say that technology brings pleasure, peace or fulfillment in life, only efficiency......

Pizza and Plug-ins

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:00:46 -0800

Restaurant pick for tonight: Pizzaria Del Campari - latin quarter, montreal. I had dinner tonight with Alvin and Jon-Paul here in Montreal! We talked about many recording things like

Software:

What's your favorite software synth? Jon-Paul was talking about the features of Absynth

On Plug-Ins

There are some plug-ins that are effective and others that do more harm than good. For mastering plug-ins are of often times of limited use - they either do too much or not enough in terms of punch, warmth or character. Plug-ins are good for touch-up - but when you talk about limiters - it seems like most just wind up making the music sound dead. They suck out dynamics.......

The biggest offender is some of the latest tape emulation plug-ins like Heat - it seems to me like a distortion knob and I would discourage it's use on the mixbus. Sometimes things can sound cool for 2 or 3 listens but if you came back the next day for a fresh listen, you might wonder what you were thinking. :-)

If you have thoughts on your favorite plug-ins,? let me know

Animoog - Are you ready for this?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:02:55 -0800

The Animoog

I feel that the iPad is still in it's infancy when it comes to real music Apps. However this is one impressive piece of machinery - The Animoog App - It's now selling for $29.95. It seems to be everything that Moog is famous for and the interface is quite incredible. You can still buy a full Moog for $3,200 but in the meantime- have some fun! And get some great Analog Syth sounds! For more info, see Moog on the web:

http://www.moogmusic.com/products/apps/animoog

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Is the CD dead?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:08:02 -0800

The Beatles are still on top in 2012...

Although Vinyl sales only account for a small percentage of music sales it is incredible that this is still the most popular selling disc! It seems to be saying something about our music world today. Is the Indie Model really working?

Another interesting thing...physical CD Sales seem to have rebounded - (Depending on who's counting) In any event sales are not in a free fall as they have been in the past. Here's a link for the story:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beatles-abbey-road-is-top-selling-vinyl-album-for-third-year-20120105.

Let me know what you think.

Mix Like A Pro

Here are 8 simple guidelines to ensure you get the best results in mastering:

1. No limiting or mastering plug-ins on your mix buss.
Please don’t try to make your songs louder by Normalizing, adding Compression or using a Limiter. These methods prevent us from giving you the loudest, punchiest master you can imagine. Don’t worry. We’ll make it loud. But we need room to work.

2. Give yourself -3 to -6 db of headroom.
Never go into the red on the Master Fader Meter. Going into the red means it may have already clipped, leading to digital distortion. Keeping your mixes at -3 to -6 db leaves us maximum headroom so we can give you a quality, finished product.

3. Record at the highest bit rate possible.
A 24 bit rate is ideal because it gives more headroom. For example: 44.1k 24 bit, 96k 24 bit, and so on. Regardless, always send us what you’ve recorded at. If you recorded at 16 bit, that’s cool. Send it to us at 16 bit.

4. Don’t add dither.
Dither is the very last step in the mastering process. It’s done after all signal processing is complete. We use high quality converters and you’ll hear the difference when we do it for you.

5. Clean up your tracks.
It’s a gazillion times harder to get rid of a guitar player sighing or a singer clearing his throat after it’s mixed. Solo all the live audio tracks and take a listen to what’s there. You might get a laugh.

6. Relax on the reverb.
Reverb levels, like everything else, are heightened during mastering, so holding back a bit when you mix contributes to a superior final product.

7. Send songs as WAV or AIFF files, not MP3s.
Just compare the file sizes between the different formats and you’ll see that MP3s contain about one-tenth of the data in a WAV or AIFF file.

8. Never mix and master at the same place.
It really helps your CD to get a fresh approach in mastering. Mixing and Mastering Engineers are two different breeds.