Mastering

[Gnasty]

Ok so i have 4 tracks that I already bounced to tracks 3 and 4. They are my backing rhythms. Now i want to master tracks 1 and 2 with the rythm. I`m mastering and ive tried both ways to master. What is the best way 12v1 or 34v2 or other?

Another question is why does it not sound exactly the same when i master it and put it to mp3? It sounds more bassy and compressed when i turned the compression off.

[Oldrottenhead]

you speak in tongues

[Gnasty]

Haha...which part did you not understand?

[launched]

Hey, bud! When mastering, you need to pan the bounced tracks L50 R50 with 100% volume, or it will sound funny. The "bassy" sound is usally the result of not panning your bounced tracks. You also need to pan before bouncing (Which I'm pretty sure you have done if it sounds ok before you bounced)

BTW, I'll trade your musical expertise for my weak knowledge of recording equipment any day! 

Mark

[Gnasty]

Thanks for compliment launched. I wish i had your producing knowledge. This will be my first production ever.

I should of told you more straight forward though. I already bounced 2 tracks from 1 and 2, to 3 and 4, and yes i did pan and they sounded great. Then I recorded 2 more lead tracks on 1 and 2 since i opened them up. Now i am mastering all of them together with the drums. It sure sounds different when i export to Mp3.

I am just wondering if i`m doing something that can be easily fixed. Thought it might be the track selection in mastering mode.

[SteveB]

GTY - Hello there. I'm not too sure which recording machine you have, and not withstanding the good advice you've been given already in this thread, but are we to understand that you have 4 tracks that you are trying to Master?

To 'Master' (to even-out/sweeten the mix etc), in probably our lowly terms here, you need to have 'bounced down' all your recorded tracks to a stereo pair, and then engage your 'Mastering' section from your recording machine. If you have 4 tracks still, I doubt whether you'll be able to use your 'Mastering' function.

[Oldrottenhead]

steveb with the microbr you can still master the four tracks.

gnasty i still dont understand what you are trying to do. i presume you have a micro br.

im not sure if i understand what you are asking............if you have recorded to tracks 1 and 2 why are you wanting to bounce it you still have tracks 3 and 4 to use.
or have you already used tracks 123and 4 and want to bounce that somewhere or master it.

if i have four tracks done eg 123and4 on the v1 tracks i bounce them to tracks 1 and 2 v2 then add on tracks 3 an4 v2 and so on. when i am bouncing i turn off the drums as they will be recorded at this point. i prefer to record drums at final master.

if you have recorded the drums a mistake people often make is to forget to turn the drums off. this gives you two instances of drums playing and can really affect sound quality. also when tracks are bounced like launched sez pan the tracks full left and right, and make sure you turn off the reverb on those tracks. keep on bouncing till you get what you want on, but be careful at each bounce that you are happy with the mix.
then when youare ready to master go into master mode and again set levels and panning for the four tracks you are going to use , if you hit the effects button it will show you which mastering preset you are using try different settings for different sounds as the mastering settings can change the sound dramatically you can always turn them off and have it as is

[Gnasty]

Thanks for your patience and help ORH and launched. Yes i have the Mbr. After spending hours, i am starting to figure out this damn silver box. I just had trouble with the effects thing and what destination is best to direct my tracks to.Still unsure of some things. The manual is good for learning the buttons but overall does n`t tell you the precise recording process. Like i said i already bounced my tracks and no didnt bounce with the drums

I`m thinking that since it`s 4 guitars, 1 bass, and drums i need to do alot of tweaking. What might sound okay to others, may not sound good to me. I`m gonna screw with it some more and post and tell me what you guys think. Still a bit bassy to me.

I have to say thank you to you guys again though. I appreciate your help and think everybody is great here in every post question.

Eric

[Oldrottenhead]

another way to do it is to use the br wavconvertor software to export your tracks as wav files to your pc, you can then import the individual tracks into a daw programe like cubase, sonar or audacity. that way you can mix all the tracks in one go.

[Gnasty]

I don`t have any of those programs. And it`ll be just another thing for me to learn how to do. I`m growing impatient!!!.. lol
No, i know about that too. I might get the cubase. Any free ones out there that are good? Any links?