Advice on Bandcamp
- Thread starter glitch hiker
- Start date
How do those automatic services work? Can they really be reliable?
mojo pixy
שיר חדש
I haven't used the soundcloud app, but Landr does a reasonable job imo, even the free version. You can't tweak the free version, but I think if you subscribe you can customise various elements of the final master. There's not a lot to lose by trying them both I guess, compare what they put out, to what you already have, and judge with your own ears.
danski
"vibey"
I’m not too sure as I’ve never mastered and only make dance stuff. Using small and gentle/broad adjustments is universal though.
Thanks, but it's probably a skill I ought to learn, even with the limited tools I have. So I'll do the best I can and hope people are interested in the results.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
There is for sure an art to it. . . but there are some simple(ish) rules to go by.
Annoyingly the easy jobs are high end, and the difficult ones are with problem recordings on the very low end.
I use various T-Racks applications and digital monitoring plugged into Logic Pro.
If I had to offer a very simple mastering solution for basic pop/rock . . . . . Pick another song by a professional artist that is similar in style and tone to your own. Flop your song on a timeline, add a 'match EQ' plugin. Drop in your reference song WAV. Add a generic soft mastering setting on a limiter raise the volume so it is working roughly between -6 and 0 then put a clipper on top set to brick wall at 0 but dial it back with smooth analogue style clipping.
Obviously there are loads of variables and everything depends on what music you are mastering. The other important point would be to match all the recordings that are on the same LP or comp, as they will be all working together as an album. Even when someone is compiling 'now that's what I call music 2' it's all re-mastered to some extent.
Annoyingly the easy jobs are high end, and the difficult ones are with problem recordings on the very low end.
I use various T-Racks applications and digital monitoring plugged into Logic Pro.
If I had to offer a very simple mastering solution for basic pop/rock . . . . . Pick another song by a professional artist that is similar in style and tone to your own. Flop your song on a timeline, add a 'match EQ' plugin. Drop in your reference song WAV. Add a generic soft mastering setting on a limiter raise the volume so it is working roughly between -6 and 0 then put a clipper on top set to brick wall at 0 but dial it back with smooth analogue style clipping.
Obviously there are loads of variables and everything depends on what music you are mastering. The other important point would be to match all the recordings that are on the same LP or comp, as they will be all working together as an album. Even when someone is compiling 'now that's what I call music 2' it's all re-mastered to some extent.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
I don't think you will get anyone buying it just from you putting it up. People still have to be pointed towards it somehow ie by you doing some social media and whatnot.
My first album is on Bandcamp and I've sold a tiny number of downloads despite clearing out all my CDs fairly quickly (this was some years ago). (This may be because I took Bandcamp's advice and let people listen to the whole tracks rather than just a teaser so they can just listen to it online if they want to.) I can usually get some idea of where the purchaser has come from and it's really never "general Bandcamp surfer" but someone who has come across my music elsewhere.
I've been debating what to do about album #2 as surely nobody buys CDs any more. Last time those paid for the mixing and mastering costs. I'd quite like to try and get a label involved and hopefully have an actual budget to do something decent.
I think CDs are actually getting a bit more popular again - it's a year wait to get vinyl pressed and tapes aren't for everyone. How many copies did you make of your last one?
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Couple of hundred I think. Quite a few went out as promos. Friends bought some probably consciously to support me, not many went to total strangers but a surprising number of people I vaguely knew bought one because they'd heard it was good, read me posting the reviews on Facebook etc.
What I should have done is do a reprint and play lots of solo gigs to shift them but I don't like playing solo and I'd broken even after the launch gig so I decided not to. This was stupid but whatevs. I don't suppose you could do that with a label.
I don’t understand mastering, unless if it’s sort of like video where there’s levels where visuals have to sit to be deemed acceptable for broadcast.
Sort of the same thing?
Consistency?
Normalise levels within the range of certain decibels across the frequency range?
Anyway.
What’s decent on there? Any suggestions?
Sort of the same thing?
Consistency?
Normalise levels within the range of certain decibels across the frequency range?
Anyway.
What’s decent on there? Any suggestions?
Raheem
Well-Known Member
If you're making your own music (I have recently been doing this, but you can probably live the rest of your without hearing it) you do need to master it, as in add eq and dynamics after it is finished. It makes a massive difference. You've obviously never heard my unmastered recordings, but believe me it would convince you.
You’re putting effects on the master bus. To gel it all together. Yeah?
Raheem
Well-Known Member
I understand some of the words in that.
If you record something with live elements (voice, guitar, drums etc), your final mix is almost always going to be very significantly improved by messing about boosting and reducing different frequencies.
With commercially released music, the difference between great and poor mastering might be generally for the anally retentive, because everything has been mastered by someone who at least sort of knows what they are doing. But it's not the same for music you have recorded yourself.
What I mean is this.
If you want to put distortion on a guitar you can do it either through an effect (pedal?) whilst recording it or on the guitar track when mixing.
Mastering is applying techniques to all tracks on all songs at the end across the board (the master bus) to gel the sound and keep it all ‘similar’ so it doesn’t sound all over the place for release.
This is still a question but I think I’m on the right track (pun not intended).
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
No that is not it.
Mastering is (usually) only eq and dynamic effects such as compression, limiting and clipping.
If cleaning up old recordings it might involve something a bit more technical.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I am not sure. They said to 'gel and keep the sounds similar', which is not the job of the master, that's the mixdown (except in more extreme examples).
Though maybe they meant keeping the sound consistent for all the songs on one combined release? Which is also what mastering is for (most people don't even realise this is done again for compilation releases to get them all in check).
. . but yeah send me that phone track and I'll fix it up good for you.
Yeah I meant consistent. And obvs dynamics rather than distortion or reverb lol
Anyway, mastering. Yeah, getting an over all balance of the final mix. Taming any frequency mismatches. Getting a solid sounding finished piece with tools like multiband compression, linier phase EQs, limiters. Mastering engineers traditionly have access to very high end accurate monitors, osyloscopes, hardware multiband compressors, other esoteric shit...
There's also mastering for vinyl, which is a special case. As levels have to be gotten right, so it actually plays properly, without the needle jumping all over the place AFAIK.
Testing on my own stuff, you can definitely hear the difference between a pre master mix and a mastered one. Even just using presets. I'm still learning... Sort of punchier, deeper but clearer. Which I know sounds a bit subjective and wanky but there it is.
There's also mastering for vinyl, which is a special case. As levels have to be gotten right, so it actually plays properly, without the needle jumping all over the place AFAIK.
Testing on my own stuff, you can definitely hear the difference between a pre master mix and a mastered one. Even just using presets. I'm still learning... Sort of punchier, deeper but clearer. Which I know sounds a bit subjective and wanky but there it is.
Supine
Newt Member
Correct, you don’t need to supply stems. Mastering is done on the track as a whole. You’re normally asked to supply the track at a certain -db (i.e. not max volume!) so that the mastering has some headroom to adjust the track.
CDs- I think you'd be surprised. I still buy them regularly for the car. Having said that, not many (if any) of my friends still do. Re. Bandcamp- if there isn't much a difference in pricing (say a couple of quid) between the download and the cd (which includes the download anyway), I don't mind paying that little bit extra for both.
cuppa tee
Well-Known Member
Hi, hope it’s ok to come in on this thread as the topic of mastering has caused me headaches of late. I am in an internet group for music creators who put together community ‘albums’ via bandcamp . The guy who runs it claims to master the album, but asks all the participants to master their individual tracks. Using outdated pre streaming rules I would previously master to 0dB. however now we are advised to aim for -14lufs. My issue is that my contributions always come up quieter than others. I am using reaper and ‘mastering‘ in audacity, and the result is always the same despite using limiters compressors and eq tools, they sound ok in isolation but not in the album, can someone clue me up where I may be going wrong.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
It really is impossible to say without seeing and hearing what you have done compared to what everyone else has done.
cuppa tee
Well-Known Member
thank you. I will maybe post a bandcamp link. I am wondering if the old behringer usb audio interface maybe at the root of the matter...but wouldn’t that impair fidelity rather than volume.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I have no idea about the tools and metering you or the other people involved are using so can't really say.
Why would the usb interface affect anything in the mastering process? Are you running stuff though outboard gear? Are you metering outside of the computer?
Yeah it won't be the interface. I assume you're comparing the others tracks and yours on the same system. If you can grab a download of one of the others, have you annalised it to see what it's coming in at lufs wise. You probably use this already but the Loudness tool in Reapers extension menu is very handy for this.
When mixing / mastering try using a track in the same genre that you like the sound of for reference. If you want to do that in reaper you'd need it on a separate track that isn't effected by anything on the master bus obviously. One way to do that.
Stick all your own tracks in a folder. Use that as your master, stick compression whatever you're gonna use on it's cover.
and have your reference track outside it with no fX on the actual master bus.
