4.6.07

AA Week 12 - Mastering

For this song I used a variety of plugins to maximise the waveform. I fed the signal through an insert on the master fader. I used an aural exciter to create low end pulsing. The kick drum needed more substance so I applied the plugin at maximum to gauge the effect. I soon became aware of a psychoachoustic phenomenon that I had read about in Stav's book Mixing with you Mind and from the readings, referring to gravity and its effects on music. I found that at a certain point whilst adding the sub effect, I noticed the rhythm of the kick seem to lag. I attributed this to the subs being too loud creating this "heaviness" effect which seemed to drag the tempo. I eventually found a sweet spot where the effect really worked with the rhythm or "bounce" of the song.

I then implemented another insert containing Antares Tube which is available for a free demo trial at this link:

http://www.antarestech.com/download/demoform.shtml

I found that applied discretely the effect really warmed up the sound of the piece, made it feel more "up the front" in the sound field. I then used multi-band compression and applied maximising techniques using limiting and dithering for the final master.

I think this week, I have brought a new lease on life to our dear friend Johnny C.

Mastered Final Version of Water Drop 0'34, 1411kbps, Wave, Download[5.84Mb]