Mastering Challenge - The winner is!!!!!

poopot

Votes are in... even counted them...

Drum Roll please.....

The winner of the "golden ears" is @octatonic with 21 points... Congratulations!!!!!



winning submission below.

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/3mins-mastered_octatonic?in=thefretboard/sets/mastering-challenge-no1-3mins


2nd place to that very handsome @poopot with 15 points 
3rd place to the even more handsome @Fretwired ; with 10 points 
and honourable 4th to the downright gorgeous @flying_pie with 8 points


Good work chaps...

octatonic

Thanks for running this @poopot ;

I didn’t do much to the original other than run it through my hardware SSL Fusion bus processor, and a bit of compression from the Crane Song STC8.

I then put it through a Shadow Hills mastering compressor, set to add 1-2db of compression at the most.

The final processor was Elevate, a multiband compressor from New Fangled audio which sounds excellent.

Branshen

octatonic said:

Thanks for running this @poopot ;

I didn’t do much to the original other than run it through my hardware SSL Fusion bus processor, and a bit of compression from the Crane Song STC8.

I then put it through a Shadow Hills mastering compressor, set to add 1-2db of compression at the most.

The final processor was Elevate, a multiband compressor from New Fangled audio which sounds excellent.

Congrats @octatonic. what did strive to achieve with the multiband comp, and how did u do this?

poopot

Branshen said:

octatonic said:

Thanks for running this @poopot ;

I didn’t do much to the original other than run it through my hardware SSL Fusion bus processor, and a bit of compression from the Crane Song STC8.

I then put it through a Shadow Hills mastering compressor, set to add 1-2db of compression at the most.

The final processor was Elevate, a multiband compressor from New Fangled audio which sounds excellent.

Congrats @octatonic. what did strive to achieve with the multiband comp, and how did u do this?

Chaps... just to say... number 2 is a go...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/151433/mastering-challenge-no-2-bit-of-house-for-you#latest

octatonic

Thanks.

IIRC I used 6 bands.
I tend to be snare heavy so I use some transient emphasis on 200hz region and 1.5k region to get the 'thwack' right.
I target -0.3db and don't exceed that, otherwise it is just trusting my room/monitors and dealing it in until it feels good.
The Multiband didn't do a lot because I had two hardware compressors in series after the SSL Fusion, which gave most of the track's tonality.

I forgot to mention effects.
I also added some reverb, which was UAD Lexicon 224, but I filtered the aux send so that only information above 100hz was sent, so the mix didn't get too wooly.

I also automated a delay to come in at the end of the track so it kicked in on the last second to give a more dynamic ending.

And there were a couple of points where I automated overall level between sections so it got a bit louder as the song went- this went on the master bus, post all processing.

Branshen

octatonic said:

Thanks.

IIRC I used 6 bands.
I tend to be snare heavy so I use some transient emphasis on 200hz region and 1.5k region to get the 'thwack' right.
I target -0.3db and don't exceed that, otherwise it is just trusting my room/monitors and dealing it in until it feels good.
The Multiband didn't do a lot because I had two hardware compressors in series after the SSL Fusion, which gave most of the track's tonality.

I forgot to mention effects.
I also added some reverb, which was UAD Lexicon 224, but I filtered the aux send so that only information above 100hz was sent, so the mix didn't get too wooly.

I also automated a delay to come in at the end of the track so it kicked in on the last second to give a more dynamic ending.

And there were a couple of points where I automated overall level between sections so it got a bit louder as the song went- this went on the master bus, post all processing.

Very clever. Would you say that using multiple compressors to achieve a your desired dynamics sounds more natural than using a single more aggressive compressor? And if so, how would you set them up? does the first compressor squash more than the second? or the reverse? or do they do an equal amount of lifting (or squashing)?

Branshen

poopot said:

Branshen said:

octatonic said:

Thanks for running this @poopot ;

I didn’t do much to the original other than run it through my hardware SSL Fusion bus processor, and a bit of compression from the Crane Song STC8.

I then put it through a Shadow Hills mastering compressor, set to add 1-2db of compression at the most.

The final processor was Elevate, a multiband compressor from New Fangled audio which sounds excellent.

Congrats @octatonic. what did strive to achieve with the multiband comp, and how did u do this?

Chaps... just to say... number 2 is a go...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/151433/mastering-challenge-no-2-bit-of-house-for-you#latest

Cheers @poopot. Will get on that when I've got a bit of time.

octatonic

Branshen said:

octatonic said:

Thanks.

IIRC I used 6 bands.
I tend to be snare heavy so I use some transient emphasis on 200hz region and 1.5k region to get the 'thwack' right.
I target -0.3db and don't exceed that, otherwise it is just trusting my room/monitors and dealing it in until it feels good.
The Multiband didn't do a lot because I had two hardware compressors in series after the SSL Fusion, which gave most of the track's tonality.

I forgot to mention effects.
I also added some reverb, which was UAD Lexicon 224, but I filtered the aux send so that only information above 100hz was sent, so the mix didn't get too wooly.

I also automated a delay to come in at the end of the track so it kicked in on the last second to give a more dynamic ending.

And there were a couple of points where I automated overall level between sections so it got a bit louder as the song went- this went on the master bus, post all processing.

Very clever. Would you say that using multiple compressors to achieve a your desired dynamics sounds more natural than using a single more aggressive compressor? And if so, how would you set them up? does the first compressor squash more than the second? or the reverse? or do they do an equal amount of lifting (or squashing)?

Serial compression started by chaining an 1176 and LA2a to get a very upfront 'pro and polished' vocal sound.

The technique has been expanded quite a lot now.
The idea is that by using two high quality compressors you get a more natural sound than using one compressor and hitting it harder with a higher ratio.
I also use compressors as broadband EQ's- they have their own sound, the SHMC in particular is quite coloured. 

The stereo compressors I favour for mix but duties are the SSL G Bus, Crane Song STC8, API 2500 and the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.
On this mix I used the STC8 and the SHMC.
The STC8 was first with a higher ratio (I generally always use the higher ratio first, something like 4:1 or 6:1, rarely 10:1) but it is a very transparent compressor, perhaps the most transparent ever built so I can go hard with it and you just can't hear it working.
I almost also always run the STC8 in 'Ki' mode which adds warmth and colour, particularly to the lower mids, rather than 'Hara' mode which is more transparent.

The SHMC was set close to flat- 2:1, 4:1, low threshold, you are just touching it.

As with everything like this, it is how it sound that matters, I could try to replicate this with another track and it might not work, so I'd look at the API or SSL compressors instead.
I pretty much always use the STC8 though, killer compressor- there is a reason no one has been able to model it in software.

Branshen

Thanks for the detailed write-up @octatonic. I'll try some of those settings with the tools that I have. 

octatonic

No worries.