Bring your audio up to professional spec before you burn that CD
by Rich the Tweak
My list of issues: | Issues Novices Typically Face |
Excessive bass at times, some inconsistency Not as smooth as commercial Mixes, especially in the mid range Not as punchy as commercial music Inconsistent imaging between different songs and sometimes in the same song Doesn't sound as good in the car as it does on studio monitors Vocals not as clear or sweet Mid range is harsher, more grainy Image is neither as wide or as 3 dimensional as some commercial mixes | Not as loud as commercial tracks even though it was compressed Track is noisy, harsh, hurts ears at high volumes Weak Bass, weak kick, disappearing kick, or it's too boomy and it drowns the rest out. Drums can't drive the track unless they are too loud One dimensional, flat sound, even though instruments were panned Everything runs together into a mushy, indistinct, sound Unintelligible, buried vocals Sounds 'way different' on the car, boomy bass, no presence, muffled Balance between channels if off and it changes throughout the song |
What is a plugin? A plugin is a small computer program which fits into the virtual mixer in your sequencer. Plugins typically model themselves after hardware rack units used in professional studios. For example there are plugins for effects boxes, such as reverbs and delays, effects pedals, like guitar distortion, flange and chorus, and for mixing and mastering processors such as compressors, limiters, exciters, sub bass enhancers, stereo imagers and many more. In the virtual studio of the sequencer, the plugin effectively replaces these hardware boxes with their software equivalents. |
All About Plugins
Important Tip: If you feel like you have no idea where to put all these plugins, use the above be your guide. Now think. Do you want the effect to affect only the one track? Then use the plugin as an insert. Do you want many tracks to go through the same effect? Then create a bus-based plugin. Generally, we leave mastering plugins alone till after we finish the stereo mix, but these can come in handy on groups of tracks. They are also good for one-offs to cd and mp3 while the work is in progress. |
Plugin Bundles
Antares
Auto-Tune Vocal Studio Native and Auto-Tune Vocal Studio TDM combine Auto-Tune Evo, the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction, with AVOX Evo, the latest generation of the Antares Vocal Toolkit (now including Harmony Engine Evo). Together, they provide a comprehensive suite of tools for producing world-class vocal tracks.
Universal Audio
Universal Audio UAD2 Solo Flexi DSP Card (Macintosh and Windows) Tweak: I believe the UAD plugins are the best a home studio enthusiast should go for. I advise to carefully consider which bundle to go for. note that there are many combinations that at first are quite confusing. Fiirst is a matter of how many processors are on the card--one, two, or four. The more processors, the more plugins you can run. Then there is a matter of which plugins come with each bundle. The 'Flexi' bundle gives you the basic ' mix essentials' and a voucher to buy the ones you want. Other bundles, like the 'Nevana' are designed to emulate a classic Never console. How much power do you need? Well, for me the solo card is just fine as it is 2.5 times the power of my previous UAD-1 card. I also use a lot of Logic plugins. But if you have big mixes and want to use UAD exclusively on every track you are going to need more than the solo. Be careful to buy the right UAD pak for your computer. For example, the Mac Pro has to use a set with a PCIe card; most PCs can use a PCI card. | Hardware Supported PluginsHardware supported plugins require the hardware be present to run. They also take strain off the CPU by doing the processing in hardware, hence there is less of a drain on the computer for processing audio in real time. Also the hardware prevents piracy, so the developer is able to get a return for their efforts. The UAD bundles only get you started. Once you get a card and the basic plugins installed you'll open an account at UA where you can buy more plugins ala carte or can take advantage of their special offers which change every month or so. Its a great idea to go there ahead of time to see how much the plugins you think you want will cost to get a full idea of what you are getting in to. Some of my favorite UAD plugins: Pultec Fairchild Precision Limiter Precision EQ |
Waves Musicians II Native Plug-In Bundle (Macintosh and Windows) Waves Native Silver Bundle (Windows and Macintosh) Waves Native Gold Bundle (Windows and Macintosh) Waves Masters Bundle Native Version (Windows and Macintosh) Waves Native Platinum Bundle (Macintosh and Windows) Waves Native JJP Software Plugin Bundle Waves Native API Collection Plugin Bundle (Macintosh and Windows) Waves SSL 4000 Collection Native Waves Tune Native Pitch Correction Software (Macintosh and Windows) | Like the UAD, Waves has its bundles all at different price points. But with Waves, the larger bundles include the smaller bundles. For example, the Mercury bundle includes the Platinum bundle, which includes the Masters, Gold and Silver Bundles. With Waves, as with UAD, you can buy more 'add on' bundles or upgrades at their online store. A good way to start a Waves collection is with the Silver or Gold bundle. Upgrade to Platinum later if you like them. More recently Waves has added some specialty plugins like the JJP bundle or the pitch correction plugin. As with UA's stuff, you want to research before you buy. Make sure you read the terms of the Waves Update Plan on their site. Waves plugins require authorization via iLok, which allows you to use your plugins on a different computer. This may be advantageous over the UAD card based system, which is harder to move. Some of my favorite Waves Plugins: Linear Phase multiband Renaissance Channel and L3 Ultrmaximizer Wave's PuidChild 670 (aka Fairchild) |
Waves
Free Plugins | |
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iZotope's Ozone Mastering System
IK Multimedia
IK Multimedia Classik Studio Reverb and T-RackS Bundle |
IK Multimedia's knows that nothing matters most than the final mix. The Classik Studio Reverb and T-RackS plug-ins are world-renowed effects that can help you meet the toughest mixes in the face and wallop them. Bundling them together both complements your studio and your budget. Get your bundle today! |
Cleansers
Convolution Reverbs
More cool stuff
Spectron is the newest must-have tool for sound designers. It offers limitless spectral processing housed inside a powerful interface which lets the user control entire groups of frequency bands with virtually limitless options for sweeping and triggering. By chaining effects including morphing, panning, delay, and filtering. It's almost impossible not to find a unique sound with Spectron.
Best of Luck in your studio enterprise,
Rich the Tweak
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Cool Quote: Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth. Diderot (1713 - 1784) |
Identifying Sources of Radio Frequency Interference Around the Home
Computer networks
The above figure shows the interference from the network switchin the VHF region. In this example, the antenna was positioned in closeproximity to the switch. The amplitude of these spikes is actually fairly small, and a switch or hub by itself produces only a small amount of interference. However, unless shielded patch cables and wiring are used, the network cables act as an antenna and can broadcast this interference over a wide area,easily reaching 25-50 feet from the source.
VCRs and DVD Players
Uninterruptible Power Supplies
APC Back-Ups RS-1500 in HF region (click to enlarge)
Izotope Rx 2 Free Download
Telephones
The image at left shows the deflections when three digits were dialed, and the image at right shows the phone signal measured from an outsideantenna about fifty feet away. Note that the phone's frequency continues to drift during the measurements. On a radio, it sounds like an unmodulated carrier that drifts by a couple hundred Hz the first twenty minutes after the phone is plugged in.
Fluorescent Lamps
Incandescent lamps
Treadmills
Even though the closest point of the antenna in these measurements was outdoorsand over 30 feet from the treadmill, noise was increased by up to 20 dB above background across a broad region from the AM band through the HF. It's impossible to pick up any AM broadcast stations within 15 feet of this treadmill when it is running. It's possible that the treadmill would interfere with DSL traffic as well.
The treadmill even radiates in the VHF region. This interference is not coming from the control panel or the heart monitor, but from the drive motor.This is apparent when listening to the noise with a radio: a low-pitched hum can be heard that changes when the treadmill is stepped on.The figure above shows the spectrum in the VHF just above the airband used bycommercial aviation. The narrow spikes in this figure are from the local computer networking equipment, and are about the same size as a typical aircraftsignal. I don't want to single out Precor; most likely, other treadmills have the same problem. But one can't help asking, where was the FCC when these machines were being tested?
A higher resolution FFT shows that the interference consists of a large numberof evenly-spaced, high amplitude spikes, indicating that it is the power supply, not the motor itself, that is producing the interference. It has always been a difficult challenge for engineers to design an efficient and lightweight variable-speed power supply. Unfortunately, manufacturers have chosen to use pulse-width modulation (or 'chopped DC power'), similar to what is done with AC in cheap light dimmers. However, because of the higher power, the interference produced by treadmills is much worse than even the worst light dimmer.