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From dark_virus on 23.01.2006, 15:04:

  Psycle Mastering

Hi, folks!

Well, I'm very happy with Psycle, and I can do a lot of thinks in it.

But, I'm at the point that I need to mix my songs. In fact I'm doing it already in Psycle itself, but there's too many machines around, and I have some difficulties in 'visualize' each one. And my computer doesn't handle too much machines at the same time.

So, I'm planning to export my tracks to individual wave files or even in groups tracks. So, I can "master" it in another prog.

QUESTION: is it "right"? Is it possible to load the individual wave tracks in Psycle itself? Is there a limit in MBytes for loading files? And, what about the stability?

Or is it best to load the tracks in an apropriate prog like Audacity (altough I don't like the prog)?

If you have some tips...
Thanx!!

PS. I really don't like pirate software, so I'm using only free stuff, at the moment.


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From MfM on 23.01.2006, 18:01:

 

I do my mastering on soundforge,I export the final wave file on it and work with DX (compressor,EQ,maximizer...)usually PSP or waves stuff that are amazing for a good result!
I personally think that mastering in psycle importing wave files is not so advantageous...the better solution is to work with a program like soundforge or wavelab or free ones ...audacity !!


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From TranceMyriad on 23.01.2006, 23:19:

 

yeah, Psycle's not really the best program to master your tunes in. The way to go is to do a proper mixdown in Psycle, then export it as a wave, then master it in an external wave editor (I use Audacity and sometime Tracktion (got it when they were giving the old version away for free)).

EDIT: Another editor you might like to try is Kristal (free from www.kreatives.org/kristal).


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From dark_virus on 24.01.2006, 13:53:

 

Thanks, dudes!!

The anwsers was just like I tought. Psycle isn't the best way to master audio tracks.

But... It's difficult to me to do an entire song in Psycle. I'm talking about the amount of machines. My main goal would be to export audio tracks in groups, so I can use another audio multitrack mastering suite like Audacity. But, I can't get used to the program, due to its non-real time edit. Altough Psycle VST support ins't perfect, its results are far more "logical" than the Audacity VST (poor) support.

And, what about effects like reverb, delay, echo, flanger, etc ? Do you apply these at the mixing stage (Psycle) or at the mastering? And do U export the individual audio tracks with the effects already applied?


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From MfM on 24.01.2006, 22:07:

 

well as I already said I work with psycle for mixing and soundforge for mastering.I never tryied to export individual waves and working on sequencer,could be interesting yes but is not my style....anyway i think you should insert the effect like reverb and delay directly in psycle,the other ones like flanger or chorus could be inserted after but is more or less the same thing imho!


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From TranceMyriad on 25.01.2006, 00:08:

 

Mastering is the process of just touching up your mixdown, e.g add final compression, and EQing it to bring it up to a professional standard.

Mixing is where you add your effects etc to your tune - the term applies better to recorded stuff. In terms of electronic music, you create a mixdown in your program of choice with all the relevant effects, EQing etc, and THEN export it to do your mastering.


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From minifrog on 25.01.2006, 03:05:

 

Kristal? Any good for that?


From dark_virus on 25.01.2006, 12:19:

 

quote:
Original by MfM
well as I already said I work with psycle for mixing and soundforge for mastering.I never tryied to export individual waves and working on sequencer,could be interesting yes but is not my style....anyway i think you should insert the effect like reverb and delay directly in psycle,the other ones like flanger or chorus could be inserted after but is more or less the same thing imho!


Good tip!!

quote:
Original by TranceMyriad
Mastering is the process of just touching up your mixdown, e.g add final compression, and EQing it to bring it up to a professional standard.

Mixing is where you add your effects etc to your tune - the term applies better to recorded stuff. In terms of electronic music, you create a mixdown in your program of choice with all the relevant effects, EQing etc, and THEN export it to do your mastering.


Thanks for the explanation. In truth, I know these definitions, already. I used the term "mastering" due to the lack of a better term.

Summing up: I make my song in Psycle, an all the mixing, levels, effects. Then, I export the ENTIRE song, in order to "master" it on an audio editor. This is the "common" way.



But... what about export group tracks (say drums, basses, etc.)? I think exporting the entire file is too edit-limiting...

What do U think?


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From [JAZ] on 25.01.2006, 23:34:

 

Exporting is configurable. If you click on Save Wav, you have three checkboxes that let you select if you want a single output, an output for each wire to Master, or an output for each pattern track.

I'm sure this should be enough for your needs.


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From dark_virus on 26.01.2006, 13:43:

 

quote:
Original by [JAZ]
Exporting is configurable. If you click on Save Wav, you have three checkboxes that let you select if you want a single output, an output for each wire to Master, or an output for each pattern track.

I'm sure this should be enough for your needs.


Sorry, but it wasn't my question. I know the checkboxes, and I know it's buggy (since when I export single tracks or single paterns the prog refuses to play in loop mode; need to restart Psycle )

My question relies on the procedure itself. I'd like to know how the Psycle Gurus made their mixdowns. The tech aspects isn't too difficult to me (Yes! I read manuals! )

Thanks anyway!


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From [JAZ] on 26.01.2006, 18:39:

 

quote:
Original by The_Brainwashed
Sorry, but it wasn't my question. I know the checkboxes, and I know it's buggy (since when I export single tracks or single paterns the prog refuses to play in loop mode; need to restart Psycle )



I'll take a look at that, It should reset the mode to where it was.

Anyway, you can reenable it from the "Configuration" menu, the option "Loop Playback"


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From Taika-Kim on 27.01.2006, 23:14:

 

When I had a slower machine, I used to make tracks with little FX, and then post-process them in a multi track studio software (Cubase... IMO it sucks, but I had nothing else at that time)

These days I make the tunes ready in Psycle, and just adjust the volume & maybe master compression a tiny bit in Wavelab.

I know that saving the multitracks & then carefully post processing would have good results, but I'm not used to any modern multi track software so I'm too lazy to do that...

The thing about many multitrack softwares is, that for example compressors & other FX like that can work with a bit of delay so they perform much better because they know beforehand what kind of signal is coming in next...

But if you have a slow machine, I'd say that reverbs for example would be a good idea to add afterwards, because they take up a lot of CPU powwah. Or then just set them on bypass like I do when I need to cut down the CPU usage.


From dark_virus on 14.02.2006, 18:56:

 

quote:
Original by Taika-Kim
The thing about many multitrack softwares is, that for example compressors & other FX like that can work with a bit of delay so they perform much better because they know beforehand what kind of signal is coming in next...

But if you have a slow machine, I'd say that reverbs for example would be a good idea to add afterwards, because they take up a lot of CPU powwah. Or then just set them on bypass like I do when I need to cut down the CPU usage.


Yeah, the "bouce audio tracks" technique. I use to do it, since I found it's less CPU-demanding to bounce the effected audio (reverbs, delays, etc.) and then load it in the project. But it increases the project size in a sad way...

My last try was to apply reverb externaly (on audio editor), but without the dry signal. So, I load the "wet reverb" alone as audio file, so I have total control on the effect level file. This is good, because I can apply a better reverb effect (since I couldn't found any good VST reverb plugins *) and it reduces the CPU usage dramatically.


QUESTION:

mixing -> since I use most .wav samples, I have certain rules, I'd like to discuss with you.

When I'm mixing, I load the wav samples and do all the volume levels/panning in the "edit" box. I don't use the panning control in the machines itself. So, I put the kikdrum level always at 100%, and do all other levels based on the kick drum.

exemple: the kick at 100%, the snare at 70%, the bass at 80% etc. You see, all my levels are less than the kick drum. And I don't touch the wire levels, like said in another thread.

What do you thing of this procedure? Is it "right"? Is there a better way?


* about the reverbs: yes, I have tons of reverb plugins (freeverb, studioverb, SIR, etc.) and really didn't like it. Plugs like Hispasonic Freeverb has nice GUI, but I'm unable to control it to achieve my desired results. So, I use Cool Edit reverb, since I like it a lot! And, my computer is too old (Celeron 533) to handle real time FX.

Cheers.


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From TranceMyriad on 14.02.2006, 23:33:

 

I guess it depends if you're going to use a particular sample in more than one machine or not. Since I usually have one sampler machine per sample (so I can apply differing effects to them), i do sometime tweak the panning in the instruments dialog.

In terms of not touching the wire volumes, that was meant in terms of making volume changes during your song i.e. the idea behind this is that the wire volumes are the 'default' values for volume that you want, and if you want to change it during your song (e.g. fades etc) you do that with a gainer plugin.


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From dark_virus on 15.02.2006, 13:16:

 

TranceMyriad -> I didn't understand your first paragraph properly. But, I tend to use a sampler per sample too, since they're low CPU usage. And an individual gainer for volume levels.

But wait... I'm doing most of my volume levels at the intruments dialog! So is it redundant?

Besides, for panning, I don't use the pan control present in the machines. I preffer to do all the panning at the instruments dialog too. In truth, I think these sliders are very useless, since we can't see the pan position without move the slider. It will be interesting if we could view the pan position passing the mouse over the machine.

But, my main doubt is: Should I have to get stuck on the 100% kik drum level? In techno music, the kik drum is the driving force, and I like my kiks to be predominant in the mix. So, if my kiks are 100% in volume, all other instruments are less than 100% in level. But I'm not sure if this is a good practice, or if I can put the levels beyond 100%...

My english is very crappy. I'm not sure I could explain properly...


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From Taika-Kim on 15.02.2006, 14:06:

 

Yes, with techno music it's a good idea to have the kick at the highest volume since it's (due to the relative threshold of human hearing) the loudest instrument if an equal sounding mix is required.

I thoroughly recommend this book to everybody interested in doing high quality mixes:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN...0277271-3677428
I found in a library, and I must say it's the best book on audio mastering that I've yet read.

In short I would like to say, that trust your ears... If it sounds good, it's probably good.

Don't make your mixes too compressed. Modenr electronic music, especially amateur-made, is often rather tiresome to listen since people seem to think that limiters & compressors are a good thing... I made this kind of errors too often when I was starting out!
Nowadays I try to always have something like 6 decibels of dynamic space for my tracks. This means, that the average difference of the silent & peak passages is 6db... Of course different instruments & thus frequency ranges have their own dynamics independent of the master gain... But the doing the master dynamics well is also important since heavily limited tracks have a tiresome sound to the ear.

In short, use limiters only to control some short peaks & reclaim the "unused" dynamic range. There's rarely too much dynamics in electronic music, so the use of compressors is discouraged at all in mastering in my opinion!

If you have a 16 bit output file, changing the volume to any
direction (or ANY processing for that matter) will only degrade the sound! So only do mastering on a 24 bit track, this is quite important actually. You might lose even several bits worth of dynamic range because of rounding errors.

I would discourage people from "mastering" a finished mix at all in general. I only try to do it to make the tracks on an album sound similar.
It's better to try to make the sound good in the mix process. Of course it's hard to do with a slow computer because you need a lot of channel EQs, compressors & such. In a case of a slow computer I'd say that don't care about finetuning at all in Psycle, just make the track and do ALL channel processing in a multitrack environment.
Sorry to say, but if you don't have enough hard drive for this, then you should consider getting a new one! And you don't need to save the wavs after you have made a mix you like, just save the project file and import wavs from Psycle again if you need to make a new mix.

One thing to do when using one-shot samples on a slow computer is to put EQ & similar effects in Psycle, then render the sample, delete effects and use just the effected sample from that moment on...

My best advice:
Go to work, save some money and buy a new computer... You don't need a very fast one, I guess you can find a relatively fast Athlon XP+ or something similar for under one hundred euros... And this allows you to do a LOT more things than your current computer.
Believe me, my songwriting always gets better when I get a new computer, it's just so useful to be able to make small adjustments in the sound already in the songwriting process instead of post processing...

I have only a XP1800+ with 512mb of memory, and it's serving me OK!


From dark_virus on 15.02.2006, 20:22:

 

Taika-Kim -> Woa!! Awesome Post!!

QUOTE:
"Don't make your mixes too compressed. Modenr electronic music, especially amateur-made, is often rather tiresome to listen since people seem to think that limiters & compressors are a good thing... I made this kind of errors too often when I was starting out!
Nowadays I try to always have something like 6 decibels of dynamic space for my tracks. This means, that the average difference of the silent & peak passages is 6db... Of course different instruments & thus frequency ranges have their own dynamics independent of the master gain... But the doing the master dynamics well is also important since heavily limited tracks have a tiresome sound to the ear.

In short, use limiters only to control some short peaks & reclaim the "unused" dynamic range. There's rarely too much dynamics in electronic music, so the use of compressors is discouraged at all in mastering in my opinion!"


But many modern Trance-Pop uses compression a lot in kicks/snares. And compression can be a nice effect, sometimes. The Blue VST Compressor (Blue Series) is the best free compressor I ever see! Nice pounding Kick drums.

QUOTE
"If you have a 16 bit output file, changing the volume to any
direction (or ANY processing for that matter) will only degrade the sound! So only do mastering on a 24 bit track, this is quite important actually. You might lose even several bits worth of dynamic range because of rounding errors."


I didn't understand that. To my knowledge, it doesn't make sense to export at 24bit if I'm using only 16bit samples. This is my case.

I think you're reffering to "normalize", right?! So I should mix at my best levels, in order to achieve an optimal mix.

My HD space is good, at least to me. 2 HDs 20GB/80GB, so space isn't a big problem, for now. And since I'm a backup freakazoid, I save almost every project change in individual files. I don't save the wavs itself, only the projects, since I'll go too angry if I lost the PSY file and remain with the WAV only.

About the FX, I'm doing this already. I export the effected wav files, but I keep the project and start another one. So, I can load the effected wavs, and can go back to the original project, if I need to change something.

A "new computer"? Well, I can't explain, but I think if the things are very easy, it loses some of the magic. I say, I love trying to bypass hardware/software limitations, because I'm sure I could achieve everything I want with free software and a crappy computer. I could be wrong, but I'm having some fun, at the moment.

Sure, an upgrade isn't a bad idea, after all.


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From Taika-Kim on 16.02.2006, 02:02:

 

What I meant about the bits:

There will be no new information added to the final mix when you make it louder.
Instead there will always be rounding errors when you do ANY change to the file. A simple example: what value should we give 164,344334 in a 8 bit system? Is it 164 or 165? If we round it like this, we get errors in the sound...

The trick is to render in 24 bits and when all the post-editing is done, dither (it's a process where noise modulated by those floating point parts is added to the signal to add the dynamic range of the sound. google for more information...) it and then let it be.

People can adjust the volume in their amplifier...

To avoid all this, it's best to just try to get the volume about as loud as possible in the mix...

The annoying part is: if 24 bits was a standard in hifi, we wouldn't have to worry about loudness... Even if the tune peaked at -12db (one fourth of the maximum volume) we would have 22 bits left for sound reproduction...

in 16 bits, if you make a tune that peaks at only -6db, you're essentially working in only 15 bits resolution. And this is a quite possible situation, especially when sampling in 16 bits. Peak at -12db and you're down to 14 bits resolution.. Remember that increasing the volume afterwards doesn't bring any new information to the sound, it only degrades the quality because of those rounding errors.

Sorry if this is very technical. Also this is not a big issue, but something to consider if you want to be a purist

It's still of course most important to make good MUSIC. But the subtle psychoacoustic effects of things like these can be surprising, you never know...

My rule of thumb for techno music goes: make the kick drum peak at -6db (half of the maximum volume), whatever the sound sounds like. Then if it lacks strength, turn up the volume from the AMPLIFIER until it's comfortable.
Then start to add sounds... If at any point the tune starts to sound weak, turn up the volume, again from the AMPLIFIER! And now if some parts are too loud, turn them down from PSYCLE! This way you won't end up having to compress the final mix when you start to run out of dynamic space...

Be very careful when EQing for bass unless you have good monitor speakers & subs. The ear is the least sensitive to bass frequencies, and in addition the typical hifi speakers & subs don't give very accurate bass reproduction. It's easy to accidentally boost the bass decibel after decibel and it still sounds weak. Then you play the track on an BIG sound system, and realize how crap it sounds because the bass is mudding everything else down.
For bass clarity (both kick drum and bass) it's usually better to:
-Make a more clear transient. Maybe layer a "snap" sound for the kick that's very short but has nice "knock" sound
that makes the start of the bass drúm more apparent.
Or then layer another instrument for the bass with no low frequencies (to avoid phase cancellation in the bass frequencies... there's only a few hundred of them so it's a completely different issue than with highs!) but a nice sharp attack phase.
Also getting some harmonic content is always good... Layering sounds is the key, and now with note duplicator it's dead easy to do!


And in the end, use a limiter (in Psycle, as the last part of the effects chain before the master machine) only to make the tune peak at 0bd (so as to use all the 16 bits as conservatively as possible). Adjust the limiter according to the LOUDEST part of the track, and make sure that it is activated only for brief volume peaks, never use a limiter so that it is compressing the sound all the time. Unless you're striving for some kind of special effect of course...

Using CHANNEL compressors/limiters is often a good idea to control those annoying volume spikes created by resonance, feedback etc. Usually these spikes don't affect the way we perceive the sound very much, and eliminating them is a good way to make sure they don't waste dynamic space...

Also instead of compressing one part to make it louder, remember always to first try to turn up the wire volume first, and maybe the volume of sounds with a similar frequency range down.

Compressing as a special effect to make radical adjustments to the sound is of course a different thing, and very recommended


From dark_virus on 16.02.2006, 16:03:

 

Very Good! Nice info and tips! The technical part isn't too easy to me, but it's "understandable"...

quote:
Original by Taika-Kim
The trick is to render in 24 bits and when all the post-editing is done, dither (it's a process where noise modulated by those floating point parts is added to the signal to add the dynamic range of the sound. google for more information...) it and then let it be.


So:

1 - I make a song in Psycle, and all the editing, panning, etc.

2 - Render the entire song at 24bits, in order to master it on an external prog

3 - Dither the 24bit file to 16bit "standard CD"

If I understand correctly, even using 16bit samples I must render it at 24bit, for mastering purposes. After the mastering process, I can dither to 16 bits. Is it right?

Is there some tip for dithering? Or is it only a matter of "save as 16 bits" option? (audacity, cool edit, etc. all has this option, of course)

And Yes: I know the mastering process is more to fit a bunch of songs in a compilation, so they won't play at different "volume levels". The hard work is done at the "mixing stage".

quote:
Original by Taika-Kim
Be very careful when EQing for bass unless you have good monitor speakers & subs. The ear is the least sensitive to bass frequencies, and in addition the typical hifi speakers & subs don't give very accurate bass reproduction. It's easy to accidentally boost the bass decibel after decibel and it still sounds weak. Then you play the track on an BIG sound system, and realize how crap it sounds because the bass is mudding everything else down.



Yes, this tip is a must! I've read it so much, in music production forums. And so is with subtractive-EQ. I tend to cut the subbass and very low freqs of my basslines, in order to avoid phase cancelation with the kick. Sometimes, my cuts are very deep, but it avoid nasty surprises at heavy sound systems. Synth basses have a good "mid mid freqs" range (~120-350hz), and I make small boosts on that area, while cuting/subtracting the < 100hz range.
I'm not sure I'm being clear enough.

For clearing the bass presence, I make cuts on bass freqs on every instrument (besides the kik), like pianos, pads, synths, etc. Of course, it's not too formulaic, and I work the freqs according the song structure.

Again, for this task, I use the Blue Parametric EQ, that's the best free EQ plugin I know.

For limiting, I like the Classic Limiter from Classic Series. Nice warm limiting. Unfortunately, I don't like the native plugs. Maybe I'm not working properly...

Thanks and cheers.


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From Taika-Kim on 16.02.2006, 21:13:

 

Yep, yep, you are on the right track definitely!

It's a very good idea to cut the subs from all other instrumenst that play at the same time with the kick & bass, but just be careful not to cut the fundamentals accidentally. The fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency in the harmonic series that determines the perceived pitch of a sound. Many melodic sounds have their fundamentals between the 200-800hz range or so, so cutting a lot at 100hz will also affect 200hz if you're using a gently sloping filter, for example...

I guess Cooledit dithers automatically when you convert to a lower bitrate. I have just used the Waves L series for dithering so I can't really say much about how different software perform. Google for information...
And of course this is sensible to do only with the ultimately final version that you are going to share with other people, since the effect is so subtle, and most certainly unhearable with many soundsystems and people with weakened hearing! (you'd be surprised! at my acoustics class there were some performing band musicians that failed to hear many faint notes that I could very well discern myself.)

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