Ive got a tune' im working on, just fishing for some tips n how to make my track sound a bit fatter. listen here

Ive set comps in waves got no outboard compressors or effects its all done on computer. Would that make a difference?

Any help or feedback would be appreciated

Chris

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www.toastrecordings.com

sorry to sound pedantic but what you are actually looking for is tips on mixing/producing.

mastering is something different where the first tip would be "dont master your own material"

perhaps try reposting using the ammended subject and you should get more results from people disecting your work.......
whether thats a good thing however is entirely different

However, As mastering engineer, If you recieved this piece, would it not be your job to take on the role as pseudo producer atleast for the part where a good compression setting is required?

ed,
my comments were made as i was trying to offer chris the opportunity to get as wide a range of opinions as he could for his post given the chronic lack of response so far.

i had a look at his download page which states that he has still to finish the mix and add more bonus sounds but was posting for advice. this was pretty much in keeping with what, i felt atleast, was the actual intent in his post.

as a result i felt that he may get a greater depth of advice if he re posted with a question topic more suited to his actual needs, especially since there are some very knowledgeable producers on here. making something fat and advice on mastering are often not the same thing.

your point raised was valid to an extent however its worth pointing out that there is no substitute to proper engineering at mixdown and creation stage. there are limits to what can be achieved with a final mix and so an understanding of eq, stereo image spacing, compression etc etc from a production standpoint is very crucial.

individual instruments that have been over compressed, have poor stereo field placement, badly EQ'd or are far too proud for example really need repairing at an individual track level and not at a stereo mix mastering session. Once here there is very little that can be done to them. likewise over use of reverb or loudness maximizer programs which squash everything down (killing dynamic range) cannot be rectified by mastering and again need looking at in the original multi-track takes.

the old adage regarding the inability to polish [ ****** ] is certainly holds some water in music terms (without wanting to have this taken as a comment against chris's work to which i have not yet listened).

there are often misconceptions regarding what exactly mastering is used for and or capable of with some thinking it can turn a badly recorded session made in a garage into a top 40 quality track without an intermediate step of a properly recorded session and mixdown.

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high quality audio mastering for vinyl and cd.
point one mastering

I'll take a whack at it even after all the anymosity:

If you're after fatter there are some tube or tape warming plugins that you might use, also the BBE Sonic Maximizer plugin comes to mind.
If you're thinking "Phat" then maybe some of the harmonic replacement plugins, there's one in teh Waves that creates extra subharmonics from your bass frequencies.

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www.descentintomadness.com

The BBE plugin is dangerous imho...too much can really cause problems.

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James
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake" ~Napoleon Bonaparte~

Hear hear - I haven't yet had a situation where the BBE actually improved my tracks/mixes in REAL terms. i.e. initially you go "Wow" and then the next day you realise the BBC has actually degraded the sound, even when you use very little of it.

Len
www.lenmusic.com

Quote neilwight:

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sorry to sound pedantic ...

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well at least you realise what you sound like !! ...

gr

Hi there,

From what I heard it seems to me you've got too much low mids which are taking up a lot of space in your mix. Try to work on the individual instruments before you make a move on mastering.

Mastering should only consist in adding a few touches to even up the sound of the whole album so in general nothing should be applied in excess during that stage (except for the nowadays infamous loudness).

Izotope Ozone 3.6 is a very good tool to try in your first steps at mastering your own material, but after using it for a while you'll see that it's far more advantageous to get your mix as close as you can to the sound you want before getting into any mastering bundle.

For the sake of reference during mixing take an artist that you feel close to and try to get the sound of your track in that direction.

Hope these few words serve you well.

Cheers