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Will Knox - "Cog In The Machine" | Mastering
#1
Big Grin Hi there!

Here's my master of "Cog In The Machine," optimized for streaming and dynamics, as much as possible.
I enjoy acoustic songs like these a lot. I like how the artist focuses on performance and story-telling rather than sounding cool or hip.

Tell me what you think. Like how the dynamics, tonal balance, and soundstage are doing in this song. Big Grin


.flac    Will Knox - Cog In The Machine.flac --  (Download: 16.65 MB)


Sincerely,
Daniel
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#2
That rim shot is way too loud .The bass is to loud and needs compressing and its masking the kick
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#3
(13-10-2020, 04:19 AM)takka360 Wrote: That rim shot is way too loud .The bass is to loud and needs compressing  and its masking the kick
Rim shot. I didn’t notice that one, thanks for pointing that out  Big Grin 

As for the bass and masking in the low-end, it doesn’t bother me. If it did, I’d rather fix it in the mix since there’s not much for me to touch with the stereo file.
Sincerely,
Daniel
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#4
Hi,
You need to fix the sibilance, this is well beyond acceptable and I'm concerned you can't assess this along with the rimshots (read my bio). The bass doesn't translate to small speakers. The intro is so quiet nobody is going to hear this during the day with normal background levels which suggests you've not worked the musical dynamics adequately.  Furthermore, you shouldn't expect a listener to have to crank the gain on their playback system, then have to turn it down later when the levels come up signficantly!

If you have to go back to the mix to fix things, then I would have to question your 'Values' from a Mastering perspective.  For one thing, the mix may no longer even be available, then what are you going to do about that?  "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza dear Liza!", "Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry....fix it."  So, fix it in the Master and lean to embrace The Art of Compromise perhaps?

You also need to understand bass and how this should be managed at the Mastering stage.

Working out how to enhance the stereo image will also be advantageous.

Now, imagine you are in the Real World and I am the client. Make me (and Takka for that matter) happy
"Nearly half of all teenagers and young adults (12-35 years old) in middle- and high-income countries are exposed to unsafe levels of sound from the use of personal  audio  devices": https://tinyurl.com/6xeeahc5 Read my bio.
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#5
(19-10-2020, 11:44 AM)Monk Wrote: Hi,
You need to fix the sibilance, this is well beyond acceptable and I'm concerned you can't assess this along with the rimshots (read my bio). The bass doesn't translate to small speakers. The intro is so quiet nobody is going to hear this during the day with normal background levels which suggests you've not worked the musical dynamics adequately.  Furthermore, you shouldn't expect a listener to have to crank the gain on their playback system, then have to turn it down later when the levels come up signficantly!

If you have to go back to the mix to fix things, then I would have to question your 'Values' from a Mastering perspective.  For one thing, the mix may no longer even be available, then what are you going to do about that?  "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza dear Liza!", "Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry....fix it."  So, fix it in the Master and lean to embrace The Art of Compromise perhaps?

You also need to understand bass and how this should be managed at the Mastering stage.

Working out how to enhance the stereo image will also be advantageous.

Now, imagine you are in the Real World and I am the client. Make me (and Takka for that matter) happy
Wow! Thanks for the thoughtful message, Monk. I really haven't had my ears checked. I'm not sure if I have an impairment but I do feel fine when I'm working with the people around me.

I believe I may have just one, single answer as I went to master this.
I approached the track with as much transparency as possible, based on what I believe it to be. I would always go back to the mix if I'm doing too much on the mastering side since my goal is to showcase the mixer's work instead of mine. Sure I missed things, but honestly, I worked on it without any expectations from anyone except what felt right to me. I haven't experienced that worst-case scenario you described.
Quote:"There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza dear Liza!", "Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry....fix it."
I don't know where that came from, but that is hilarious!

I believe that the art of "balance" is doing what you need to do with the limits you have. I think we may have had different goals when we approached this. That may also be what gives us distinct tastes as engineers
Thanks a lot, Monk! I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Daniel
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