Mastering Introduction

[DRJaM]

Good stuff guys! I can't wait to try this out

[mickeymix]

Wavosaur has good plugin implementation IMO. Next best thing to Wavelab as far as I am concerned.

http://www.wavosaur.com/

Downloaded this lil app and am gonna give'r a whirl 2nite......

UPDATE: cool program but doesn't do OGG yet......

[GuitarSlinger]

I downloaded Reaper yesterday because Audacity could not handle VST's properly.

Reaper seems to be really good but here we have yet another prog to learn (sigh). I feel that this is a problem with music programs since they usually all come with their own touch and feel (being very creative in that also!) in their user interfaces.

Although, in Reaper I could not find any quality settings for the OGG-Vorbis export which means I will use Audacity to export from .wav to .ogg.

I wonder if R/W does any (hidden) mastering when you do a MIX of your stuff to either OGG or WAV. Anyone who knoes?

Interesting stuff I feel I'm getting enlighted here!

Here's a couple screens.

Render Ogg - 1 being the highest quality



VST chain - drag to reorder



Fade out

[JouniL]

Thnx Slinger! Very informative, I like the VST chain ability!

I've just finished a shootout between Reaper and n-Track. I basically tested to play around with a massive bunch of .wav samples, mix them, fade-in and out, use VST effects, export files etc in both applications.

If you ask me then Reaper is clearly faster, more responsive, more intuitive, has a cleaner GUI and easier to use than n-Track but that's just my opinion. You need to test yourselfs!

[blue4u]

I know that Audacity is a neat free software, but the way it handles VSTs is just annoying. Reaper is such a better choice and comes with a boatload of effects.

Yes, indeed!! Reaper rocks!!! http://www.cockos.com/reaper/

[cwight]

Ah Man I'm sure it does, and all the other programs just like it, but do I really want to spend a week reading the 200+page manual? I mean if you were really getting into all this stuff it kinda makes riffworks redundant. I think it's all a bit beyond me to be honest. I think I found my level with Riffworks and Audacity.....

[blue4u]

The Reaper manual is actually 400+ pages! But you can skip the manual as it's pretty intuitive to figure out the basics on your own.

RiffWorks is the best songwriting tool, especially for guitarists. But it does have some serious limitations (lack of true VST support is the biggest). Eventually you'll want to do more and need something else that's more powerful and has a full feature set for recording and mastering. When you hit that point, Reaper is a great option and actually not to tough to figure out (with a lil' patience of course ).

I'm trying to ween myself off of RiffWorks and use it only as a scratch pad for ideas, songwriting and RiffLink jams. I'll never give up on it completely but you can only wait around just so long for things to improve before you have to explore elsewhere....

R

[geocare]

Just FYI on this discussion, I wanted some basic audio software to manipulate wave files and I was looking for something FREE. I found this program offered by someone who created it for his thesis in college. I have not tested it for plug ins but it is real easy to use for wave file splitting and such...piece of cake once you read the VERY short manual. Read about it and download it here:

http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

[JouniL]

Testing testing 1 2 3

[cwight]

can't hear you JouniL....

[parr]

I'm with blue4. I use RW to compose and have fun, and Reaper to make the final serious recording (which I never do . There are some problems with it as for instance, how to transfer instant drummers to reaper, but however I think this is the ideal setup.

Anyway, every minute you take to learn reaper is worth. You will not learn only how to use the program, but you will also learn about sound, music, VSTi's, VST effects, etc, specially if you read the forums and the excellent books by Nicholas (Reaper user manual and Mixing with Reaper).

juan

[Rotund]

Thanks Jouni!

Don't get too wrapped up in it all or you'll never record though!

Hear Hear Gator. Not being a professional (as some out there) and the reason I started playing with this was to actually learn the instrument and get better. I got so wrapped up in all of this recording stuff I stopped practicing and playing. Which obviously I should not have done. But it's all good and this is all great info and is helping me become better at everything. Thanks for sharing. Now back to my Guitar Port Lessons and downloading VST's.

[ailerom]

UPDATE: cool program but doesn't do OGG yet......

A new version is out.
http://www.wavosaur.com/history.php
Ogg Vorbis support added

[mickeymix]

looks cool ...I'm trying it on my laptop......thanks for the heads up...

[JouniL]

Now, here is a another cool guide to mastering, ammidetly a bit hardcore):

http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/katz_1999_secret_mastering.pdf