bitflipper

No, dither is only necessary when changing bit depth from a higher one to a lower one. (btw, the correct term is bit depth or wordlength; "bitrate" refers to sample rate, e.g. 44.1KHz vs. 48KHz, and only affects frequency response).

Short answer: no. At least, not in the way you describe it. If you simply copy a track and then pan the two opposite, it will sound like it's one track panned center, just a little louder. That's because our perception of stereo depends on each ear hearing something different. Now, if you clone the track and then do something to make the two tracks sound different, cloning can work. EQ and delays are the most common methods for differentiating cloned tracks. However, as lapasoa notes you will get better results by actually recording a second part with a different tone. This is because you get additional differentiation by virtue of the fact that the two separate performances will not be identical.

Hey, lighten up guys. I know neither of you are mean-spirited, but Marcello came here looking for advice and encouragement, not ridicule. OP: what folks are trying to say is simply that yes, work on the mix first, then apply mastering as the final polish.

Make sure they are assigned different MIDI channels. That's how multiple MIDI devices and/or multiple MIDI instruments keep track of which notes are "theirs".

I'd suggest trying a few other reference tracks to get a broader view of what's out there in the world. How about one of the best-selling hard rock albums of all time, AC/DC's Back in Black? You may find it illuminating. It was mastered by Bob Ludwig, an industry legend who definitely knows what he's doing. Make sure you use the original, not one of the subsequent "remasters" (gotta wonder what kind of ego an ME has to have to think he can improve on Ludwig's work).

Here's a chart showing which Spitfire products support NKS. Note that even though it's not supported natively in the free LABS series, you can get it from a third party.

The old Shimmer & Shake was my go-to tambourine/shaker instrument for a long time. I, too, hesitated to get Shimmer Shake Strike because it seemed redundant, and an unnecessary self-indulgence. But it went on sale and I caved. I haven't touched Shimmer & Shake since. The new one is that much better. Advantages: more instruments, better-sounding instruments, more options, and a fairly intuitive sequencer. (As an aside, I have to mention Skaka. This simple and inexpensive percussion instrument gets even more use here than Shimmer Shake Strike. That's because mostly I just want subtle shakers and tambourines and don't need to get fancy. Skaka is a lot quicker to set up. Just an observation to keep in mind in case you see it go on sale.)

When you say "pan themselves", does that mean you see their pan sliders or knobs move? Or the pan slider in the track header? Or that nothing visibly changes but the sound moves?

It's very good, especially that weird Quartz mode. When bought, I did not think I needed yet another delay. Turns out, I did.

Been playing with this for the past two days. When I started the download and saw its size, my first thought was "100 GB for a percussion lib? wtf?". Turns out there's a lot more in there than initially meets the eye. The huge size isn't because this is the ultimate percussion library - there are no cowbells - but rather the depth of content.

You're on the right track, Marcello. Lots of trial and error and experimentation to figure out what works and what doesn't. There is, unfortunately, no recipe book. As I said, it's a process. Much like learning to play the guitar - the more you learn the more you realize you don't know. Every experienced guitarist knows this. And yet many of them, including those who've been playing for 30+ years, are confounded and frustrated because they're still struggling with mixing and mastering after a whole year of practice.

Save As will only save audio files that are referenced in the project file. Things like deleted tracks won't be copied into the new folder.

I last used the cleanup utility circa 2006. It hosed a project and I haven't used it since. If I want to clean up a project nowadays, I'll do a Save As to make a copy and then delete the original folder. But that's going to be quite tedious if you want to clean every project you have. Now, if there was just some convenient way to identify and delete all my never-completed-and-never-will projects. That would give me a lot of disk space back!

You're assuming that they are also opening their own studio. But that would make sense. After all, what else are they going to do with all those Gibson studio monitors?

I was unable to duplicate this. Here's what I tried: opened a blank project inserted an Instrument track with LABS added some MIDI data verified that it played back deleted the track Is that how you did it?

It's really about dynamic range (the ratio of the quiet parts to the loud parts) and average RMS to peak ratios (crest factor). These things are objectively measurable and therefore controllable. How impactful a snare hit is isn't about how high its level is, but how it compares to the audio surrounding it. The short video below illustrates the concept, using a snare drum as an example.

Yes. I'm on Ozone 7 here and it does that, too. What Steve was saying is you can't put anything after Ozone. So any metering plugin hosted within it will be showing what's happening before the master volume sliders. I don't think that's a problem, though. Why would you want to fiddle with your mastering limiter's output levels, Ozone or otherwise?

I have always recorded my keyboards via S/PDIF. Yes, the quality is marginally better because you bypass the D/A-A/D conversion, the output amplifier circuitry and cables. There is never any EMI/RFI interference, and you never worry about distortion. The only downside is that the levels are often too low, at least out of all my current and past instruments, requiring a gain adjustment after recording.

You need to venture out of the basement more often, Doug. We're all upstairs, (usually) discussing grownup stuff. Ask Ed, he knows.

I guess that's one advantage of Ozone as a plugin over the standalone exe, being able to place other processors after it. Still, for as long as I've been using Ozone (c. 2007, IIRC) I can't recall ever touching the output fader. Another benefit to using your method of mastering in Cakewalk is that when doing an entire album you are able to easily create gapless CD masters with crossfades between tracks. Although I've successfully done that with CD Architect, it was more trouble than it was worth.

Also consider using the standalone executable of Ozone. I haven't done it in a while, but IIRC it was quicker than creating a new project. It can also serve as a VST host, so you can add in other non-iZotope plugins if needed.

Thanks for the votes of confidence, Grem, Bapu and Kenny. I'll keep this friendly gaslighting in mind next time you report some spam or personal attacks.

We have a local chain here that manages to survive on band rentals and lessons. It's a place I used to hang out at in the 70's, trying out every new keyboard. Once they even let me MIDI every synth in the store together so I could play them all at once. I once played an outdoor festival that they sponsored, during which I blew out my PA speakers - they replaced the speakers at no charge for better ones (18" JBL D130s). But I have to admit that the last time I went there was 3 years ago, to pick up an SM-58 on the way to a gig after mine broke. (Yes, it is possible to break a 58 if you're especially talented at breaking things.) Once they're gone, the only remaining retailer will be Guitar Center. And I will never shop there again after my stolen-gear fiasco.

Heck, I miss the old way of buying a damn t-shirt. With no more clothing stores nearby anymore, I have to get stuff from Amazon. That's a crapshoot - you never know what you're actually gonna get.

Hold the SHIFT key down while dragging a node up and down. It locks the x coordinate, the same way you can move MIDI notes up and down in the PRV without jiggling left/right, or drag an audio clip in the track view into another track without losing its place on the timeline.