DistroKids Mixea mastering.

[steve@baselines.com]

I just wanted to leave a post about Mixea - I tried it for the first time and was impressed.

I passed in a song I recorded in CW and mastered in Ozone and was happy with, and it was immediately improved with the default settings.  I brought the Mixea version in to Ozone 10 as a reference track and tried to match what I had done previously.

The biggest differences were this:

- The low mids needed a substantial cut.  300-900 range

- the hi mids needed a slight boost. 2K-5K range

- 900-1K needed a notch cut.

- I had to match LUFs to around -10.

With all these adjustment, I got pretty close, but there was still an intangible clarity.  The Mixea version sounded more professional, instruments more defined in their own space.

I'm going to get the yearly subscription which offers unlimited Masters for $99/year.  Hopefully I can figure out exactly what I need to do to go the extra mile.

Steve

[Bapu]

WOW, I just tried it on a track that I was (previously) pretty stoked about that I mastered using Lurssen Mastering Console for IKM.

A big difference in clarity was had with Mixea.

[Starship Krupa]

Hmmm. Must figure out what the magic pixie dust is there.

If the guy with the most audio processing software of anyone I know is impressed, it must be pretty impressive.

[steve@baselines.com]

37 minutes ago, Bapu said:

WOW, I just tried it on a track that I was (previously) pretty stoked about that I mastered using Lurssen Mastering Console for IKM.

A big difference in clarity was had with Mixea.

It is, but over the weeks I have revised my opinion a little bit.  For the first song, it was great - but for the next few it added harshness even at the warm level.  I think if my mix/master is deficient in a certain range it really works well.  But you have to be careful!  Make sure before you commit.

I still think it is good, but I need to adjust my pre-master to take advantage of it.

Steve

 

[steve@baselines.com]

7 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Hmmm. Must figure out what the magic pixie dust is there.

If the guy with the most audio processing software of anyone I know is impressed, it must be pretty impressive.

See my other comment I just added.  I still think it is good, but you really have to be careful when comparing.

Steve

 

[Bapu]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Hmmm. Must figure out what the magic pixie dust is there.

If the guy with the most audio processing software of anyone I know is impressed, it must be pretty impressive.

 

1 hour ago, steve@baselines.com said:

See my other comment I just added.  I still think it is good, but you really have to be careful when comparing.

Steve

 

Yeah, I was impressed. But just like how I can love a mix one day and think it's sh!te the next, buyer beware.  😉 

[Bapu]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Hmmm. Must figure out what the magic pixie dust is there.

If the guy with the most audio processing software of anyone I know is impressed, it must be pretty impressive.

Prolly "shiny new toy" syndrome here.

[Starship Krupa]

5 hours ago, Bapu said:

Prolly "shiny new toy" syndrome here.

Kidding aside, it seems like a good opportunity to clap on a set of headphones and fire up Metric AB and listen hard to what sounds better to you about the Mixea'd track.

There is no way on this green Earth that you don't have the tools, the question is which ones and how to apply it/them.

The first time I tried running one of my mixes through Ozone Elements (both the presets and the Assistant) was a sobering experience. Remembering the legend of John Henry, I scraped my ego off the floor and got busy with the other tools I had available and worked until I could equal what Ozone was doing, and then I worked some more until I got something I liked better than Ozone.

You said "clarity." Try patching this in: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/spl_vitalizer_mk2-t.html

[steve@baselines.com]

12 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Kidding aside, it seems like a good opportunity to clap on a set of headphones and fire up Metric AB and listen hard to what sounds better to you about the Mixea'd track.

There is no way on this green Earth that you don't have the tools, the question is which ones and how to apply it/them.

The first time I tried running one of my mixes through Ozone Elements (both the presets and the Assistant) was a sobering experience. Remembering the legend of John Henry, I scraped my ego off the floor and got busy with the other tools I had available and worked until I could equal what Ozone was doing, and then I worked some more until I got something I liked better than Ozone.

You said "clarity." Try patching this in: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/spl_vitalizer_mk2-t.html

Yeah - I did this with iZotope Insight and tonal balance.  I took my original master and loaded the mixea as a reference track then made some adjustments.  The results I got are at the top of this thread.  Still, even when getting them as close as I could, there was still something that made a difference.  I only did the EQ type adjustments though,  There probably something I could have done with the harmonic content.  Maybe I'll try that someday.

[Bapu]

20 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Hmmm. Must figure out what the magic pixie dust is there.

If the guy with the most audio processing software of anyone I know is impressed, it must be pretty impressive.

Listening again, it was too harsh of a master. Not impressed in second listen.

[Starship Krupa]

30 minutes ago, steve@baselines.com said:

There probably something I could have done with the harmonic content.  Maybe I'll try that someday.

I found out about the SPL Vitalizer because a guy posted a song on this forum. I don't remember his name, but I remember that his singing voice reminded me of Eddy Grant. His mix was really well done and pro sounding and it had this ear candy sparkle to it that impressed me so I asked him about it. He said that it was probably his use of the Vitalizer, so I downloaded the demo and tried it and then waited for the next "our plug-ins for next to nothing" sale from PA.

I'm generally skeptical about exciters. Some of these online automated mastering services might be using that kind of processing to put on some "shine." It usually sounds better to me when my ears are kinda fatigued, but then unnatural when I'm relaxed and listening more closely. I've also had it jump out when doing test listens on lower-fidelity playback systems.

You guys, very experienced listeners, initially thought the Mixea version sounded better, but your opinion changed after further listens. That's similar to my experience with over-applied exciters.

The Vitalizer might be doing something like that, too (the manual is vague enough to suggest it), but at least if you do it yourself, you can control the amount and not overcook it.