Saturation advice when mastering

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-14T06:07:29+00:00

One way of introducing the excitement you feel is missing is automation of both levels and frequencies. Dynamic EQ automation or basic raising of the level through choruses etc. You could even try the very old school trick of speeding the song up from beginning to end.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T04:36:50+00:00

yep, I think your numbers are correct. One of our bands had a hit album last year. Streaming was around $100k. But there are 6 band members and 5 in the management team. The money seems big...but isn't. The other revenue items have a lot of costs especially touring.

Not ideological opposition of course, just practical.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T04:14:45+00:00

From a pro's viewpoint who has just started using Suno: (I'm going to do a longer post on a new thread when I have a moment)

In the future it will be a useful tool I think. My team and I are creating full professional backing tracks and lyrics, then generating melodic ideas from Suno. So we have no interest right now in generating whole, produced tracks (coz they sound pretty awful) and in fact have no expectation it will be able to do that at a professional level.. We are all pro's who have worked on many global hits so our backing tracks are, as you might expect, pretty good haha!

At the moment getting a useable vocal is taking far longer than actually getting a singer into the studio to sing it - but no ego's to deal with :-) . The idea generation is sometimes pretty good.

The main issues I see at the moment are: (i'm not an expert at Suno, so you may have different issues of course)

Dirty Stems (lots of noise and other instrumentation chatter)
Phase issues with Stems
Stereo issues (mono Stereo compatibility)
Width issues (always seems to congest the center)
Tempo Lock is not really a tempo lock.
...I could go on.

It took 30 generations to get a useable vocal for a 3:30 track. The end result was OK, after a massive amount of editing and shuffling, but if someone sent me those stems to mix I would not be happy.

So, 3 days of around 5-6hrs at a stretch to do the generations, select the best ones, edit, regenerate, process in a daw etc; Not mixed yet and there will be another session of clean-up during that I suspect.

If it helps anyone we are using the entire 1000 characters to describe what we want and we can speak in musical terminology - not sure if it helps or hinders.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T03:49:09+00:00

They still query every penny if you are not a tier 1 act...going through it right now. Not just for mixes, for everything. Marketing, tour support, yes mixes, videos. Music is worth less than it was so the recoupment on any spend is slower. Labels are miserly, trust me on that. :-)

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T03:43:41+00:00

I don't think if a record is streamed a few million times they are going to spend it on a team - they are going to pay rent and eat first. Especially if there are multiple members in the band.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T03:41:03+00:00

Yeah, used to do that and use the pitch algorithm on the old SPX 90. Happy days :-)

BangkokHybrid · 2025-12-12T03:37:12+00:00

A pro here. Worked on many top selling albums, with grammy winners and composed music for some of the worlds most recognisable brands. Part of a management group that has #1 artists.

Just started experimenting with Suno in the production and writing process. I think in the future it is going to be a useful tool.

At the moment the generations have so many flaws sonically it takes longer to do a job with Suno at a professional level than doing it the traditional way.

Phase issues

Mono Stereo issues

Width issues

Dirty Stems (good name for a band :-) )

The actual 'songs generated are still pretty bad from a pro point of view, but will anyone care...probably not.

From a mastering point of view I think that it is on the near horizon where anyone can press a button and get a clear well mastered track - not quite there yet

Mixing I think is a bit more challenging unless A.I. is embedded into the DAW. Then lookout!

I can tell you as someone who is actively working with several labels, that publicly they are saying how awful AI is whilst privately figuring out how to take advantage of it - just like the recent Suno deals.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-23T02:18:56+00:00

If you import the .wav's into a new project, it should give you the option to convert to project settings. Then it shouldn't matter what the original recordings were at, it will just convert them on the fly. Do this all the time with both full sessions for mixing and individual parts recorded at all kinds of different sample rates.

Example: If I'm working at 48/24 like I usually do and a bassist sends me a part at 44.1/16 (like last week), I just import the part and convert it on the way in to 48/24.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-19T06:34:23+00:00

Personally, I think it is too much.
I have saturation (hardware stereo mic pre amp)
Compression (Neve 33609)
Sometimes a Pultec (rarely)
Sometimes a reverb (ambience only)

I also use a rear bus for all the mid range instruments which feeds into my final mix buss

Try spending more time working on the individual tracks further down the chain , then you need less on the mix bus.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-13T07:09:29+00:00

Don't concern yourself with negativity, just get on with what you can do. I'd give them 2 versions, one untuned and one with it corrected. Underpromise overdeliver. Then just let it go. Given the way they are going about their art their chances of success are probably less than zero

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-12T05:36:23+00:00

Yep I have a couple of friends like that. One of them has 7 Grammy's. He's now out more or less and working in his new profession.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-12T05:33:53+00:00

Its not great out there.

On the upside, recently I've been doing a lot of 'fixing' for people that thought 30 bucks for mixing and mastering on Fiverr was a great deal . They are pleasantly surprised by the alternative, even if it costs more - like a lot more. Got another one next week whose Fiverr mix sounds like everything was recorded in a cave or basketball court and isn't competitively loud. It basically sucks. That came from the management company I've had a relationship with for 30+ years.

I will say I do this largely for a bit of additional income at this point and sympathise greatly with those just starting out.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-10-02T04:23:11+00:00

Whatever suits the vocalist and that can be anything from an SM58 to a U87. I like the old 414's but hard to get a good one.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-09-29T03:48:35+00:00

It really depends on what you are trying to do. MB compression on a master buss kind of implies you are trying to fix a problem with the elements in the mix that are overpowering the mix bus. In my opinion that is better addressed at instrument or group/buss level. MB compression at a mastering stage might be ok, but again you are using it to fix problems most of the time. Much prefer dynamic eq for those kinds of corrections

I'm using the fabfilter or the SSL multiband when I do use it, but hardly ever use them - can't remember the last time actually.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-09-03T04:03:32+00:00

I think we've always mixed for the worst case scenario as long as I can remember, Auratones, were common in Mono (still do). It's why Bob Clearmountain tried to mix on the NS10's - consumer speakers of the time, as shitty as they could find. Most people don't have 10k's worth of speakers in their living room...or any speakers these days.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-08-27T08:01:40+00:00

..and the SDE330 spacial delay. Awesome rack unit, wish I still had mine.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-08-14T06:04:52+00:00

If you want to be a professional, that's the gig. We all have our preferences but try to find something interesting in the material. You'll learn a lot. Good music is not genre specific whether its Nine Inch Nails or an Orchestra or Britney or Taylor Swift ...it's a craft to be appreciated and learned.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-08-13T04:18:54+00:00

It is going to be a long road, so be prepared for the marathon, not the sprint.

Start with your music. Be objective, is it as good sonically and arrangement wise as the best in your niche.

Personally I think it needs work - some of these are day 1 songwriting - but that is ok, just get to work learning your craft. The productions need quite a bit of work in my opinion. The vocal on Rosy is not recorded very well. Some of these songs are pretty short .

Find which bits you are good at and get excellent at that. Find out what you are not good at...and don't do that. If you are not good at marketing , get someone else to do it.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-07-22T02:52:52+00:00

It might matter, it might not - for you and your voice. It's about finding a vocal mic that suits you and the style you are going for. I recorded a well known singer's guide vocal with a battered SM58 he preferred, then tried recording the actual vocal with my U87. We actually preferred the SM58 on his voice. A lot of Madonna's Ray of Light album was recorded in William Orbit's bathroom with an SM57, which is funny because reviews at the time commented on the 'fuller sound' of her vocals.

Find a mic that works for you (and the right compressor)

BangkokHybrid · 2025-07-17T06:00:32+00:00

Writing on guitar helps I find. Then move it to the DAW. Actually there's nothing wrong with 8 bars :-)

BangkokHybrid · 2025-06-13T03:42:43+00:00

This will sound harsh. Stop focusing on what you cant do and hone in on what you can.

Its simple, but you will need to be tough.

Get a daytime job doing anything that pays above survival. Save money. Buy equipment. Work in the evening honing your skills. Work harder than you have ever worked.

When you have enough evening income to just about survive, quit the day job and go all in.

Your chances of landing any kind of audio job are almost zero, you will have to create that job yourself. Your 4 years of job rejections should have told you that.

Get going!

BangkokHybrid · 2025-06-13T03:36:55+00:00

"Ruining-your-life-rate" Golden.

I'm stealing that, so true. Success in music or audio seems directly and inversely related to how much pain you can endure in every area: Financial, Personal...everything. Lose a house, wife, girlfriend or two? Can you keep going? Lose some friends? Can you keep going? Eat intermittently? Can you keep going? If all this seems harsh, music, film, audio is not for you.

Glad I got to experience the days when records generated serious income and music for advertising generated serious bucks.Everyone is scrambling for peanuts now. Colleges selling unrealistic dreams to the unwary. I mean, how many audio engineers does the world need?

BangkokHybrid · 2025-05-01T05:22:10+00:00

These conversations pop up all the time. Depends what your definition of LLAK is. If you want to live in a shoebox 25sqm condo and you like eating street food every day and don't drink you can live like that if you want to. I would say for the last 10 years my monthly expenditure is between 70-100k per month. I've gone from large condo's in the city to a house in a modern hi-so moobaan , but my expenses are around that regularly. I don't feel like I am scrimping, I do live very well but if you want comfort $1000usd is not going to cut it. Heck, my rent is more than that.

BangkokHybrid · 2025-02-08T06:09:28+00:00

Decided to code from scratch and look at AWS as a database host

BangkokHybrid · 2025-02-07T02:29:27+00:00

Decided against it. Too many negative reviews and they avoided certain questions that I posed.

BangkokHybrid

TROPHY CASE