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i just bought: psy q, optimaster & graph eq (31 band) and i learning how to use it together in mastering but i can't find manual?
i need manual for optimaster - specialy for expander section?

what's goes #1, what's #2 and what's #3??
do i need some maximiser (good limiter) on end?
i think that's better to put psy q after optimaster and than limiter?
any tip how to use it together?

i would think eq-psyq-optimaster and i would add each device after i had my best result with the previous.

eq and psy q is easy to handle but optimaster makes me problems.
i don't understand why optimaster's "nick name" is intelligent masterinig processor??
when i use wizard options i have pumping sound even distortions?!
i need manual and some tips!?

cw has documentation on their website...when using the wizard,after pressing start,wait until you like what you hear,then press stop.you can then tweak the settings to get the exact( ) effect you want.don't just leave the analysis running as you'll have the same bad results as the program adjusts to new info thru the song.(i made the same mistake at first.....)

psyq after optimaster might make sense too......

in any way

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-05-05 23:23 ]</font>

psyq before optimaster might make sense too......

All the CW manuals can be found at:
http://www.creamware.de/en/download/man ... efault.asp

and the Optimaster manual is there.

Ben

thanks, ben cw's page is like labirint to me
i tried optimaster's wizard function on the way like i do with similar hardware multiband compressors but this sounds like "blind chicken function" not "wizard".... or maybe i'm "blind chicken" because didn't find manual
anyway, i'll go learn, then i will see
thanks all

btw: spacef, try pinguin

I advise running Optimaster last in the signal chain, especially if you are normalizing.

Wizard mode seems to work fine for me about 80% of the time. Otherwise I find it necessary to tweak the settings manually. It seems to get confused if you are applying compression and limiting to various tracks ahead of time. Otherwise, couldn't live without it.

btw: spacef, try pinguin

Not the same price range
But frankly the spectoll thing, eventhough it has 1 sec latency in real time analysis, is the only live sonogram i know, and is very useful. I like sonograms personally.

But i've heard of other cheap "pro" analyser (there's a thread named spectral analysis or something like this)

As for "mastering" a few things to mention...

-You have to know exactly what your tool does to your program material (frequency, power, psychological effect, acoustical interactions/impact, physical sensation)

-There is no rule on which chain of tools to use. It always depends on the material and the sound you´re after.. Those things might change from track to track... A simple example would be to boost a frequency band whith a grafical EQ and having a compressor right behind the EQ. Ofcourse this boosted frequency band will interact whith the behaviour of your compressor...

Another example would be, if your after loudness...then a highpass filter, in order to cut out the ultra low frequrncies, should be used. But having the highpass filter after the limiter would make no sense, because the limiter has already reacted to the power of the LF in your mix...

So it really depends on the program material, what your after and the style of music...


Regards,
Sunshine

miracle!
after reading manual optimaster sounds much better
yes, wizard is usefull with some corections.
more tips, more tips!!!

Loved the dancing Bart. Very cute.

I'm glad you're having success with Optimaster.

I'm going to commit a complete faux pas here, but I'm kinda counting on Optimaster to prop me up for a while so that I can have some moderate success with mastering while I'm learning the finer details.

I know, I know - no substitute for real knowledge etc. and I appreciate that, but this is not a bad tool to actually help you learn and the wizard function does seem to work quite well.

OK, confession over.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: caleb on 2002-05-04 10:29 ]</font>

I have also just read the manuals...
I haven´t got those tools since I will get them anyway whith the "Fusion" upgrade and I really hate the Creamware demo politics and procedures!

One thing that caught my attention when reading the manual of the PsyQ...The "PsyQ" uses "phase" as a stereo effect. There are wrong ways and there are right ways to apply phase changes to your stereo master track, and I hope they did it the right way... Anyway it is the general consensus to apply anything that has to do whith phase very carefully!!

Ok.. Sandrob/celeb to fully understand what is going on whith intelligent spartial enhencements I have got an example for you how mastering engineers do usually generate stereo... Listen carefully, it´s important !!! The more you understand the better you will apply other tools as well...

Mid-Side Coding at the Mastering stage:
It's pretty easy to do, and not as dangerous as applying some idiotic stereo enhancers to your mix, that looses your mono compatibility (Waves S1, ...)

Take your 2track final to a multitrack program (track 1&2) and copy it to the tracks 3&4... Track 3&4 has to be at the exact same position as the the first two tracks!

Pan tracks 1&2 hard left and hard right, and pan tracks 3&4 to the center. After doing so tracks 3&4 are both mono.

Then the tracks 3&4 has to be phase reversed. By doing so you´ll cancel the the mono information from your stereo mix.

Now bounce the result to a stereo file, you can name that file "stereo information". This is also called "side information".

Then you could simply export tracks 3&4 (don´t forget to phase reverse them again). You could name that file "mono information".


The goal of this procedure is of course to manipulate the "side" information and the "mono" information whithout affecting the other! The most important thing in your final is still to preserve the "mono information"!!! So now you should be able to keep the mono-information at it´s place and apply any stereo expander to your "side information" whithout loosing your "mono information". Your mixes stay transparent and punchy that way....

PS: Both stereo tracks have to be lowered by 3db. Otherwise it will clip.



Regards,
Sunshine

Good post.
There's a free M/S encoder-decoder called "Xenon Decoder" on Defex's Neutron site:
http://www.neutron7.com/
/dave

I haven't really paid any attention to mono compatiblity since a'round 96/97.
It's just to limiting compared to what you can do with stereo if you just forget about mono... (Except offcourse for those dance-mixes that goes on 12" vinyl).

Kim.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kimgr on 2002-05-04 20:43 ]</font>

Kimgr,
are you the same "Kimgr" from the Nuendo forum?? I think I saw a few posts from you, where you were talking about "Scope" and summing bus. Interesting, I never thought I would see one of those guys here at planetz, where I´m still a newbie hahha. I´m "Sunshine_Music" in the Nuendo forum...


Well, as for mono compatibility,
I don´t think it´s important to be mono compatible for the sake of it. But I think it´s important to be mono compatible for lesser "phase-distortion" you get when doing spartial enhancements. I admit that today there is a noticeable difference in the content when combined mono. But when you look a major releases you´ll still find this line they won't cross. Most of the modern sounding mixes that do sound "wide" are simply doubled guitars that are panned hard left/right. When you look at the "instrumentation" af a mix the fundamentals have not changed. So bass, snare, kick and voice are still mono. And that information must be preserved. So mono compatibility is as important as it has ever been, therefore I tend not to mess with the width of a mix unless there are serious balance issues that need to be addressed. But I have also seen engineers that are sooo sensitive to phase weirdnesses, that they automitically do spartial things right, whithout paying real attention to it...



Regards,
Sunshine

sunshine, thanks for tip
i use similar phase inverts things when i do m-s stereo tehnic or when i want to remove mono information (vocal, kick, bass...) from song. this is very usual trick specialy for hip-hop production.

when i do what you said:

Take your 2track final to a multitrack program (track 1&2) and copy it to the tracks 3&4... Track 3&4 has to be at the exact same position as the the first two tracks!
Pan tracks 1&2 hard left and hard right, and pan tracks 3&4 to the center. After doing so tracks 3&4 are both mono.
Then the tracks 3&4 has to be phase reversed. By doing so you´ll cancel the the mono information from your stereo mix.

then i listen that together in mono i hear silence. do you think that psy q do something like that?
cw said that's psy q's stereo expander is mono compactible?!

i didn't try psyQ yet, but some years ago i had a "bbe sonic maximizer", and i've seen also the dx plugin somewhere, and for what i can guess the psyQ should do something similar.
as i remember it compensates phase distortion selectively for each freq. coming out (as transients, different freqs. come out with different speed from an audio system) so achieving a cleaner perception of the spectrum ends.
therefore it's a psycological effect(general psycology treats perceptions too) because nothing is added to the signal.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alfonso on 2002-05-05 13:55 ]</font>