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Hi

I am new to DAW recording. I have the following gear and set up and am guilty of buying a bunch of stuff before i knew what all it was. I understand this will irritate some here but please know I have been reading the manuals, testing things out etc etc

Ok I have

MAC G5 1.8 dual, with 160 Gig HD and another 250 Gig WD internal on the way.

I have

Cubase SX 2
Reason 2.5
Soundtrack
Groove Agent
Ableton Live 4
PEAK 4.1
TRACKS-24
UAD-1 Studio PAK

I also have

M-AUDIO 410

and

Roland VS 2480 (my old way of recording)
Triton Pro Workstation
POD guitar effects
Audio-Technica 4050 mic

In terms of Mastering with the choice of, or combination of,
Tracks-24, PEAK 4.1 and the UAD-1, as well as Cubase's effects
can someone tear this aprt for me and maybe tell me what they would do with this stuff?

My music is mellower acoustic in the vein of Dave Mathews etc but sometimes a little edgier with Rock/distorted guitars in there.

Is what I have, if used correctly, going to enable me to have a good sounding Master or finished product?

I know this is VERY general but I am in the Overwhelmed stage right now

I am reading all kinds of forums, books and magazines to ramp up but was hoping to have someone give me a specific to my stuff breakdown on what i can do

thanks much if possible

Comments

Massive Mastering Fri, 08/20/2004 - 11:41

IMO, dump the T-Racks. With Cubase and the UAD plugs, you should be able to get fairly good results.

Technique, on the other hand... You may have several years of practical experience and experimentation ahead before you start getting satisfied with your own work. Get started.

And I know it's overdone, but Katz's "Mastering Audio" book should be on your list. It doesn't really get into mastering technique, but it certainly covers the science behind the art. Valuable information to ANY audio engineer.

trock Fri, 08/20/2004 - 12:10

Yep

thanks again massive

that book is on my list for sure.

TRACKS came out of my overzealous pursuit of music forums, it was recommended byt a bunch of people as "beginner" mastering software

Ok when you say "Years" is there anyway youd could have meant months??

HAHAHA

JK I know I am swamped right now

thanks for taking a stab at this post

By the way is PEAK 4 something iw ould use for mastering? it also came out of a "YOU NEED THIS" MAC music forum

thanks and thanks

anonymous Mon, 04/11/2005 - 03:41

yeah peak is decent, stick a few very good plugs into it, learn how to use the whole lot (as john always says... practise, practise, practise...
yupp he is sooooooo... right!!) and you get a decent mastering going
a.

always remember... driving a ferrari doesn't turn you automatically into a michael schumacher. learn to drive first.