[linux-audio-user] magic mastering tips needed

[Steve Wahl]

Atte,

First off, let me say these things:

A) I listen to rock most often, seldom to to jazz, so I really don't
have the right ears for this. :-)

B) I'm not an experienced sound engineer by any stretch of the
imagination.  I've been doing a bit of live sound work for some music
groups at my church, but that's really the extent of my experience.

C) I think the music does sound very good as it stands.  Excellent
performance, thanks for sharing it.

That said, my feeling on the track is I hear too much of the room, and
not enough direct sound from the instruments.  My first inclination is
that could be a rock listening vs. jazz listening thing.  But your
description seems to say to me you want something similar.

Your question was about mastering, but I'm thinking getting your mics
a bit closer to the instruments to start with might add a bit more
definition and presence, like you're looking for.

It might be worth trying, anyway, if you get another chance to record.
Doesn't help much on a session that's already "in the can." 

--> Steve Wahl

On Wed, Apr 05, 2006 at 03:42:24PM +0200, Atte André Jensen wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I have the following track:
> 
> http://www.atte.dk/at_slum_avenue.ogg
> 
> It's a recording of one of my tunes with my jazz quartet. The recording
> quality leaves a bit to be desired. I hope some of you mastering gurus
> would lend an ear, explain what you think should be done and in what
> program, maybe someone could even find the time to generate an improved
> file. At least I hope to learn a bit about digital audio and mastering
> along the way.
> 
> A few notes:
> 
> A valid question would be "but how do you want it to sound?". Well, good
> :-) At least I think it needs more high frequencies, more definition and
> more presence.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm on a linux-only system, so any tools should be
> linux stuff, but you probl. guessed that :-)
> 
> -- 
> peace, love & harmony
> Atte
> 
> http://www.atte.dk

-- 
Steve Wahl    steve at pro-ns.net

"I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated Development
That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb.  Thank you."
  -- Vance Petree, Virginia Power