I just finished a rough mix of my first track for a new ep, and was getting geared up for the mastering stage when I heard about this site instantsongmastering.com. Here’s what they have to say.

“What is Instant Song Mastering? Instant Song Mastering is a new [...]]]> Coma (instantsongmastering.com review) by AndreDonawa

I just finished a rough mix of my first track for a new ep, and was getting geared up for the mastering stage when I heard about this site instantsongmastering.com. Here’s what they have to say.

“What is Instant Song Mastering?
Instant Song Mastering is a new web-based application targeted at independent musicians, bands and producers. Traditionally, creating a good sounding master requires audio engineering expertise, expensive hardware and software; not to mention expensive time at a professional recording studio. Instant Song Mastering leverages new technology that allows anyone to produce high quality masters from their audio recordings in just minutes over the Internet. ”

“If this is “Instant”, is the quality as good as other services?
The quality is not only as good, it’s better! We master your tracks just like the pros, and we have automated the whole system. The only differences are that you pay less and the results are instant!”

My first impressions.

I’ve only had a chance to listen to this on my little Altec computer speakers, but I can already here an improvement in my mix, subtle though it may be. Sounds like some of the muddy low mids have been removed and a little limiting has been added. I expected the master to be a lot louder than my original mix. I wonder how the algorithm works. Does it try to determine the genre first, and then apply some presets?

Conclusion

I think this was a well spent $10.00. I learned somethings about my mix, in particular I could have cut some of the low mids on my chugging guitar parts. It would have been even more useful to have gotten some kind report on what was done to the mix.

I think we will definitely be seeing more software like this in the future, and at some point I will try it again.

Will this put Bob Ludwig out of work? I don’t think so, but it will get better with time.

The next stage is to do a more in depth analysis with my studio setup and try mastering it myself.

Ghost in the Machine OR Machine in the Ghost.

Is it just my imagination or can anyone else hear the difference?

Love to get some feedback on this.
Let me know what you think

Andre

P.S.

Here are the final results.

Instantsongmastering.com Wave Analysis.... Is this a scam?

Instantsongmastering.com DeltaSpectrum.... Is this a scam?

Thanks to Andreas Lassak over at 3dB for these images.
You can also follow up on this topic at
http://www.3daudioinc.com/3db/showthread.php?20941-Automatic-mastering-No-waiting

The first image shows the FR spectral content of the two MP3 versions overlaid on each other (mastered and unmastered) as they are presented on my blog.

The second shows a null-test of the original wave-files (mastered and unmastered).

Well, I’m no mastering engineer but from the first image, looks like hardly anything has been done EQ wise.
And from the 2nd image no significant compression or limiting has been applied.

I would love to think that this is a function of my mix being so great that not much had to be done, but I doubt it.
I guess the next step is to compare this with the work of a real master.

Some engineer’s from 3daudioinc.com have offered to have a go at mastering the track.

It should be interesting to hear the comparison.
I might even have a go at it myself tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Here’s the final version. I’m always trying out different styles when creating a song, but I wasn’t very satisfied with the keyboard tones I used in my earlier takes. I’ve been busy working on the tones from my m9 and decided to only use my bass along with a drum groove for this [...]]]>

Here’s the final version. I’m always trying out different styles when creating a song, but I wasn’t very satisfied with the keyboard tones I used in my earlier takes. I’ve been busy working on the tones from my m9 and decided to only use my bass along with a drum groove for this last version.

The next stage is to work on my livelooping with this setup.
Finally starting to get a little comfotable with the Boomerang 3.

Here’s a shot of my current setup.

Big Calm (M4) by AndreDonawa

I’ve been busy wrestling with my first track ‘New Velocity’ for my Island Funk 2 album since January.

5 MONTHS AGO. ARGHHHHHHH!!!

http://barbadosguitar.com/wordpress/

I tried a number of different approaches stylistically speaking, but was not happy with [...]]]> What a revelation.
I finished this track in 2 days.

Big Calm (M4) by AndreDonawa

I’ve been busy wrestling with my first track ‘New Velocity’ for my Island Funk 2 album since January.

5 MONTHS AGO. ARGHHHHHHH!!!

http://barbadosguitar.com/wordpress/

I tried a number of different approaches stylistically speaking, but was not happy with any of them.
I decided to take a break from the project and clear my head for a bit.

After a few days I had this idea to try and do as much of it as possible with just my Fender 4 string Jazz Bass.
It was one of those euphoric/eureka moments when everything clicks and you just know it’s going to work.

I think that my getting out of the studio and going for a surf for the first time in the year might have been a big contributing factor.

I still wanted the track to have a full sound to it and so I decided to spend some time tweaking my line6 M9 pedal.
I had already created some scenes for my guitar gig, so I had a general idea of what I wanted, but really wanted something for my bass.

Matt Stevens sent me an email about the project “Big Calm”.

http://cafenoodle.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=5407886%3ABlogPost%3A1301&commentId=5407886%3AComment%3A1435

I had intentions of making a contribution, but forgot about as I was wrapped up in my own. With a couple days left I decided to give it a shot and take my Bass and M9 effects pedal for a test drive.

With the exception of the percussion and vocals, everything on this track is from a 4 string bass with standard tuning. No keyboards or guitar.

The verse is a first take, without me having any preconceived idea for a melody or lyrics. I just went for it.
It’s really amazing that I managed to come up with something that actually makes some sense.
I had plans to go back and polish it up and add some actual words in some parts, but decided to keep it as it is

You can hear me struggling to get something started with the first few mumbled words.
Not knowing what I was going to say resulted in some interesting phrasing.

The instrumental solo tone had a very middle eastern sound to it and because of the delay really made me play outside of my comfort zone. It’s basically a pitch shifter and 2 delays.

I’m hoping to play this live at the next Live Looping Festival.

http://www.y2kloopfest.com/

Not sure what your Big Calm is but tomorrow I’ll be in the sea looking for the perfect wave.

L&P,

Andre

Hmmmmm…. I’m going to have to finish this soon. It seems I’m taking longer between each post.

The intro was a little boring so I added a “Late Breaking News” synth line and a panning kick drum sample assortment, playing to a [...]]]> New Velocity (Lyrics, more synths and drum change) by AndreDonawa

Hmmmmm….
I’m going to have to finish this soon. It seems I’m taking longer between each post.

The intro was a little boring so I added a “Late Breaking News” synth line and a panning kick drum sample assortment, playing to a shaker rhythm in Stylus.

Added some synth bass to the mix.

I just upgraded to Cubase 5 which has an autotune/pitch correction type of effect called variaudio.
It’s my first experiment with the robot voice effect.
I wanted to make it more pronounced but it ended up sounding a little too odd.
So I kept it subtle.

This is my first recording using the Alesis DM5. I used Groove Agent One for the drum samples.
Great time bashing away on the kit. Took me in a slightly different direction.

Worked a bit more on the lyrics
New Velocity.
The hustle and bustle of living in a modern world with all it’s technological wonder.
What is the cost, when everything is go, go, go.

Hey let me know if you can make out the lyrics?

Next: Verse 2, some ad lib’s and then a mix down.

Here’s what I have for the bridge so far. I’ll probably try to make it into some kind of bass solo and then back to the chorus.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the last thing I did before the melt down.

New Velocity (Synth, Vox, Verse, Chorus) by AndreDonawa

My main tools for this are

Cubase 5 (I just got this a couple weeks [...]]]> Finally found some time to get back to the music. The new puter’s up and running smoothly.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the last thing I did before the melt down.

New Velocity (Synth, Vox, Verse, Chorus) by AndreDonawa

My main tools for this are

Cubase 5 (I just got this a couple weeks ago, the variaudio looks useful)
Fender Jazz Bass, late 70’s
Cheap strat copy
Gianni Acoustic Nylon guitar
PCaudiolabs quad, big improvement, but looks like I need to get some more RAM
UAD1
Hypersonic
Stylus RMX
Lots of free quirky and strange plugins and vst instruments.
MOTU Ultralite MK3 interface.

I’ve been saving the different stages of the songs development as separate files, so I’ll be using these to describe things as I go along.
In the last clip I added a soca groove to the mix.

Next was a little rhythmic synth line which I ended up also using in the intro.
I tend to jump around a lot when I’m creating and the intro was actually the last part that I worked on.
I added a vocal loop from Stylus and of course you can never have enough cowbell.

After the main groove I decided to add a few more chords for a pre chorus and then back to the main groove for the chorus.
Once I had a basic idea for the structure of verse and chorus, I worked on the melody.

By this time it was getting pretty late so I just plugged in the microphone and whisper/sang whatever came to mind. I’m recording this in my home studio so I try to keep things low so I don’t wake the neighbors.

I usually focus on the melody, first but sometimes a phrase will pop out that I find interesting, and I’ll develope the song around that. In this case it was the words “New Velocity” in the verse.
I also used this for the chorus and eventually added a few more chords to it.

Vocals are usually the last thing I work on for this type of song and depending on what the lyrics are my melody will probably change to suit.

Next week I will post the beginnings of the bass solo and try and to finalise the arrangement a bit more.
Here’s the design for the new album for the new album.

I usually focus on the melody first but sometimes a phrase will pop out that I find interesting, and I’ll develope the song around that. In this case it was the words “New Velocity” in the verse. I also used this for the chorus.
I eventually added a few more chords for the chorus.
Vocals are usually the last thing I work on for this type of song and depending on what the lyrics are my melody will probably change to suit.
Next week I will post the beginnings of the bass solo and try and to finalise the arrangement a bit more.
Here’s the design for the new album for the new albums

I usually focus on the melody first but sometimes a phrase will pop out that I find interesting, and I’ll develope the song around that. In this case it was the words “New Velocity” in the verse. I also used this for the chorus.
I eventually added a few more chords for the chorus.
Vocals are usually the last thing I work on for this type of song and depending on what the lyrics are my melody will probably change to suit.
Next week I will post the beginnings of the bass solo and try and to finalise the arrangement a bit more.
Here’s the design for the new album.
Thanks Carl and the guys at Illusion Graphics.

Keep it Funky,
Andre

3 Views From Yesterday from Andre Donawa on Vimeo.

My first Live Looping video. Using my laptop for video and all the crazy audio and looping is me going through my line 6 M9 pedal.

There’s some strange pitch shifting going on in the middle of the video, none of this is orchestrated [...]]]>

3 Views From Yesterday from Andre Donawa on Vimeo.

My first Live Looping video. Using my laptop for video and all the crazy audio and looping is me going through my
line 6 M9 pedal.

There’s some strange pitch shifting going on in the middle of the video, none of this is orchestrated by myself just the laptop freaking out on it’s own.

I’m hoping to get a dedicated camera for this in a couple of months.

The strange noises around 12:40 started as a happy accident. I made some adjustments to a setting I had from a gig the night before not realising that my speed was now set to my controller.

Island Funk 2 (Pt 2 Bass + Soca Beat) from Andre Donawa on Vimeo.

OK here’s a basic soca groove I worked out in Stylus. I tried about 3 other rhythms before settling on this [...]]]>

Island Funk 2 (Pt 2 Bass + Soca Beat) from Andre Donawa on Vimeo.

OK here’s a basic soca groove I worked out in Stylus. I tried about 3 other rhythms before settling on this one.