Is LANDR Good For Mastering Music?

I am not a hater of mastering engines, but I believe that there are times when they make a suitable solution for audio mastering.  But when it comes to online mastering engines, one has to understand that they are robots.  All of the calculations made to your music are based on robotic calculations.


WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN A ROBOT AND A PERSON?

Well, a robot is only as good as the person who programmed it.  Robots will always work within a set of rules and parameters i.e. “If Bass is this db, then turn down by this amount of db” or “If song is this loud in db, then turn down by this amount of db”.  A robot will never make an illogical decision which sometimes, is exactly what your music needs to push it to that next level. 


WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR MUSIC?

A robot will likely only do the safe programmed solution to your mixes’ problems.  Many times you will only get an average result out of this type of process.


WHY IS HUMAN INTERACTION IMPORTANT?

A human mastering engineer can analyze your mix, and give you advice about mistakes that you are making.  This kind of feedback will make you a better mixing engineer and is valuable to your growth.  A robot cannot do this accurately because the robot has no ears and has never created a song before. 


DO MASTERING ROBOTS WORK OR NOT?

It’s a 50/50 chance.  If your music is almost perfect and it doesn’t need anything but a polish, the average results from these robots could do the trick.  If your mix needs more than just a polish, (like most home based recordings) chances are you will need a person to bring out the best in your mix.  Robots are cool but they will never go the extra mile for your music.  They will never take your vision of your music into account.  They will always do the calculated safe thing. 

"By Kelvin Butler" Kelvin Butler is the author of this blog. He also is part owner of KBJ Records.com, a website that caters to the working class musician by offering affordable services in audio mastering, and more. Learn about his very affordable offers at www.kbjrecords.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Mic A Drum Set

Image
There are many ways to mic a drum set.  In this short article we will focus on how to get the most optimal sound out of a drum set with an 8 mic set-up.  To get the best sound out of your drum set, you will need at least 8 mics depending on the size of your drum set.  Two of those mics will be condenser mics while the rest can be dynamic mics.  The mic set up for a drum set is as follows: 1 Mic for your kick drum 2 Mics for hi and low toms (1 for each tom) 1 Mic for your floor tom 2 Mics for your snare (one for the top of snare) (one for the bottom of snare) 2 Mics for Overheads & Cymbals (these will go on the left and right side of set and will hover above the entire set. The diagram below is a close example: diagram credit: drummagazine.com Note that in the diagram above, they are using an eleven mic set-up.  They have additional mics on the high hat, the ride cymbal and inside the kick drum.  If you have the mic ports to add t...
Read more

3 Simple Mixing Tips to prepare your Mixes for Audio Mastering

Image
1.      Your song’s overall volume level should reach no higher than -3db.   This is because the mastering engineer will have to enhance the dynamics of your song.   This will most likely make it louder.   If your song is already too loud, the mastering engineer will not have enough headroom to enhance without bumping into distortion. ·       This can be done by simply lowering the master track volume until it consistently shows a -3db or below reading. 2.      You should not add any compression to the master track during mixing.   If you plan to get your music mastered, do not try to add compression to the master track to obtain loudness.   Doing that can greatly hinder the engineer’s ability to master your track correctly. ·       It is the mastering engineer’s job to get your song to its loudest level.   If you add compression and the...
Read more

Our Rack Set-Up

Image
When you place to much gear in the chain you run the risk of over processing and loss of audio integrity.  So when it comes to our audio rack, we keep it simple.  Our audio rack set-up is as follows: PreSonus Studio One Channel This is a killer pre-amp, compressor, and EQ all rolled into one and it will get the job done on all recordings.  We use it on everything! Behringer Tube Ultragain T1953  This puppy is a very warm tube pre-amp.  Not very harsh with a high pass and low pass filter.  It also has phase reversal and frequency altering capabilities. 462 BBE Sonic Maximizer This is basically a phase correcting exciter that lifts the mud off of all recordings. Multigate Pro XR4400 This is a noise gate that we use on live drums.  Used correctly, no noise can penetrate this baby! Ultragraph Digital DEQ1024 If you don't know how to EQ, stay away from this one.  For professionals only.  It is a...
Read more