Making-of Michael Wagener Signature Rig Pack

    ^^Apparently that's how they advertise some of Toontrack's EZMix products, so go figure...


    Seriously though, how many guys do you think have every single piece of gear in John Petrucci's signal chain? Or Eric Clapton's? Or Steve Vai's? Does it really make that much of a difference if I have all that gear?


    Heck, even guitars are different. They pick up all kinds of strange sonic characteristics as you wear them in... Chances are, even if two guys have the same guitar with EMGs, they'll sound different. Look at all the bands with EMG guitarists. They don't sound the same... Like Hanneman (God rest his soul) and King... It's something to do with how you fret notes, how you apply vibrato, how you move around the fretboard...


    In the end, there is no replacing producers. I've been hearing so many home produced records nowadays and the mixing techniques and procedure followed is so similar, that everything is starting to sound the same to me, production-wise. It's a sterile quality, with punch, but without "feel.... But I buy a CD put out by a commercially successful band that went to a studio and I hear all kinds of punch and dynamics which I attribute to "studio magic".


    I'm not big, doubt I could pay Mr Wagener to record profiles for me. If I was that rich, I'd rather pay him to mix and master actually. The man's experience would clearly outshine anything I could do with software and plugins, stolen or otherwise.

    Quote from nightlight

    In the end, there is no replacing producers. I've been hearing so many home produced records nowadays and the mixing techniques and procedure followed is so similar, that everything is starting to sound the same to me, production-wise. It's a sterile quality, with punch, but without "feel.... But I buy a CD put out by a commercially successful band that went to a studio and I hear all kinds of punch and dynamics which I attribute to "studio magic".


    Imho the main reason home produced music doesn't sound "pro" is because the mastering is done at home as well, usually just by slapping a brick wall limiter on the master bus. We sent our previous EP to Unisound for mastering and it came back as a completely transformed sound, something I could've never accomplished with something like Ozone. A $100 plugin just isn't the same as running the music through a rack full of $$$ analog gear, and then add the better monitoring and professional ears doing the tweaking to that.

    Quote from guitarmania62

    Hmmmm......It would be boring to hear everybody with the same few sounds and styles...


    Don't worry! You can always expand you tone by buying Brand new-great&shiny-break-through-astral-technology plugin: PLAYING STYLE PROFILE BLENDER!
    Just imagine those bizarre combinations you could try.... Then there will be only one question: "But will it blend?" :D :D

    Quote from nakedzen

    Imho the main reason home produced music doesn't sound "pro" is because the mastering is done at home as well, usually just by slapping a brick wall limiter on the master bus. We sent our previous EP to Unisound for mastering and it came back as a completely transformed sound, something I could've never accomplished with something like Ozone. A $100 plugin just isn't the same as running the music through a rack full of $$$ analog gear, and then add the better monitoring and professional ears doing the tweaking to that.


    TOTALLY agree :thumbup: the one place semi-pro studios and artists fall short is the final mastering, of course mixing is critical too; both require a discerning ear. There's much to be said for and gained by running the final, finals through outboard pro gear. We used Melrose Studios in Hollywood for our last album and it made such a difference... Also, we sent ours with music mix and vocal tracks separate so they could apply vocal processing techniques with outboard gear the same way and then combine for the finals.. then mastered.. you just can't afford the gear they have in a small studio and then there's the art component of it... they know their gear and techniques to get the sound..

    Gettin' funky up in here..

    Quote


    TOTALLY agree :thumbup: the one place semi-pro studios and artists fall short is the final mastering, of course mixing is critical too; both require a discerning ear. There's much to be said for and gained by running the final, finals through outboard pro gear. We used Melrose Studios in Hollywood for our last album and it made such a difference... Also, we sent ours with music mix and vocal tracks separate so they could apply vocal processing techniques with outboard gear the same way and then combine for the finals.. then mastered.. you just can't afford the gear they have in a small studio and then there's the art component of it... they know their gear and techniques to get the sound..


    Very true I've been telling band who come and record in my studio make sure you have a good budget to send your mixes off to get mastered professionally eg Abbey road etc one band did do this and there track came back sounding awesome !!!!!!



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    If sound of your mix is dramatically changed after mastering means that you made poor mixing. In ideal situation it should not be very different. Some professional producers like Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) don't master at all.


    I agree the statements about the value of experience and techniques though.

    Nobody expects a mastering doing wonders to a poor mix.
    A good mastering will enhance a good mix though and will attenuate inherent weaknesses in a mix.
    For my part, our last album was mastered by Rob Perez (robbue here in this forum) at indieaudiomastering.com and I can't thank the man enough for that!!!
    Awesome service and 1000% recommended.
    ANYBODY should treat at least one song to a proper mastering.

    Quote from Konstantin

    If sound of your mix is dramatically changed after mastering means that you made poor mixing. In ideal situation it should not be very different. Some professional producers like Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) don't master at all.


    I agree the statements about the value of experience and techniques though.



    That's not what I said at all. Mastering doesn't change the mix, mixing changes your mix. What I meant was that you can't achieve the same "sheen" and punch professional mastering gives you with a $100 plugin at home. At least I can't. :)

    Quote from Konstantin

    If sound of your mix is dramatically changed after mastering means that you made poor mixing. In ideal situation it should not be very different.


    sorry.. gotta disagree... mixing and mastering are two completely different processes and both add value. if you've got a crappy mix then you're still gonna have a crappy mix after mastering.. so for mixing do your homework.. a lot of listening on different monitors and environments... very little detail counts; then take it to a pro to master and listen again... repeat until it is smoking hot! 8o

    Gettin' funky up in here..

    Quote from Lokasenna

    A Metallica album, 2003ish, infamous for them taking a "don't tune anything and mix it really badly so it sounds like a garage band" approach. Like, to the point of the snare sounding like an oil drum and the guitars not being in tune with each other.


    Apparently they're pretty humorous about it: :D


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