commercial cd sound?

[rxfit06]

Hello,

Can anyone please confirm what I believe to be true.

I've done quite a bit of reading on mastering, and of course use my Uad-1 Ultra Pak, along with a few analog pieces, : Aphex 320A compressor, 204 Exciter, and 720 Dominator II to master with.

No matter what I do I can't seem to get close to that \"sound\" of a commercial cd. While my mastered mixes are good, they are, IMO, just very good demo quality recordings.

I realize I may never have the budget for gear that would allow me to achieve the finished sound I'm referring to, but I sure would like to know what exactly is being used in the professional masteing studios to achieve said sound. I'm aware of the many possible signal chains in a pro mastering house, but surely you guys know what I'm talking about when I refer to the \"sound\". To me I would describe it as soft, yet puncy, glued together, yet with separation, broad dynamic range without being overly eq'd, and finally, ... all the instruments and vocals are in your face, but seem to be behind a silky, transparent wall. Does that make sense? That \"silkyness\" is what I can't achieve.

I know many would say it's all about the front end recording. And while that is true to an extent, ... I've heard another local mix engineers' work coming straight off his near fields, and IMO my mixes at that same stage sound better. I then heard his same project after it had been mastered, and the difference was astounding! ,.. it indeed had that polished comercial sound. I can't recall who mastered it or where, just that it was done in Charlotte, NC ( I live in SC ), .. so I know it wasn't a heavy hitter as far as mastering engineers go.

So, to sum up ( no pun intended ), I now believe the most important piece of gear, according to what my ear is telling me, would be a very high end compressor,.. i.e., Manley Vari Mu, ect. This would give a good mix that silky, cohesive glue that I was referring to.

Comments? How far off base do you guys think I am?

Thanks,
Marc

 

[Staccato]

I think it premature to give the credit to one piece of gear. If you post a link to some of your material, we could hear what you're talking about.

 

[MASSIVE Mastering]

First - I'd go as far as to say that the 207 shouldn't be in the chain. That will likely *prevent* you from getting \"that sound\" no matter what else you try.

That all being said -

Yes, the mix is important. But yes, the mastering tools are important. There is no substitute for the Variable Mu compressor. There is no substitute for the STC8. At least here...

When I hear a mix, I immediately know which one, or combination and in what order is going to be used to get \"that\" sound.

THAT all being said -

I have a 320A... It's a decent track compressor, great live compressor, decent broadcast piece. Can't get it to sound worth a damn on the 2-buss. And noisy... Whoa... Few pieces I have can actually be clearly heard while \"idling\" - That's one of them. It's going out for mods soof enough, but I really don't have any dreams of it ever being a solid mix buss unit.

I have a \"fairly heavily modified\" (previous owner's description) 722 DII... That'll work - Just. I'm actually sending that out for further tweaking. It can very easily impede \"that\" sound. I'm having the majority of the tone circuitry removed, the density control taken out, the input gain function bypassed... I might even have the crossover points hard-wired. I've never used anything other than .1 and 3.4k on it. It's a nice unit, but there is SO much \"garbage\" in the box that I'd never have imagined it being worth a darn. The previous mods were impressive though - VERY quiet - and rather \"gentle\" sounding compared to my old one.

THAT all being said -

If you're looking for \"silky, creamy goodness\" then definitely try to rent a VariMu for a week or something. Or perhaps even an Art Pro VLA... Not the same type of unit, but definitely a \"thick\" LA2A-ish sound. Leaves a bit much of a footprint though...

 

[dt]

My own approach is to have mixes sound 99% there before mastering. Mastering can do a lot to alter, repair or enhance a mix's sound, but I only want mastering to add the last little fine touches of EQ and/or compression, if even that, but really don't want the sound to vary drastically from mix to master. \"Glue\" as a single path is fine to some degree if approached carefully, but too often smears the separation of instruments (in general - this isn't something a good mastering engineer would allow).

Of course it is more difficult to create the \"glue\" within the multitrack setting, but that's where it should happen. The best way is to find tools to make each track contribute to that sound, such that when they are combined, they fit like a puzzle. Even if mastering adds the last 5%, your mixes will be better off.