Status: Single
City: Helsinki
State: Uusimaa
Country: FI
Signup Date: 10/23/2007
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July 25, 2009 - Saturday
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Hello all,
after several projects mastered for Colossus/Musea,
I've decided once again to summarize a few thoughts so that things get easier
for everyone. I will try to keep this short, so you're invited to follow through
and, possibly, respect the following guidelines which are based on my experience
of the last few years. And many thanks, of course!
1. NAMING AND FORMATS
Once upon a time, the tracks for mastering would
arrive on some optical support. Not anymore: now everything is web-oriented. I
often download a serious number of files over a period of a few weeks, and while
I do my best to keep things tidy and in order, this is not the easiest task on
Earth. The main reasons for this are that some bands change with respect to the
list I have at the beginning, and some other send several versions for me to
choose from; moreover, some change their mind and send a newer version after a
few weeks. This can make things VERY difficult when one is dealing with two
projects at once, which have some bands in common, and so on.
Therefore, I kindly ask you to follow these
instructions when you prepare your files for upload on some server.
A) The filename MUST start with the name
of the project, or at least a comprehensible abbreviation of it;
B) Immediately after, I would like to see
the name of the band;
C) If reasonable, the title of the song
should follow;
D) The extension (.wav, aiff) should be
present.
So, for instance, a name like
"Purgatory_MyBand_GoToHell.aiff" is correct, while
"Old_Cover_By_Kaipa_Band_Forgotten_Project_Fooked" is not.
Again, and just to clarify: please name
your files as follows: PROJECT_BAND_TITLE.extension, and no harm will
happen.
In case you send multiple versions, please label
them so, with suffixes like "version1" or "replacement". Bear in mind that some
servers tend to mess up with file creation dates, so it's sometimes not obvious
to unederstand which versions are the most recent.
About formats: it's really getting amusing... sample
rates vary wildly, and wordlengths too. To me, and in spite of whatever
manufacturers may say, unless you work on absolutely TOP-NOTCH equipment (in the
range of thousands and thousands of Euros or more), you should be aware
that:
A) 24-bit is certainly superior to 16-bit, but is
NEVER truly 24-bit. Call yourself lucky if your converter can get to 21-bit in a
clean way. The remaining three is thermal noise. Unless you find a way to record
in liquid helium, there's no way you may ever get to 24-bit. No converter
actually can.
B) 32-bit floating point is probably the most
ridiculous format ever conceived. Unless you're recording seismic events, you're
only exploiting a minuscule fraction of the available dynamic range. It's not
even supported by a professional software like ProTools, and it is useless in
every way to any conceivable purpose. Worst, it wastes a huge amount of disk
space and bandwidth, and it has to be converted in order to work on it, God
knows how, to 24-bit before proceeding. So, just don't use it. Nothing to gain,
a lot to lose.
C) 44.1 kHz is OK, 48kHz slightly less because
resampling is needed. 88.2 kHz is OK, 96kHz just a bit less. 192kHz or more is
overkill: there is no actual scientific proof that recordings made at such high
sampling frequencies translate into superior results (i.e. BETTER *PERCEIVED*
SOUND!) when they hit a 16-bit, 44.1kHz CD. And, of course, more work is
involved. So, I would simply avoid the problem by not using such sampling
frequencies.
D) BY ALL MEANS, if you start with a certain
sampling frequency, just STICK TO IT. If you're recording at 44.1kHz and then
decide to bounce at 96kHz you're NOT gaining absolutely anything. You're
actually making things worse. So, don't try this at home... whatever you do,
maintain the original frequency. Any conversion you may attempt makes no sense
at all.
I have to say that you're usually presented with
histograms which show, clearly and plainly, that 192kHz is better than 96kHz,
and 32-bit FP is better than 24-bit. Sure, and true... in histograms. But
reflect: we're not selling histograms, we're rather trying to convince people to
listen to music – and music doesn't belong in histograms and in the slightly
better noise spectrum you may find at -197.6 dBFS. And that be it.
2. PRE-MASTERED STUFF
I insist that tracks should be mixed WITHOUT
anything inserted on the master fader. So, don't compress, eq or limit your
final output. If you manage to avoid overs, much better. I hate it, but I have
to remind you that pushing all the faders all the way up and keeping the master
fader at -48 dB doesn't actually mean you're not clipping your mixer
internally... so use your ears, please. Crank up the volume if this needs be,
but if you feel it sounds bad, you'd better remix. Quite a few bands tend to
ignore this, and they send extremely limited mixes just because they're louder
and sound subjectively better. The problem is that the dynamics is largely lost,
and there is no way for me to recover it. Also, some bands send "final masters"
asking that nothing is changed. I've argued about this, but I won't anymore – I
surrender. It is a matter of fact that proper mastering implies working on a set
of tracks together, in the right order, and also that some headroom for movement
should be present. Re-mastering what was heavily mastered already is always a
loss and just makes things worse; on the other hands, tracks mastered outside
the final process will tend to sound different and stick out (or stick in, it
depends) like a sore thumb. I've long pondered about this, and I've made a sad
decision: from now on, whenever a track which was evidently compressed,
limited and finalised comes in, I will simply leave it as it is. But then, I
won't take responsibility if the overall product in the end sounds less smooth
than it should.
3. OVERALL PHILOSOPHY
Colossus projects almost invariably feature
extremely different bands and sounds. The fantastic collection of music
contained in each one of these projects reflects diversity – and I also think
it's everyone's personal contribution that makes these albums so precious. My
feeling is that we all should avoid trampling on each other's feet: I sometimes
get e-mails from someone who asks about which way is the best to do this or
that, and I am happy to help if I can – but at the same time I will never say
that this kind of plug-in should be used rather than another, and similar
things. Therefore, I guess that the best and happiest solution to this is that
THE BANDS concentrate on the music and the recording, but that should be the end
of the story. It is of course my wish and effort that things sound the best they
possibly can... but I can reach my own best, no matter how limited it is, only
if I have room to work. Please consider this before requesting that the final
result should remain untouched. If you really need to do so, so be it – and I
will oblige from now on, but believe me, the overall work will suffer from this
attitude.
4. FINAL SHAMELESS SELF-PLUG
At the beginning of July I was awarded the Totem
Prize for Art which is granted every year by a cultural association operating in
my reason. Over the last five years, a prize for music was awarded just twice,
and I am the second person who has had this honour. The reason behind the price
points at my long involvement in music and my attempt to squeeze emotion out of
it, almost unconsciously for the listener. This is a great reward, because it
goes straight to the heart of what I want to do... and I am sure I wouldn't have
arrived there if it hadn't been for all the projects I've had the luck to work
on. This includes YOUR projects of course, so a direct and heartfelt BIG "thank
you" is overdue, to Colossus, Musea and every band involved in the making of
this fantastic chunk of progressive music we have been and still are dealing
with.
For the occasion, you may like to know (or not!)
that for this occasione I've decided to publish a book I'd been writing for
three years. It's in Italian only, I'm afraid, and its title is "La musica nel
silenzio" (The music inside silence). It deals with my experiences, feelings,
and deeds in the field of music as a listener, performer, engineer and producer.
It also contains some very prog-oriened written material, mostly about VdGG and
other bands which landmarked the way we all know. It's also about a general
philosophy: that true music, no matter of which kind, never comes out of noise
and confusion – but from inner silence. Or so I believe, and so I try to
demonstrate. It's not for the faint-hearted... 320 pages of ramblings and
stories, all true, which attempt to portray my obsession for sound and what goes
with it. But if you're remotely interested, feel free to drop me a line about it
– marco@lolproductions.it is the
right place. Possibly, if you can, name the message "La musica nel silenzio",
because there's been a decent amount of traffic about it these days, and I tend
to get a bit swamped at times... ;-)
All the very best, and keep up the great work. I
will do my best to do the same.
Marco Olivotto
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Marco
Olivotto
LoL Productions
snc
1/A Via per
Sasso
38060 -
NOGAREDO (TN)
ITALY
Ph/Fax:
+39-0464-490614
10:09 AM
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