Instant Mastering Website

[allen]

I just discovered LANDR an intelligent audio tool by Mix Genius. It is a drag and drop online mastering tool. It offers a hobbyist, amateur and pro subscription. The site states that it offers free mastering of 192 kbps mp3's and you can upgrade for uncompressed WAV files. Amateur subscription is $9 a month and the Pro is $19. The Pro version offers control of mastering settings. It also states that there is no brickwall limiting involved. The downside is a footnote stating the unlimited uncompressed masters are for personal use only. Here is the link. https://www.landr.com/#/pricing

Allen
http://allenmyers.com/
https://soundcloud.com/allen-myers

[andygabrys]

ah....looks like limiting is indeed part of the schtick:

from the about page:

Officially, LANDR is a hyper-intelligent combination of machine learning, micro-genre recognition and human intelligence, analyzing and responding to your tracks with multi-band compression, limiting, stereo correction, equalization, delay correction and excitation. These highly intelligent modules are all co-operating to create a studio-quality master, instantly.

they said they tried to make it more intelligent than just slam it with compression and brick wall it.

so I am uploading a jazz quartet studio mix that I just did tonight for a guitarist in Colorado and I also mastered on my own stuff, so I can A/B.

we'll see

[andygabrys]

okay first try is pretty bad. distorted.

to be fair, its a tough track with some meditative guitar and singing bowls that closes out the album and the dynamic range is pretty huge.

[andygabrys]

okay second and third tries same deal.

The "set-point" that the LANDR system seems to be aiming for is about 2 to 3 db less dynamic range than what i thought was appropriate on these masters. Although they say they are not going for brickwall compression and limiting, there is no possible way that you can get a track that already peaks just under digital 0 to have less dynamic range that what I have done without limiting (or adding saturation but that's not really appropriate for this genre and would likely show up as slightly distorted anyways) - because I uploaded the same mix that I used to master myself. you could argue that remixing the track with more compression on the individual constituent parts would give a louder mix with less dynamic range - sure, but again not really apropos for the genre.

result = pressed ham under glass, depth in original mix lacking, audible distortion on many mix elements.

now this is acoustic jazz recorded in a decent studio through a decent board and outboard.

I would imagine the LANDR system is better optimised for pop or EDM where a more aggressive and loud sound is desired.

That's my next trial.

[andygabrys]

ok just did a bubblegum pop thing a la call me maybe.

sounds pretty good on this stuff. the major thing is I can hear a nice midrange cut on the eq on the LANDR track which actually makes it sound clearer and tighter than my master that i compared against. No problem with distortion. Its the kind of track that masks it.

interesting. this might be a good ear training thing.

[GavinKMusic]

cool thanks for the link! giving it a whirl now..

G

[GavinKMusic]

ok 2 tracks. Track #1 mastered by a studio using outboard gear and Track #2 is the LANDR instant master.

Master #1: https://soundcloud.com/the-element-musi ... e-download

Master #2: https://soundcloud.com/the-element-musi ... 78/s-S4xjR

Let me know what you guys think? In both I left 7.8db of headroom and no master fx.

Thanks,
G

[Russell Landwehr]

Oh! I remember this from a previous post. You've done some work on the song... cool


2nd link isn't working.

[GavinKMusic]

Thanks. ok fixed it...
https://soundcloud.com/the-element-musi ... 78/s-S4xjR

its a private link..

[Russell Landwehr]

VERY interesting, Gavin. I like the in-your-face punch of the second track. That is more like how I would master a song like that. The first one sounds muted in comparison. However, the mastering of the 2nd example sorta screwed up the mix. That is why I like to:

1. mix
2. stick the mastering plug-ins on the main bus
3 mix again.

Thanks for the A/B

Russell