I've heard great things about the Finalizer. I use Izotope's Ozone,
and it's a tool I couldn't do without! For the Black Art of mix-
down/mastering, you need EQ, compression/limiting, sweetening, etc.
My thing with anything I record is to get the best timbre-tone-
whatever to the track. It sounds simple: get the best sound on the
individual tracks and you'll get a great end product. But, as you
pointed out, the more you mess with a track, the less good it can
sound. The trick and hard part is getting that best sound to tape
(or disk) in the first place. Many years of bad recordings later,
I'm finally getting there.
Less is more less is more less is more...
Mike
--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "Roger Rossen" <mididood@a...> wrote:
> From Mike Marsh:
> I don't compress or limit the signal from the modular to my
deck...
> it just kills the dynamics... I like to get the right dynamics
and
> timbre out of the synth and record it naked...
>
> Mike,
>
> Great advice - it sounds like you know whats going on when it
comes
> to recording!
> I keep finding, the more I go on - that its way too easy to get
> sucked into the vortex of: "how do I use this thing or that?"
>
> Lotsa times the best answer is: DON'T use this or that...
>
> Especially with EQ and all - it always seems to cause 'hidden'
> phasing problems when you get a little too crafty with the
> parametrics - eh? An endless battle I feel...
>
> Then again, just to confuse things, my TC Electronics Finalizer
does
> stuff that I don't even understand - and can make things sound
great -
> I just can't always figure it out though - so I just have, at
least,
> one trusty yet mysterious 'black box'in my arsenal - and only God
> knows how it works...
>
> Something like the pro-studio's LA-2s and Neuman U-47s...which
I'll
> never be able to afford anyways!
>
> Less is better - start with the George Martin 4-track thing and
> you'll get to where you wanna go alot quicker I think. There's
just
> too darn many little knobs to get you all sidetracked and into
> the "mush-mix" zone...I've done it myself, way too many times
already!
>
> Best,
>
> Rog