Mastering Your Song

The term "mastering" gets thrown around a lot these days. In this section, I'm going explain how to apply certain effects, such as EQ and compression, to your entire mix. Some people call this mastering; I call it applying effects across the entire mix. To me, mastering is a very specialized skill, and few people have the appropriate gear, environment, and most of all, ears to be a mastering engineer.

Not everyone can afford to have his songs mastered in the true sense. But you can use tools such as EQ, compression, and limiting to put a bit of sparkle and pizzazz into your final mix.

Using Internal Effects

Once you've bounced all your tracks down to a stereo pair, you can now apply effects across the mix. This procedure isn't any different than applying effects during a bounce, as that is essentially what you are doing. Most of the time, you'll want to consider using EQ and compression across the mix, as this can give you a tighter, more balanced sound. However, don't be afraid to experiment with other effects as well.

Using the Mastering Tool Kit

The VS8F-2 Effect Expansion Boards include an internal effect algorithm called the Mastering Tool Kit, or MTK, as a way for VS users to master their projects. Sorry, VS-880 users ”the MTK is not available on the VS-880 workstations.

To help you get started with mastering, Roland provides 19 MTK presets. These presets on the VS-880EX are listed as effects C10 through C28. As with any preset, you can change the settings within the MTK to customize a MTK preset to your liking. To get the most out of the MTK effect, you first need to understand everything that is included in the MTK.

The MTK contains nine different effect blocks, and just like all internal effects, the order of the effect blocks cannot be changed. Here is a description of each of the nine effect blocks within the MTK:

• EQ (Equalizer): This effect block offers a 4-band EQ. The high and low bands can be configured as either shelving or parametric EQs, and the two middle bands are parametric EQs. You can also adjust the level of the signal before and after the 4- band EQ.

• BC (Bass-Cut Filter): This effect block contains a bass-cut filter, which you can use to reduce low-end frequencies that can muddy up your mix.

• ENH (Enhancer): This effect block allows you to add a phase-shifted signal to the original signal. With this type of effect, a little goes a long way, so use it sparingly (unless you are purposely trying to get a unique sound).

• IN (Input): This effect block provides a way to split the input signal into three separate frequency ranges, each of which can them be processed independently by the compressor and expander effect blocks. You can also set the look-ahead time used by the compressor and expander effect blocks. The level of the signal can be adjusted before the frequency splitting step.

• EXP (Expander): This effect block gives you the ability to apply an expander to each of the three frequency ranges defined in the Input block. Each instance of the expander has its own settings.

• CMP (Compressor): This effect block is the heart of the MTK, providing a way to apply a compressor to each of the three frequency ranges defined in the Input block. Each instance of the compressor has its own settings.

• MIX (Mixer): This effect block controls the level of each of the three frequency ranges after passing through the expander and compressor effect blocks. This effect block then merges all three frequency ranges back together.

• LMT (Limiter): This effect block contains a limiter, which you can place in the signal path to restrict any excessive signal peaks.

• OUT (Output): This is the last effect block in the MTK, and it allows you to choose if you want to dither the signal. You can also adjust the level of the signal returned from the MTK.

Now that you know the effects that the MTK contains, here are a few ways to use the MTK. The most common way to apply the MTK is as an insert effect. In our recording example, if we wanted to apply the MTK, we'd need to assign one of the MTK presets to the EFFECT1 effects processor and make adjustments to the effect parameters as necessary. Then we'd need to bounce our final stereo pair of tracks once again so that the MTK effect gets applied to the destination tracks. Remember, the process that burns the audio CD won't include any effect processing that is active at the time, so we need to have our MTK effect applied during a bounce.

This is certainly a great way to use the Mastering Tool Kit. However, this shouldn't limit the ways in which you consider using the MTK. Individual tracks, stereo tracks, or even submixes can be processed using the MTK. Likewise, interesting results can be obtained when using the MTK in a send/return configuration. In addition, you could use the MTK and only activate certain effects blocks within the MTK, like the Enhancer or the Limiter. Experimenting with the MTK can lead to interesting and innovative results.

Look Out for Look-Ahead

The Input block of the MTK contains a look-ahead setting, D-Time, which can be adjusted between 0ms and 10ms. The input signal is delayed by the amount specified in D-Time before being processed by the Expander and Compressor effect blocks. Setting this value to 10ms allows the expanders and compressors to react more quickly, which can improve their effectiveness.

If you are using the MTK when bouncing tracks, remember that the destination tracks will be delayed in time by the value specified in D-Time. For example, setting D-Time to 10ms will result in the destination tracks being roughly 30 subframes behind the source tracks in the timeline.

Be aware that the MTK uses both stereo effect processors. This means that you must assign the MTK to EFFECT1. Once you've assigned the MTK to EFFECT1, if you try to assign an effect to the EFFECT2 effects processor, you'll see the message Can't Use FX2.

Mixing to an External Source

One of the advantages of mixing down to an external source such as a stand-alone audio CD burner is that you don't have to bounce all of your tracks down to a stereo pair. If you are mixing to an external source, you can apply effects to the entire mix without having to bounce all of your tracks to a stereo pair first. You do this by inserting effects into the Master Block. When effects are inserted into the Master Block, they get applied to the entire mix, and the main outputs and the digital outputs contain the effected signals.

If you want to insert two different effects using this method, bring up the Master Block settings, use the and parameter buttons until you see MST FX1 Ins Sw = OFF, and then use the jogwheel to change it to ON. Do the same for the FX2 parameter as well. Now when you play the song, the entire mix gets processed by both effects.

If you are bouncing tracks and have effects inserted into the Master Block, the effects will not be applied during the bounce. Also note that the Master Block only allows for effects to be inserted. You cannot use effects in a send/return manner within the Master Block.