What's WaveBurner??

Waveburner:
There is probably a manual on apple's site.
You get 2 stereo tracks, import only, you use inserts, you can apply fades, crossfades, track indexes, cd text. Nothing really special for editing. An app that has been alive and dead for the past 7 years...

Waveburner allows you to take all of your mixes and tie them all together for the purposes of burning a CD. In the process, as Justin pointed out, you can adjust your track lengths and positions as well as apply fades and levels. You can apply some plug-ins such as the multipressor, limiter, eq, or 3rd party AU's such as Ozone to your entire project or to individual regions. Using all of the above to provide some coherency amongst your mixes is part of what the mastering process is about. Waveburner is a tool that aids in the mastering process.

Definitely recommend reading "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz for more on the mastering process, and the WaveBurner manual for how to use WB (it's in your Help menu item in Logic).

jord

I do use it for the mastering process. All of my bounced files are brought into Waveburner where I will then arrange them as to how I want them on a CD (it does matter what order they are on a track... to me, it tells a story). I will then see if I need to apply any plug-ins, such as EQ or compression. Remember that your tracks will have been mixed on different days, so you may have been in a certain mood when you mixed a particular song that may sound radically different that the last song you mixed. Thus, when you hear them both together, you may wind up going WHOA! because there may be no relationship between the tracks, but you like the order. Thus, you may need to adjust one of the tracks, or both, to make them "bond". Sometimes, you need to do this in the opposite direction as well and shock the listener.

Regardless of what you are doing, it is often the final step before the CD. That is how I view Waveburner.

jord

ray, i find that the transition between songs in critical. sometimes a cross fade will do the trick.
once one song has finished and your listening to the next, your mind soon forgets the previous because you are "in the moment" so to speak.
the easiest way to get the relative levels right, is to quickly skip between tracks you think should have the same loudness, then adjust these.

one big prob is making the scale between a ballad with just two performers, and an agro rock track after it(or before it) work. if you have the ballad too full, it will make the rock track sound wimpy, for instance.

plan the order of your tracks, take your audience on a journey. involve them.
give these peoples ears a rest every so often with dynamics in the tracks.

don't save the best till last, put most of your best in the first half.

man, i do soooo much of this, i can't be specific.

all i know is, 95% must be right of the song at the recording stage.

you can't "fix it in the mix" - i've never been able to do that.

to me, it's all part of the same process - music creation.

every song will be different - even if they're the same style and players.

experience is everything in this game.

Mastering is a process of making your songs presentable on various media. You will be taking the time to listen to it on as many sources as you can and make adjustments either by using EQ, compression, limiting or simply adjusting the output of your track... whatever works! The steps are simple:

1) listen
2) adjust
3) repeat steps 1 and 2 until it sounds right

You are missing the most importing tool in mastering: your ears. Mastering is about using your ears. Mastering is not about applying plug-ins. If a song doesn't need it, you don't use it. Just because I use Ozone, that doesn't mean that every track needs it. And, if I do use it, it all depends on what the mix is all about.

Dave already stated: you can't fix it in the mix. I'll add that if your mix isn't there, don't even think of mastering.

I think you may need to ask yourself what mastering means to you.

jord

Well put, Dave...

There is no specific method. Otherwise, all we'd need is a simple preset in Logic and it would be over and done with right there.

And I agree with you 100%: everything right up to the mix should be there first and foremost.

jord