Official Mastering Showdown

Mastering Showdown ​

Since this took place, 2 other people haved edited/mastered this work. They are phaytal (mastering) and AZE (editing), and are avaliable on the soundclick page.
The winner of all this was OGDOGG and his website is http://www.


Contestants:

• Ghetalion
• OgDogg

Track:

• Def - The Takeover

Equipment Used:

• AT 3035 Microphone
• DBX Mini-Pre Preamp
• DBX 266XL Compressor (settings set to act as a limiter)
• SoundMAX Digital Audio (stock soundcard)

Final Versions:

• Straight Mixed Down - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/masteringshowdown.htm
• My Mix - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/masteringshowdown.htm
• Mastering 1 - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/masteringshowdown.htm
• Mastering 2 - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/masteringshowdown.htm

NOTE: Vocals will be recorded and sent to both producers on Tuesday October 28 2003
NOTE 2: The beat cuts off near the end and i spit a part accapella so we can hear track mastering and vocal quality changes
NOTE 3: I am not doing this to get freebie mastering, i recorded a 30 second verse pretty much and this is to help people decide which producer to go with

Aite - i got my shit recorded - hit me up on AIM both of yall, you have my sn
I got my shit sent to Og Dogg
where ya at G?

Aite - now open for discussion and voting - please dont clutter this thread - i just want you to say your vote and an explination why - any other posts will be deleted
Heres where they at:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/masteringshowdown.htm

I'd say Mastering B... the vocals are clearer.

I had a tough time mixing this.. damn guitars and your voice are on the same frequency!

OgDogg said the same thing, and he had trouble cuz the beat was pre-mixed

B....minus the fact that it has the AIM door opening sound byte in it...LOL

I dunno i think "a"....im listenin on headphones and the vocals sound much crisper and the vocals stand out in the beat much better...it all together to me has a more professional sound,my headphones normally dont lie to me...so ima go with "a" it gets my vote....

Um... well, Im listning through my monitors now... ok....now headphones...

Um, well...

I dont really see a big diff in the unmastered, compared to a, and b, just subtle... a seems like its... held back...b sounds a little clearer than a.

I can see how this would be tough to master.

I personally wouldnt pay for "mastering" if this is all it done to the track from unmastered.

'a' was a lil warmer, but a bit too muddy
'b' was pretty clear & strong

vote = b

ps, this track because of the noisy guitar must have been a pain to work with lol

a - 1 vote
b - 3 votes (all or nothin...whats your vote?)

To spitz, thats my vocal booth door closing, he jus didnt take it out
To unsigned hype - i recorded 2 songs, both being somewhat hard to work with as i kinda wanted to test thier skills

track a

hands down

there is almost no difference between b and the original.
why pay for something that doesnt make your shit sound better...

a had a warmer, and phatter sound.

<listened to both several times on mackie hr824s

but honestly i wouldn't pay for either.

quality wuz not good after mastering.. but..
track A.. seemed a little "fuller".. something added to the vocals to make them stand out..
track B.. seemed like the vocals were more clear..
i dont know.. neither one of them sounded great.. but if i was going to have my stuff done.. i would rather my vocals be clear, than warmed over..
vote.. B

Once again, the most important step in any mastering project is how it is recorded.

Yea in either one there isnt even 10 dollars worth of difference but I give this to .... A even thought he Door could have easily been takin' out lol...just sounded nicer to me even though neither were worth the price...

Vote : A

yea, honestly, i could not tell any difference between track B and the unmastered version....

i went back and listened AGAIN....

vote: A ... simple because i could CLEARLY hear what was being said in the rap... lol, i also liked the reverb a lil bit better

^^^exactly the whole point to me is to be able to hear the actual vocals,i mean its good to have crisp vocals but if you cant hear em then whats tha point???

like i said a deserves this but let tha votes pan it out i guess....

pzzzz

a - 4
b - 4

master a-more presense...muddy tho....

master b-less presense..more inside the beat..clearer vocals

this is a real hard one to judge...

but ima say B because it sounds more professional