"home" mastering question

[Bouncer]

When I do "home" mastering, is it better to bounce the track to a single file and reload in a new project? I always do that and i tweak the izotope and save the settings and than I open my original project, load the izotope on the master channel with the saved setting and then I tweak some things in the mixer (and of course izotope after that) and than I bounce the final file from that project. Is it the same quality job as if I tweak but bounce without the izotope and then open the bounced file in the new project and do final mastering and bounce there?

thanks

hopefully Langford gets to this ))

[Scott Jackson]

hopefully Langford gets to this ))

Langford?

You must mean Lagerfeldt.

[Bouncer]

yeah, the mastering guy. i must have gotten the name wrong

[David]

Is it the same quality job as if I tweak but bounce without the izotope and then open the bounced file in the new project and do final mastering and bounce there?

Short answer: Yes, it's the same quality. Choose the work flow that works best for you. I prefer bouncing, then importing into a new project and do my mastering in that new project.

Long answer: Well, it's not exactly the same quality. Logic has a 32 bit floating point engine, and by doing everything in the same project you avoid bouncing to 24 bit fixed point only to go back to 32 bit floating point calculations in a new project. Mastering in a different project means that you limit your dynamic range to the 144 dB of 24 bit fixed point. Is that a problem? Well.... only if you don't take advantage of the full 144 dB of dynamic that 24 bit fixed point has to offer. Meaning, for example, if you bounced your project at -85 dB FS. But unless you do anything silly like that, you won't hear a difference.

[shivermetimbers]

[rhys]

Cant believe I actually tried that LOL

[Bouncer]

:shock:

lol

[lagerfeldt]

Long answer: Well, it's not exactly the same quality. Logic has a 32 bit floating point engine, and by doing everything in the same project you avoid bouncing to 24 bit fixed point only to go back to 32 bit floating point calculations in a new project. That means that you go from 144 dB of dynamic to 96 dB back to 144. Is that a problem? Well.... only if you don't take advantage of the full 96 dB of dynamic that 24 bit fixed point has to offer. Meaning, for example, if you bounced your project at -45 dB FS. But unless you do anything silly like that, you won't hear a difference.

32 bit floating point has a headroom of more than 1.000 dB.

24 bit has a dynamic range of 144 dB.

Since the extra bits in floating point are used for processing headroom or lossless scaling, the actual audio is still 24 bit so to speak. So when you're bouncing from 32 bit floating point to 24 bit you're essentially getting the same sound.

16 bit has a dynamic range of 96 dB.

So you don't go back and forth from a dynamic range of 144 dB (24 bit) and 96 dB (16 bit). What you're saying would only be true for 24 bit and 16 bit, but not for floating point and 24 bit, which is the case here.

@4pointsgpa, there's no problem in bouncing to 24 bit, importing that file in a new project and mastering on that file. I suggest you don't add colored dither or noise shaping on the 24 bit mixdown bounce, but only on the final master bounce which would be 16 bit for CD or 24 bit for other purposes, unless otherwise specified.

Regards,

Lagerfeldt (which means Field of Laurels, and is a Swedish name although I'm Danish)

[David]

Long answer: Well, it's not exactly the same quality. Logic has a 32 bit floating point engine, and by doing everything in the same project you avoid bouncing to 24 bit fixed point only to go back to 32 bit floating point calculations in a new project. That means that you go from 144 dB of dynamic to 96 dB back to 144. Is that a problem? Well.... only if you don't take advantage of the full 96 dB of dynamic that 24 bit fixed point has to offer. Meaning, for example, if you bounced your project at -45 dB FS. But unless you do anything silly like that, you won't hear a difference.

32 bit floating point has a headroom of more than 1.000 dB.

24 bit has a dynamic range of 144 dB.

Since the extra bits in floating point are used for processing headroom or lossless scaling, the actual audio is still 24 bit so to speak. So when you're bouncing from 32 bit floating point to 24 bit you're essentially getting the same sound.

16 bit has a dynamic range of 96 dB.

So you don't go back and forth from a dynamic range of 144 dB (24 bit) and 96 dB (16 bit). What you're saying would only be true for 24 bit and 16 bit, but not for floating point and 24 bit, which is the case here.

ARGHH you're right lagerfeldt, I completely mixed up my numbers. I have now corrected the numbers in my original post.

[lagerfeldt]

I know you simply mixed them up which is why I decided to write a really dry and matter-of-fact reply Heh heh, don't hate me now!