Waves Online Mastering (AI AI AI alert)

[Whizzinby]

I’m looking forward to cyberMonday and Ozone11.

I’ve heard a few comparisons between Ozone 9, 10 and 11, have some understanding of the newest modules (clarity?), and it seems like they did improve the intelligent assistant over 10.

Also, the new stem mastering capabilities (vocal, bass, drums isolation) might be cool - dunno

I didn’t realize they released a new version. I’ll see if I can do an A/B with it over the next couple days. (I just do the subscription thing with them so I can get whatever their latest gadget is, without having to feel like I’m getting the grab your ankles treatment all at once)

 

[HotRats]

Yeah, at least with Ozone you can adjust whatever it does and hear for yourself.

If you ever have the opportunity to work with a pro mastering engineer on your song, try and book an attended session and see what they do. It’ll be different for each song and a huge part of the battle is their monitoring which is usually an experience in itself, to hear your songs in that kind of environment.

There’s access to so many of the pro’s working now with youtube/MWTM/puremix etc. I think MWTM actually just made John Davis‘s mastering series free as he sadly passed this week.

My guess is that kind of experience will become (even more than now) something for the elite or those who has money to spend for their hobby.
I believe AI has a lot of potential in the mastering business and AI is running fast.

Most musicians basically trust what the mastering engineer does, some give few indications and only few are able to really catch the details or care about them.

That's the perfect scenario for an AI machine, imho.

I bet in a near future someone will come out with a black box plug-in or online service with few controls (louder, more dynamic, brighter, punchier, ect) without deep or technical controls. That would be more than enough for mastering most of the music out there.

 

[Iron1]

but lack of HI is concerning. (HI=human intelligence.)

Not sure if you're referring to this particular topic or the 21st century here...


I tried a few different mastering programs years ago and usually felt like it just ran it through a BBE Sonic Maximizer sim and turned the volume up after hi passing the low end that robs overall energy. Definitely didn't improve anything and in many occasions upped the ear-rape value.

Now that was 5-7 years ago (and my mixing ability has improved a lot since then), so maybe as some mention above, it's worth giving it a shot just to have my mixes ready for a human engineer to master.

How much of a difference is there between Ozone Elements 11 and the Ozone Advanced 11?

 

[mavrick102000]

IIRC the elements versions give you the assistants only and a limited set, you can't tweak or customize other than those settings.

With advanced you get all functionality of all of the plugs, Ozone (Master), Neutron (Mix) etc and have the option to use the assistant/learn functions, but then adjust manually after they've applied settings as you feel necessary. Being able to customize before or after defintely helps in the learning area, particularly around getting some clarity in certain frequencies and controlling or widening the stereo field.

One of the key features I've seen with 11 is the stem function, it can literally go in an isolate the drum track and tweak that, or vocals individually, so you can listen to how it affects the entire song and how it sits in the mix, with or without the full effect of the Maximizer a.k.a."Loudness wars setting"

 

[MirrorProfiles]

My guess is that kind of experience will become (even more than now) something for the elite or those who has money to spend for their hobby.
I believe AI has a lot of potential in the mastering business and AI is running fast.

Most musicians basically trust what the mastering engineer does, some give few indications and only few are able to really catch the details or care about them.

That's the perfect scenario for an AI machine, imho.

I bet in a near future someone will come out with a black box plug-in or online service with few controls (louder, more dynamic, brighter, punchier, ect) without deep or technical controls. That would be more than enough for mastering most of the music out there.

I don’t disagree with any of this, but I don’t see these jobs as ones that are using professional mastering engineers in the first place.

If i’m not hiring one of the big mastering houses, I typically master myself. I’m not against AI assisting me with my work, but I also wouldn’t pretend that it offers anything close to what one of the top pro’s would offer. I also think it makes a difference when a human is signing the work off or adjusting any automated decisions to fit.

The fully automated services sort of fill me with dread, but ultimately any serious music is unlikely to use their services just yet anyway. I think it mostly appeals to demos and small releases/projects as a kind of safety net. Anyone who seriously cares about their art would hire a pro.

 

[Whizzinby]

The fully automated services sort of fill me with dread, but ultimately any serious music is unlikely to use their services just yet anyway. I think it mostly appeals to demos and small releases/projects as a kind of safety net. Anyone who seriously cares about their art would hire a pro.

That goes without saying though. If you’re a professional trying sell your music, of course would want to turn to an experienced professional.

But my guess is 95% of their target audience is home enthusiasts who just want to be able to take a demo and turn it into something that they’d feel comfortable letting others hear.

Reminds me of when I was young and me and my friends would use some piece of shit 4-track recorder to make “demos”. They sounded absolutely atrocious since we didn’t have any proper equipment or know how. We still had fun doing it, but those demos were just objectively terrible. My 18yo self would be absolutely floored by some of the tools we have at our disposal now, and I think it’s opened the doors for a lot of people to do things they never thought was possible on their own. Progress imo.

 

[HotRats]

I don’t disagree with any of this, but I don’t see these jobs as ones that are using professional mastering engineers in the first place.

If i’m not hiring one of the big mastering houses, I typically master myself. I’m not against AI assisting me with my work, but I also wouldn’t pretend that it offers anything close to what one of the top pro’s would offer. I also think it makes a difference when a human is signing the work off or adjusting any automated decisions to fit.

The fully automated services sort of fill me with dread, but ultimately any serious music is unlikely to use their services just yet anyway. I think it mostly appeals to demos and small releases/projects as a kind of safety net. Anyone who seriously cares about their art would hire a pro.

100%

 

[HotRats]

That goes without saying though. If you’re a professional trying sell your music, of course would want to turn to an experienced professional.

But my guess is 95% of their target audience is home enthusiasts who just want to be able to take a demo and turn it into something that they’d feel comfortable letting others hear.

Reminds me of when I was young and me and my friends would use some piece of shit 4-track recorder to make “demos”. They sounded absolutely atrocious since we didn’t have any proper equipment or know how. We still had fun doing it, but those demos were just objectively terrible. My 18yo self would be absolutely floored by some of the tools we have at our disposal now, and I think it’s opened the doors for a lot of people to do things they never thought was possible on their own. Progress imo.

I've recorded countless hours on my 4 track recorder and enjoyed every minute of the process and the result too , even if was terrible compared to today's standards. I've actually put the base of my future profession in my basement with those poor tools.

The progress we love and appreciate made lots of small and big recording studio close (I'm not judging, it's life) and my guess is that AI will do the same to the mastering business because, while recording and mixing has moved from studio to bedrooms, mastering has been affected less by progress, for many reasons.

I think now is their turn because AI is getting better at an incredible fast pace and I think mastering is one of those things where AI can do a great job. Now we see tools and services aimed to enthusiast but as soon as the machine will be better those services will start aiming higher.

Smaller mastering studios, those who serve the local scene and smaller labels are in danger, imo, and they need to take action now.