DR-03SD Mastering Questions

[RickyLee]

So, I had some time to mess with my DR-03SD for the first time. Learned a cery hard lesson on the chincy power supply barrel plug connector connection to the recorder, I had my song tracking almost complete, slightly moved it to plug in a guitar cable on the back and the power went out! So basically I lost everything I had just done.

Anyway, my question is regarding the mastering process. I did my mixdown and 1st master. I played back the master to verify my start and end/fade out was good. I am happy with the song as is at this time. The instructions now call out to go back into mastering mode to use the mastering tools of compression EQ and Normalize. I do not need any EQ or compression. Normalize I am not wanting to either if: It will basically remove the dynamics of the recording? Or is it just as the instructions state, to raise the overall volume? I already have my level peaks right at the top of the dB bar, so I was figuring I am good to go.

So first question is the Normalize and will it compress the song removing dynamics? And can I make a copy of it with and without these tools to compare?

So now I need to read on, to see how to get this song into my laptop . . . .

 

[-mjk-]

Hey Ricky. Normalize simply adjusts the highest peak in the waveform to 0. It does not change the peak-to-average ratio, nor does it compress/limit. It's like an automatic volume control that sets the highest peak to zero. It won't change how the audio sounds, only the level.

Bear in mind though, that if you have really peaky audio, Normalize might make it sound softer overall, but not otherwise different. Recently, Mark Richards posted some waveform images and discussed peaks vs: average. It's worth reading.

Make as many copies with different versions as you like! If you don't need to use the Mastering tools, you're done as soon as the Mixing session ends. You do not have to use the Mastering tools. They are there to add polish and compensate for transfer to other media.

 

[RickyLee]

Thanks for the info mjk. I will read up on that for sure.

I have to say that after just that one test run I did, I am very impressed with this machine. The built in mics are actually decent sounding for sure, so figuring they are same or similar to my little Tascam DR-05. I used my DR-o5 many times to record my band live and it was a great recorder.

Here is that test run I did on my DP-03SD. Just a cover of one of my fave songs from my childhood days lol. I am still a bit worrisome of that barrel plug connector into the machine. That was not cool at all losing everything lol.

Don't mind the flubs, as I just flew by the seat of my pants on this. And of course, feels like I lost something in feel from that first one that got deleted/lost.

I just basically sat on my bed with the acoustic and played and sang down towards the internal mics. Then got carried away as I ended up over-dubbing, then over-dubbing, then over-dubbing . . . . . . .


Happy New Year 2019!

 

[-mjk-]

Nice, Ricky.

 

[RickyLee]

Oooops. I see I have the thread title as DR-03SD. Should be DP-03SD as I am sure everyone knows.

Anyway to edit threads, much less thread titles here?

Well, I see you can edit that last one you wrote, as I just did lol. No title editing obviously.

 

[-mjk-]

There is title editing, at the top of the thread. But time is limited.