Free Automatic Mastering Tool

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jb
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Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

https://www.landr.com/

Mastering with an MP3 output is FREE! I tried it on a song and here are the results. I am fairly pleased and will use this for Song Fight entries and other demos in the future.

ORIGINAL:
johnbenjaminband_theproposal.mp3
The Proposal: ORIGINAL
(2.87 MiB) Downloaded 78 times
LANDR:
LANDR-johnbenjaminband_theproposal.mp3
The Proposal: LANDR MASTER
(4.08 MiB) Downloaded 68 times
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by Niveous »

Interesting program. I think I'll check that out.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by fluffy »

When I listen to the LANDR version all I hear is a bunch of thuddy bass. Are you sure it doesn't just sound "better" because it's louder?

For quick-and-easy mastering I just use Logic's "Broadcast Ready" preset and then tweak the hard limiting and EQ, and maybe the compression if it needs it.

For reference, here's that mp3 run through Logic's "Broadcast Ready" preset with just the defaults.
logic-br-theproposal.mp3
(2.56 MiB) Downloaded 64 times
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

Well, when I listen to the LANDR version, I feel like the vox and other pieces are a bit more clear. Yeah it's louder and the bass is more present, but I was hoping for some more clarity in that mix and from my brief testing on one pair of speakers, it seemed to do that.

Haven't listened to the Logic test you did yet, fluffy.

YMMV of course!

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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by ken »

I don't love that the free version only allows Mp3s in and Mp3 out. Then you have to have a subscription to master WAV files. I almost wish they just had a 99cent person song deal where you submit a wav and get back a mastered wav and high bit rate mp3.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jast »

And here's what a mastering engineer has to say about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAiiHritYfo
(The level-matched comparison somewhere past 10min is where it gets interesting, and it's followed by an analysis of the differences)

According to the video, the medium intensity is what you get in the free version.
PS. in case this inspires you to look for a plugin monitoring inter-sample clipping, how about this free one: http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/bitter/
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

ken wrote:I don't love that the free version only allows Mp3s in and Mp3 out. Then you have to have a subscription to master WAV files. I almost wish they just had a 99cent person song deal where you submit a wav and get back a mastered wav and high bit rate mp3.
I think you can upload a WAV, but you can only get back an MP3.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by fluffy »

jast wrote:And here's what a mastering engineer has to say about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAiiHritYfo
(The level-matched comparison somewhere past 10min is where it gets interesting, and it's followed by an analysis of the differences)

According to the video, the medium intensity is what you get in the free version.
PS. in case this inspires you to look for a plugin monitoring inter-sample clipping, how about this free one: http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/bitter/
bitter is interesting, but Schope looks like it would be really handy for the A-B testing type stuff referred to in the other thread in which Ian Shepherd came up. Also useful for investigating what different things do to your signal, visually at least.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by Billy's Little Trip »

jast wrote:And here's what a mastering engineer has to say about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAiiHritYfo
(The level-matched comparison somewhere past 10min is where it gets interesting, and it's followed by an analysis of the differences)

According to the video, the medium intensity is what you get in the free version.
PS. in case this inspires you to look for a plugin monitoring inter-sample clipping, how about this free one: http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/bitter/
I'm a Ian Shepherd fan. I get everything he said about Landr. Also, knowing jb after all these years here on SF, he wasn't promoting it as the end all mastering "pill". It is what it is, it allows a guy/girl to slab it through the Landr magic play-doh factory and out comes a more dynamic version in seconds.

Real human mastering is a "practice makes perfect" skill. I ran a song through Landr the day jb posted this thread. It was interesting enough that I ran more songs through it in different genres to see how it was treating each song based on soft/loud, etc. It did seem to do the same thing to every song like Ian said. It boosted the volume levels, limited without completely trashing the dynamics (the free version) and did a very similar scoop in the mids making the lows and highs more apparent, thus able to boost the overall volume. Kind of like all old school rock.

I also put it up against my own mastering chain and flow. I might be biased, but I liked mine much better. But I spent at least a half hour + on mine and Landr did theirs in seconds.

I'd recommend Landr to those friends that absolutely will not take the time nor have the time to learn how to master their music. I have spent way too much time and will continue to put time into perfecting my craft because I really enjoy it.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

Not to mention the 7/10 songs submitted to Song Fight that just need SOME kind of finishing even if it's by a robot. If only to make them tolerable enough to listen the whole way through-- remove just the slightest bit of "production fight".

(Also, what do you expect a mastering engineer to say about something that purports to do his job automatically? All his points are thoughtful, but still, he is NOT going to come down in favor of LANDR, any more than a review of an iPhone by Android Magazine is going to come down in favor of iOS.)

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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by fluffy »

jb wrote:Not to mention the 7/10 songs submitted to Song Fight that just need SOME kind of finishing even if it's by a robot. If only to make them tolerable enough to listen the whole way through-- remove just the slightest bit of "production fight".

(Also, what do you expect a mastering engineer to say about something that purports to do his job automatically? All his points are thoughtful, but still, he is NOT going to come down in favor of LANDR, any more than a review of an iPhone by Android Magazine is going to come down in favor of iOS.)
Surprisingly, in the end of his video he ends up more or less agreeing with what you said. He thinks that LANDR, at least on the 'low' setting, is actually a reasonable substitute for a mastering engineer for hobby projects, and it's better than nothing. He'd prefer if musicians go to a mastering engineer or at least learn how to do basic mastering themselves, but he was way more positive about LANDR in the end than I'd have ever expected.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jast »

fluffy wrote:he was way more positive about LANDR in the end than I'd have ever expected.
Yeah, I was a bit surprised, too. In fact, his main issue with LANDR is that medium intensity is what you get in the free version, and medium indeed has noticeable degradation (to me, anyway). And well, yeah, of course he's going to prefer his own master over LANDR's, and of course human work can always take more musical decisions into account. Still, the video is interesting even if you don't view it for deciding whether to give LANDR a try.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

Someday, in our dream version of Song Fight's submission process, you'll have a checkbox to select and we'll automatically run your crappy song, or at least your crappy mix (I'm feeling charitable since people just revealed all those AMAZING COVERS of some of my songs), through LANDR on LOW. And then we'll automatically put it on all the digital outlets for you, and puppies will chirp and butterflies will fly out of my ass like some kind of alternate-world Chipotle eventuality.
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by Billy's Little Trip »

For fun, it could be a challenge for a song fight title. Must run through LANDR before submitting. Or must submit 2 version, 1 LANDR and 1 as you normally do. Although that might be a lot of songs, but would be cool to hear a side by side. It might even open some minds to make people want to explore further and take their skills to the next level.
I think the majority of entries would sound better ran through LANDR. Not mine, of course. :D
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by fluffy »

jb wrote:Someday, in our dream version of Song Fight's submission process, you'll have a checkbox to select and we'll automatically run your crappy song, or at least your crappy mix (I'm feeling charitable since people just revealed all those AMAZING COVERS of some of my songs), through LANDR on LOW. And then we'll automatically put it on all the digital outlets for you, and puppies will chirp and butterflies will fly out of my ass like some kind of alternate-world Chipotle eventuality.
As long as it also fixes the terrible id3 tags!
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by jb »

Never!!!!!
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Re: Free Automatic Mastering Tool

Post by Billy's Little Trip »

I did a test using about the simplest and least production in the present fight. Girl and guitar.
I just used EQ, limiting and compression. Pretty much like LANDR does. I had to hold myself back, because I really wanted to go full production. But for testing, here we go.
I matched up average volume for all 3 versions to keep things honest.
The original version:
http://www.tunescoop.com/play/333037353 ... -level-mp3

The LANDR version:
http://www.tunescoop.com/play/333037353 ... -level-mp3

My version with EQ, limiting and compression:
http://www.tunescoop.com/play/333037353 ... -level-mp3

At the 1:22 mark is the killer peak! LANDR handled it pretty good without squashing the whole mix to make up for it. That's impressive. You'd think it would just normalize the whole track or something. But nope, it treated that peak the same way I had to do it manually.

Again, for how fast LANDR gives you back a basic mastered song with no skill needed, it's serving it's purpose. I spent over 30 minutes on mine and could have sent a lot more time if I wasn't in a rush. The LANDR version is a bit muddy in the mids, but not compressed all to hell, which is nice.
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