T-RackS 3.5, NOTION 3, and DAW applications . . .

[Surfwhammy]

If you are one of the folks who uses NOTION 3 with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application like Digital Performer (MOTU) or Logic Pro (Apple) as part of a complete system for doing digital music production, then you certainly know that VST effects plug-ins are useful but a bit expensive when you need a virtual festival of them, and it is helpful when there are discounts . . .

IK Multimedia is having one of their "Group Buy" extravaganzas, where they heavily discount a product and then provide a free bonus when a certain number of folks participate in the "Group Buy" by purchasing at least one product, and this is what they are doing for T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, which until February 29, 2012 is discounted by 60 percent, so instead of being the usual $499.99 (US), it now is $199.99 (US) . . .

[NOTE: If you already own an IK Multimedia product, for example Miroslav Philharmonik, then you can do a crossgrade purchase, which lowers the price to $99.99 (US) and maps to an 80 percent discount . . . ]

T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe "Group Buy" (IK Multimedia)

T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe is a set of mastering processor emulators in several formats, including VST plug-ins, and it typically is used either (a) in a set or "suite" where various signal processing components are connected in series or parallel and applied to the Master stereo output track or (b) as one or more individual components applied to an instrument or vocal track for a very specific purpose . . .

As a general rule, doing a lot of mastering work on orchestral and symphonic music tends to be antithetical, since it nearly always changes volume level dynamics, but some of the individual components of T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe are handy when a sampled instrument does not have a good overall volume level, which tends to be what happens for example with harps, and if you want to have a harp do a solo, then running it through the Vintage Tube Program Equalizer tends to be a helpful way to bring the harp to the front of a mix, since the Vintage Tube Program Equalizer is based on the Pultec® EQP-1A program equalizer, where in this context "program" refers to the content played by an FM radio station or whatever, and this particular component became an industry standard due to its melodic characteristics . . .



[NOTE: In the US, the FCC requires radio stations to follow very specific broadcasting standards with respect to signal strength and so forth, so to comply with the various FCC broadcasting standards, radio station engineers use signal processing equipment to ensure that everything is within required ranges and so forth, which for radio stations that broadcast orchestral and symphonic music was a bit of a problem, but the Pultec® EQP-1A provided a nice solution, since it does the work in a melodic way, which in fact is one of the ways that record producers used the Pultec® EQP-1A . . . ]

Pultec EQP-1A Manual -- PDF (426KB, approximately 7 pages)

Pultec@ EQP-1A Program Equalizer (DIY Pro Audio)

For nearly all the other genres, mastering software basically is mandatory, which certainly is the case for DISCO, Pop, Rock, Rhythm and Blues, Heavy Metal, Country Western, and so forth and so on . . .

And you can use T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe on the Master stereo output channel in the NOTION 3 Mixer, since it is a VST effect plug-in, but it also includes a standalone version, which is used to do mastering on the WAVE file that is exported from NOTION 3, where for orchestral and symphonic music there are gentle mastering suites, which are more subtle in the various things they do . . .

I use T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe with Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU), which is the DAW application I use on the Mac for mixing and mastering, and I record the NOTION 3 generated audio as "soundbites" in Digital Performer 7.24 via ReWire, where Digital Performer 7.24 is the ReWire host controller and NOTION 3 is the ReWire slave, and at present my focus is on DISCO and Pop songs, so I use the Opto-Compressor to "pump" some of the instruments, which is one of the things it does . . .

So, if you have been contemplating the idea of getting mastering software for your digital music production system, but $500 (US) for T-RackS 3.5 was a budget breaker, then this might be a good time to make a smart purchase, since $200 (US)--or $100 (US) if you qualify for the crossgrade price--and the possibility of getting an add-on signal processor component is considerably more attractive than paying $500 (US) for T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe and another $100 (US) for the add-on signal processor . . .

And for reference, IK Multimedia does "Group Buy" extravaganzas every so often, and this is the smartest way to get their products if you are patient and like vast discounts, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

[nashash]

does the iRig count for crossgrade?

[Surfwhammy]

does the iRig count for crossgrade?

As best as I can determine at the moment, I think that owning a registered iRig qualifies you for crossgrade pricing on IK Multimedia products which have crossgrade pricing . . .

This is the information on crossgrades at IK Multimedia:

Crossgrade for All (IK Multimedia)

At present, I do not have any IK Multimedia iPad2 hardware products, but I have all Notion Music products for the iPad2, so all I can do is guess regarding IK Multimedia hardware products for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and whether they are registered, but I think that all IK Multimedia products require registration, although some of the products are registered automatically in certain "Group Buy" scenarios, where for example when you select a free bonus product in a "Group Buy", the free bonus product is registered automatically to your user account . . .

I will see if I can get an official answer from IK Multimedia, which is easy to do if you post the question to one of the relevant IK Multimedia FORUM sections, except that I just did a bit of checking and see that you currently are online at the IK Multimedia FORUM asking the same question I was going to ask there . . .

The IK Multimedia FORUM folks will be able to answer your question, but let me know if you need help . . .

Lots of FUN!

[nashash]

i just sent a PM to IK if the X gear and CSR hall that came with notion 3 will qualify for crossgrade ,

[Surfwhammy]

i just sent a PM to IK if the X gear and CSR hall that came with notion 3 will qualify for crossgrade ,

I saw your questions about crossgrade qualification in the IK Multimedia FORUM, and I asked one the same questions myself, so someone from IK Multimedia will answer in a while, although probably tomorrow, since this is the weekend (Sunday February 12, 2012) . . .

You should have something registered with IK Multimedia, and if you do then one way to determine whether you qualify is to do the purchase process part of the way, but stop before actually making the purchase . . .

Select the crossgrade version of T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe and then see what happens . . .

If the iRig device and whatever other IK Multimedia products you have registered do not qualify you for crossgrade pricing, then one of my questions at the IK Multimedia FORUM is whether there is a reasonably inexpensive product which will qualify you for crossgrade pricing . . .

For a while last year, there was a version of T-RackS 3 Standard that cost about $20 (US) and met the requirements for qualifying for crossgrade pricing, so folks purchased it and then did crossgrades . . .

If one of the advanced separate components (White 2A Leveling Amplifier or Black 76 Limiting Amplifier) will qualify you for crossgrade pricing, then you get get one of them first; register it; and then do the crossgrade for T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, which in total would cost $200 (US), but you get more stuff; and there is the possibility of getting the other advanced separate component as a free bonus if 2,000 people participate in the "Group Buy" . . .

However, the key question is whether one of the T-RackS advanced single components will qualify you for crossgrade pricing, and if it does, then it only should be one of the two I mentioned (see above), because all the other singles are included in T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe . . .

And this might not work for qualifying for crossgrades, so it is best to check with IK Multimedia first . . .

Lots of FUN . . .

[nashash]

ok he said my CSR hall that came with notion 3 should qualify me, so i went and purchased T Racks 3 deluxe for crossgrade price ,

i have it installed and all is working

[Surfwhammy]

ok he said my CSR hall that came with notion 3 should qualify me, so i went and purchased T Racks 3 deluxe for crossgrade price ,

i have it installed and all is working

Great!

IK Multimedia has excellent products, and I am especially fascinated with their marketing and sales strategy, which inevitably maps to selling you everything they make, sooner or later, which is fine with me, since learning how to use all their stuff maps to your being able to do better quality digital music production . . .

The early version of T-RackS, which now is called "T-RackS Standard" was good, but the new vintage components that come with T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe move everything to higher level, which also is the case with the new White 2A Leveling Amplifier and Black 76 Limiting Amplifier components, which are sold separately . . .

It takes a while to make sense of mixing and mastering with T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, since (a) there are a lot of new concepts and (b) the focus when mixing and mastering is entirely different from the focus when one is composing, performing, and recording, where the different focus is something which I think most composers, musicians, and singers dismiss as being either unimportant or so intuitive that there is no need to understand it intimately, which is a huge mistake . . .

Using the Beatles as an example, if one removes George Martin and the audio engineers at Abbey Road Studios from the equation, the result mostly likely would be an unknown garage band with some talented musicians and singers, which should be abundantly clear after one listens to a few of the Decca audio recordings that the Beatles made before Ringo Starr joined the group and before George Martin became the group's choirmaster, arranger, producer, and musical director . . .

[NOTE: Focus on the second song, "Money", and then compare it to the version when George Martin was choirmaster and the Beatles were diligent choirboys . . . ]

Decca Audition Tapes (Beatles) -- YouTube music video

[NOTE: Among other things, George Martin composed and played the piano part, which makes the song stellar . . . ]

"Money" (Beatles) -- Arranged and Produced by George Martin -- YouTube music video

As another example, this is a version of "All I Want To Do" (The Surf Whammys) that was done approximately five years ago when very little about mixing and mastering made sense to me, and it was done with only a compressor-limiter on the Master stereo output, and it is a headphone mix, which makes it all the worse . . .

[NOTE: These are real instruments, and while it is a great song and the recorded tracks have potential, it needs to be remixed and remastered, which I plan to do sometime in the not so distant future . . . ]

"All I Want To Do" (The Surf Whammys) -- 2007 -- MP3

After doing a lot of researching and pondering, I eventually realized that I needed to focus on making sense of arranging, producing, mixing, and mastering in the digital universe, which I have been doing over the past few years, and in addition to making sense of T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, I also switched to doing most of the instruments with music notation and IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments in NOTION 3, since (a) while I can play all the instruments, the primary reason I started playing all the instruments was to avoid needing to mess with having an actual musical group and (b) the recorded levels and precision of virtual instruments is considerably better, so instead of doing everything with real instruments, I do most of the instrumentation with virtual instruments and music notation in NOTION 3, reserving the real instruments primarily for rhythm guitar and lead guitar, which works better, since lead guitar is my primary instrument, although this also is the case with electric bass, which I do occasionally when something too elaborate for music notation is required . . .

For comparison purposes, this is the most recent version of "Feel Me" (The Surf Whammys), which was done in December 2011, and is a preliminary loudspeaker mix but does not have the Timesless 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments) echo on the singing . . .

[NOTE: The instrumentation is done with music notation and IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments in NOTION 3, where the NOTION 3 generated audio is recorded as "soundbites" in Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU) via ReWire. And there is only one monaural vocal track, which was pitch-corrected with the Melodyne Editor (Celemony) and then made stereo by a virtual festival of VST effects plug-ins, which tends to work better for vocals, since everything is synchronized to the single monaural vocal track. I will add real lead guitar in the final version of the song, of course. And the instruments are "pumped" primarily with a combination of the Vintage Program Equalizer EQP-1A, Opto-Compressor, and Brick Wall Limiter for T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, and the mastering suite is "Master # 1", which is modified a bit with a few fine-tuning adjustments. Some of the instruments are "sparkled" with a technique that I developed in NOTION 3, which puts individual notes into motion across the "rainbow panning arc" of the Spherical Sonic Landscape™, which is explained in one of my topics in this FORUM (see below) . . . ]

"Feel Me" (The Surf Whammys) -- 2011 -- MP3 (8MB, 303-kbps [VBR], approximately 3 minutes and 38 seconds)

Notion 3, DISCO Songs, and Sparkles (Notion Music FORUM)

However, there is more to it than making sense of arranging, producing, mixing, and mastering, because you also need to be able to hear everything accurately, which requires a full-range studio monitor system, and at the dawn of the early-21st century the fact of the matter is that there are no commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) studio monitor systems, which is yet another huge problem, but I have devised a quite affordable solution, which I am documenting in a topic in the IK Multimedia FORUM for the betterment and enlightenment of others, for sure . . .

The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor System Project (IK Multimedia FORUM)

For sure!

I have not done the calibrating steps yet, but I will do the calibration steps sooner or later, although the Kustom KPC15P 15" Powered PA Speakers sound very nice without being calibrated . . .

The high-level hypothesis is that I should be able to do professional quality DISCO and Pop songs here in the sound isolation studio at the same level as hit records done in multimillion dollar recording, mixing, and mastering studios, which I think is a good hypothesis . . .

It requires making sense of a lot more stuff than I imagined, but I am making progress, and making progress is very important in the grand scheme of everything, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!