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Author Topic: Advice on mastering an acoustic show  (Read 6136 times)

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Offline tapeworm48

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Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« on: April 12, 2018, 10:20:54 AM »
anyone have any best practices they use when mastering an acoustic show?  i taped a show with a solo performer, acoustic the entire night. standing crowd on a flat floor, small venue.  the crowd in between songs is louder than the music ever gets.  cardioids 8' from overhead speaker. 

should i normalize to the crowd noise? or normalize to the music, and let crowd clip?
i have access to audacity for editing software.

any other thoughts pointers?  in the past all i have done is clap removal, occassional hard limiting. 

thanks.
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Offline Ronmac

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2018, 10:26:20 AM »
I cut the audience clapping and ambiance between songs to a separate stereo track, allowing you to compress and limit as required. Mix it together with the music track and print.

Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2018, 10:48:34 AM »
Personally I can't stand clipped applause, and set my levels based on that when the music is lower in level.

If you want to make the effort to reduce the level of the applause between songs, doing so can makes for a better listening experience.

Ronmac's method of doing so is a good one.
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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2018, 10:57:11 AM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:
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Offline Gordon

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2018, 12:00:51 PM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:

this.  then raise overall gain.
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Offline perks

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2018, 01:08:01 PM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:

this.  then raise overall gain.

I think what I'm doing is achieving the same ends thru a slightly different approach. For the applause that is truly during the breaks between songs I just use the Click and Crackle repair tool to compress that noise down to below the peaks of the musical parts. For applause that is happening during the music I try to compress just the individual claps to keep the remaining musical portion free of compression. Then once I've gotten all the clap spikes down below the peak levels for the music I normalize as I would typically do. I can certainly hear the compression during the between song clapping however its much more pleasant than having my ears blown up by the enthusiastic audience when I'm listening back. For the parts where the clapping and music are intertwined I really do not hear the compression by using it sparingly on the individual claps alone.
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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2018, 01:46:42 PM »
Similar approach here: in Audacity I highlight the applause, then do a hard limit to -9.999 (-10 is max) moving on to each piece of applause then export the file, then often I do the same process again. after that, I raise the overall levels to -.2 (some do -.5 or -1). For bands/songs which the clapping is during middle of the music, this is NOT what I would do.
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Offline tapeworm48

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2018, 02:15:04 PM »
thanks everyone for the input. 

i think i've been doing something similar to perks's approach.

as an example, here are my notes from another acoustic show.  i used click removal with the following settings at specific spots where there is a loud clap near the mics (tedious, but necessary).  and then use compressor in between songs to reduce the amplitude and harshness of the rise in crowd noise. 

any thoughts on whether 'click and crackle' is less noticeable during the listening experience, or easier to execute ?  or alternative options?  i may mess around with 'hard limiter' too but in the past i've only used it sparingly.


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Offline Sloan Simpson

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #8 on: April 12, 2018, 05:56:02 PM »
I'll parallel compress to bring the music up, limit the applause down to the peak level of the music, and move on.

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #9 on: April 12, 2018, 08:48:42 PM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:

this.  then raise overall gain.

This.
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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2018, 09:55:24 AM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:


This method is very easy and natural sounding. Best approach I have used yet.

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2018, 09:59:45 AM »
I always envelope the applause down, and up again, with well-designed ramps.

Very natural sounding when you get the knack.  :headphones:

mr hook is CORRECT!

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2018, 10:23:17 PM »
I just limit the ever loving fuck out of it (setting my thresh about at the upper limit of the music) aaaand done. I can usually hear fades before/after songs and I find the total change in dynamics a little disconcerting. Clapping is louder than quiet music, so I'll let it stay that way to a certain extent

Offline Sloan Simpson

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2018, 10:47:27 PM »
I just limit the ever loving fuck out of it (setting my thresh about at the upper limit of the music) aaaand done. I can usually hear fades before/after songs and I find the total change in dynamics a little disconcerting. Clapping is louder than quiet music, so I'll let it stay that way to a certain extent

Same here

Offline nulldogmas

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Re: Advice on mastering an acoustic show
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2018, 12:34:42 AM »
I just limit the ever loving fuck out of it (setting my thresh about at the upper limit of the music) aaaand done. I can usually hear fades before/after songs and I find the total change in dynamics a little disconcerting. Clapping is louder than quiet music, so I'll let it stay that way to a certain extent

Same here

I prefer dynamic compression above a certain threshold to hard limiting, but otherwise basically the same principle here.

 

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