Tag Archives: Flower Audio Loudness Meter

Reason: Why RE’s And VST’s Waste Your Time

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Something not a lot of people realize is that most additional instruments and effects you can add to Reason via rack extensions (RE’s) and now VST’s (bleh) not only aren’t needed, nearly all of them are features found in Reason masquerading as new concepts.

Don’t be fooled by fancy audio demos

The hard, unspoken truth about music production is that there isn’t many instruments and effects devices that are doing anything new. How many effects are doing anything actually new? That’s the thing; people aren’t inventing new effect categories… after 40 years of audio design, the music community isn’t going to be coming out with new concepts anytime soon. You’ve got categories like distortion, delay, reverb, repeaters, chorus, unison, phasers, pitch shifting, gaters, amps, filters, EQs… and of which all of these are already built into Reason (with the exception of a repeating device, but that’s why combinator patches exist I guess).

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Reason: How To Wire Reference Audio To Bypass Mastering

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The issue; you want to bring existing audio (reference audio, such as an existing song) into Reason for comparison. The Flower Audio’s Loudness Meter device (shown in the photos) can be used for referencing, but it’s used to switch from the audio in your setup versus your reference audio; you can’t compare the two side-by-side.

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The issue with trying to do normal referencing is that the sound source will appear under your mastering suite, getting extra mastering effects placed on top. Simply turning the fader levels of your reference channel down doesn’t do the trick as you’ll get lower levels that are still being colored (altered) by your mastering suite setup. Some people may be trying to craft a certain sound, like I do, by referencing existing music and comparing it to your sound (such as choosing a certain kick drum by comparing it to reference material).

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How To Master Audio By Listening From A Distance

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During the auditioning phase of audio mastering, listening from different sources is important. But so is listening from a distance and at low volumes.

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Listening from a distance allows you to hear the dynamics of your song in different ways. It also allows you to hear how the most powerful dynamics interact in non-ideal circumstances. You may find your highs are cutting through the mix too much. Or that vocals are getting lost or are dominating the music. Or that the sub-bass is drowning out everything in its path.

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