T-RackS: What would you like to see?

[Surf Whammy]

GUI sizable, ISRC coding, Add functions specific to mastering - subcoding, crossfades, DOA mode. Red Book Standard -

Just a few thoughts,

I like the idea of being able to add ISRC codes and other metadata to the mastered songs (copyright notice, lyrics, album artwork, various tags, and so forth and so on), including being able to output in whichever audio file formats are industry standard, and while I understand all this stuff and can devise a way to do it, I much prefer to have an easy and reliable way to do it that lets me focus on this aspect from a high level perspective . . .

The last time I did songs that required ISRC codes and all that stuff, I used Toast-It, which worked nicely, but I did some of the work in iTunes to create the MP3 audio files . . .

Adding this functionality to T-RackS makes sense, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

[Surf Whammy]

I would like to have a button that lets me listen to a song in monaural mode, which is a natural thing to do, really . . .

Really!

[rebornonline]

I'll be honest - I've not read the thread. I came here from Facebook just to put in my suggestion :

Neve 1073 or API 550 EQ - something useable and colorful.

There's something about the way these EQs work that really flips my switch. I actually love the fact that you can't just dial in any frequency you want. It makes you think. Sometimes it also stops you going crazy. As they're quite colorful too, you don't need much EQ to make a difference. But on the flip-side - you can add more EQ gain and create something crazy and special.

I know we have the Pultec EQ, but it's just not the same, I've tried and came away less than excited . In my opinion (which I know is wrong according to all the professionaly) the Pultec ain't all that, it's a bit of a one trick pony (the bass trick). Not for me it seems.

I've used the Waves 550, which is really nice, but overpriced. Uninstalled the demo.

Same with the URS take on the 1073 - it's nice, but for $300 or so? Are they kidding?

The 1973 from Stillwell is great. It has the interface based in the 1073 EQ, I love it to bits. But it's a clean EQ, there's no colour like a real 1073.

I'd love to have a "singles" EQ where I can really create some coloured sounds and get a bit crazy. I think a 1073 is the answer, maybe with a extra gain knob or an "emphasize" knob to really add more (false) colour.

That's what I'm thinking anyway. For me, this is all TRacks is missing. Add this and I can die happy never having to buy another plugin suite

[volker.waltinger]

T-Racks3 Deluxe is a very cool piece of software, highly accurate sounding and able to do things to the music others are not, but to me it seems to be kinda underrated in the high-up-professional-area which is quite a pity as they could really benefit from it there. So what.
To me personally it´s just little things that are missing (that are not essential, just a matter of convenience and workflow) as I posted before...some Transport/Navigate-functions, a Mono-Listening-Button, some Meta-Data-Functions maybe and, what came to my mind recently, which would be kinda cool and not only a convience-thing but also a keeping-up-the-original-quality-to-the-final-stage-thing... a possibility to save the file as MP3 and some other formats are used around today. This would be more a semipro-thing, I know, but it would mean not to have the files converted a second time after having it processed by T-Racks. The idea is just to have the possibilty to process your file in the format you finally need directly as you can produce several format-versions (more than the 3 available at the moment) right out of T-Racks itself without having the music converted in another program again after it. Of course it would push the sales price too high having all different formats available but you could go for the most used and wanted today as MP3, AAC, FLAC, whatever.
Just as an idea...
The very best to all of you, making really cool stuff that is fun to work with too,
cheers, Volker

[Surf Whammy]

. . . a Mono-Listening-Button, some Meta-Data-Functions maybe and, what came to my mind recently, which would be kinda cool and not only a convience-thing but also a keeping-up-the-original-quality-to-the-final-stage-thing... a possibility to save the file as MP3 and some other formats are used around today.

Definitely needed!

In addition to a "stereo vs. monaural" listening mode button, the metadata mastering aspect needs to include the ability to enter ISRC codes and other typical stuff that the various digital media outlets need, including artwork in standard iTunes format, lyrics, various tags, and so forth and so on . . .

At present, I have to switch to iTunes to create the MP3 file, which is where I add tags, copyright information, artwork, and all that stuff, but there is no way to add an ISRC Code that I have found, so after doing the iTunes step, then I need to run a CD mastering application to add the iSRC Code . . .

There are different definitions of "mastering", and T-RackS currently is focused on the audio aspects, but by adding the various metadata stuff and the ability to export or save in standard formats (at least MP3, AIFF, and WAVE, where high-resolution MP3 is the most popular due to having a significantly smaller footprint or file size than AIFF and WAVE), then T-RackS will become a complete mastering solution . . .

And for reference, the version number of T-RackS is not the important consideration, where it can be 3.6, 3.7, or anything else, including 4.0 . . .

Lots of FUN!

[pidysennyc]

I'd wet my beak for 196 kb MP3 export and adjustable (bigger!! ) resolution in stand-alone mode.
And maybe an alt/option-click on preset that opens a small editable note window. So I'd remeber next week what this uber-opto-eq-limiter-76-brickwall-knucklehead preset was all about.

Pidy

[acousticglue]

How about a Jenny McCarthy shade for the interface!

[acousticglue]

Less CPU usage.

[Surf Whammy]

As a bit of follow-up on the matter of monaural previewing of stereo tracks, I discovered that there is a way to do this in Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU), where the technique involves selecting "Monaural" from the dropdown list named "folddown" on the Master stereo output track, which is great, but the left and right channels are summed after all the effects plug-ins in the chain, which is a problem, because while all the various effects are applied, the T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe Metering section continues to show the stereo information, as demonstrated in the following video, where the notes of two grand pianos are played at extreme far-left and extreme far-right toward the goal of verifying what happens when "M+S" processing is used, which in this video has the "L" and "R" values set identically, which is the same as using the "=" option . . .

"Left Right Grand Piano" (The Surf Whammys) -- Opto-Compressor "M+S" with "=" and DP7 Master Stereo Track set to Monaural then Stereo with CueMix FX (MOTU) Phase Scope Display -- Windows Media Video -- WMV (2.8MB, approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds)

Additionally, when T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe is used in standalone mode, I have found no easy way to do monaural previewing, although it is possible that placing one of the "M+S" signal processors at the end of the chain and toggling it to "M+S" mode with the "S" output level set OFF or to negative infinity might provide a workaround, since the "M" output is monaural, because "M" it is the sum of the left and right channels . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. Mathematically, I think it makes sense to have the ability to preview the left and right channels of a stereo master track in the variations based on the set {L, R, L+R, L-R}, where the selected previewing option is applied to the Metering section, so that for example when the "L+R" monaural variation is selected the various meters in the Metering section show how the "L+R" monaural audio behaves visually . . .

[Synthetic-Oz]

Pre 1073, Chandler TG1 Limiter, dbx 160 compressor?

I don't think I'd really want a Tracks 4 yet, I just want to add more modules to the current one.

[Peter_IK]

Pre 1073, Chandler TG1 Limiter, dbx 160 compressor?

I don't think I'd really want a Tracks 4 yet, I just want to add more modules to the current one.

Good suggestion and yes, we may have to change the topic title as some people think we are the ones talking about TR 4 but we would also rather add modules to T-RackS 3...

[Surf Whammy]

Pre 1073, Chandler TG1 Limiter, dbx 160 compressor?

I don't think I'd really want a Tracks 4 yet, I just want to add more modules to the current one.

Good suggestion and yes, we may have to change the topic title as some people think we are the ones talking about TR 4 but we would also rather add modules to T-RackS 3...

If you want to change the title to something like "T-RackS: What would you like to see?", this is fine with me, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

P. S. Some of the signal processors George Martin and the audio engineers at Abbey Road Studios used when recording the Beatles are intriguing possibilities for T-RackS . . .

The stellar reference, "Recording the Beatles" (Curvebender Publishing), has all the details, and I am particularly intrigued by the EMI RS 124/Altec 436 compressor with the requisite modifications . . .

"Recording the Beatles" (Curvebender Publishing)



[SOURCE: GuitarRec visita el Studio Two de Abbey Road (GuitarRec.com) ]

Another of my ongoing projects is determining how to get the vocal sound on "Dream Lover" (Bobby Darin) . . .

[NOTE: One of my current hypotheses is that getting this particular vocal sound is possible with one of the T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe vintage compressor limiters, Black 76 Limiting Amplifier, White 2A Leveling Amplifier, and one of the CSR Classik Studio Reverb modules, combined with a reasonably good condenser microphone, where at present I am leaning toward the White 2A Leveling Amplifier, but first I need to finish the studio monitor system project and then to do the upgraded headphone stuff, so that I can hear what I am singing when I record new tracks while listening to existing tracks without latency delays, which basically maps to using real external signal processors to emulate what I will do later with VST effects plug-ins and perhaps only makes sense to me, where it mostly is a matter of wearing several hats simultaneously, as well as needing to hear what the signal processing equipment is doing in real-time to be able to "work" it, which is the way it happens when I do lead guitar solos, where I need to hear the effects to "work" them, which especially is the case with cascading echoes and DigiTech Whammy pedals (a personal favorite) . . . ]

"Dream Lover" (Bobby Darin) -- 45 RPM record, 1958 -- YouTube music video

This is similar to the vocal tone for "Runaround Sue" (Dion), except that there is a bit of subtle syrupy slapback-esque echo added to the reverberation on Dion's lead vocals, which based on the way it appears and the disappears every so often probably is triggered by a carefully set limiter, since most of the time you only hear the reverberation, although it might be vocal bleed through the echo unit on the handclapping, since in the those days everything essentially was recorded in real-time on the fly . . .

"Runaround Sue" (Dion) -- 45 RPM record -- YouTube music video

Another example of a variation of this vocal tone is Roy Orbison's singing on "Only The Lonely", really . . .

"Only The Lonely" (Roy Orbison) -- 45 RPM record -- YouTube music video

Really!

[cactuseskimo]

The Chandler/Abbey Road units are cool suggestions, but what is one thing that is sorely missing from a mastering suite:

A Reel to Reel Master Tape Recorder of course! Get 'er done IK!

[levzi]

Can't say i'm overly bothered about CPU use, in standalone mode, I would rather have it munch CPU if it meant quality sound. It doesn't really use much CPU anyway, it was reviewed a long time ago when hex core CPU's werent even around. Quad's hadn't been out long then either.

[bonillje04]

what about updating the meter (if it isn't already, if it is where in the manual can I read it) with the ebu loudness r128? there are a few loudness meters out there with this thing and of course I trust you'll do a better work,