Jamin tutorial by Ron Parker

[thorgal]

This is it : http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/tutorial.html

I got inspired from this tut when I wanted to use jamin for the 1st time. Thanks to Ron Parker for the material included (it's a hands-on approach . I am not sure whether you can import these files in ardour2 though. Maybe it will work, I think it should ...

I forgot to add this link : http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/uibasics.html

and something you should really read, tips about loudness : http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/loudness.html

[studio32]

The tutorial is going fast with this three steps... Maybe you (Thorgal) can explain it a bit better?

3. Mastering

The steps for controlling loudness can be examined by sequentially advancing through the scenes beginning with 1 and ending at scene 4. Notes for adjustments made at each step are included.

SCENES

1. Input level adjusted to increase volume
2. Soft clip limiter and Limiter inputs adjusted to increase loudness
3. Input level lowered to prevent JAMin Limiter input overs at 05:28:07
4. limiter max output set to -0.5db to create a master that compensates for clips produced by oggenc.

Steps 1 through 4 are simple enough to be executed in less than one minute for any typical song. The JAMin Input, Boost and Limiter Inputs are used to achieve appropriate loudness.


Tip

Toggle the Main Output Bypass button on and off to compare the original levels with the mastered levels.

1 = the input on the left of the gui of JAMin (below scenes) isn't it?
2 = Where is the soft clip limiter and limiter inputs and what is exactly meant by 'adjusted'?
3 = lowered to what?
4 = is pretty clear....


Do you also use Hand-drawn EQ (HDEQ), 30 band graphic EQ (GEQ), Spectrum , Compressor curves, Crossover , Compressors, Boost etc. ? Seems pretty difficult...

[thorgal]

let me reply to this later ... but it will also be quick ... sorry.

[thorgal]

OK, considering the track he wants to master, he will apply
input volume boosting
fast lookahead limiter to increase loudness and kill possible clipping when he pushes the volume up
then he lowers the volume again because of the input at the limiter is too loud at some point
then he chooses to set the ceiling of the limiter output at -0.5 dB because he says he wants to encode into ogg, which for some reason does not respect the amplitude shape frame by frame and introduces a risk of clipping.

All these operations are split into 4 scenes so you can access each one without modifying another one. It's a good way to work in general and introduces you well to jamin. However, considering such simple operations, you can do all this in one scene

For me, the real challenge is to combine the 3 band compressor, 1024 band equalizer and fast lookahead limiter in order to create loudness but also respect the premaster mix (levels, relative dynamic between tracks, instruments, stereo spacing/panning, etc) that you worked so hard on. A misused jamin setting can easily destroy that ...

so unless your premaster mix is crappy, use jamin to increase loudness and give your sound more depth and brightness but don't overdo it like too much compression everywhere (like in the 90's ), etc. It has to sound natural if your song is acoustic or human-played