How do I finish a recording in Music Maker 2014?

jerome2 wrote on 8/25/2014, 7:58 AM

I've Compiled all my Instruments and Vocals.

I cannot press record in all the slots underneath each other.

Where do I find the Vocal Mastering Tool to edit Vocals?

Can I Auto Master Everything so that Music Maker does it for me?

I have watched the instructional Video but I am still struggling with above mentioned questions.

I am using Windows 7 Premium and Magix Music Maker 2014 Premium.

Comments

browj2 wrote on 8/27/2014, 11:45 AM

Hi Jerome,

I see that you have made progress. I will try to answer your questions but I need some help from you.

You say "I cannot press record in all the slots underneath each other." I'm not sure what you mean by slots. Do you mean you cannot get the REC light to turn on at the left of the track? In MMM you can only turn on 1 track at a time. Music Studio allows simultaneous multi-track recording, but not MMM. Is this what you mean? If not, then you will have to provide a better explanation along with a screen shot.
There is no Vocal Mastering Tool to edit Vocals. There is a Mastering Suite (N) and a Master Audio Effect Rack (B) and these are mainly for Mastering the finished product. I'm not sure what you mean by "editing" or what you want to do. Go into the online help file, F1, click on the Search tab and type in "editing", enter. There are many types of editing. Read through these. If you are looking for Vocal effects, type "voice" into the help search and read up on it. Many of the effects have presets for voice. Vocal strip is one of the effects for voice. There is also Vocal tune, if you need to correct any off-key notes. You can click on an object and then open the Audio effects rack (E) where you will find Compression, Reverb and other effects to apply to the voice object (not the track).
On the Mastering Suite (N) screen, you will see the Auto Mastering tool. You can try this but the presets are limitied and may not be what you want. Look up "Auto Mastering" in the manual for more information. Click on the Show more effects on the Mastering Suite if the other tools are not there. Here you can finish off your mastering. Your ears are the ones that count. We cannot hear your music so we cannot tell you what settings or effects to use. Every project has different music, styles, instruments, recording parameters, etc. so you have to learn what the tools do, what the parameters mean, and play with them until you get the result that you are looking for.

HTH

jerome2 wrote on 8/27/2014, 7:39 PM

Thank You John C.B.

Do I need to record my song in full before I can load it into the Master Audio Effects Rack?

How do I load my Project onto the Master Audio Effects Rack? I have Music Studio 2 as well as MMM

browj2 wrote on 8/29/2014, 10:48 AM

Hi Jerome,

A note for anyone reading this who has Music Maker but not the Premium version, the Mastering Suite is not included. It is included in Music Studio 2, however. Jerome, since you have the Premium version, you have Mastering Suite 4 included.

Here is the basic work sequence for making a project:

Recording: First, vocals and instruments are recorded on multiple tracks.
Editing: The recorded material is then edited, with a focus on cutting and arranging. Add object effects.
Mixing: The tracks are mixed, i.e. positioned within the volume and stereo panorama. Add track effects.
Mastering: In the end, the entire sound is edited with Mastering effects.
Export: To a CD, in which case the project will be mixed down into a wave file and Music Editor 3 will be opened, or you can export directly to wav, mp3 or other types of audio files.

You should have your song all arranged in MMM before applying Master Audio Effects. You can, of course, play with the Master effects at any time, but the best is at the end.

You do not need to "Load" your song into the MasterAudio Effects Rack or the Mastering Suite. Everything is done in your project, as you will see below.

Also, you do not need to export your song before applying master effects or mastering. Everything (almost) is done live, so you can always go back and adjust an object or track or add in anything. The only time that you may need to export your song is if your project is so large (many songs) that you are running out of memory and the program is having trouble. Then you would export and import the result into a new project for further work. Otherwise, you do not need to do this.

Master effects influence the mixed sum of all audio tracks. MasterAudio Effects Rack and further plug-ins are installed in the Mixer window. Once you have all of your tracks done up, go to the mixer (M). There you can apply further effects to each track, as opposed to objects on the track. Then you can adjust the volume of each track.

Once you are happy, then use the Master Effects Rack. One of the ways to access this is with the FX button at the top left of the last (Mastering track) column in the Mixer. (You can also do this from the menu bar but it may be better to follow the flow the way I describe it here.) This opens the MASTER AUDIO FX screen. Go through all of the tools, look at the presets, and read the help to learn what each tool does. When finished, close this screen.

Click on the Mastering button in the same last column of the Mixer. This opens the MASTERING SUITE 4 tools. Click on "Show more effects" on this screen if only 2 of the tools are shown. Here is where you will polish up the entire song. Click on the presets arrow at the very top of the Mastering Suite and you will see various possibilities. Click on the one that you think may be good. This will automatically set the parameters of the other tools. You can then learn how the pros have determined how to use these tools. You can play with the tools if there is something that you want to change. Again, read up on these tools in the manual. Close the screen when you are happy.

Back on the Mixer, listen carefully to your song. If it is too loud or soft, adjust the overall volume. Note that the sliders work in tandem. If something is not quite right in the stereo sound, for example, then you can go back to the Mastering Suite and modify the Stereo Enhancer, or anything else.

Once happy with everything, you are ready to export. Click on File, Export and you will see the options. Click on the first one to see Common export options if you are not comfortable with what you see. Choose one and then follow the on screeen instructions.

If you want to burn your project to a CD, meaning that you probably have more than one song in your project, then if you select File, Export, Burn audio to CD-R(W), the program will mix down your project into a wave files, and open it in Music Editor 3. Here you can do a last check of everything and make changes with the tools. But basically, this is for setting up your CD with a name, marking and naming all of the tracks (songs), ensuring that all of your songs are there and have the requisite dead space (4s) between them. When done, you burn to the CD. There is a separate manual for Music Editor 3 and I recommend that you review it.

If there is something that you don't like in your project at this point, you can always go back and edit your project in MMM. Everything is still intact. When you go back to Export to CD, a new wave file will be created.

Remember to save your project often when editing. Also, you should do a "Save as" and give a different filename so that if you mess something up badly, you can always go back to a previous version.

Lastly, about Music Studio, I suggest that you master MMM first. Music Studio is similar and allows you to do simultaneous multi-track recording, along with some other features. It is more complicated.

Waiting to hear your song.

Enjoy!