The initial preview of the master was a bit to aggressive for my taste, so I changed the intensity to LOW, which left me with a slightly more powerful, yet still organic sounding master. The stereo image was and the frequencies were neatly spread through the spectrum, with no strange peaks or dips. The upload was relatively easy to master. To do so, I processed a variety of different tracks, with different production techniques and sound quality, to see if LANDR could even out my mixing faults, and deliver a neutral but powerful master of my input track. This algorithm is what makes or breaks this online mastering tool, so I intended to test it thoroughly. This should function as the ears of the mastering tool, as every production needs a different treatment. The info on the website reads that, behind LANDR, there is a smart algorithm designed by sound engineers and is therefore “guided by profoundly human thoughts.” Through wave analysis, the algorithm defines the genre or production style of your track, and applies a set of post-production processors to it based on that. With that said, lets take a look under the hood, and behind the wheel. It’s nice owning a fancy car, but its not much use if you don’t know how to drive it. LANDR promises “results that rival professional studio work in minutes.” Having worked with a number of different mastering studios the last few years, I have learned that professional results are mostly dependant on the man behind the knobs. Luckily, LANDR has an active “community manager” that will be more then happy to hear and hopefully implement any feedback. I find myself compensating the volume difference by adjusting the volume knob of my audio interface, not a very ideal situation. This might create an initial “wow” (we often perceive louder as better), but it makes accurate monitoring quiet difficult. The main difference you will be noticing is the 4db increase in loudness. This makes it almost impossible to hear subtle differences in dynamics, EQ, and stereo imaging. Having uploaded the original track on -4db as requested, LANDR previews the pre-master at its original volume, which results in a major volume difference between the preview of the original version and the mastered version. The way the service is set up and the playful yet modern layout of the website shows that much priority was given to functionality-LANDR wants the service to be available and workable for everyone.Įven though the choice for a simple interface is understandable, as there are already tons of great but more complicated mastering plugins on the market, some playback controls would have been welcome. After the track uploads, which shouldn’t take more then ten minutes, you end up in the control room-which basically consist of a media player where one can directly compare the pre-master with a looped snippet of the mastered production, with no further controls or options except for the intensity control (more on that later). With this service, with a subscription price that ranges from free to $25 a month (depending on which options you choose), LANDR is aiming for amateur and semi-professional bedroom producers that want to get their production mastered at professional quality in a time-and-cost-efficient way.Īfter registration, which is surprisingly effortless, one is immediately directed to the upload page, which boasts a playful layout and a drop-box in the middle. This tool allows you to complete the last step in the production process by yourself, from behind your computer. In line with the rapid development of DIY home-studio hardware and software, making professional production tools more available to anyone with a computer, there is now the online mastering tool LANDR.
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