Mastering previously recorded works

[SMilton]

Hello, thanks for letting me join, this my first post. I have the 32 channel Tascam SD-yet to use it. Just wondering if any of you have used this machines mastering feature to re-master and or clean up frequencies etc...from earlier works recorded elsewhere and on different equipment-analogue to digital etc. That I'd like to re-release. Thanks so much. I'm still a novice at this...(I'm a semi retired musician that now wants to record stuff on my own)

 

[shredd]

Welcome to the show! We have some lovely prizes for you, just for coming….

Sorry. I watched a lot of TV as a kid.

ANYway -
I’m not the expert…nor have I attempted what you described.
BUT: my experience w my own DP-32 would suggest that unless you have the individual trax from the original recording (which could be loaded into the DP, fully EQ’d/etc individually, then mixed/mastered anew)…

You’d be down to loading the previously-finished SONG (presumably as a pair of stereo trax?) and would be mastering the entire recording, all trax at once, all the same…
That might not be so bad, if you’re completely happy w the original mix… but also risk affecting the source material with the modifications you make.

Speaking for myself - I’ve learned (after decades of foolishly discarding trax when I thought a song was “finished“) to KEEP the trax for just the eventuality you describe…not to mention the opportunity to redo a vocal or instrument part, or just about anything, for my “new/remaster“ recording. Or even just correct all of the studio foul-ups I did in my inexperience. I have several of these posted on my SoundClick page (signature).

Good luck - let us know what you are able to do!

EDIT:
It’s probably also worth mentioning: occasionally I take the opportunity presented by my foolishly discarding my original trax to tackle a new recording of a song, complete with better equipment & more experience…

 

[Mark Richards]

@SMilton, the answer to your question is: "it depends".

If you have the original multitrack sessions, absolutely. Create new mixes and master using the DP-32SD.

If your working with original 2-Track stereo masters of good quality to begin with, then the mastering tools, applied judiciously, may tweak them just enough to give them new life.

If the original stereo masters require "fixing", you might instead want to bring each of the songs into two separate Tracks of your DP-32SD to take advantage of the added flexibility to manipulate the sound, as well as make use of the expanded tools available in the Dynamic Effects and Send Effects. In that case, the posts in the "Productivity" sticky thread might provide some helpful ideas.

And, in all cases, be sure to work with copies, not the originals.

I also strongly suggest reviewing the "New Members Please Read" sticky thread for information critical to using your portastudio.

Watching Phil Tipping's videos in the "Informational and Tutorial Videos for the DP-24/32/24SD/32SD" sticky thread will also be time well spent.

 

[SMilton]

Thanks so much for the advice and what thread to check in this regard...Appreciate it very much!

 

[-mjk-]

In fact, I run submixes though the Mastering section to make them sound exactly how I need them to be. Nothing wrong/unusual about remastering/tweaking previously Mastered tracks if you need to.