Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Moon Master Mystery Results (Patreon)

Published:
2018-03-14 04:49:28
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Oops. This video is long. hahaha! :D The tl;dr is I really liked Leon's master best :) 

A lot of you guys selected C or D as your favorites. C was my master, D was Leon's. Although I do prefer Leon's myself, it makes me feel like a million bucks that what I made was something you liked. <3 Woooo!

In the video, I chat about my impressions on each master, with a few examples where I try to explain/compare good and bad things.

As a reference, the mystery masters were as follows:

A. Landr AlgorithmB. Malu Original MixC. Malu MasterD. Leon Professional MasterE. Soundlab [quick, human] mastering

Thanks for being a part of this! During Office Hours, I'll be reading your comments on the original mastering post and talking about the test results in general. 

More soon,Malu

PS: In the thumbnail, it looks like I'm eating a hamburger. hahahaha!

Files

Moon Master Mystery Results!

Please say hi! http://www.malukah.com http://www.twitch.tv/malukah http://www.patreon.com/malukah http://www.facebook.com/malukah7 http://www.twitter.com/malukah

Comments

Andy Bobandy

I can't remember what I voted as my favorite, but it's C..... I chose C. Yeah.......... C.

GregRauv

I woke up today in the morning and somehow I felt a bit different.... I felt like a PhD Master Analysis Analyser of Mystery Moon Master Thing... Hahah, Malu, you made me laugh before first morning coffee, brilliant :D Sitting here, drinking morning coffee, listening to your video and comparing to the notes I was making when trying to figure the tracks out. So much fun to have you point out things that were so hard to notice before (like the box sound). With not having basically any pro music knowledge I took a bit different approach to going through them. Focused more on how the master influenced composition and overall feel of the track. Not sure if anyone want's to read through this rambling, but here it comes :P Until now I truly didn't have a clue how much effect on a song can mastering have, quite a learning experience not to just listen to a whole thing, but Listen to all of the separate elements that make up the song and try to find their place and function. I expected some volume differences, better balance between the tracks, but holy cow how much this can change - from focus of different elements of composition, feel and energy of the song all the way to it turning from mellow and soothing to energetic and movie score like. All with the same tracks of sound... Purely subjective point of view as everybody interprets and feels music differently. Go go backseat producer mode! :P I'll try to compare to the original so there is some point of reference. I'm lacking in professional terminology here so I will just try to paint a picture of what falls into my head through the ears :P

GregRauv

A - Landr Very unimpressive what they did with it. Feels like the original run trough a compressor with volume turned up all over. B - Original We all know and love this one. But after listening to the masters feels bit flat and muffled. Almost like all the tracks blend without and edge, definition. Interesting feeling. C - Malu Really enjoy the fuller sound, definitely has more body, space than the original mix. Has more character. The original sounds not only bit flatter on balance of tracks, but also bit more tame(?), mellow, with calmer energy. From 1:32 and 2:30 - 3:20 Ok, those bits are the straight giveaway that this is a Malu mix. Vocal harmonics taking the centre stage and the music framing everything. That's the Malukah style we got to know and love :P 3:10 - entire battalion of Malus around me going 'ooooooo' - goosebumps :maluGasm: That's what we're talking about! (And 'I follow the Mooooooooooooooo......(n)' [so need the Doom - Moo hoodie here :P]. Good work on those sausages, be gone nasty, narrow, hard consonants! Can't stop listening for those now - I blame you :P) :maluHype: 3:04 - My favourite high point of the song. 'Grief! Takes! Time!' - accented, energetic and foot-stomping rebellious. Yesyesyes!

GregRauv

D - Pro Leon Ok, this one has the biggest differences. Really like that he pulled up the punctuation of harp(?) and piano pairs in the beginning (0:00 - 0:30), it gives good contrast to the voice. The main backing piano is bit too loud and drowning out the vocal. Makes it more of just another instrument in bunch. 1:50 Chorus coming in louder and more powerful - more cinematic style. More of a matter of taste how to interpret it compared to the feeling of the song. 2:10 I absolutely love that the strings(plucked strings?), that are on the beat, are louder. Gives great punctuation, rhythm, sense of energy and urgency to the chasing and running part. 3:00 Here where is Leon messed up in my opinion. For me this is the high point of the song. Rebellious, powerful, punctuated Grief! Takes! Time! This is the best concept in the original and Malu Master. Leon, by turning up the strings, guitar and drum blends this out :( Summing up: + Feels really warm and full, spacious and almost cinematic in the style - What is a plus with loud, cinematic style in big parts of the song, in some of them bit kills the Malukah feeling of it - focus on vocal and harmonising background vocal tracks. - Grief! Takes! Time! And not grieftakestime :( I think what would make this master truly jaw-dropping is if you sat down with Leon during the mastering process and curbed down his symphonic movie score enthusiasm so he doesn't drown out the original feel of the song and characteristic elements that we got to know as Malu style - harmonic vocals taking the centre stage with music giving it frame and space to exist.

GregRauv

E - Soundlab From person made masters I think my least favourite one. Ok, I think I get where they tried to go with it - give it light and airy feeling - which fits very nice the delicate choruses at 1:32, and brings out high clean notes for the acoustic guitar, but all in all turns the song way to bright and tinny for me (just a personal preference). And compared to Leon's mix turns a grand concert piano into a tiny beat up western saloon one :P And with this brightness and lack of soft warmth to balance it when you hit the peak notes of 'I follow the moooOOOoooon' at 3:09 and 3:18, as clean and beautiful they are, they get piercingly painful.

June Marie (CosmoDings)

Now I don't remember which one I picked as my favorite, but I'm really hoping it wasn't the Soundlab one :P. But if I did, don't take it negatively, it's just that I don't know anything about music or mastering ;). I was just happy with listening to your lovely song over and over <3. Even though I only got one right, I still think this was a lot of fun! I would love to participate in music-related quizzes in the future (but don't pay for several masterings just to quiz us, haha).

Molmod

Today's TLDR : Molmod = zero score. When can I resit for my Ph.D. - or should it be a Master's Degree ;-) ? Long version : There was some logic to my reasoning but I guess I didn't know what I was listening for: I definitely heard E being less good. I assumed that mastering = better, therefore E = unmastered. I heard B being quieter and assumed an algorithm would look at the overall levels and scale everything quieter. I struggled to hear much difference between the other three but liked C best (therefore assumed it was the professional masterer).

Chanda Panda

You made a valid point: I guess I prefer your master because of the harmonies, which is my favorite aspect of your music. As much as you love Leon's master, I truly believe you can do them yourself, because like you said, that is YOUR sound. And you get to save yourself some money! :D And that harmonies are your thing. But that is my humble panda opinion. Also, the test was fun and would love to do more. But maybe with less tracks to compare, like 2 or 3 max! Haha!

malukah

Hahaha! Definiely. No more 5 track tests. That was a bit ridiculous. hahaha! :D And it's a great and valid opinion, Panda. Reading your feedback and Bren's and Greg it's making me listen with "new ears". I can definitely see that in removing the boxy sound, it also kinda removes the background vocal's warmth. That huggy kind of feeling they can give. It's not as present in Leon's master. Hmmmmm. This is definitely food for though and I'm curious to use and imitate Leon's master to try to match his clearness, but also try retain that background huggy sound.

malukah

No, I'm the one who feels sorry! I was super snaky about it in the video because I was trying to be silly. If you liked this track, it's definitely ok! All this stuff is a matter of personal preference. <3 There is no wrong or right. And I can see what you're saying... that Leon's master may sound good, but not necessarily unique. It makes sense, because we don't really know each other and he is doing an good job across the board without account for personal style. This really makes me think... We could experiment with the next track and I can include a note to highlight that I love the backgrounds and ask if he can make sure they shine as much as possible... it would be interesting to see how his approach would change with this annotation. :) Thanks, Bren! You picked up on a lot of stuff!

malukah

Of course! hahahahaha <3

malukah

So many great observations. Thank you for sharing Greg! It would be amazing to get to be able to work with Leon in person so that we could make sure the intention of the song remains. It makes me think it could work to find another engineer in the States. It's more likely I can go to the states to master the album when it's done, than to go to Australia. hehehe!

malukah

One of the truest things you point out is that in creating a huge, cinematic feel (which in general I love), you sacrifice a bit of the more intimate feel of the song... This is something else that's food for thought. Thanks again!

malukah

Hahaha! No worries if you did. Even though I was unintentionally extra snarky in the video about Soundlab, it's still a valid master, and this is all a matter of what your ears like best. There's no wrong or right! And i'm so happy you had fun! :D Thanks again, June Marie!!! <3

GregRauv

Well, in the world of global communication and Internet all it takes is a computer to virtually sit down next to someone ;) Happy that my rumblings were of use <3

malukah

Yaaaay! You assumed I was the professional masterer! This is fantastic. haha! :D And I agree with your reasoning. When I submitted the track to the algorithm, I was expecting something like E as the result. It was actually shocking to see how understated the algorithm mastering is. It made very subtle changes. I thought it was going to go nuts. hehehehe! Thanks for playing, Molmod!

TheAlb

I just lost my post :z, now I just need to remember what I said and how :p or in case it suddenly appears again .. you don't see double (honestly). It was certainly entertaining and educational. I did get it mostly "wrong" :p ... but that is an experience as well. I could hear that all the tracks are different, but pinning down why exactly wasn't quiet as easy. What is certainly true listening back on it, specifically after what you said and described, I can hear some of the things better/more obvious. I am a bit annoyed with myself not for the listening really, but for some of the decisions making. For example Track A sounded "off" to me from the very 1st moment I listened to it. For some reason I decided last minute that "off = good", ah well :p. I agree that it is impressive to some degree what an algorithm can do. However it has still a long way to go, to learn, to gain experience and to get a form of intuition I suppose. But as an experiment certainly interesting. Listening back to it Leons sounds, probably, also overall rounded. Certainly worthwhile. I can hear some of the points you made in regards to SoundsLabs. So I did select it is the favorite one (sorry for that :p and even more so as I said it was yours :p). I guess there are some compromises that one needs to make. I guess from a technical perspective Leon, due to his experience, should have an advantage. However I do agree with Chanda and Braelyn et al. that you've done a great job. You should definitely continue with your own mastering and by the sounds of "officer hours" your are enjoying yourself (another good sign). Through that you get more practice and experience etc. as well. What might be useful is to use Leon (or someone like him) on the odd occasions as a "second opinion", to check yourself and your own mastering experience. In away, comparing it against another fixed point to track your own development and maybe do some "course corrections" when you think it is necessary. Similar to what I sometimes do with auditing, were I compare the "IS" state to a "known" state to chart the difference (I'm not using the word standard as I don't want to say "Leon is the bar" to achieve" :)). Overall it was great fun and experience and certainly help me a bit with learning to listen for me as well. So please do continue with these challenges in the future. PS: What is the equivalent of "water" for wine tasting (aka refresh ones palette) for listening to music ? :P

malukah

Oh, wow... that's a super interesting question at the end.... Just like smelling coffee beans between perfumes... hahaha! I don't know. Let me ask on Twitter to see if we get some possible answers.... And it's definitely ok if you liked E and if you were struggling to exactly pinpoint what the differences were in what you were hearing. I still struggle with this myself. Office Hours today was so much fun, with getting to see all those mix/master comparisons for All of the Above... And you're right. I can start using these (and any new future masterings) as a way to head in the right direction. Once I'm able to sort of imitate Leon, or at least the volume and energy, then I can try to focus on bringing back that background vocal wall of sound I love so much. hehehe! Aaaalways so much to learn with audio. It's endless! Thank you for being there TheAlb, and for being a part of the Mastering Mystery. Hehehe! <3 Hugs.

TheAlb

Thanks for asking on Twitter. Have to look into "white noise" and "brown noise" (didn't know either that it existed). :)

Thijs Bos

Damn, I really should check my patreon rewards more often then once or twice a month, I would've liked to participate :(. Oh well, I don't have great musical hearing so I'd probably not have won anyway. The concept is great though, nice quizzes occasionally. I like it!