T Racks 3 Screenshot

One of the most important, yet often overlooked, elements of a professional recording is mastering. Mastering isn’t a part of mixing, it is the final stage before audio is duplicated, where the fidelity (punch, clarity and volume) are added to the track. Mastering is one of the separators between demo and pro recordings, and high quality mastering can literally separate a hit from just another song. IK Multimedia’s latest installment of the T-Racks Mastering Suite takes the art of digital mastering to a whole new level, bringing advanced signal processing and fidelity to the masses.. With T-Racks 3, anyone can get music mastered at the level of a professional mastering lab.

I’ve been a T-Racks user for years, and I recently had the opportunity to work with the new T-Racks 3 software. I thought T-Racks 3 was going to be a rehashed version of software I loved. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The interactivity, new plug ins, and sound quality blew my mind. I expected to see a familiar piece of software, with 4 signal processors popping up on the screen. When I opened the program and saw the 12 configurable slots for the signal chain, my first thought was “is this for real?” This didn’t even look like the program I have used for years. Once I started testing the program out on a final mix, I found it to be easy and fun to use. Within two hours I had three distinct masters to choose from, and each of them sounded sonically equal to almost any major label release I have heard.

T-Racks 3 is available for both Mac and Windows, and the plug ins can be loaded into almost any audio program as well as used as standalone software. The program is beautiful and the plug ins look real (and gorgeous). All the modules can be turned on and off individually (allowing you to actually hear the difference each plug-in makes to your master), and the 12 slots are configurable in a variety of ways. There is even a bypass button that lets you compare your original (plug in free) mix with the mastered version.

As if all that isn’t enough, the five new processors (available in the Deluxe version) are recreations of some of the most powerful and well-known studio equipment in history, including limiters, compressors, and equalizers. T-Racks brings the quality, equipment, and results of some of the finest mastering studios on the planet into your home studio, and the program clocks in at under $400. If you want your tracks to sound professionally mastered, and have the highest professional fidelity, then T-Racks 3 may be the best choice for your home studio.

Top 10 Indie Music Marketing Tools

5. GYDGET - Everybody’s got widgets, but these guys get it right by enabling you to grab your info, music, and video and spread it across the net. Free.

6. REVERBNATION – Communicate with fans, build a street team, get widgets and Facebook apps, sell stuff. Tools do do it all and most of them free.

7. TUNECORE - Affordable flat rate digital distribution to all the major download sites worldwide with no strings attached.

8. TUBEMOGUL – You made a great video for a $23.57 budget. Now what do you do with it? Simultaneously upload to 18 sites including all the biggies then track performance. Basic service is free. (Bonus: A list of viral video sites.)

9. ARTISTDATA – Update tour dates on your website, MySace, Pure Volume, Last.fm, Jambase, Pollstar, Sonicbids and more all at once plus submit tour dates to local media.

10. MOZES, BAND TXT ALERTS (tie) You could use Twitter to communicate with fans, but not everyone wants an account. Every cell can accept text messages. Mozes is free (carrier rates apply) and robust, but pays for itself with ads that could upset some. Band TXT Alerts costs a little, but takes a way the ads.

IndieBandSurvivalGuide.com is an open community created by indie musicians. It’s the place to share all the practical information, tools, and resources that’s available to indie musicians with one another. Think of this site as your band’s back office – a place to plan, share knowledge, network, and otherwise help you promote your music, get heard, and ultimately, win fans.

Check out The Future of Music Coalition. Their site contains many articles, videos, and resources for the modern indepedent musician, covering touring, marketing, digital sales, and other aspects of life in the post-industry world.

Here’s part of their manifesto:

The History of the Music Industry vs The Future of Music

June 1, 2000

The history of the American Music Industry is a disheartening one, which largely details the exploitation of artists and musicians by opportunists and those without the musicians’ best interests at heart.

For too long musicians have had too little voice in the manufacture, distribution and promotion of their music on a national and international level and too little means to extract fair support and compensation for their work.

Manufacturing and distribution monopolies concentrate the power of over 90% of music sold into the hands of five labels. With huge media mergers continuing to consolidate the decisions of what to play and promote, it becomes more and more difficult for artists to gain exposure through the few remaining coveted radio spots.

Historically, musicians have had one of two unattractive choices:

1. Align themselves with major label exploiters and agree to unfair compensation in the hopes of one day reaching a national audience; or
2. Resign themselves to working with indies and a life in the shadows.

read more at their site.