cloud bounce, good or bad idea?

[MarkTarlton]

why not have an algorithm that will write your music and mix it too

I don't get this kind of tool at all...it has no ears or artistic approach. very weird that people who make art/music would go this route.

a discussion on this service is encouraged.

[selig]

It's kind of like the "adult coloring" apps for iOS in some ways - some folks just want instant gratification and others are more willing to create the line art first then color it themselves. Same with music, so I certainly don't fault folks who just want the pleasure of dabbling with music creation! Same could be said for Instagram style photo filters vs doing the edits yourself. As always, there will possibly be a few "pros" that use these tools creatively - in that case they are more "curating" the works rather than creating them.

But hey, to each their own - I'm certainly not threatened in any way by the prospect of "instant music" creation services, if they even exist (but we know they will exist one day!).

[Soft Enerji]

Cakewalk offered something similar a while back and I can't even remember what the service was called. Seemed a bit gimicky to me so never signed up for it. Also I figured that by signing up it would just be something else that would clog my inbox.

At the end of the day, I'm a hobby muso. I have Ozone 6 that I use for mastering. Whether I'm any good at mastering is a matter of opinion. I like what I end up with and I get a few favorable comments on SoundCloud so I'm happy. I must admit though, now that Props are touting something similar to what the Bakers did I'm a bit curious. I always keep my pre-mastered tracks so maybe I'll flick 'em something and compare the results......I might get a surprise.......

[jam-s]

It's better to use some automated system built and tuned by professionals instead of ruining your work by trying to mix/master by yourself, when you lack the required skills and knowledge.

[Soft Enerji]

It's better to use some automated system built and tuned by professionals instead of ruining your work by trying to mix/master by yourself, when you lack the required skills and knowledge.

Sorry.....but.........ya reckon? Where's the learning curve in that? I'd much rather fuck up than rely on some algorithm I don't understand.

[jam-s]

It certainly depends on what kind of artist you are. Not everyone is interested in becoming a mix/sound engineer. Therefore these jobs exist in the first place. If automatic systems can (to a certain degree) replace these by now, well, that's progress.

[Dabbler]

I remember asking for something like this on the old PUF.
I mean, we already know how things should sound, right?
So why have us endlessly twiddling buttons?
I think it is a great idea whose time has come.

[mcatalao]

To me it's just a Landr contestant.

I didn't look at Landr a lot but i compared some masters done with Landr and mastering engineers and if you're looking at something standard, it can make an Ok'ish job (Landr, i never tried the new one). But what Landr most affects is dynamics, some eq, and colour, but it simply stands to a standard (though they say it compares your song to a bunch of others of the same type), and even on the softer settings it was a little harsh to my years. Also, i question, when mixing and mastering and any other part of your art, do you really just want to sound as others? Do you think other people's sound should be limiting your own?

Anyway if you're looking for something specific (and mind that Mastering is not Vudoo, it has a bunch of specific tasks that take you from A to B) you'd be better off taking your songs to a master engineer. It's not as expensive as people think (you can get a full cd mastered for 400 to 500 eur or less!!!). That would be less than 50 eur a song, a pretty nice value considering you have an experienced engineer, with a state of the art monitoring chain, Plugins, AD/DA Converters and so on.

[selig]

Hey, didn't realize cloud bounce was Cloud Bounce, a mastering service - I thought you were talking theoretically about a song writing/mixing service of the future!

Even though I don't have a problem with this concept, I wonder how well the technology is implemented. For example, when I send my tracks to mastering I give instructions about where I'm headed with the project. I also almost always request some changes after the fact. This back and forth communication is the key to making the process worth the $$$ IMO. Otherwise I'd just master it myself.

So you would have to actually try these sort of services before you could effectively comment on their usefulness, and even then it would vary from person to person, even project to project of song to song!

[satyr32]

I just tried it out and I could not hear a difference.

[Troyvasanth]

I recently made a track, I mixed it and mastered it myself, It sounded good to me.
I am not a trained sound engineer.
I have been learning about mastering process for a while now.
I have a very basic set up (budget monitors and decent acoustic treatment).
I was curious to know what the deal was with this online mastering service.
So I Uploaded my mix to cloud bounce and got it mastered.
Well, It sounded way better compared to the master done by an amateur like myself, who does not even have an ideal setup or experience.
May be if I can compare it with a mastering engineers work on the same track I'll know the real difference.

However I did a comparative analysis of cloud bounce, mine and some commercial masters of the same genre and made some observations -
The cloud bounce master compared to mine had a tighter low frequency, open highs and a well glued mids.
I am not throwing random terms here, I could hear the kick and bass come to focus nicely, The highs shimmering without being harsh and the mid instrument cluster getting more clarity.
The frequency graph in the spectrum analyzer had a very nice slope very similar to the commercially mastered tracks, whereas my mastered file had some dips and peaks in certain frequencies.
It certainly improved the sonic character of the track and I guess I learned a bit comparing the tracks.

In my understanding what it does is basically balance the frequencies, Also something is going on under the hood in terms of compression because it made the track a lot more tighter. It is by no means a limiter slamming things and making it louder. LANDR had that criticism.
Of course there is no human element involved in terms of creative decisions, So If your mix has problems I don't think it'll rectify it.
But on the other hand it seems to deliver a well balanced master.

I highly doubt if this will work on all genres and it certainly cannot replace a mastering engineers creative input or experience.
A service like this is a good idea for beginners who can't afford a mastering engineer for compiling a demo.

[Soft Enerji]

It certainly depends on what kind of artist you are. Not everyone is interested in becoming a mix/sound engineer. Therefore these jobs exist in the first place. If automatic systems can (to a certain degree) replace these by now, well, that's progress.

Fair enough and each to their own. I'd still rather have a go myself and learn from the process.

[Soft Enerji]

To me it's just a Landr contestant.

Landr. That was the one Cakewalk did the offer with a while back. I never even looked at it. I think I will give the Cloud Bounce a try though just for a comparison.

[mcatalao]

Even though I don't have a problem with this concept, I wonder how well the technology is implemented. For example, when I send my tracks to mastering I give instructions about where I'm headed with the project. I also almost always request some changes after the fact. This back and forth communication is the key to making the process worth the $$$ IMO. Otherwise I'd just master it myself.

Exactly.

[anssiuimonen]

Hey guys,

felt the need to chime in to this discussion (I'm the co-founder, CEO at CloudBounce). Seems some of you have tried our "robot mastering" out - thanks for that!

There has been some confusion as to what/why people would want to use an automated, algorithm based "mastering" service. What we've found the best usecase for a service like this is that it is a good tool to reference your rough mixes and demos - during the creative process - before sending it to proper mastering (with the human interaction, feedback and sign-off of another set of ears). We are, by no means, trying to remove the quality assurance and expert finishing touch of a mastering engineer, but to offer a) an instant, b) good quality and c) super affordable option to get an idea of how your songs will sound mastered.

For example: when I make my dnb tunes, I like to bounce the files out of my DAW, run them through our "robot" and then reference the track with my car stereo, headphones etc. to see what needs to be fixed. Wouldn't want to bug the ME every single time I bounce stuff out for referencing (and don't have the funds to do so either).

Hope this clarified a bit. To answer the question: "is it a good or a bad idea?"

- I don't know. You decide. For some it works and for some it doesn't. For me and all the users we've got it is a useful, quick service. If you wish to try it out, we are giving away 1 free hi-res "robot master". Head here if you wanna give it a go: https://www.cloudbounce.com/free-master

[Soft Enerji]

Hey guys,

felt the need to chime in to this discussion (I'm the co-founder, CEO at CloudBounce). Seems some of you have tried our "robot mastering" out - thanks for that!

There has been some confusion as to what/why people would want to use an automated, algorithm based "mastering" service. What we've found the best usecase for a service like this is that it is a good tool to reference your rough mixes and demos - during the creative process - before sending it to proper mastering (with the human interaction, feedback and sign-off of another set of ears). We are, by no means, trying to remove the quality assurance and expert finishing touch of a mastering engineer, but to offer a) an instant, b) good quality and c) super affordable option to get an idea of how your songs will sound mastered.

For example: when I make my dnb tunes, I like to bounce the files out of my DAW, run them through our "robot" and then reference the track with my car stereo, headphones etc. to see what needs to be fixed. Wouldn't want to bug the ME every single time I bounce stuff out for referencing (and don't have the funds to do so either).

Hope this clarified a bit. To answer the question: "is it a good or a bad idea?"

- I don't know. You decide. For some it works and for some it doesn't. For me and all the users we've got it is a useful, quick service. If you wish to try it out, we are giving away 1 free hi-res "robot master". Head here if you wanna give it a go: https://www.cloudbounce.com/free-master

Thanks for your chime in, and appreciate all u said but my so called 'free master' was only a snippet of my song and frankly useless to me..............

[anssiuimonen]

Thanks for your chime in, and appreciate all u said but my so called 'free master' was only a snippet of my song and frankly useless to me..............

Ah I see, there had been an error in the process then. If you want to try it again, I can give you credits. Note: using Google Chrome or latest Firefox should do the trick. We don't support IE or Edge at all and provide limited support for Safari. (bootstrapping startup you with limited resources, will be adding more support in the future).

If you want the master, just ping us inside the dashboard chat!