DIY online mastering back-end (for Windows)

[efinque]

Hello GDIY,

this began as an idea (pseudocode) but recently, after acquiring a laptop I finally got around to programming it.

Basically how the script works is there's a file handler written in Powershell that renames and moves the file from the upload folder into a temporary (working) folder, then there's a JitBit macro that runs Audacity and performs a hot-key'd macro (which does importing/exporting the file from the tmp folder to download folder, running normalisation, hpf, lpf etc)

Then a timer starts counting until it removes the exported file from the download folder (by default 90 seconds) and the script tries to fetch a new file from upload folder.

The files are uploaded/downloaded via FTP (Filezilla Server)

There's a quick start guide for configuring the script. At the moment I'm working on an ACL (Access control list) script that prevents two or more simultaneous files in the upload folder (this probably causes the script to give an error, but it's ok for personal use)

Link to .rar :

AirLab ver1.0

Any thoughts?

-ef

EDIT : link to dev thread on djforums

 

[efinque]

Here's ver1.1 (designed for server use)

AirLab v1.1

It still has some quirks.. such as the need to camp for the file in the download folder, other users downloading files from the upload folder, and DDoS'ing the service.

 

[ruairioflaherty]

What's the potential use case here that isn't covered by batch processing in something like Wavelab or iZotope RX?

 

[efinque]

What's the potential use case here that isn't covered by batch processing in something like Wavelab or iZotope RX?

You could leave this running on your studio desktop and produce on the road without dongles and/or licensing your mastering plugins twice.

EDIT: that being said I don't have any licensed/dongled mastering plugins.. apart from Harrison XT-ME which I used to have on my studio PC but there's no VST for it

 

[ruairioflaherty]

I'm no clearer sadly but I probably have a very different conception of mastering given that I do it full time.

The standard workflow here in town for people on the move or at home is to dial in to their studio rig with a remote viewer software and then stream the audio using audio movers. many high profile mixers I work with will use this to do late night notes etc.

 

[Whoops]

I have read the first post 3 times, but I still didn't understand what this is supposed to do and what help would it provide in my mastering work.
I don't understand what it is or what it does

thanks

 

[efinque]

I'm no clearer sadly but I probably have a very different conception of mastering given that I do it full time.

The standard workflow here in town for people on the move or at home is to dial in to their studio rig with a remote viewer software and then stream the audio using audio movers. many high profile mixers I work with will use this to do late night notes etc.

Yeah I figured the remote desktop is good enough for quick masters. I was however aiming at a dedicated mastering server.

I have read the first post 3 times, but I still didn't understand what this is supposed to do and what help would it provide in my mastering work.
I don't understand what it is or what it does

thanks

So, you have licensed plugins on your desktop and would like to produce on a laptop (and not install the plugins twice).. you leave the script running on your desktop and FTP files to the mastering chain.

Here's ver1.2

 

[Whoops]

So, you have licensed plugins on your desktop and would like to produce on a laptop (and not install the plugins twice).. you leave the script running on your desktop and FTP files to the mastering chain.

Here's ver1.2

I’m sorry mate,
I do mastering professionally, but I still don’t understand what are you developing, even after this post I don’t really understand what it does or the usefulness of it.

Maybe it’s me
Or maybe a more detailed and easy to understand complete explanation and description is needed

Thanks

 

[efinque]

I’m sorry mate,
I do mastering professionally, but I still don’t understand what are you developing, even after this post I don’t really understand what it does or the usefulness of it.

Maybe it’s me
Or maybe a more detailed and easy to understand complete explanation and description is needed

Thanks

Back in the day I had a desktop studio PC running Windows and a MacBook running OS X.. this way I could've had access to an all-VST mastering chain on the road from the MacBook (using nothing but FTP)

EDIT : I'm also quite sure one would learn to tailor his mixes to the "static" mastering chain over time.

 

[totoxraymond]

I’m sorry mate,
I do mastering professionally, but I still don’t understand what are you developing, even after this post I don’t really understand what it does or the usefulness of it.

Maybe it’s me
Or maybe a more detailed and easy to understand complete explanation and description is needed

Thanks

i think the misunderstanding comes from the different meaning behind "mastering".

I could be wrong but you're using the term to describe the process of preparing a record for distribution. (Vinyl, CD, streaming...) whereas efinque seems to be using it to describe a process he applies to the songs he intend to use for DJing.

The later seems to be easier to automate, might be a standard process to flatten differences between tunes or anything.

Cheers,

Thomas

 

[efinque]

i think the misunderstanding comes from the different meaning behind "mastering".

I could be wrong but you're using the term to describe the process of preparing a record for distribution. (Vinyl, CD, streaming...) whereas efinque seems to be using it to describe a process he applies to the songs he intend to use for DJing.

The later seems to be easier to automate, might be a standard process to flatten differences between tunes or anything.

Cheers,

Thomas

Exactly!

And this is almost the only production stage that could be automated.

There's already a software called ReplayGain and it does batch processing (=normalisation), I've never tried it (as the DJ software I use has auto-gain) but I decided to take it a step further with a mastering plug-in chain.

EDIT : and this is for single files only

 

[boji]

using audio movers

These guys?
https://audiomovers.com/listento/Pretty cool.

I'll take a look at your code efinque. Thx for sharing. On first glance jitbit looks a little...specialized.
Can you export macros as VB? I've used autoit in the past for windows scripting/regex's.

 

[efinque]

I'll take a look at your code efinque. Thx for sharing. On first glance jitbit looks a little...specialized.
Can you export macros as VB? I've used autoit in the past for windows scripting/regex's.

Afaik there's no VB (if you mean Visual BASIC) solution which is a bummer. I also tried Macro Commander Pro (from Microsoft Store) which didn't record anything.

I was thinking of a wrapper so the whole thing runs inside a window (the scripts, FTP etc) with file path configuration and stuff like that, all done in Visual BASIC.