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iOS Mastering Apps comparison
As a full-time mastering engineer who likes to make music on an iPad in my spare time, it’s no surprise I have an interest in the recent flux of mastering related iOS apps coming out these days. Add to that how many people I see on various forums lately asking which of the options is better, and I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a few of the more popular mastering apps and see how they compare. I’ll be looking at the following apps in this review:
Audio Mastering by iMusicAlbum $12.99
Final Touch by Positive Grid, Inc. $12.99
Auria with Fabfilter in app purchases $49.00 + IAP’s
This isn’t a full review of each app, those are already online if you want to learn more about the specifics of how each of them work. Rather, I wanted to see what things (good and bad) stood out in each app, and how they directly compare to each other in terms of functionality and sound quality. For this comparison I am listening to each app with my iPad Air connected to a Lynx Hilo DAC via the Apple Camera Connection Kit, an Emotiva XPA-2 amplifier, and finally my Tyler Acoustic D2x monitors. Custom room treatments by GIK Acoustics USA.
I’m using a few songs I wrote entirely on the iPad for testing purposes, in a variety of genres. Most have a good bit of low frequency information useful for testing dynamics processors, and they were made on the iPad and thus keep with the iOS theme. Audio Mastering and Final Touch both can function as Audiobus and Inter-App Audio effects, as well as load files via Audioshare, Audio Copy, etc. Auria is a dedicated DAW in it’s own right, and functions as an IAA host, as well as Audiobus Output. For all three apps I used iTunes file-sharing to import my songs however, and it was quick and painless in each case.
Because Audio Mastering and Final Touch both are similar all-in-one mastering solutions (ala Ozone on the desktop), I’m going to focus on the comparing them first, then discuss how the Auria method of iOS mastering differs. Let’s get to it then…
Being all in one solutions, Audio Mastering and Final Touch both share a lot of features, though more differences than I expected too. Both allow you to insert various mastering related processors into your signal chain, though in Audio Mastering’s case, the order of effects is fixed. It still largely makes sense except for putting the reverb in front of the compressor, but then again I personally have never understood the need for a reverb in 99.999% of all mastering. Regardless, point for Final Touch for allowing your to freely change the order of processors, as well as for having two EQs available.
Navigating in both apps is basically through tabs for each type of processor, with navigating done via dedicated transport buttons and a waveform you can scroll with your finger. Final Touch has the waveform visible at all times, while there’s a dedicated tab you need to go to in Audio Mastering in order to change the playback position precisely. Almost another point for Final Touch, but it has this weird fade-in it does each time the playhead is moved or playback begins. Makes it difficult when you’re trying to narrow in on a problematic transient I found.
One big difference in the apps is that aside from just audio processing, Audio Mastering can also apply user defined fade-in and fade-outs, convert file types before saving, as well as loop portions of the waveform if needed. So for more detailed and precise audio problem-solving, I find that Audio Mastering has the lead here.
Alright alright, but how do they sound is all anyone wants to know, right?
Continue reading: http://tarekith.com/ios-mastering-apps-comparison/
(sneaky, I know)
Comments
Just got home. Will be reading this soon. Thanks for the write up!
That's very helpful, and a great article. Really appreciate the info you've shared here. I've been slowly learning my way around Audio Mastering and Auria, and every bit helps. Thanks!
Thanks for the comparison, I like your assessment of the first two apps, seems fair and balanced, which is hard to find, I really appreciate the Audio Mastering app, but got the Final touch when it was cheap to check it out. Both have strengths, as is pointed out in the article. To me, edge to Audio Mastering.
If Igor is reading this, please consider implementing M/S in future update.
I missed the Fabfilter sale, hopefully they'll have the December sale again.
A really great read! Very useful and well written. Thanks
Thanks guys, glad it was helpful!
A great overview, thanks.
thanks Tarekith!
Insteresting read, thanks. Final Touch is $19.99 though, not $12.99.
@Coloobar Final Touch price changes on an almost daily basis. Down Up Down Down Up, like a guitar strum.
Great little write up on these apps. I was curious of what the apps actually sounded like and if they where any good. I think auria with its plugin friends fabfilter etc is still the better option for the moment.
Thanks for a decent review
True, but AM is on sale for $5.99 right now, too. Is it possible though to use two different mastering apps on one sound recording... Such as doing EQ and compression in one app, and reverb and spatial parameters in another? If so, what's the best sequence for doing it?
@Coloobar said:
Sorry about the prices guys, they definitely were changing daily so I just went with what the price was showing up for me this morning.
@coloobar you could use Audiobus to load both into the effects slots at the same time, then capture in something like Audioshare I suppose. Limited to 16bit though, which is a shame for this use.
Great read! And mucho good info on the various differences, pros/cons, in the apps for anyone trying to decide on what to get.
Nice one, thanks for the comprehensive comparison.
Thank you, Tarekith.
great review, thanks!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
Thanks for the read
Appreciated. I did just grab AM on the 5.99 sale. Really like it!
No problem everyone, glad it was helpful!
Great stuff @Tarekith. Thanks man!
Great read, thank you. Any chance we can hear the tracks made during this comparison?
Definitely a helpful and useful read! Thanks @Tarekith! :-)
I didn't MAKE any tracks during the comparison, but I used the raw mixdowns of these songs I had previously written:
http://tarekith.com/mp3s/Tarekith-WindSwept.m4a
http://tarekith.com/mp3s/Tarekith-Deviate.m4a
http://tarekith.com/mp3s/Tarekith-LinesOfSpace.m4a
Deviate was "mastered" using the limiter in Gadget, nothing fancy. The other two were mastered using the Auria method.
Gotcha, I'll definitely have a listen. I was thinking there might be a Final Touch, AM, and Auria version of a track.
In any case, good read and I'd love to see some more comparison write ups. You and John from music app blog write great stuff.
I originally wanted to do audio examples too, or perhaps a video. But I just found out a few days ago that my wife's work is sending her to Luxembourg for 8 weeks starting tomorrow, and I just ran out of time for something that involved while trying to prepare for that this week too.
We'll see, maybe eventually I can do a more indepth round 2.
i have all of this, and at today I prefer to use Auria with Fabfilter Pro-MB & Pro-L on master because is more fast and useful for me...