Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions about Mastering

**masteringhouse** · 12-24-2010

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

Be careful, Tom; that's the kind of question that got Brett Favre in trouble.

G.

I'll stay away from shots of my "meat and potatoes".

**SouthSIDE Glen** · 12-24-2010

LOL (literally, for a change

).

G.

**studiosound** · 05-04-2011

For Mastering, we run into two common mixing issues that I’d like to touch on. 1. If in doubt mix cymbals lower rather than higher. They’ll come up in the mastering process and it’s hard to work with them properly if they’re mixed to loud. 1. De-ess the vocals. Sibilance can be difficult to work with if it’s not reasonably addressed in the mixing stage.

**STUTTERHOUSE** · 05-13-2011

nice one. Found this quite worthwhile

**eddiedskim** · 07-30-2011

This article is awesome! I've always wondered about this mastering thing

**ljacobs1987** · 08-01-2011

Brilliant!

**ljacobs1987** · 08-01-2011

I have also always wondered about the mastering thing!

**nirospring** · 08-16-2011

I'm sure I'm in the minority on this thread, but I think that mastering is a thing of the past. It is a great luxury if you can afford it because it gives you that last set of ears and one final chance to fix any problems. However, a great part of the mastering engineer's job has always been to make sure that a CD sounds coherent in its sonic qualities and to fix spaces in between songs. The CD is a thing of the past, and most music is listened to as singles in a shuffled playlist. The major record labels are slowly fading away, and artists are stepping more and more into the role of recording engineer/mixer. Today there is more music coming out than ever before, and most of this is coming out on a low budget. This budget is likely to be spent on a mixer who can also master.

**Massive Master** · 08-16-2011

This budget is likely to be spent on a mixer who can also master.

But the best mixers generally never master their own mixes.

**Steve Henningsgard** · 08-17-2011

Originally Posted by nirospring

I'm sure I'm in the minority on this thread, but I think that mastering is a thing of the past. It is a great luxury if you can afford it because it gives you that last set of ears and one final chance to fix any problems. However, a great part of the mastering engineer's job has always been to make sure that a CD sounds coherent in its sonic qualities and to fix spaces in between songs. The CD is a thing of the past, and most music is listened to as singles in a shuffled playlist. The major record labels are slowly fading away, and artists are stepping more and more into the role of recording engineer/mixer. Today there is more music coming out than ever before, and most of this is coming out on a low budget. This budget is likely to be spent on a mixer who can also master.

It is important to note that most artists (certainly not all) do not have the patience or the skill set necessary to properly record their material. Furthermore, the separation between the artist and the engineer allows the artist to focus on his or her art, leaving the rather technical side of recording to the engineer. Finally, as Massive stated, mixing and mastering are not the same, and the skills necessary to be truly exceptional at either do not have as much overlap as most artists think.

That said, if people continue to care less and less about the audio quality of the music they listen to, who gives a shit if it was well-recorded in the first place I guess...