I recently finished an album for my university. It is a compilation album of 11 songs (+ 1 remix.) I am head of the project and produced 6 songs. I also mixed 8 of 11 songs on the album. This album is 100% home recording. No studio time was used for tracking or mixing. 10 of the songs were done using CWPA 9 and 1 was done on Logic 4.7.
Since we were planning on not only selling this within our university but also outside, I decided to get the album professionally mastered.
I know a producer who has been quite succesful locally and he recommended a place called Planet Media and a certain engineer who works there.
Anyway...
I called the studio and made an appointment (they stressed that once an appointment was made to NOT reschedule.) This took 2 phone calls. The first time we talked they told me to bring the data in AIFF format with consistant sample/bit rates. This was no problem, even though the songs were all done on PCs, we could just convert the files in SoundForge. The second time we talked they asked to bring CD-Audio. This struck me as odd. Isn't CD-Audio prone to errors or quality degradation? Why not use the data files (AIFF)?
The day of mastering, we arrived at the studio and they asked for the audio CDs (there was more than one disk because I brought multiple mixes to chose from.) They then loaded the audio into their Sonic Solutions Mac-based system through a Denon professional CD player. I'm not sure if the audio was resampled or if it was a digital transfer. Later on, I asked the engineer why they don't just use the data files and he said that Sonic only uses it's own file type (using AIFF would require conversion) and that it's easier to just use the CD-Audio.
The studio. The studio was an un-symmetrical room with a pair of nearfield Genelecs (not sure which model but the woofers couldn't have been larger than 6") I was a bit surprised and concerned. I have been in a mastering studio before and this was not the type of setup I was expecting. I was expecting midfield monitors with huge woofers in a symmetrical room.
Once the Audio was loaded into Sonic, the engineer came in (who wasn't very friendly at first) and started going through the tracks. He picked one to start on, put his finger on a fader, and just about killed us all! This guy monitors so damn loud I could hardly bare to be in the room!! And he just sat there as if it were normal.
As time went on things loosened up a bit and he was more conversational. He explained that the reason he monitored so loud was so that he could hear everything, and at low volumes you won't be able to hear certain things that need to be fixed.
As far as I could see, he was only using 2 things in this mastering process. 1 was an EQ on the computer (Sonic) and the other was a TC "Finalizer" which is basically a fancy dynamics processor (compression, expander, deesser, etc).
I did not dither any of the tracks during the mixing phase. I told him this and he said that dither wasn't really that important and I shouldn't worry about it. (Not important???) As far as I know he did not dither during mastering, or at least I didn't see him adjusting any dither settings or anything like that. But it could just be that he did it while I was outside resting my ears! (He monitors SO DAMN LOUD!)
Just to add, he wasn't monitoring superloud the whole time, after blasting each song and setting his processor he would turn it down (to check I assume.) During the whole process he did not stop to rest his ears (or for any other reason) at all.
Once he went thru every track with his EQ and TC Finalizer we began to do the fade ins and outs. I am a little disappointed with the fade outs. I just don't like the curves. I asked him to increase/decrease the curve setting, but I still couldn't get exactly what I wanted. Oh well, what could I do? Maybe next time I'll just do the fades myself in WaveLab.
Then we set the pause time between each track. I was saying 2 seconds but the engineer and a friend of mine who was there argued that 3 was standard. So I went with 3. (ACTUALLY, I would have preferred to do it according to each track, meaning, vary it depending on what sounds best for each transition, but no one who was with me seemed to have the patience for that.)
When it was all done, they wrote the audio to a Quantegy CD-R. The process took 23 minutes (the total playtime for the CD is 45.45, so I assume they wrote at 2x) We made 3 copies.
When the first disc was done, we listened to it. Sounded pretty OK to us. There were a couple parts that seemed a little overcompressed to me but there wasn't anything seriously wrong.
We paid the bill, got a name card, and left.
When I got back home....
I lisented to the CD on my own system. Oh man, I started getting worried. Way overcompressed were many of the tracks. 1 track in particular really bothered me. It sounds like he used a multiband expander on the high frequencies and now it sounds really unnatural and 'choppy' to me. All the reverb is gone and the snare and hihat sound very 'staccato' (I know you can't really use that word with percussion.) It lacks smoothness and at one part, an open high hat 'drops out' and sounds 'broken up'. For instance, the original goes 'tssssssss' and after mastering, it goes 'tsss-ss-ss--ss-"
I started freaking out. I called one of the guys who had a copy of the master and asked him to listen to it. He said it was OK. Maybe it's just me, but I can't STAND to listen to it. It really bothers me. But the other guys say it's OK. I didn't notice it until I got home.
In the studio the tracks sounded of equal volume but at home a couple of the tracks seem a bit quiet compared to other tracks. No one else was complaining though, so the master has already been sent to the CD copier.
I wish I could post some examples up somewhere but I don't have anywhere to upload to.
People tell me that I probably feel this way since I'm the one who produced most of the tracks and mixed them as well, so I'm just not used to hearing them this way. But some of it really bothers me! I'm the only 'engineer' in the group. Others are musicians but have no experience mixing or anything of the sort. I was tempted to call the studio back and ask to go back and fix things, but everyone else was OK with what we had. So I didn't.
Does mastering usually affect the tracks this dramatically? Is this something that engineers often experience? Should I trust my own judgement or that of the mastering engineer and the others?
Oh well, that is an account of my first experience mastering and what is on my mind now that it's done.
Since we were planning on not only selling this within our university but also outside, I decided to get the album professionally mastered.
I know a producer who has been quite succesful locally and he recommended a place called Planet Media and a certain engineer who works there.
Anyway...
I called the studio and made an appointment (they stressed that once an appointment was made to NOT reschedule.) This took 2 phone calls. The first time we talked they told me to bring the data in AIFF format with consistant sample/bit rates. This was no problem, even though the songs were all done on PCs, we could just convert the files in SoundForge. The second time we talked they asked to bring CD-Audio. This struck me as odd. Isn't CD-Audio prone to errors or quality degradation? Why not use the data files (AIFF)?
The day of mastering, we arrived at the studio and they asked for the audio CDs (there was more than one disk because I brought multiple mixes to chose from.) They then loaded the audio into their Sonic Solutions Mac-based system through a Denon professional CD player. I'm not sure if the audio was resampled or if it was a digital transfer. Later on, I asked the engineer why they don't just use the data files and he said that Sonic only uses it's own file type (using AIFF would require conversion) and that it's easier to just use the CD-Audio.
The studio. The studio was an un-symmetrical room with a pair of nearfield Genelecs (not sure which model but the woofers couldn't have been larger than 6") I was a bit surprised and concerned. I have been in a mastering studio before and this was not the type of setup I was expecting. I was expecting midfield monitors with huge woofers in a symmetrical room.
Once the Audio was loaded into Sonic, the engineer came in (who wasn't very friendly at first) and started going through the tracks. He picked one to start on, put his finger on a fader, and just about killed us all! This guy monitors so damn loud I could hardly bare to be in the room!! And he just sat there as if it were normal.
As time went on things loosened up a bit and he was more conversational. He explained that the reason he monitored so loud was so that he could hear everything, and at low volumes you won't be able to hear certain things that need to be fixed.
As far as I could see, he was only using 2 things in this mastering process. 1 was an EQ on the computer (Sonic) and the other was a TC "Finalizer" which is basically a fancy dynamics processor (compression, expander, deesser, etc).
I did not dither any of the tracks during the mixing phase. I told him this and he said that dither wasn't really that important and I shouldn't worry about it. (Not important???) As far as I know he did not dither during mastering, or at least I didn't see him adjusting any dither settings or anything like that. But it could just be that he did it while I was outside resting my ears! (He monitors SO DAMN LOUD!)
Just to add, he wasn't monitoring superloud the whole time, after blasting each song and setting his processor he would turn it down (to check I assume.) During the whole process he did not stop to rest his ears (or for any other reason) at all.
Once he went thru every track with his EQ and TC Finalizer we began to do the fade ins and outs. I am a little disappointed with the fade outs. I just don't like the curves. I asked him to increase/decrease the curve setting, but I still couldn't get exactly what I wanted. Oh well, what could I do? Maybe next time I'll just do the fades myself in WaveLab.
Then we set the pause time between each track. I was saying 2 seconds but the engineer and a friend of mine who was there argued that 3 was standard. So I went with 3. (ACTUALLY, I would have preferred to do it according to each track, meaning, vary it depending on what sounds best for each transition, but no one who was with me seemed to have the patience for that.)
When it was all done, they wrote the audio to a Quantegy CD-R. The process took 23 minutes (the total playtime for the CD is 45.45, so I assume they wrote at 2x) We made 3 copies.
When the first disc was done, we listened to it. Sounded pretty OK to us. There were a couple parts that seemed a little overcompressed to me but there wasn't anything seriously wrong.
We paid the bill, got a name card, and left.
When I got back home....
I lisented to the CD on my own system. Oh man, I started getting worried. Way overcompressed were many of the tracks. 1 track in particular really bothered me. It sounds like he used a multiband expander on the high frequencies and now it sounds really unnatural and 'choppy' to me. All the reverb is gone and the snare and hihat sound very 'staccato' (I know you can't really use that word with percussion.) It lacks smoothness and at one part, an open high hat 'drops out' and sounds 'broken up'. For instance, the original goes 'tssssssss' and after mastering, it goes 'tsss-ss-ss--ss-"
I started freaking out. I called one of the guys who had a copy of the master and asked him to listen to it. He said it was OK. Maybe it's just me, but I can't STAND to listen to it. It really bothers me. But the other guys say it's OK. I didn't notice it until I got home.
In the studio the tracks sounded of equal volume but at home a couple of the tracks seem a bit quiet compared to other tracks. No one else was complaining though, so the master has already been sent to the CD copier.
I wish I could post some examples up somewhere but I don't have anywhere to upload to.
People tell me that I probably feel this way since I'm the one who produced most of the tracks and mixed them as well, so I'm just not used to hearing them this way. But some of it really bothers me! I'm the only 'engineer' in the group. Others are musicians but have no experience mixing or anything of the sort. I was tempted to call the studio back and ask to go back and fix things, but everyone else was OK with what we had. So I didn't.
Does mastering usually affect the tracks this dramatically? Is this something that engineers often experience? Should I trust my own judgement or that of the mastering engineer and the others?
Oh well, that is an account of my first experience mastering and what is on my mind now that it's done.
).
I never meant to imply anything like that at all. Yikes... I tried not to use TC Finalizer and Mastering house in the same sentence. I have been in studios that have offered "mastering services" on the side with nothing other than a Aphex Aural Exciter. Hows that for scary! But nothing beats the T-Racks Screen Saver!