General Mastering Question

J

jconradi

New member
Hello, i have a quick question about the mixing mastering process.

first, i'll take my completed instrumental, record vocals, then mix the entire thing.

then, you master.

but my question is; when im mastering, (i'm mastering in Reason 9), do you master the song with all the individual tracks laid out, or 1 master track? In other words, should I export the mixed instrumental with vocals, and then master that 1 track, or do my mastering with the mixed version that still has all the individual tracks laid out?

thanks!
 
If you have all the individual tracks, that's mixing.

Mastering was/is the act of putting the songs in sequence for an album, making the transitions sound right and processing the songs so that they all sounded like they belonged together.

Now that not everyone is thinking in terms of albums, mastering has just become 'make it bright and loud'.

Either way, you master the stereo mix, not the individual tracks.
 
haha ya, time is too valuable to be wasting time on one and the other one will never make anything sound good. haha With the one shot, as mentioned above, it could be that the Mastering engineer can better match your target "sound"

So, there's a little more of; "Where am I going with this"? when the second hat is worn. I want it to sound like Devin and I want it on CD, cassette, download FLAC & MP3
 
Farview said:
If you have all the individual tracks, that's mixing.

Mastering was/is the act of putting the songs in sequence for an album, making the transitions sound right and processing the songs so that they all sounded like they belonged together.

Now that not everyone is thinking in terms of albums, mastering has just become 'make it bright and loud'.

Either way, you master the stereo mix, not the individual tracks.
Click to expand...

got it, so all the mastering effects (Compressors, limiters, etc) are done on the entire mix as 1 track. thank you!
 
Farview said:
If you have all the individual tracks, that's mixing.

Mastering was/is the act of putting the songs in sequence for an album, making the transitions sound right and processing the songs so that they all sounded like they belonged together.

Now that not everyone is thinking in terms of albums, mastering has just become 'make it bright and loud'.

Either way, you master the stereo mix, not the individual tracks.
Click to expand...
Bingo, exactly how I've always thought of it....although when I first started looking at recording and looking for definitions of/understanding of "mixing" and "mastering," the lines weren't so clear and 10 diff sites would give you 10 diff viewpoints.

Also what struck me was how apparently most people think mastering is way harder than mixing. Seems to me it's just the opposite.
 
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