Best Ways To Master

[dantell]

1. Send it to somebody who knows how and pay for it
2. Trial and Error takes at least 2 years of your life you'll never get back
3. Learning from an expert speeds up the process, but still takes 1.5 years
4.

[kylen]

The same can be said for writing songs, learning an instrument, recording, mixing, etc.

I don't think of it in terms of 'wasted' time however it is a trade of sorts involving time, at the very least, yes ? It's picking how you want to spend the time you have...It's only time we have - everything else costs money $$$

[ryanlikestorock]

I'd say that two years is enough time to learn how to get started doing any of those things, depending on the dedication you have. I've been playing guitar for 12 years, but I still wouldn't call myself a guitar player.

[Massive Master]

It's a loaded question - I've been mastering for... Well, a while. 15 years since I first started experimenting with it, "seriously" for around 10 years.

HOWEVER - On MY mixes, I STILL send it out to someone else. I rarely if ever master my own mixes (especially if it's actually my own material - I'm a musician too). It's just not a good idea. I can't be objective on something I'm that familiar with. IMO, mastering without objectivity is a mistake.

[dantell]

4. If you spent less than 750 bucks on monitors throw them away.
5. When Mastering don't ever have a loaded weapon in the house.
6. Bass will always increase higher when volume of wave is raised.
7. You can't fix a screwed up Mix with mastering.
8. Metal sounds punchier squished flat
9. Ballads sound like shit squished flat
10. Matching volume levels on different style songs is a nightmare(refer to #5)
11. Mastering will always be fun to an anal retentive person like myself
12. Prepiration H works okay on hemmoroids, but tastes bad when mistaken for toothpaste from staying up all night mastering.
13. Being a Musician who plays all his own instruments, mixes , then masters his own music, I will never be 100% happy with everything, so I'll constantly be fixing something.
14. This board is a good vent
15. My next album will be Mastered by someone else, because this one is going to kill me.
16. You couldn't pay me enough to master for a living.
17. By the time I release my album the most popular music will probably be Rap and some white guy will be the most popular rapper.
more later

[AdrianFly]

When paying for mastering..even mixing an album.. how often does an unsigned band make their money back?

I've been a guitarist for 20 years and enjoy recording my own stuff at home in my "project studio" as a hobby. I've been commended on my mixes and masters, and I've been shot down (always by professionals) because my masters aren't polished, sonic maximized, aphex'ed and LOUD enough. What bothers me is that I've seen others who have paid enormous amounts of money to be mixed, mastered and then their final product sounds like a loud, digital, overly-processed piece of crap. Such loud crap that it's pounding out of the speakers with blatant suckage that I couldn't even concentrate on the music itself. It was like having a large penis slapping me across the lips and some big prison inmate gripping me by the hair going, "SUCK IT SUCK IT SUCK IT". Luckily these final products weren't mixed nor mastered by anyone around here in this forum.

If I was going to make a profit (if I was in that business) off my music I'd pick Bluebear for mixing and Massive Mastering for the mastering process. Both are affordable to the average guy and know what they are talking about...especially since they offer great prices on the services they provide. Many don't know this and I haven't seen it discussed much in the forum but there are thousands of others out there with thousands invested in top notch gear only to be complete idiots behind the mixing console and clueless at mastering. Yet they stay in business because they've got all the pro-gear to lure unsuspecting artists in and soak them of their budget.

Yes.. it's true. We know there are home recording people like myself with limited gear and knowledge to create a final product. (Extremely limited in my case) However, it's just wrong when some guy blows thousands on gear and can't even pull off a balanced mix or even master as well as I can. Like a musician, not only does it take years of learning but it takes talent.

Some say that the home recording musician is coming closer to producing a final product that sounds like the "Professionals". This just isn't true. The truth is that there are more "Home Recording Musicians" that have blew thousands to open professional studios and mastering houses only to suck at what they do.

This is why it's extremely important to choose a REAL recording studio and mastering house for your material. It's just as important to know the persons working on your stuff as the gear they will be using on it.

Your final product can either be a souped up Trans-Am or a Rolls Royce.

(My home recordings are an AMC Gremlin. I'm gonna drive it till the wheels fall off and can afford better)

[Blue Bear Sound]

Aw, shucks........ *shuffles feet*

Thanks for the kind words, Adrian!

[dantell]

18. presets on digital limiters and compressors suck, because there is no exact science for any song.
19. A couple of glasses of wine open up your concentration levels
20. 4 glasses or more quit and look up internet porn, you'll mess something up.
21. Comparing a mix to sucking a big schlong against your will is fuckin funny
22. If Gay sex while mastering a song would make your song perfect, everyone on this board would be a fag.
23. If the Mix is good you should only have to add eq sparingly as you compress and limit.
24. I personally don't like squishing final mixes. I like a little dynamics left, especially if your singer has a great voice.
25. If your singer is a death metal screamer, squishing the wave flat works great.
Mixing Tips
1. I Always compress a bass line flat in the mix.
2. My vocals and main instrument bounce over -3 but never hit -2
3. Bass should be low around -9 just make sure you can barely hear it when the mix is turned up loud
4. Drums should bounce just over -3 on a rocker and just under on a ballad
5. The mixdown should never clip. NEVER
6. I don't use a NORMALIZER(it will boost your bass too much)
7. If your mix isn't hitting between -2 and 0 go back and raise the level of each track slightly until it does
8. I record bass guitar in mono and pan it 3% left
9. Bass drum I pan 3% right
10. guitar I record in mono and double it and pan one 75% left and 75% right
11. I sometimes stagger the wave files ever so slightly to thicken it up and get a slight delay depending on the song.
12. Vocals I may add a small touch of reverb, but everything else, the effects are added before I mic it
13. But I do compress/limit everything on the way into the recorder
14. Try recording by just getting the best possible sound you can and capturing it. A lot of effects and it muddies up the mix.
more later
I have to go master now so I can grow old and go bald and need viagra

[Massive Master]

Originally Posted by AdrianFly

Such loud crap that it's pounding out of the speakers with blatant suckage that I couldn't even concentrate on the music itself. It was like having a large penis slapping me across the lips and some big prison inmate gripping me by the hair going, "SUCK IT SUCK IT SUCK IT".

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by dantell

6. I don't use a NORMALIZER(it will boost your bass too much)

Huh??? A normalizer is nothing more than a level change (usually based on the difference in dB between the peak level of the waveform and 0dBFS) - it doesn't change EQ, shape frequencies, or affect the dynamics of a signal in any way whatsoever.

Originally Posted by dantell

8. I record bass guitar in mono and pan it 3% left
9. Bass drum I pan 3% right

Yes - not always, but in some contexts, this can help give space to each element in the low end.

Originally Posted by dantell

10. guitar I record in mono and double it and pan one 75% left and 75% right

Again - a useful technique, but not ALL the time, in every song.

Originally Posted by dantell

11. I sometimes stagger the wave files ever so slightly to thicken it up and get a slight delay depending on the song.

Scary, but hey -- if it works...!

Originally Posted by dantell

12. Vocals I may add a small touch of reverb, but everything else, the effects are added before I mic it
13. But I do compress/limit everything on the way into the recorder

I would say these are totally context-dependent - sometimes it's approrpiate, other times absolutely not......

[dantell]

These are just the guidelines through trial and error. I would rather go back and raise the level of each instrument than use a normalizer. I compress/limit everything going in(some things just barely) to smooth out the wave a little so I can bring the level of that track up without throwing the whole mix into the red. I meant I stagger LIKE wave files a bit. But I expand them out to where it's not much more than 5ms each way. It's pretty cool to stagger vocals sometimes it throws it from one speaker to another lightning fast and gives it a cool chorusing/delay effect. The crisper I can get the wave, the better it mixes down. I isolate everything so nothing bleeds back into the wave. I try and get pure sound with nothing added. I used to believe that effects would cure anything, but pure good sound with a good mic makes mixing sound wonderful. I master with 24 bit only.

[5150 Musician]

Originally Posted by dantell

Being a Musician who plays all his own instruments, mixes , then masters his own music, I will never be 100% happy with everything, so I'll constantly be fixing something.

I hear you on that one. I call it an "terminal musician's illness".

[Carter]

Just send it to Blue Bear and then to Massive Mastering!

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by Carter

Just send it to Blue Bear and then to Massive Mastering!

Thanks! But to be fair I should point out that Blue Bear Sound is not a mastering facility...!

[Carter]

I Thought that he wanted to get the mix done correctly, (Blue Bear Sound) and then get it Mastered (Massive Mastering) Im almost done with my current project and Im really leaning on the artist to let me sent it out to BBS for the final mix and MM for mastering. I think that is the smartest way to go. Sorry If I misread the content of the thread.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by Carter

I Thought that he wanted to get the mix done correctly, (Blue Bear Sound) and then get it Mastered (Massive Mastering) Im almost done with my current project and Im really leaning on the artist to let me sent it out to BBS for the final mix and MM for mastering. I think that is the smartest way to go. Sorry If I misread the content of the thread.

Actually - sorry... I misinterpreted your post!

[fenix]

*waits for the bob katz spam.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by fenix

*waits for the bob katz spam.

You got a problem, fenix?

[Emusic]

Best ways to master? huh
Well you asked for it.
This thread haven't seen it's last post. I bet.
Buy "The Mixing Engineers Handbook" by Bobby Owinski (ISBN 0-87288-723-5)
Browse the book for 10 minutes and I swear you'll never dear such a question again
Good Luck!

[kylen]

Originally Posted by Emusic

Best ways to master? huh
Well you asked for it.
This thread haven't seen it's last post. I bet.
Buy "The Mixing Engineers Handbook" by Bobby Owinski (ISBN 0-87288-723-5)
Browse the book for 10 minutes and I swear you'll never dear such a question again
Good Luck!

Well yeah - fer sure - I've got that book all spline crushed and marked up...the best way to master is to have a great mix and just do a couple of fadein/fadeout manuvers - grab a volume handle (in effect a realtime normalize) and you're done !