Questions for the mastering engineers

noisewreck

noisewreck

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How did you learn your craft?

Did you set out to become a mastering engineer or did you end up where you are through happenstance?

How do you approach a given mastering project and how do you go about deciding what a given mix needs?

A formal music training includes ear training, to hone the skills of a musician to be able to identify intervals, chords, keys/tonalities... this includes methods such as the instructor playing certain intervals on the piano and having the student identify it by listening to it, as well as music dictation which can range from simple single voice 4 bar melody to a full on polyphonic arrangement. Can you think of listening/ear training excercises that an aspiring mastering engineer could do to hone their listening skills?
 
How did you learn your craft?
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The long way. I wish I would've dumped everything I had into monitoring and room treatment on the first day.

Did you set out to become a mastering engineer or did you end up where you are through happenstance?
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I was dragged in kicking and screaming. I was chief engineer at a Chicago-area recording studio and the owner decided that we should 'start to offer digital mastering services' -- Then he sent me to GC to pick up a Finalizer...

Long story short, I found that I had sort of a knack for it, although I hated it at first. The other engineer and I worked out sort of a routine -- I'd AE projects during tracking, he ended up doing 90% of the mixing and then I'd do the mastering. It sort of sucked that it was in the same room, but at least we were both familiar with the space and I was able to be fairly objective with everything.

Along with that (before, during and after), I attended mastering sessions for projects I was working on with the area 'big-wigs' for years (which is how I found out exactly how much I didn't know early on). I spent a lot of time chatting, I'd add an hour or two to the project (which I'd pay for myself) to have the guy slow down and get into detail. Some were very secretive, some were very open. But paying attention paid off to some extent. Especially going from tape to Synclavier to Sonic Solutions (etc., etc.).

How do you approach a given mastering project and how do you go about deciding what a given mix needs?
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Listen -- Do.

I wish I could glorify it. I don't even listen when I'm making gross adjustments - generally because I don't want to be "fooled" into thinking that something is happening when it isn't - And I *do* listen when I'm making tweaks after those adjustments.



Ear training...? Get your speakers and room in order before anything. Spend a handful of months listening to everything you can - good AND bad - and studying what makes it good or bad. Everest (F. Alton) had a "critical listening" thingamabob (book & CD set) at one point... It's really pretty basic, but I suppose it'd be a wise investment. If you have a hard time with that, then........
 
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Thanks for the answers, John. Just placed an order for "Critical Listening Skills for the Audio Professional" by Everest :)

Another question that just popped in my head:
When you're mastering an album that you absolutely hate with a passion, how do you cope with it? :D
 
I hope that doesn't turn into a 'thin-ice' question...

Normally, it's fairly mechanical. I'm really not trying to like something or not. But no doubt, there are some exceptional sounding recordings, there are some exceptionally catchy recordings, there are occasionally some exceptional sounding, exceptionally catchy recordings. Then of course, there are some really badly recorded recordings, some good recordings of really bad music, and some bad recordings of bad music and once in a while a bad recording of really good music or really great recordings of bad music.

I'll bet I duplicated a thing or two in there...

Anyway - When I'm working on something I really don't like, it's almost easier. The job is more clear, with less distraction. When I'm working on something that's instantly catchy, objectivity goes away quickly.
 
noisewreck said:
How did you learn your craft?

Did you set out to become a mastering engineer or did you end up where you are through happenstance?

How do you approach a given mastering project and how do you go about deciding what a given mix needs?
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For me it was sort of a natural progression in music.

- started teaching guitar at the local music store when I was 15
- as a teenager bought old German open reel recorders called Dokorders
and experimented with recording and coming up with stuff.
- at 22 bought an analog 8 track and recorded bands in Boston out of my apartment. The first song I cut got national airplay and charted so I was hooked.
- at 23 moved to a commercial operation eventually going analog 16 and 2 " 24
then hybrid digital/analog adat - soundtools - protools
- when software based digital editing came into vogue around 89 started doing quicky masters for albums.
- kept learning about mastering and went full time into it about 5 years ago. still doing a bit of mixing but 85% of income is mastering.

noisewreck said:
A formal music training includes ear training, to hone the skills of a musician to be able to identify intervals, chords, keys/tonalities... this includes methods such as the instructor playing certain intervals on the piano and having the student identify it by listening to it, as well as music dictation which can range from simple single voice 4 bar melody to a full on polyphonic arrangement. Can you think of listening/ear training excercises that an aspiring mastering engineer could do to hone their listening skills?
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It's important to develop your critical listening skills and ear training.

When I used to teach guitar as a teenager I could and still can hear a song and be able to figure out the chords pretty easily by ear.

Try to learn intervals and progressions. Develop relative pitch. Listen for what sounds right as tonal balance

There are some cd's put out by Dave Moulton called "Golden Ears" that might help.

One thing's for sure - the day you think you know everything is the day your screwed - there's always new ways to expand what you've learned and get better at your craft.
 
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Waltz Mastering said:
It's important to develop your critical listening skills and ear training.

When I used to teach guitar as a teenager I could and still can hear a song and be able to figure out the chords pretty easily by ear.

Try to learn intervals and progressions. Develop relative pitch. Listen for what sounds right as tonal balance

There are some cd's put out by Dave Moulton called "Golden Ears" that might help.

One thing's for sure - the day you think you know everything is the day your screwed - there's always new ways to expand what you've learned and get better at your craft.
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Thank you for the answers Tom. Well as far as musical ear, I do have formal training and pretty close to perfect pitch. It's kinda interesting, when I hear a note, I kind of hear it's "name" like "Do, Re, Mi", etc. (well, I started my music training in the former USSR and we weren't using the letter naming convention much there). This can sometimes be a liability though, because at times I have a hard time adjusting to pitch when playing a harpsichord with the old A=415 tuning.

However, I would think that the ability to identify notes, intervals and chords is a different skillset compared to identifying issues that need to be addressed at the mastering stage. And this is more of what my question was about. How does one develop the critical listening skills to identify things such as dynamic and tonal balance. I am not even talking about esoterica such as applying different EQ to the sides for example.
 
noisewreck said:
I do have formal training and pretty close to perfect pitch. It's kinda interesting, when I hear a note, I kind of hear it's "name" like "Do, Re, Mi", etc. (well, I started my music training in the former USSR and we weren't using the letter naming convention much there). This can sometimes be a liability though, because at times I have a hard time adjusting to pitch when playing a harpsichord with the old A=415 tuning.
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This is similar to what I'm saying, only as an engineer being able to identify sonics like you hear music, notes or solfege...or training your ear to hear sound frequencies as good as you hear notes Knowing when somethings out of whack sonically, and trying to correct that in the least offensive way.
...and like music, the more practice or training the more proficient you would hopefully become.
 
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Waltz Mastering said:
This is similar to what I'm saying, only as an engineer being able to identify sonics like you hear music, notes or solfege...or training your ear to hear sound frequencies as good as you hear notes Knowing when somethings out of whack sonically, and trying to correct that in the least offensive way.
...and like music, the more practice or train the more proficient you would hopefully become.
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That's my question though. While I am well versed in the typical ear training excersises for a musician, I am not quite sure where to start for ear training in the mastering realm.

BTW, although I am not setting out to be a mastering engineer, at the same time I want to gain a better understanding and work on developing my listening skills further which I would presume would be beneficial for the stages downstream from mastering as well.

I am also hoping that this discussion would be beneficial for others on this board as well.

In any case, thank you both for your valuable insight on the subject.
 
BTW, although I am not setting out to be a mastering engineer, at the same time I want to gain a better understanding and work on developing my listening skills further which I would presume would be beneficial for the stages downstream from mastering as well.
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And it makes sense to note that superior monitoring, room treatments, listening skills, etc., etc., etc. will benefit *all* engineers at *all* stages of development for *all* audio jobs whether a behind-the-scenes producer, tracking engineers, mixing engineers, mastering engineers, editing specialists, post-pro guys, foley artists, recording artists themselves, pre-pro folks, etc.

Mastering guys tend to be the most "picky" about such things - But that's because, as generally the "final" tweakers, we sort of have to be. It certainly doesn't hurt the product to have freakishly accurate monitoring chains and developed listening skills earlier in the game... As if anyone would really think any different.
 
Massive Master said:
Everest (F. Alton) had a "critical listening" thingamabob (book & CD set) at one point... It's really pretty basic, but I suppose it'd be a wise investment. If you have a hard time with that, then........
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Just got the book. Looks rather well laid out. Haven't tried the CD yet, but the type of excercises he's demonstrating in the book will definitely be valuable.

Thanks for the recommendation!
 
While we're on the subject, if you're (or anyone is) interested in some amazingly good reading material (much of which should be required reading), just look at other titles by Everest. He was 'the man' for a long time. Acoustics, studio design, technique - Great stuff. All of it.
 
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