general question - mastering

[Pirateking]

Wasn't sure whether to put this in newbies or here, but here it goes: I've been recording on 4-track for several years, and my band has recorded a bunch of stuff. However, the stuff I recorded doesn't sound too great (direct to 4track), and the stuff that we got recorded more professionally has its problems too. Anyhow, my question is, what exactly is mastering? What problems can it fix or can it not fix? Can it fix the levels of individual instruments or voices, if someone is only using a CD as a source? Can it fix recording quality, punch up snare drums, etc? My band hates recording, so I don't think we want to rerecord stuff, and typically it's sound quality problems anyways.
Oh, and if there's a link on this site I should read, feel free to point me to it.
Thanks.

 

[Jon X]

You can do a search for mastering here on the BBS and get far more info that I could give you. Look for some of the posts from sonusman about mastering. The best way to "fix" stuff like you mentioned is to get the sound right when you record it. I know that's not what you want to hear, but mastering can only do so much... no matter who's doing it and what amount of money you pay. Depending on the results you expect, pro mastering would certainly help the overall sound but probably not gonna get what you are looking for if you are really unhappy with what's recorded.

What they aren't going to be able to fix is the levels of individual tracks in the mix. Once you have mixed everything down, the only way to really change levels in the mix is to have all the individual tracks as they were recorded and re-mix it. Mastering can help with the overall sound quality, but if you think what you have recorded is really crap, then you are just going to get a better sounding version of crap after the mastering. You can always pay to have one song mastered and see what can be done with your material, then decide from there. I would guess the stuff you had recorded more professionally(as opposed to the 4-track stuff) would be a better candidate for getting something that sounds good through mastering, but it all depends on how that stuff was recorded.