Jack Hammer
New member
I have recently, along with my two partners, started a record company. It is time to master our first project. Any tips, suggestions etc. from you that have experience in this would be much appreciated.
Mastering - where to begin?
- Thread starter Jack Hammer
- Start date
kennedy connor
New member
Are you looking for tips as to what equipment and techniques you need to master your own project, or are you looking for how to locate a professional mastering engineer?
My strong suggestion would be to pursue the latter, if this is going to be a recording that will be commercially distributed.
My strong suggestion would be to pursue the latter, if this is going to be a recording that will be commercially distributed.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Agreed....
...unless you have an extra $50,000 to spend on professional mastering gear!
Bruce
...unless you have an extra $50,000 to spend on professional mastering gear!
Bruce
dobro
Well-known member
Well, Bruce is doing that typical 'engineer exaggerating the home recording situation' thing, but you *did* say you were starting a company, so you deserve what you get. 
I have two things to say. The first is obvious: if you've started a company and are doing your first mastering project, and you're coming to a home recording website to ask for tips concerning mastering, then my suggestion is to think twice about taking people's money for a mastering project. The reason I say this is this: anybody who would come to a home recording website to get advice about mastering is a person who isn't really in a position to do any mastering worthy of the name. If you know enough to take people's money for mastering, then what are you doing coming around here trawling for 'tips'? C'mon...
Second, mastering isn't that tough, is it? I mean, mixing is a matter of making tracks work together well on one song, right? Similarly, mastering's a matter of making songs work well together on an album. Simple, really. So what do you want our input for?
I have two things to say. The first is obvious: if you've started a company and are doing your first mastering project, and you're coming to a home recording website to ask for tips concerning mastering, then my suggestion is to think twice about taking people's money for a mastering project. The reason I say this is this: anybody who would come to a home recording website to get advice about mastering is a person who isn't really in a position to do any mastering worthy of the name. If you know enough to take people's money for mastering, then what are you doing coming around here trawling for 'tips'? C'mon...
Second, mastering isn't that tough, is it? I mean, mixing is a matter of making tracks work together well on one song, right? Similarly, mastering's a matter of making songs work well together on an album. Simple, really. So what do you want our input for?
MartyMcFly
New member
I use a program Called "T-rax" It only has eq...compressor...limiter...and a knob for widening the stereo field but it gives a nice warm feel...
Mastering = Commercialization
What Bruce said is right, Mastering is all about $$$. While Bruce can sometimes jar people a bit in the way he 'converses' about this topic, he could not be more correct.
Modern music is so commercialized and soulless that if you want to have any chance of success you need to make your music sound like everyone else's out there, which is typically "bought" through the services of a mastering engineer or tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and hundreds of hours of training and practice. (Assuming everything was tracked and mixed competently) It has to be as loud or louder than everything else, have a similar EQ curve, etc..
It is almost impossible for modern CONSUMERS to not think of music as anything but another PRODUCT. Therefore this product must be like all of the other PRODUCTS on the shelf at target, shiny and colorful enough to MOVE UNITS.
So if you are in it to SELL some PRODUCT, by all means have the project mastered by a PROFESSIONAL PRODUCT ENHANCER.
If you view music as ART and EXPRESSION, then it is OK for something to sound the way it does, regardless of how it compares to other PRODUCTS. This is a basic tenet of ART itself.
This is where I would tend to disagree with Bruce, if YOU as an ARTIST and the PRODUCER of this music are satisfied with the end result, then by all means master it at home.
Perhaps the civilization that discovers the ruins of human society will find your CD and be able to examine it out of context, as a cultural artifact containing the beautiful folk music of a people that destroyed themselves and their once beautiful planet in a race for resources, money and power.
You don't see people remastering Van Gogh because his 'colors were a little off'. Remember Ted Turner's attempts to colorize movies in the 80's??? ART is about expression, PERIOD. We don't look at a picasso and criticize it for not being realistic.
We live in a time where nothing exists outside the reach of the almighty dollar. Music used to be about beauty and uniqueness and emotion...now it's about single edits, radio edits, product placement, media hype, looks, and image.
It's much cheaper for a record company to produce 10 albums that sell 10 million copies a year than 100 albums that sell 1 million copies. Given the current trend in music I wouldn't expect this to get any better anytime soon.
Every day I dream about someone releasing an album that is so monumentally revisionistic that it changes everything, but I'm not holding my breath, because nobody would BUY IT.
What Bruce said is right, Mastering is all about $$$. While Bruce can sometimes jar people a bit in the way he 'converses' about this topic, he could not be more correct.
Modern music is so commercialized and soulless that if you want to have any chance of success you need to make your music sound like everyone else's out there, which is typically "bought" through the services of a mastering engineer or tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and hundreds of hours of training and practice. (Assuming everything was tracked and mixed competently) It has to be as loud or louder than everything else, have a similar EQ curve, etc..
It is almost impossible for modern CONSUMERS to not think of music as anything but another PRODUCT. Therefore this product must be like all of the other PRODUCTS on the shelf at target, shiny and colorful enough to MOVE UNITS.
So if you are in it to SELL some PRODUCT, by all means have the project mastered by a PROFESSIONAL PRODUCT ENHANCER.
If you view music as ART and EXPRESSION, then it is OK for something to sound the way it does, regardless of how it compares to other PRODUCTS. This is a basic tenet of ART itself.
This is where I would tend to disagree with Bruce, if YOU as an ARTIST and the PRODUCER of this music are satisfied with the end result, then by all means master it at home.
Perhaps the civilization that discovers the ruins of human society will find your CD and be able to examine it out of context, as a cultural artifact containing the beautiful folk music of a people that destroyed themselves and their once beautiful planet in a race for resources, money and power.
You don't see people remastering Van Gogh because his 'colors were a little off'. Remember Ted Turner's attempts to colorize movies in the 80's??? ART is about expression, PERIOD. We don't look at a picasso and criticize it for not being realistic.
We live in a time where nothing exists outside the reach of the almighty dollar. Music used to be about beauty and uniqueness and emotion...now it's about single edits, radio edits, product placement, media hype, looks, and image.
It's much cheaper for a record company to produce 10 albums that sell 10 million copies a year than 100 albums that sell 1 million copies. Given the current trend in music I wouldn't expect this to get any better anytime soon.
Every day I dream about someone releasing an album that is so monumentally revisionistic that it changes everything, but I'm not holding my breath, because nobody would BUY IT.
BrettB
New member
Re: Mastering = Commercialization
You got a point there, but even when you see your music only as a product that has as function to sell as much copies as possible I also think you musn't always chose the most logical way. Often songs that are recorded on a dreadfull way turn out to be big hits!!
A guy I know wrote when he was young "The Sound Of C" as a soundtrack of the disco 'Confetti's' where he worked as a DJ. He called the band that he let perform it The COnfetti's also. Suddenly this homerecorded song is a hughe hit as one of the first New Beat songs, and it sold copies all over Europe and even in Japan. Since then he has a great studio at home and spends his days making dance music, while all the labels are always conquering eachother to get his newest songs.
Not doing like anyone else in the charts often is a good idea, even for a label that just wants to sell.
Oh, but this thread was about mastering
dr grip said:
You got a point there, but even when you see your music only as a product that has as function to sell as much copies as possible I also think you musn't always chose the most logical way. Often songs that are recorded on a dreadfull way turn out to be big hits!!
A guy I know wrote when he was young "The Sound Of C" as a soundtrack of the disco 'Confetti's' where he worked as a DJ. He called the band that he let perform it The COnfetti's also. Suddenly this homerecorded song is a hughe hit as one of the first New Beat songs, and it sold copies all over Europe and even in Japan. Since then he has a great studio at home and spends his days making dance music, while all the labels are always conquering eachother to get his newest songs.
Not doing like anyone else in the charts often is a good idea, even for a label that just wants to sell.
Oh, but this thread was about mastering
Newest User
New member
Im speachless.... Just kidding
Whay kinda record company? Independent label for distributing your own recorded, engineered, produced and finalized music?
There are alot of options all depending on the purpose of the record company. If its strictly DIY all the way, mastering might be where you want to break form and have an outside facility takecare of your needs. That way if you decide to branch out with other artists you can have a facility to work with and further increase your credibility as a business. Everything is going to cost you money whether its in having someone master your music (typical record labels do) or buying entry level equipment and trying to climb the learning curve from ground zero. Id budget about $1500 just for the mastering at a relatively average mastering job from a dedicated professional facility that does it day in and day out. If your trying to build a good reputation as a label, best to do it the right way.
I think this bbs has seen more often than not, the all in one approach can be fatal to good music. Ive asked myself the question to why would other labels sub-out the mastering work if it was easy and non-specialized? In the end its your call based on money, time and personal satisfaction.
There are times Ive heard the same song over, and over and over to the point Its sounds perfect...Then I look at the compressor in my rack...back to reality...
But for a small fee and an email that reflects hypocrisy in DIY mastering, Blue Bear can make you an offer to do the mastering for ya (cats outta the bag now)
Peace,
Dennis
Whay kinda record company? Independent label for distributing your own recorded, engineered, produced and finalized music?
There are alot of options all depending on the purpose of the record company. If its strictly DIY all the way, mastering might be where you want to break form and have an outside facility takecare of your needs. That way if you decide to branch out with other artists you can have a facility to work with and further increase your credibility as a business. Everything is going to cost you money whether its in having someone master your music (typical record labels do) or buying entry level equipment and trying to climb the learning curve from ground zero. Id budget about $1500 just for the mastering at a relatively average mastering job from a dedicated professional facility that does it day in and day out. If your trying to build a good reputation as a label, best to do it the right way.
I think this bbs has seen more often than not, the all in one approach can be fatal to good music. Ive asked myself the question to why would other labels sub-out the mastering work if it was easy and non-specialized? In the end its your call based on money, time and personal satisfaction.
There are times Ive heard the same song over, and over and over to the point Its sounds perfect...Then I look at the compressor in my rack...back to reality...
But for a small fee and an email that reflects hypocrisy in DIY mastering, Blue Bear can make you an offer to do the mastering for ya
(cats outta the bag now)Peace,
Dennis