Mastering, to master or not to master

[Bass Case]

Hey, This is my first thread.
My question is:
If you compress and normalise all of your events in a digital song with say real bass guitar and keys, the rest virtual. Can you get away without mastering it, if it's EQed correctly?
It's just I would have a clue about mastering.

 

[fishkarma]

In a perfect mix there should be no need to master but if you think about the odds of getting every piece of audio to sit perfectly in the mix as well as be the right volume with no stray peaks etc. then you will realise that 99.9999% of mixes will sound better mastered.

My 2c

 

[Robert D]

Whether or not you can "get away" without mastering a particular song doesn't really depend on how the tracks were created, or how many are from virtual instruments vs real instruments. How the tracks got there is irrelevant. Most of the sample sets out there are un-processed, as they should be, for the same reason that we generally avoid adding compressors and EQs in the recording process, saving it for mixdown. Whether a song should be sent out for mastering really depends, as fishkarma eluded to, on how well it was mixed in how good a room with how good of a monitor chain, and where the song is headed.

 

[Bass Case]

Thanks Guy's
That's some good advice.

 

[Massive Master]

Hey, This is my first thread.
My question is:
If you compress and normalise all of your events in a digital song with say real bass guitar and keys, the rest virtual. Can you get away without mastering it, if it's EQed correctly?
It's just I would have a clue about mastering.

If you normalize and compress all the events in a song, I'd say you're going to have much bigger problems than worrying about dodging the mastering phase.

 

[Nick98338]

I'd say that it depends on how "polished" you want the recording to turn out. A little computer mic will make a recording, but will it sound good?? A recording made with better mics will sound better. A recording with good equipment, properly mixed, with some processing will sound better yet. A good recording, well mixed, and well mastered will sound the best it can be. It's all relative. So, how good do you want it to sound? And, how much do you want to spend?

 

[fishkarma]

If you normalize and compress all the events in a song, I'd say you're going to have much bigger problems than worrying about dodging the mastering phase.

but its EQ'd properly.....

if it's EQed correctly?