How to master songs?

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wilkins978

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:):):)i record christian hip hop and r&b and i was wondering whats the best way to master the song. what point on the led should i hit ? and what do i use to master? do i master the whole song after mixdown? or just vocals and place it on beat? if anyone can help i would appretiate it
thanks:)
 
wilkins978 said:
do i master the whole song after mixdown?
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By definition, mastering is what you do to a song *after* all te mixing is complete, in order to prep the recording for distribution on it's fina distribution media.

Stick to getting the mixdown as best-sounding as you can. Don't wait until the mastering phase to try and make a bad-sounding mix sound good. You can polish things in mastering, but you're better off polishing a finished mixdown than trying to finish an unfinished one after mixdown.

As far as levels, there is no magic meter reading. You have to determine the optimal final product by listening, not by whatever your meters tell you.

G.
 
If the song sounds fine after you've mixed it, you don't need to master it. I always aim for that.

But chances are, you'll find stuff like: you record 3 songs, and one is softer than the rest. So you go and boost that one song up.

Or maybe when you compare your songs to your favorite CD, they're all dull. So you go back and tweak your songs to make them brighter.

That's the kind of stuff mastering might consist of.

What I do is find the best recorded example of the type of music I can find, and put that on my DAW with my songs, and compare them.

The more you can just record things the way you want them in the end, and not have to tweak 'em to death with eq, the better. My best recorded stuff comes from doing that and not needing any eq. I really avoid eq if I can, but usually end up using some.
 
"Mastering" is useful when you have a collection of songs that need to be sonically tied together. As stated earlier, one song may be quieter, one song may have a sharper high end, etc. By themselves they sound fine, but in the context of each other, some changes have to be done.
 
i got ya thanks guys really cleared me up on all this i was thinking about geting t-racks 3 mastering sowftware i heard its great now i can polish my songs better after mixing
 
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