Mastering in 15 minutes!!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter DrumRookie
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Is this why there are so fewer threads on the mastering subforum than on the rest of the board? :p
 
Greg_L said:
I know this is funny and all, but let's be fair for second. Or at least indulge me for a second. This little article is talking about "mastering" one track. A single. That's what I noticed anyway. Is that correct? I know that's not technically "mastering", but in a sense it is because you're getting it finished and polished up for final consumption. Now I'm no pro mastering engineer and don't pretend to be one. And maybe 15 minutes really is a laughable amount of time for one track, but how long would it really take a pro M.E. to "master" one track? Let's assume the mix is very well done and everything is tracked properly. Would it take considerably longer than 15 minutes for a pro with pro gear and monitoring to do one 3 minute pop or rock song?
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This was serious, by the way. Would it really take much longer than 15 minutes for a true pro to "master" a 3 minute pop/rock song?
 
The "rough" settings are done -- well, as long as it takes to make them. 30 seconds to one minute. Dialing things in takes a pass or two.

Assuming there isn't anything "wrong" with it, 15 minutes is a pretty good estimate for working / processing one mix.

Assuming there's more than one, rendering, spacing, QC'ing, authoring, QC'ing that, etc., etc. ups the average quite a bit. But the actual amount of time taken on a single track is probably pretty close.
 
Massive Master said:
The "rough" settings are done -- well, as long as it takes to make them. 30 seconds to one minute. Dialing things in takes a pass or two.

Assuming there isn't anything "wrong" with it, 15 minutes is a pretty good estimate for working / processing one mix.

Assuming there's more than one, rendering, spacing, QC'ing, authoring, QC'ing that, etc., etc. ups the average quite a bit. But the actual amount of time taken on a single track is probably pretty close.
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Ok thanks for that.
 
Greg_L said:
Ok thanks for that.
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Keeping in mind that takes a few things into consideration --

The engineer knows his tools -- Knows what he's hearing -- Knows what the potential is in the recording -- Knows what combination of tools it will take to get it from point "A" to point "B" (or relatively close to it).

If that's all there with a workable recording, it takes longer to set up the chain than it does to know what the chain will consist of. Knowing what a chain will be and the rough settings is nearly instantaneous -- Seconds.

If that's NOT all there - and I've seen it happen personally with people throwing plugin after plugin using preset after preset waiting for something to 'click' and 'sound right' then it could potentially take forever if it ever happens at all.
 
DrumRookie said:
We are doing it all wrong.

To heck with our ears, Just slap a multi-band compressor, more compression, cut everything under 30 hz, etc, and voila! A quick "mastered" track! :facepalm:

Absolutely brilliant. I'll never spend a single dime on a trained professional again.:eatpopcorn:
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Mastering isn't about processing. It's about listening.
 
RAMI said:
That's what most of us hacks do. But that's not mastering.
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Yeah, I was being a bit sarcastic. Still, it's not too far from the truth. I try to make sure that the unprocessed sound is 99% of what I want in the final product. I usually use multi-band compression, a limiter, EQ, and some other stuff.
 
Greg_L said:
how long would it really take a pro M.E. to "master" one track? Let's assume the mix is very well done and everything is tracked properly. Would it take considerably longer than 15 minutes for a pro with pro gear and monitoring to do one 3 minute pop or rock song?
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Hello Chaps,

First post here ! Greg, to answer your question, I always allow at least an hour to master a single song. It takes me that long to figure out how it should sound, and what the best way to process it is. After that, subsequent tracks can be quicker and easier, because it's more a question of balancing everything, the overall decision about the sound has been made.

If everything sounds great, it's usually possible to master a ten-track album in 4 hours or so, ie. an average of 25 minutes per song. So in my opinion, 15 minutes is too quick !

Having said that, if it's your own material and you know in advance pretty much what you're going for, maybe it's possible to do it a little faster, as other here have said.

Cheers,

Ian
 
I've just released an instructional video called "Mastering the Art of Mastering in 14 minutes". Do you guys think it's gonna be a best seller or what?
 
If you are confident certainly the eq and compression part of the job can be done within 15 minutes (but you have to be sure and that sometimes takes reflection time, capture, QC ) but it's hardly a selling point. A master takes the time it takes. I paid a plumber £80.00 to push a stick up and down a drain for 3 mins a few weeks back, damn if only I had that special stick.

The result is what matters, sometimes it takes 30 mins sometimes an hour and 30 mins.

You are paying for competence, room and tools, not time taken. Better an expert to do the right job first time
than a buffoon fiddling for 2 hours.

Although suggesting 15mins as a selling point is preposterous.

SafeandSound Mastering
Online mastering services
 
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I can put L2 on the master bus in 10 seconds. Takes another 15 to convert and 5 to render. 30 second master. I'm all the rage with the crackware kiddies.
 
Takes me a while to master a song, then I usually re-master it a few more times lol, definitely takes me longer than 15! Maybe if I could do a master a minute...
 
ianshepherd said:
Hello Chaps,

First post here ! Greg, to answer your question, I always allow at least an hour to master a single song. It takes me that long to figure out how it should sound, and what the best way to process it is. After that, subsequent tracks can be quicker and easier, because it's more a question of balancing everything, the overall decision about the sound has been made.

If everything sounds great, it's usually possible to master a ten-track album in 4 hours or so, ie. an average of 25 minutes per song. So in my opinion, 15 minutes is too quick !

Having said that, if it's your own material and you know in advance pretty much what you're going for, maybe it's possible to do it a little faster, as other here have said.

Cheers,

Ian
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Welcome, Ian! Great to have you on here.

Cheers :)
 
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