Mastering Opinions

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Recording Engineer

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My brother has come-up with a reasonable argument as far as sending off material to be mastered.

He opposes the idea of sending the master tape(s) off to mastering houses. He says you never know what they'll do while mastering; you should be there to give your thoughts and ideas of what you want and to tell them if what they're doing is meeting your opinionated requirements.

I tell him I think it's a matter of who you send it to. If you send it to just anyone with the words "mastering" in the title, your chances of getting what's worse than the master or getting the same as the master (if your lucky) are far increased. However, I feel if you shop around for where noteable others go and for quality, rather than the price, then most likely, you'd probably receive a worst finished project if you were there, than not.

Another words, put your trust in those honorible to work their magic. I think he's just horrified by some mastering houses who can't do anything but compress the hell out of it for radio; although I'm sure a lot of it is the record company, producer, or the druggy rocker saying "I don't care what it sounds like as long as it's louder than any other CD in the world!".
 
I agree with you,

There is a lot to mastering, I've read books on it, but I don't touch the actual process of doing it. It fightens me, this is the last step before a poduct is put on the shelfs and it is up to the mastering engineer to make sure everything is cosure. A mastering engineer is like a QA(quality assurenss) guy at a factory of somekind lol...

Signa1
 
If you decided to spend the money to have your project mastered by a reliable mastering house, you shouldn't have to tell them what to do. You are paying them for their knowledge and experience. If you feel that you can do better or just as good, then master it yourself, and save your money.
 
T-racks is amazing. Anybody here have any thoughts on that?

[This message has been edited by cyambor (edited 11-17-1999).]
 
If you would never consider mastering, maybe you should never consider Mixing.
You KNOW there are pro's that can mix better than you.
Better yet, why are we wasting our time recording? There are pro engineers you KNOW could do better than you.
Even better yet!!!!!!!!!!! Lets sell our frickin guitars since you KNOW there are tons of drunk girlscouts that can play better than us.
My point? If you're gonna hack down the tracks onto your sblive and add 99$ reverb, then you can master it. We had this topic elsewhere in the bbs and most people agreed than it is wasted money to 'professionally' master a 'homejob'.
By the way, (this is not directed at you) I am sick and tired of everyone saying how mysterious and magical Mastering is.
I'll bet you its tougher to learn how to record a band properly than it is to learn to master properly. Why arent we in mystical awe of all the engineers out there?
 
If you would never consider mastering, maybe you should never consider Mixing.
You KNOW there are pro's that can mix better than you.
Better yet, why are we wasting our time recording? There are pro engineers you KNOW could do better than you.
Even better yet!!!!!!!!!!! Lets sell our frickin guitars since you KNOW there are tons of drunk girlscouts that can play better than us.
My point? If you're gonna hack down the tracks onto your sblive and add 99$ reverb, then you can master it. We had this topic elsewhere in the bbs and most people agreed than it is wasted money to 'professionally' master a 'homejob'.
By the way, (this is not directed at you) I am sick and tired of everyone saying how mysterious and magical Mastering is.
I'll bet you its tougher to learn how to record a band properly than it is to learn to master properly. Why arent we in mystical awe of all the engineers out there?
 
Go to the web-site www.digido.com called Digital Domain; it's a mastering company in Flordia. E-mail the company and ask them to send you a brochure with a sample cd to show what mastering can do. When you get it, listen to it with headphones on for best results. Then you'll know why mastering is so important, I now realize it.

So my point is: If you're spending money to purchase your own equipment and pay for duplication, spending the many hours learning to use it all, and spending all those hours recording and mixing anything, then it sure is worthwhile to master. I guess the thin line is between "just another hobby" and a "more deadicated, serious hobbiest".
 
By the way. That mastering sample CD from Digital Domain was enough to convince my brother that my thoughts were right; that doesn't mean you can't express concerned sections on the master and possible remedies to the mastering engineer.

Our first album we recorded in my home studio and mastered at another local studio for $55US an hour (it took 4 hours); it doesn't even compare to what Digital Domain can do. Well, we're going to start recording our second album in the beginning of next year; and guess who's going to have a new client for mastering and duplication. Not only that, I'm going to refer my clients to them.
 
R.E. - went to digido.com, and clicked on the button marked 'humor'. It wasn't funny. Can one judge a mastering studio by the caliber of their posted humor? Surely not. Can one leave, however? Obviously. There's more to recording than technology and your relationship with it.
 
Why would you pay a pro to master, but not to play the instruments or, epecially, to record the album in the first place?
If it's important enuf to have 'professionally mastered' I would say its important enuf to have professionally recorded. Maybe a professionally recorded album -unmastered would sound better than a home job-mastered. You think?
 
Has anyone heard an unmastered album available for the public to buy; your average album buying consumer?

My point in that question is that I don't care what equipment was used, who was in front of the console, who was playing the instruments, who was producing, or what the budget was... any recording (pro or home) will benifit greatly from mastering; even those engineered by Eddie Kramer. He'll tell you the "real deal" about mastering.
 
Look dudes and dudesses...mastering counts for a lot. I've had the opportunity to hear a lot of stuff in an unmastered form (I know someone who knows someone...etc). Most of it are these guys from the Magna Carta label, and also a couple of tracks from Van Halen's Balance. You want to know about unmastered "pro-recorded" stuff. You've got to crank your stereo to hear any fullness, the vox don't poke out of the mix and there's a heckuva lot of muddiness at loud volumes. Not to mention an uncharacteristically high noise floor. It's like, low volumes it sound transparent, and high volumes it clashes. Why? I DUNNO, but its noticable. Stuff that if you listen to it enough, you won't really notice it...until you put the mastered CD on, then when you go back it's like drinking paint thinner. But the point of the matter is if people want to spend bucks for their home recordings to sound better let them. If they get burned they get burned, and if it helps the sound a lot, let us know!!! Take Care and Keep Breathing...Dave
 
The thing is... I made the mistake of spending over $200US at local studio whos engineer/owner has 30 years of experience, "mastered" my CD with only a filter EQ or two on his console and Samplitude. Had I owned some editing and P&Q Code software and CD burner at the time, I could have done what he did as far as editing and burning CD. If fact, It probably would have sounded a lot better too given I could take my time to "perfect"; plus saved myself $200.

Now that my band is planning to record again starting the beginning of next year, I've been looking at things we should do differently. We're going to track at my studio, but feel it's best we go to an associate of my brother's at Paradise (Dragon, I'm sure you know the place; Cake) for mixdown due to well... You know how a band can get during mixdown (the "more me" syndrome, and many other complications). Craig and Kurt at Paradise will quickly speak up if you're only kidding yourself.

Our first album, we had 1000 CD duplicated at Oasis for around $2400US. But after hearing what Bob Katz at Digital Domain can do, we're going to him for mastering and duplication. All for around $2500US. Even if it takes twice as long to master than what planned, it still be worth it if it cost $3000.

For any full album, I'm recommending Digital Domain. Don't you think it's worth spending the extra $500-$1000US to bring your album up to its full potential after spending countless hours on recording and $1000s in the studio?

But believe me. If it's just a quick"demo", I myself wouldn't spend the money or worry on professional mastering. Most studio will do that quick editing and normalizing for cheap; just as that local studio did for my album and what I do for my clients who are planning for mass duplication. Most of the time, I knowit's just for getting gigs with. The trick is... Spend the time and money for the right application.
 
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