Mastering question...

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headband

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Hi all,
I posted this in the mp3 mixing clinic, but wasn't sure it was the right forum for it. I've tried my hand at mastering and, well, could use some feedback. If anyone would be so kind as to do so... well, heres my post from the mp3 mixing clinic...

I'm not sure this is the right forum to post this in, but since an audio demo is part of it... I guess it may be. I was wondering about 'Mastering'. I have 2 versions of this song, one just mixed down from the daw, and another that I have attempted to 'master'. I don't know if I'm getting it right or wrong, but from what I can tell of the pros on here (I've listened to thier A/B samples and stuff), it seems to me I'm in the neighborhood. I'd just like to hear an opinion on whether I'm in the ballpark, or should I consider professional mastering(it's very expensive)?

anyway, the links...
normal...

not so normal...


Thanks all,
Chris


(I have no sig!!)
 
Im not a pro, but I can tell you this is no where near studio quality
 
the trouble is..

all music is subjective. Todays pissing match is all about volume. The higher the better...so said. I hear tunes by The Beatles that I am sure in todays "Protools, mix edit, cut and paiste" bullshit world would have never made it past the mastering stage. To me, mix and ship. There is a point of no return. You CAN mix TOO much and make it TOO perfect. It losses it "humaness".
 
Did you record and mix it? If so, then don't master it. If not, then your going to need high quality monitors, outboard gear, and a specific type of ear that can hear the subtle nuances that can differentiate between a "good" mix and an "excellent" master. If you're serious about mastering, then spend a lot of time practicing on other people's mixes. Otherwise, just spend the money and get it professionally mastered.

I don't mean to discourage you, but it's called mastering for a reason: it can only done well by masters. Ok, so maybe that's not why it's called mastering, but my point is that it's an art in itself. You can only get professional results if you are a professional. If you think mastering is what you want to do, then you're most likely going to have to devote yourself to it and practice like crazy, comparing your results to similar artists on CD that have already gone through post-production.

You're on the right track, it just sounds like you need to do it more and A/B with a commercial CD. I've never tried mastering, because I don't feel I'm far enough into the game to get good results. There was a thread a while ago about a guy who is interning with a mastering engineer. You might want to find it and read it through. Some good info there. I can't find the link right now, but it's here somewhere. Good luck!
 
The attempted mastered version sounds a lot fuller than the original one, which means you're on the right track.

This doesn't relate to the thread, but your cymbals are way too loud and overpowering. Even moreso on the master.
 
I absolutely HATE how everybody just does the fucking fallback bit of "pay somebody to master it for you" shit!

If any of you took the time to listen to his mix, you would hear that he ISN'T producing anything that would be worthy of the expense!

You know when I think you should pay for a mastering engineer?

When you have done a production that warrants the expense!

Does a home demo done with bad drum machine samples warrant the expense?
Does a bands "get a gig" demo warrent the expense?
Does a full blown CD that you will sell to the public warrent the expense?

The answer MIGHT be yes OR no to any of those questions.

When do I recommend that a client pay $50-200 an hour for mastering? Well, when I think they have a product that will be scrutinized to the extent that the expnse is worth it! Such as, maybe the labels A&R guy might notice. LOL

Most of you around here are not doing anything more than just making little demo's in your home studios. Not saying that you can't make really good sounding demo's, but, they ARE just home demo's. Nobody is confusing you with big time recording artists. Nobody EXPECTS your demo to sound like a $200k production!

Some of you all are trying to sell your productions at gigs. Fine. Paying a "professional" mastering engineer to master your CD MIGHT up the quality of your CD to the point that the buying public might like it a bit more than if you did it yourself.

Hard to say. But, if you are only going to sell maybe 100 copies of your CD at $5 a pop, paying $200 to have it mastered REALLY doesn't make a whole lot of sense!


I see three things happen mostly here:

1 - Mastering engineers doing a lot of double speak about how "hard" it is to master. It appears so as to discourage the person from trying it.
2 - People that have NO IDEA themselves how to go about mastering just saying that EVERYBODY should just go ahead and pay the big bucks to have somebody do it for them.
3 - People that have NO IDEA how to master, but went ahead and ran thier crap through TRacks, made it louder, and tell's everybody that they should buy TRacks.

What I DON'T see here is people really talking about mastering except from the narrow minded perspective they have.

If you REALLY want to talk about mastering, let's can the crap of "let a pro to do", and let's can the crap of "TRacks and Ozone rawk dood", and talk about what you CAN do with whatever the person has available.

Trust me, when a guy NEEDS to have his stuff mastered by somebody that has all the right tools and skills, they will pay that price. But most around here just aren't doing anything worth that kind of expense!

headband, if the "mastering" job you did achieved the results you sought by having it mastered, GREAT! Do some more!

If it didn't achieve what you were after, explain what you don't like about what you did, and try to ask some specific questions on how to get closer to what you want.
 
headband said:
Thanks for the response, but can I ask why?
Click to expand...

Yeah, your crap02 mix made the track a little louder, but exacerbated an already severe EQ problem created by annoyingly bright cymbals. There is also a hole around 2kHz big enough to drive a truck through. Finally there's a good sized L-R imbalance caused by the wailing to be primarily right channel, but maybe you want that.

I spent a couple of minutes playing with it, enough to see that yes mastering would help, but it would be a rescue job at this point. Go back to your mix and deal with the sources of those problems, and your final mix, whether mastered or not, will be much better.
 
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