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Mastering
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| Jake Benson |
I am retarded when it comes to this. I have millions of songs not complete because I try to master them on Logic Studio with obviously mediocre results.
THUS I HAVE TEH QUESTIONS!
(1) What programs do you recommend for home-studio mastering?
(2) Do you master your own work and if so what methods work best for you?
(3) If you hire someone to master for you, what is a reasonable price to pay per song or batch of songs?
(4) Have you ever paid someone to master your track via percentage sales, or is it better just to pay them as work for hire?
(5) Chipotle or Baja Fresh? |
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| echosystm |
Plugins like vintage warmer, linear phase eq's, sonnox and UAD are good. However, I think you will find most mastering houses use a chain of analog gear, not software.
Generally, it's not the best idea to master your own tunes, for two reasons. 1. When you produce a song, you get used to hearing it a specific way, so there is little chance of you being objective. 2. Mastering is a VERY VERY fine art - you need to know alot about the sound systems the material will be going out on and you need a lot of good equipment. Eg. we're not talking about massive boosts and cuts in eq, we're talking about very small tweaks that few people have the ear to guage, let alone the proper monitoring environment to do this in. Anyone trying to master a tune on a set of nearfield monitors, in an untreated room, is wasting their time.
I think it is something best left to professionals... |
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| Nick Cenik |
I agree with echo: it's best to let the professionals master your tunes.
Having said that, I was lucky enough to be shown a few key tricks that allow me to put together quick masters of my tracks that don't sound too bad at all (as long as the mixes themselves sound proper!) for purposes of hosting the songs as myspace, letting friends listen, and so on. I figure that if/when I produce something that is good enough to be signed then I'll have someone who truly knows what he/she is doing master the mix for me. |
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| kitphillips |
Get a good mix, EQ it a little (+-2 DB with wide Q) slam a Waves L3 plugin on it, play it through a few times and get the right balance of frequencies. You can do a decent job yourself IMO...
When I say slam, I don't mean you want to slam the track with your limiter.... |
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| Jake Benson |
| quote: | Originally posted by echosystm
Generally, it's not the best idea to master your own tunes, for two reasons. 1. When you produce a song, you get used to hearing it a specific way, so there is little chance of you being objective. 2. Mastering is a VERY VERY fine art - you need to know alot about the sound systems the material will be going out on and you need a lot of good equipment. Eg. we're not talking about massive boosts and cuts in eq, we're talking about very small tweaks that few people have the ear to guage, let alone the proper monitoring environment to do this in. Anyone trying to master a tune on a set of nearfield monitors, in an untreated room, is wasting their time.
I think it is something best left to professionals... |
Good point. I guess I'll just pay a pro to master. Okay...who in here is a master pro? :toocool: |
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| BOOsTER |
I'll do one track master for free, next time it's 10 bucks, fair price? PM
also I am not a pro, but I think I am pretty good at mastering that's why I offer what I offer :)
feel free to abuse my offer too:D |
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| meDina |
| chipotle... baja fresh sucks |
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| a98 |
i think these days software is more common for professional mastering that you would think (majority using the waves plugins)
echosystm had some good points. but i still don't think it's worth paying for mastering, unless you run a label or are releasing your track on your own label. when you sign a track it's the label's responsibility to master the track.
mastering isn't a magic trick that will make a bad mixdown sound good or anything like that, hence it really isn't essential. the whole purpose of mastering is to make all songs among one release sound the same and play with same levels, not to make the track more pumping or anything like that. also you might use it to fix some mixing flaws like frequency issues, but even then you should always try to fix them in the mixing phase.
so just do a good mixdown, and make sure there's enough of all frequences and not too much of anything. when you listen to the song, play it with really loud volume so you'll hear if something starts to hurt your ears. also try to compare the bass and hifreq levels to one of your favourite tracks or track that you think sounds great. |
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| 3F05Q |
I just used vintage warmer a week ago. I like it, and I plan on getting it.
Taco Del Mar, mostly. |
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| Jake Benson |
Wow, mixed responses now ranging from "don't try to learn on your own" to "don't pay someone to do easy work."
I'm going to do both. I'm having a pretty prestigious guy master one of my tracks, but I'm going to invest in mastering audio software to see if I can master myself.
I have a mac. What are good programs for it? So far I'm looking into (as suggested by echosystem):
Vintage Warmer
Sonnox
UAD
Any other suggestions? |
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| echosystm |
as far as products are concerned... getting into mastering is more about your monitors and acoustic treatment of the room, not plugins. most mastering houses have studios designed by experts. likewise, the monitoring system is usually custom made. this is what you need to have a perfect master. but, that said, alot of artists do their own mastering. eric prydz, for one, does all his own (according to an interview).
in addition to the above, it is a good idea to have a number of setups to test your masters on - pa system, pc speakers, earbuds, consumer headphones, hifi systems, car audio, etc. |
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| BOOsTER |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jake Benson
Vintage Warmer
Sonnox
UAD
Any other suggestions? |
Waves! |
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