I started another post on Creative Wave Studio, which I use to master my stuff. Someone suggested that it's not that great and I got to wondering, what do you use to master yor stuff?

Do you get it professionally done, and if so, how much of a difference does it make?

Anyone know anything about Disc Makers who keep sending me stuff?

andyman91 said:

Mix your song to as close as you can get it

then send it to be mastered



Dirt &Earthyvibes
http://www.dirt.bz

I do the midi Mastering on LOGIC Problem with that is'i do it by mouse
so it takes up more time

once i do the final demo

i take it over to my father's studio
and master it with his mixboard consoles etc...
Logic 7

get Industry Quality Work that way

im saving up for my own mixing console, so i won't have to disturb my father all the time

OK, So here goes.
To master properly you need to have a room that was acoustically designed for it, with the right Monitors and other equipment that is used for mastering, which probably costs like a house or two. Not to mention a sound engineer that knows how to use the equipment to it's best and knows how to master properly.

Mastering at home is only good if you want to send a single to the radio and want the volume to match the other music that's being aired. But the quality most likely will not be the same.

If you do want to master at home, and you use a PC, I'd recommend Wavelab, with plugins from Waves, such as the Q10 Paragraphic EQ, C4 Multi Band Compressor, S1 Stereo Imager and L3 Ultra Maximizer.

Then again, top mastering houses will charge up to $3000 per album. That is the price I got from several top mastering houses in the US, including the one Prince uses.

But, if you're just curious, most mastering houses will do a single song for free, just so you can judge the impact it will have on your music.

My personal opinion is, when someone else is paying the bill, I'll have it mastered professionally. Until then, as long as I'm payin the bills, I'll do it myself, using Soundforge or any of the mastering algorhythms built into my recorder.

otan said:

Yes. all of the mastering houses that I've sent the song too, did the song for free, so I could judge their work and compare it to the other mastering houses.
The difference is amazing at times. All good, but sifferent 'colors'.

I did a couple of masters for singles at home, and it turned out fine. But if they were to be sent to a mastering house, I'm sure the results would've been even better.

Mastering is quite an imperative technique

if your have a friend with a full studio, i suggest ask him how to master

to music industry level

If you know how to master, you can make some serious money

I learned how to master, through my father who's a music engineer

if your serious about Mastering i suggest

reading the following books

"Mastering Audio: The Art And The Science" By Bob Katz
This bookk is fantastic, has everything you need to know about quality
make sure you have an above 12th grade reading level
can be complicated at times

"The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Mix Pro Audio Series)"
reveals good secrets on mixdowns, that top engineers use
its an easy read, great reference guide

Or just get the "Home Recording Musicians For Dummies"

Thanks for all the info.

That's good to know that they will do one song for free.

I'm leaning towards getting a professional master just because I think my music would benefit from objective ears.

Doing everything yourself can be both a strength and a weakness.

andyman91 said:

Don't count on the free song.
They sometimes will master only half of the song, just enough to show you heir abilities, but not enough for you to use it without paying. And they will do that if they think you are serious enough about mastering a whole album with them.

Heavenly said:

Right, but that's okay. I just want to hear that it will make a difference.

There's a studio in my area that claims Scissor Sisters has recorded there. Tis is their pitch: Have your CD mastered (encompassing overall compression, eq and normalization, making your recording "sound better" and radio-playable): $100 for a CD (up to 30 minutes) or $125 (over 30 minutes).
Based on the other posts, this must not be such a sweet deal.

WhamBamGlamSlam said:

thats kinda cheap....
ok thats alot cheap

Luv4oneanotha said:

That's too cheap. a good CD mastering should take about 6-10 hours. And I don't think a professional studio would take less than $35 an hour, and they usually charge much more. around $100 +

Heavenly said:

yah they probably have one of those low budget mackie mixing consoles
not to dis mackie cause i want one of those low budget mixing consoles

but professional mastering cost tad more lol

hell a mixdown would cost more lol

i am a mastering engineer.
i work in the digital domain but i also incorporate some analogue gear into my mixes to re-claim a little warmth.
i use a hell of alot of limiting and compression.
i tend to stay away from cheesy reverb patches,they sound dated.
if i want to add reverb,it is added thru a reverb chamber.
my monitors cost me more than any car i have ever owned.

When I am mixing down to 2 tracks (pre-master), run the whole mixdown dry and let the mastering software do the rest (e.g. overall compression, limiting, gain, EQ, respectively).

My algorithms are based on those used by a studio in Hackney, East London called "The Premises" where various bands and artists from around the world rehearse or record.

All I have done is emulated the same parameters judged on Genelec monitors and ported them to my own set up.

The results for my own recordings and for various others have created results that have made it to general release here in the UK.

I mastered my earlier albums (around 19-20 years old)at a place called RMS studios in Croydon where people such as Sir Bob Geldof did a lot of his earlier recordings.

I was told that a lot of my material didn't need to be 'topped and tailed' that much as the mix on the tracks were relatively consistent. All that was really needed was a roll-off the top ends.

After doing the Mukka album at The Premises (now available from HMV UK)

I was amazed by the sound and used the technique on my own recordings.

However it doesn't always work depending on the style of music, the instrumentation etc... when trying to create a cohesive album.

This was something I had a problem with when I was mastering my new album (available from cdbaby) as I had to roll some top end off for the live recordings as opposed to the ones which were programmed to create a balance without compromising the overall quality of the album.

In general, I don't really use a lot of compression, I give a little top and/or bottom EQ for definition depending on the track, I only use a limiter to get the overall level to 0db without clipping without a prominent drop in volume.

Having monitors in the mastering stage I believe should be independent to those you record and mixed with and ideally if U are not entirely sure or U wanna solely concentrate on making music - GET A THIRD PARTY IN A SEPARATE LOCALE!

'dre

Probably his longest reply ever!