How close do peoples mixes sound to the final Mastered product

I

irrumator

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Apr 28, 2002
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Just curious. Ive heard alot of people say you should get your mix sounding like the final product, then when it gets mastered it just gets a volume boost. but when ever i master my mixes they sound way different from the final mix.

has anyone ever heard any unmastered final mixes of famous albums and A / B'd them??
 
Aye.. so many, pre-releases of bands like machine head etc..

And yes, i did notice a slight EQ change and some added volume as only things being added to the final master.. barely a difference.
Im not sure if this like it always should be, i have had master sessions that made quite a difference when needed, but it's probably best if the unmastered mix sounds good allready and where mastering is purely done for polishing.. not fixing.
 
Usually fairly similar, in my approximation anyway. But it tends to depend on how severely it needs aid during the mastering process. For instance the current record I'm mixing I hope changes a fair bit during the mastering process, because the mix has been exceptionally hard going.
 
Mine usually don't sound as good. Then I realize the post mix sounds good in my home studio, and the master sounds good on all systems.

Good being subjective because I suck.
 
Hmm...so how different does a pro mastering job sound from an amateur one? :err:

I'm a little confused about why you need to send your tracks out to a professional dude with all kinds of crazy expensive outboard gear and acoustically perfect room if you're just going for a volume boost and a little EQing...
 
Brandon E. said:
I'm a little confused about why you need to send your tracks out to a professional dude with all kinds of crazy expensive outboard gear and acoustically perfect room if you're just going for a volume boost and a little EQing...
Click to expand...

A lot of mastering engineers do a lot more than just EQing and limiting.
Obviously, these are the two that are going to be the most noticeable - but there are a lot of other more subtle things done in the mastering stage.
Stereo expansion, very subtle compression, sometimes very very faint, unnoticeable reverb is used, not so much noticeable as reverb but more so used to smooth the mix. Obviously if youre sending your tracks to a mastering house to get it completely ready for CD printing they will conform it to red book standard, etc, so everything is ready to go for you.
 
Brandon E. said:
Hmm...so how different does a pro mastering job sound from an amateur one? :err:

I'm a little confused about why you need to send your tracks out to a professional dude with all kinds of crazy expensive outboard gear and acoustically perfect room if you're just going for a volume boost and a little EQing...
Click to expand...
Even if "all" they do is eq, compress and limit, it's easy to see why using the best eq's, compressors and limiters and listening in the best possible environment would yield the best results. Plus getting another set of ears on a mix can be a very positive thing.
 
The objectivity of having another professional look at the material can be very good. That is what I have come to rely on from the one ME I trust. It took a lot of failing along the way to find this person though, so it's hard for me to speak of mastering in one light. It took a lot of guys making my tracks sound worse to find the one guy who actually made them sound better. I suppose many services in life are like this, and you just need to find that one person whose work ethic matches your own.

The best rooms and gear in the world don't matter for anything if the person has no feel for what you're trying to do. If they do though, the combination of all the aforementioned factors can just add some magic to your project. It's a worthwhile investment if done right, I've found. I dislike mastering my own stuff, so the ability to pass it off to someone else for that final bit of 'quality control' can relieve what at times becomes a huge mental burden for me.
 
I think lot of bands send their tracks to be mastered by a professional/famous dude for one reason: People will pay more attention to your album when it puts in the back "mastered by Mikka Jussila/Jacob Hansen/Tue Madsen..." and even when it really doesn't sound pretty good, surprisingly people will say that it sounds amazing...
 
hellraiser85 said:
I think lot of bands send their tracks to be mastered by a professional/famous dude for one reason: People will pay more attention to your album when it puts in the back "mastered by Mikka Jussila/Jacob Hansen/Tue Madsen..." and even when it really doesn't sound pretty good, surprisingly people will say that it sounds amazing...
Click to expand...

Are those dudes as well known for truly mastering as they are for producing/tracking/mixing?
 
I think it doesn't really matter if they are more known for mastering or tracking, mixing... I only think that mastering is the cheapest way of that their names appears in your album.
 
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