Mastering Engineers

[Soundlurker]

having your work mastered by a person who's better at mastering than you makes your work sound better than it otherwise could... so, it's the smart thing to do, and will absolutely result in MORE success for you, not less.

+1

Especially since 99% of the people don't know what Mastering really is, so they often attribute it's effects to your work (well it's not rare for people to use Mastering as a substitute for mixing so it can potentially bite you in the ass). All this aside, yes, a good mastering is almost always worth it, no argument about that. In fact I was contemplating investing a % of my fee in pro mastering just so it can get done more often, unfortunately given the economy here that kind of money won't cover anything ;/

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

Pierre Remillard is great:

http://www.wildstudio.ca/studio/index.html

+1 on that suggestion, that guy's amazing

 

[Jevil]

Is THAT all I need?

You will also need presets.
Ask the pros for their presets and voila!

 

[Skinny Viking]

I hope all you guys realize I was kidding about the "Is THAT all you need?"

I've been making the exact argument for sending material to an actual mastering engineer since day 1

just want to make sure you guys know I was fucking around cause its been quoted a few times now

 

[grywolf627]

I hope all you guys realize I was kidding about the "Is THAT all you need?"

 

[Ermz]

+1

Especially since 99% of the people don't know what Mastering really is, so they often attribute it's effects to your work...

Actually here in Oz it's the complete opposite. Many bands attribute the sonic success of a project to the mastering engineer. So many stories about budget tracking, with ridiculously high-end mastering. Talk about misappropriation of funds. It also doesn't help that the MEs frequently over-inflate the worth of the mastering process in order to drum up business in a continually devaluing industry. As awesome as well-executed, pro mastering is, it is still the most insignificant part of the entire recording process, IMO. Everything from the arrangements you do in pre-prod, down to the performance of the musician, to the mic you stick in front of him, down to how you balance faders in the mix is all infinitely more important. Yet somehow so many bands think having someone slap a $1,500 band-aid on their hack job mix is going to get them to happy land. Heh.

Good mastering is an awesome thing, and I always push bands to invest in it, but the bar has to be kept high the entire way through a project for it to matter, IMO.

Also in all fairness, most people don't even know what mixing is either. I've heard the terms 'mixing' and 'mastering' used interchangeably by many musicians. It comes down to the fact that whoever has the more renowned name on the CD, whether their only role was to blow a gentle fart across your room mics, will get the credit for the CD in most peepz' eyes.

 

[Soundlurker]

Absolutely. That's why I added

(well it's not rare for people to use Mastering as a substitute for mixing so it can potentially bite you in the ass)

but I forgot to mention I'm talking about the word Mastering, not the actual process.

I think some of this whole confusion is due to the terms 'remixed' and 'remastered'. When people hear "remastered" the think "remixed" and when they hear "remixed" they think the song has undergone a ridiculous Techno remix.

 

[jeid]

Lasse mastered some stuff for me and he did a great job. I'm sure others around here would recommend him

 

[Seth Munson]

I really dig on some of James Murphy's masters

just sayin