mastering practice

[pikachu69]

just a question i have been wondering lately.

I understand the principals of mastering well but what I do struggle with is not reaching for eq to make the overall mix sound 'better' to my ears. Sometimes this changes the overall sound quite a bit but I feel it is for the better but sometimes people dont want to hear a difference after listening to their own mix (pre-master) for a period of time as it is hard to adjust to it even if it may indeed be better, they just want louder.

I know in an ideal situation the mix should be well balanced and just need some mild treatment to get it loud and if you are working with good engineers this would be fine but what about when you are mastering say bredroom warrior stuff and the mix is clearly lacking? Do you still just shoot for volume or do you 'fix the mix' a little or do you supply two mixes, one of each?

 

[Empathy]

It's a tough part of the process. You need to distinguish whether you're working to your standards or your client's. When many people send their work to a mastering engineer, they're generally paying what they see as top dollar for the services of an engineer who's work they are familiar with. They want a 'sound'. They're paying for his stamp on the track, even if it's just their name and a 6dB dynamic range. They're often happy to let him do what he does and accept the result, even if he does slice out half the frequencies and tell you it's shit. Do you feel your clients are looking for this service from you? Or do you feel like the middle-man that knows how to operate the machines to get the result they tell you?

The way I see it, you can of course put your foot down and say "What I'm doing to your track is beneficial, you need to accept the scrutiny of the third-party and acknowledge the failings of what's been produced up until this point"; or, you can say "Sounds like shit mate, but you're the one paying me so we'll do it your way".

 

[pikachu69]

Thanks for this. It pretty much summed up what I though but it really is a fine line. Sending two versions of the first test song, one just louder and the other how I want to hear it may be in order I think. Thanks again.

 

[pikachu69]

any other opinions on this out there?

 

[fsgdjv]

I think that the whole point of having something mastered is that someone can give their second opinion. So if you just push the loudness when you think it sounds crappy you're not doing your job. I don't think it's moral to charge for that. Might sound harsh, but it's the mastering engineers responsibillity that it sounds good. But obviously, you have to listen to what the customers want. People have different sound ideals, but there's nothing wrong with reaching for the EQ to make it sound better imo.

Of course, you shouldn't reach for the EQ or anything just to make an impact on the sound either, a good mix is a good mix. But I think it's wrong to not make something sound better when you can, just remember to keep a dialogue with the customer. Communication is everything imo.

I don't know it that made sense but what I mean is basically that you should make it sound as good as possible, if it sounds crap you should try to make it better, but always understand what the client wants. It's not your taste that's important, it's the clients.

It's not that hard if you just communicate imo, that's the important part.

 

[Colin Davis]

Generally, we cant make bedroom warrior mixes that loud. Doing so makes all the muck float to the top. With those kinds of projects, I let the engineer send me 2-3 test mixes over a period of time and I do test masters until I think they are getting it as good as it gets and then I do the album. I dont charge them usually, but even if you had to pay a small fee to do that, its good to have someone who will do that for you.

Colin

 

[atoragon]

or, you can say "Sounds like shit mate, but you're the one paying me so we'll do it your way".

that's how it went on my last 2 "works" with other bands. I just told'em "in a couple of months, when you'll become more objective to the sound, you'll regret that"... now they admit I was right

 

[mikeydavies]

remember mastering is enhancing a mix, not fixing it

 

[pikachu69]

What about when it comes to mastering for more experienced engineers than bedroom warrior stuff.
I have mastered a few tracks for more prominant engineers lately and have been told to not eq it, just make it louder, before they have even heard if eq makes a difference. I think some engineers dont like the idea that someone can hear improvements in their mix? IDK but I think once someone has mixed a track it is hard for them to hear that an improvement is exactly that, an improvement.
Thoughts?

 

[MIAnn]

What about when it comes to mastering for more experienced engineers than bedroom warrior stuff.
I have mastered a few tracks for more prominant engineers lately and have been told to not eq it, just make it louder, before they have even heard if eq makes a difference. I think some engineers dont like the idea that someone can hear improvements in their mix? IDK but I think once someone has mixed a track it is hard for them to hear that an improvement is exactly that, an improvement.
Thoughts?

I recently mastered a track for an engineer ive known for many years.. i could write a fucking book about this bloke, talented as he is he's an absolute fucking nightmare to work with (he's an ex drummer what can i say lol) so in this particular case i "just made it louder" , he was happy and i got paid...

 

[TheDustbowl]

I wrote a blog about this a while ago. I mastered a track (not metal - a very nicely recorded acoustic with a little clean electric guitar solo and vocal - very sparse) that I really really liked the sound of. I did very little with it, reigned in a pretty nasty resonance on the electric guitar that had sneaked through, added about a 1/2 db of high shelf, tiny bit of widening and a couple of dBs of gain and printed it. The mixing engineer really didn't like it and sent me an Ozoned version of the same track that sounded so different to his final mix. Can't win. I actually found the files for the song whilst doing some studio housekeeping a few days ago and with the distance of time still wondered "how could he"?