Understanding mastering

[egan.]

We can all name big names you master their own stuff but Jack's point still stands. Getting another set of ears on something can be helpful and beyond that, getting your stuff heard in another room on another set of speakers reveals stuff you won't hear if your room is less than ideal. OTOH you have to find a mastering guy who is a good partner who will fix your problems without radically changing things.

 

[Alphanumeric]

p.s. I only use light comp with about -2 gain reduction and a light 2:1 ratio so im not over compressing.

As far as I can tell being Mastering Jr. as a mix engineer before sending it off greatly annoys the actual master guy when you've already applied master level compression, like 2:1, limited, and eq'd with an average ITB plug.

Send it off to someone else, for your whole mixing process just have something like the L2007 on there set hard at medium speed, have your snare louder than you think, and do not bus compress the cymbals if you want the guitars to be present, bass frequencies eat and sneak up on your RMS and transient loud toms are best toms.

 

[Terminus]

You are right, this is the most common reason to let another person master your mix. But why is this reason so important? I mean whether good or bad, your mix has a certain character to it. Why would you want somebody else to alter your creation based on their own perspective? You don't see any painter sending their painting to another guy to paint again over it.

I'd say painting and mastering music are quite different subjects and processes and I can't relate them the way you do.