What to do when a band re-"masters" your work?

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visceral

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Sep 22, 2009
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Here's the deal.

I recently recorded 3 songs for a band. I had the songs mixed and did some mastering for them. I thought it turned out quite well & they said they were super pleased...I know they must have been satisfied because they have already planned more recording with me.

Anyways, they get their songs and all is good....WRONG. They posted a lyric video on youtube of one of the songs. It sounds like absolute dog sh!t! It is very obvious that they attempted to "master" the song. In fact, while we were recording the drummer was telling me about some automatic mastering software that he likes to use (I believe it was called AAMS). Well they completely ruined the mix! It is unbelievable how much worse the song sounds. It sounds like they added a low shelf from about 250hz on down....it is a very dramatic increase. It sounds so muddy and boomy that when I first started viewing the video I thought my speakers were messed up.

Needless to say, I am highly pissed right now! I don't want my name anywhere near this catastrophe. What am I to do? I've never had to deal with anything like this.

I know from now on, bands are going to have to agree from the start that they will make no changes to my mixes. If they can't deal with that, too bad, they can go elsewhere. I just don't know how to go about everything with this current band. I swear I think this guy believes that he can take any song & apply a preset from AAMS and make it sound killer. I don't know what he is hearing, but he is waaayyyy off. It is unbelievable!

Anyways, here is the mix I gave him:
http://db.tt/RJJ8B8gi

And here is his version:
http://db.tt/L6gNFvC2

I'll admit my mix has its flaws, but I recorded & mixed them for next to nothing...it may have came out to about $3/hr. Also, this was the first time I have attempted to mix anything other than metal. Working with a new style was honestly tougher than I had anticipated.

I did speak to some other members of the band & they informed me of some things that were changed. First off, he imported the mp3 track into his audio editing program, actually added kick & snare samples (said he wanted the drums to have more thump lol), used a preset from AAMS, and rendered the original mp3 back down to mp3 haha. I could take a face palm from Andre the Giant right about now.
 
I sympathize but this is a work for hire business. I don't think you have a right to tell your clients what they can and can't do with their songs after they've paid you. On a semi-regular basis I hear one of my mixes destroyed by a "real" mastering engineer. You just have to swallow it and move on.
 
definitely sounds like they're compensating for bad monitoring. I think if you ask them to not credit you due to the bad mastering, it might send enough of a message, and hopefully they'll use your master instead or have it professionally mastered.
 
The best you can do is let them know what you think about it and try to convince them it was a huge mistake on their part.
 
^ +1

If they don't want to use your mastering as it is, offer them to redo another one following their criticism. That by far will be better than their AAMS shit.
 
I'll get you guys a clip if you really want to hear the aams "master". I'm warning you though....it is horrendous.

Give me a bit though...my phone is my internet source so some things take more time than they normally would.
 
Okay...hopefully the link works. The mix I gave them sounded nothing like this. Hell, I'm ashamed to even post this here, but I figure maybe some of you guys could use a good laugh.

This particular song is sort of alt/pop rock. It is just a short clip...about 15 seconds or so. I'm sure you will not want to listen any longer than that lol. It is crazy how much the mix changed after his aams stunt. So boomy and it pumps in the worst way lol. Keep in mind it was the bands drummer that did this. It sounds to me like he may have been trying to make the drums stand out more. Well, he definitely succeeded, but in the worst possible way.

http://db.tt/BAEYcN6i
 
visceral said:
Okay...hopefully the link works. The mix I gave them sounded nothing like this. Hell, I'm ashamed to even post this here, but I figure maybe some of you guys could use a good laugh.

This particular song is sort of alt/pop rock. It is just a short clip...about 15 seconds or so. I'm sure you will not want to listen any longer than that lol. It is crazy how much the mix changed after his aams stunt. So boomy and it pumps in the worst way lol. Keep in mind it was the bands drummer that did this. It sounds to me like he may have been trying to make the drums stand out more. Well, he definitely succeeded, but in the worst possible way.

http://db.tt/BAEYcN6i
Click to expand...

Without hearing the original it's difficult to see what this "AAMS" thing did, all I'm really noticing about this is that the kick is a bit more "notey" than I usually like to hear. Also it's mono?
 
I'll get you guys a clip of the original today. I'm about to go to work so it'll be a lil later today.

It may be in mono...I had to rip his version from youtube. And that darn kick....I know what you mean. It sounds weird. Its think maybe he tried to add extra harmonics or something. Even the snare sounds totally wack now lol.
 
I've had bands do something similar. Putting the music I gave them onto a CD, ripping it into windows media player in a lossy format and then burning the CD they used for duplication off that. Sounded pretty poor.

I've also had bands get it mastered and the end master has loads of distortion. I cringed when I heard it each time but it's out of my hands. I give the bands the best mixes I can and they choose what to do with them after!
 
I had that happen once, but they didn't just "remaster" it, they added reverse snares and bass drops everywhere, then uploaded it to youtube and lost all positive audible qualities, it was splendid.
 
I wouldn't sweat it cause judging from this short clip, they suck ass.

Is the singer trying to pinch a loaf while singing?
 
Okay....I updated the original post with before & after clips....I also included some new info I just learned from some of the other band members.
 
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