Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

I'm going to get my first album mastered in August. Is there any tips anyone would recommend to make sure I don't get screwed around? (i.e. - making sure they don't go cutting the dynamic range to make it louder). I'm spending my college fund here (all $700 dollars of it), so I'd like to keep screwing around to a minimum.

For this mastering, have you found a ME who's work you've heard and approve of?
Also - I'm sure you've already figured out that you could make clear to whoever it is that you don't want them to hit it with L3 (or L2 or whatever they can afford).

Cryptowen wrote:I'm going to get my first album mastered in August. Is there any tips anyone would recommend to make sure I don't get screwed around? (i.e. - making sure they don't go cutting the dynamic range to make it louder). I'm spending my college fund here (all $700 dollars of it), so I'd like to keep screwing around to a minimum.

Have you ever tried to mix/master the album yourself? If you have some basic software you can do it with little to no cost. My friend usually mixes stuff himself, but when he took it to get it done by a pro he really didn't like it. The vocals were way too dominant and just everything seemed produced badly to him.

What sort of software would I use? I'm mainly getting this done by someone else because I need a "glass master", & partially because I have no experience mastering.

Cryptowen wrote:What sort of software would I use? I'm mainly getting this done by someone else because I need a "glass master", & partially because I have no experience mastering.

I personally choose Adobe Audition 1.5 as my sound recorder/editor/mixer. All you would really need is that and have each instrument on its own track, then once you finish put on a good set of headphone or use your computer monitors/speakers and edit it to where it sounds right to you. Come back to it a day later and make sure it still sounds good. That is, assuming you have a way to get audio into your computer. But to go out and buy what you need should still be less than having a pro do it. I have only mixed 2 of my own songs before, and they're done pretty decent once you know a few basics.

It really depends on what it's for - $700 isn't going to buy you a top-flight mastering job by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time, unless you've got a really good pair of ears, good monitors, and some good plugs, you might not get results that would be worth saving the money for.
Have a look at the Sonnox stuff, and UAD. Both companies make plugs which can be used for mastering.

@Hossinfeffa

Well, keep in mind that I don't play actual synths (too poor!). I work totally on computer with a tracker program (Jeskola Buzz) & my home-made sound effect bank.

@General Bigbag

Apparently, the place I'm going to is the only professional mastering studio in Atlantic Canada. Also, I'm erring on the side of caution with this first album & am sticking to a $2000 budget. If someday I become a renowned music guy, I can shell out for top-end remastered re-releases.

Hossinfeffa wrote:All you would really need is that and have each instrument on its own track, then once you finish put on a good set of headphone or use your computer monitors/speakers and edit it to where it sounds right to you. Come back to it a day later and make sure it still sounds good. That is, assuming you have a way to get audio into your computer. But to go out and buy what you need should still be less than having a pro do it. I have only mixed 2 of my own songs before, and they're done pretty decent once you know a few basics.

Ok - that's not really how it works.
Once you've tracked everything, then you will probably need to EQ and compress each voice seperately in order to get it to sit well in the mix. If you've got two voices sharing bandwidth, you will lose definition. Lack of compression can lead to fluctuations in volume which aren't pleasing to the ear.
Secondly - don't mix on just headphones. If you do, you'll lose much of a sense of how much bass is in the track (unless you've got good mixing headphones), and you'll have no idea how the stereo imaging works, since you have total L/R seperation (unless you buy that fancy box SPL is putting out).
Thirdly - listen to it on just about every stereo system you can get your CD into. It's easy to get a mix sounding great on your home speakers, and then you wonder why it sounds dull at your friend's place.

Fourthly: This is a question about mastering, not mixing.

Bigbag is correct, mixing ≠ mastering.

Hossinfeffa: Please don't offer advice about something you don't really know about. Mixing two of your own songs doesn't make you an expert in mastering, but you're offering advice as though you were.

I'm not trying to dis you or anything, but anyone who comes along and reads this might assume that you knew a lot about the subject and make decisions based on your advice, and waste a lot of their hard-earned.

Cryptowen: You say you don't want them to cut the dynamic range to make it louder, do you realise that that's exactly what compression/limiting does? I understand that you don't want it completely slammed and missing all dynamics, but you probably want it a little bit compressed.

When you're getting stuff mastered the most important thing is that you communicate with the mastering engineer to let them know exactly what you want the finished product to sound like. If you can, sit in on the session. Whether they'll let you depends on the studio, some don't want anyone from the band in when they're working, some are fine with it. Bring in a couple of cds that you like the sound of and you want your stuff to sound like, so the engineer has an idea of what they should be aiming for.

Lastly, if you want advice from a forum that has more of a production focus for this kind of stuff, check out the electronic music production forum at gearslutz. Not to say you can't get good advice here, but there are more people who actually have a production focus rather than a collecting focus over there.

GeneralBigbag wrote: Ok - that's not really how it works.
Once you've tracked everything, then you will probably need to EQ and compress each voice seperately in order to get it to sit well in the mix. If you've got two voices sharing bandwidth, you will lose definition. Lack of compression can lead to fluctuations in volume which aren't pleasing to the ear.
Secondly - don't mix on just headphones. If you do, you'll lose much of a sense of how much bass is in the track (unless you've got good mixing headphones), and you'll have no idea how the stereo imaging works, since you have total L/R seperation (unless you buy that fancy box SPL is putting out).
Thirdly - listen to it on just about every stereo system you can get your CD into. It's easy to get a mix sounding great on your home speakers, and then you wonder why it sounds dull at your friend's place.

Fourthly: This is a question about mastering, not mixing.

Yeah, each track of mine I EQ where it needs it and cut out the useless frequencies to prevent the loss of definition.

I didn't say just mix on headphones. I meant I would use headphones first to get the basics, then switch to my monitors to hear how it sounds and tweak that part of it. Go back and make sure it sounds alright on headphones still and repeat.

I even do that as well. Most of the time it sounds just fine on other stereos.

I admit, I'm no pro at mixing, but when I do it the music sounds how I would like it to sound. And the thing about mastering and mixing.. isn't it the same? I hear the two being interchanged a lot here. But thanks if you were trying to help me.

Stab Frenzy wrote:Bigbag is correct, mixing ≠ mastering.

Hossinfeffa: Please don't offer advice about something you don't really know about. Mixing two of your own songs doesn't make you an expert in mastering, but you're offering advice as though you were.

I'm not trying to dis you or anything, but anyone who comes along and reads this might assume that you knew a lot about the subject and make decisions based on your advice, and waste a lot of their hard-earned.

Eh.. sorry.

Hossinfeffa wrote: I admit, I'm no pro at mixing, but when I do it the music sounds how I would like it to sound. And the thing about mastering and mixing.. isn't it the same? I hear the two being interchanged a lot here. But thanks if you were trying to help me. :)

Mastering is what is done to tracks which have already been mixed down to stereo (usually split 24 bits). It is the process of making the track sound 'finished'. This is usually achieved through black magic and closely guarded secrets, but it is what all of those astoundingly expensive boxes made by the likes of Manley or SPL are for. A light touch of compression on the buss will help to make the songs sound like they are single entities, rather than a bunch of individual voices happening at the same time, and eqing can sweeten the sound. There's also the business of bringing up the RMS level with a limiter, which will reduce the dynamic range of the track, making it possible to bring the average level up without clipping, but that can (and is) be overdone (see, e.g. Flying Lotus' LA for slightly overdone, RHCPs Californication for burnt-to-the-pan overdone).

I too am no pro mixer - but I've found that the more time I spend with music, the more critical I become as a listener. I don't like mixes that I was perfectly happy with 2 (not to mention 5) years ago, because I have gotten much better at listening for the problems in a mix, rather than to the song itself. As a result of this, my mixes are much better now than they were, and they sound more consistent across systems, from audiophile stereos to the awful speakers at the local student radio station to my awful 'nothing above 12k' sony headphones.

Album?

are you pressing the release to wax or cd?

they use different methods for each format

The OP mentioned a glass master, so I'm guessing CD, not LP. Not to mention, vinyl's a really bad way to go if you're on a budget.

pricklyrobot wrote:The OP mentioned a glass master, so I'm guessing CD, not LP. Not to mention, vinyl's a really bad way to go if you're on a budget.

Not if you go czech! (or so I've heard)