mastering (1 Viewer)

[pad]

is mastering neccesary folks? who has/hasn't mastered their records (and no wanking jokes please.)

 

[Sprite Boy]

pad (26 Apr, 2002 03:51 p.m.):
is mastering neccesary folks? who has/hasn't mastered their records (and no wanking jokes please.)

It depends on your ear.

How good is it?
What you can and cannot hear?

If a track sounds shite and you don't know it sounds shit then people won't want to listen to it!

my definition of mastering is getting all your levels right! there is nothing worse than a certain sound drowning out the sound of the rest of the song/track.

What do you record onto?
If it's done on a 'puter it's quite easy to master! If you talking analogue it out of my league!

 

[snakybus]

From one non-techie to another, I'd say yes, it's altogether necessary for stuff that you intend to release.

As far as I can tell, mastering is mainly about compression, which means keeping levels within certain parameters. The result is a "punchy" feel that comes across well on most stereos. You especially notice the benefit of compression in a car stereo. You can hear the lyrics clearly despite all the other instruments and the noise of the car.

However, over-compression can result in a flat sound. This is beneficial for music that doesn't have much dynamics, like say Destiny's Child, who use a simple programmed beat. The result sounds punchy and poppy on TV, but flat and uninteresting when you listen to it on headphones (but which doesn't matter because you're a 13 year old girl who doesn't care about these things). There's been a trend in radio-friendly music to increasingly compress - the more you compress, the narrower the range of dynamics, and the louder you can make the recording, so it's louder than your competitor - cue Christine Aguilera getting all mad about her compression levels. So it's a balance that counts. I'd say that a band with drums should at least supervise the mastering process, because a loss of dynamics can really affect a song badly sometimes.

Mastering also involves giving each song a number, specifying song order, and setting the space between songs.

I hope that helps Pat, I could be totally wrong about all of this. To be honest it's always been a bit of a mystery to me. I've let my ears and experience be my guide, and they can be dodgy.

 

[admin]

snakybus (26 Apr, 2002 04:45 p.m.):
This is beneficial for music that doesn't have much dynamics, like say Destiny's Child, who use a simple programmed beat. The result sounds punchy and poppy on TV, but flat and uninteresting when you listen to it on headphones (but which doesn't matter because you're a 13 year old girl who doesn't care about these things).

Thin ice, pal.

Thin fucking ice.

 

[snakybus]

Admin (26 Apr, 2002 05:31 p.m.):

Thin ice, pal.

Thin fucking ice.

uh..what?

Sorry Pete, you're so angry these days, I'm not sure if you're being funny or if you're giving out.

 

[admin]

NOBODY slags destinys child round here.

Nobody.

I couldn't be any more serious.

edit: i'm so angry i'm getting all discombobulated

 

[snakybus]

ah right....okay, bad example.

Destiny's Child rock .|..|

(actually Destiny's Child kinda make me discombobulated, especially their legs, they're phenomennomenal)

 

[herv]

i've just got a few tracks professionally mastered. donnacha costello did them, and i must say the before and after wasn't particulaly noticable, except that i asked him to give more definition to one track and to warm up another. he did an excellent job, the levels were fine, any nasty peaks were calmed down and its as warm as a pair of army socks and as defined as a leaving cert physics exam.

 

[dudley]

having gotten our newest single properly mastered i dearly wish the early corpo singles had been done. the difference is pretty immense, where the song had sounded pretty good before it now sounds feckin' massive.
it's a very hard job to do and imho definitely requires outside ears to do it.
it's that tricky a job to do i think very few do it well. i mastered some stuff at home and it's nothing comparable to a pro job, so it's well worth investigating and getting done properly.

 

[herv]

be careful however, that whoevers mastering it listens to the piece as a whole, and not just to problem areas. there can be a tendency, if you're not familiar with a persons music, to listen to only the problem sections and try to work exclusively on those, which can completely crap all over the fluid "feel" of a track.

furthermore, i'd suggest getting someone in whos familiar with your particular style of music to master it, it can't hurt.

all bleedin' common sense, innit?

 

[egg_]

Getting something mastered by a professional will make it sound better, so if you want your recording to sound as good as possible, yes it is necessary. I wouldn't recommend trying to do it yourself - the pros have equipment and skills built up over years and years which you're just not going to be able to simulate convincingly in your bedroom

I don't think it's important that the mastering engineer is familiar with your style of music, at least it's not nearly as important as it is for recording ... it might be helpful to sit in on the mastering session though if you can, just in case there are taste-decisions to be made

Robyn Robins in Mid Atlantic Digital did a good job for us once (048-66329437), as did Bobby Boughton in Richmond Studios (01-4982500) ... both cost about €100 per hour, and tracks (3-4 mins of music each) took about 45 mins to an hour each.

 

[dudley]

we got ours done by aidan foley in windmill lane. similar kind of price i think, and he's excellent. plus he has a lathe cutter if you want him to master it for vinyl. (rather than letting the czechs do it without supervision)

 

[herv]

is that not a good idea to get it cut in the czech republic? i'm all worried now.... we were going to do test pressings but i don't want to waste 160 odd euro on a useless master copy.

suggestions?

 

[dudley]

no, it's fine, just that you have to trust the ear of whoever cuts your vinyl because you obviously can't be present. getting aidan to do it for you here negates that.

 

[herv]

oh phew.

how much would it cost to get it cut in windmill lane though? just as a matter of interest...

 

[dudley]

Vinyl
12" Dub Plates £60 per disk

Laquer Masters £100 per side


no idea how much the actual mastering would cost

www.masterlabs.net should tell you more

 

[herv]

ah, no, its fine, the mastering is done.

looks cool, will check it out. thanks.

 

[Keeror]

Originally posted by snakybus
There's been a trend in radio-friendly music to increasingly compress - the more you compress, the narrower the range of dynamics, and the louder you can make the recording.

What do the radio stations have to say about that?
Surely they don't want their listeners and DJs getting blasted out of it by some unexpectedly loud track?

Mastering does, as you point out, set the volume level for the CD. Most, as you point out, want to be louder than the rest. But few want to be as loud as Masonna or Merzbow or High Rise .|..| . I can never undestand why

Mastering's pretty important when you have recordings from more than one place/time/session (eg, a comp) so that you get a standardised volume/quality all the way through. Or not, if that's what you want (Saccharine & Wire Tapper vol3, tracks 1& 2, I'm looking in your direction).

 

[snakybus]

Curious Keeror asked:

What do the radio stations have to say about that?
Surely they don't want their listeners and DJs getting blasted out of it by some unexpectedly loud track?

Well I could be talking through my hole here but I think it's a trend that's developed rather than something that just happened. It's not like Whitney Houston suddenly comes on the radio and the volume suddenly increases, because they're all doing it. Compression gets tighter and tighter and, consequently, sound gets flatter and flatter. The end result is that music made by people who care about it in America has a real problem competing with anyone on major labels.

 

[Keeror]

I wonder where that trend to compress will lead to ultimately?

Ultra compressed recordings....
....only a single midrange frequency is let through...
...."songs" and "artists" differentiated by rhythm alone...
...all music becomes Morse Code, essentially....

The onkyo shall inheirit the earth!