Mastering

[TechMouse]

Is it me, or is Mastering on tunes getting worse?

I wonder if more people are convincing themselves they can do a "good enough" job at home with software, and skimping when it comes to getting releases sound as good as possible?

I'm listening to more and more records which just don't have the same finesse and sparkle that tunes had a while ago. The tunes themselves are as interesting and inventive as ever. It's just the overall sound is sometimes a bit flat. (IMHO)

Just wondering what some of our more seasoned producing talent on here think... Do you guys splash out on proper mastering, or do you DIY?

[fresh_an_funky_design]

proper mastering is so important, unless you know anything about mastering to vinyl you should really leave it to the people who know their shit

or the other problem is the producers put far too much compression on when there making the tune or they master the tune themselves a little and then when the tune goes for mastering there's very little they can do.

[dirty_bass]

Is it me, or is Mastering on tunes getting worse?

I wonder if more people are convincing themselves they can do a "good enough" job at home with software, and skimping when it comes to getting releases sound as good as possible?

I'm listening to more and more records which just don't have the same finesse and sparkle that tunes had a while ago. The tunes themselves are as interesting and inventive as ever. It's just the overall sound is sometimes a bit flat. (IMHO)

Just wondering what some of our more seasoned producing talent on here think... Do you guys splash out on proper mastering, or do you DIY?

It can be down to 2 things.
Records sell sod all in techno these days, a lot of labels start on no money, and so therefor end up being cut by these cheap vinyl cutting places, that spend no time mastering. The record is just processed through a basic setting for vinyl and so comes out flat.
So there it is a question of money and not the producers skill.

also, to my ears, I can separate the above pretty easily from the just downright badly produced.

the availablility of the technology to produce is good because it stops music making being an elitist thing.
But it`s bad because any DJ or techno fan with a copy of reason suddenly thinks after a couple of months that they are good enough to produce.
So they send their stuff around, get no response and think "sod it, I`ll start my own label"

Hence loads of badly produced stuff on the market.

[Dustin Zahn]

There are a number of reasons for crappy masters these days. One of which I am just realizing now is that a place such as the Exchange specializes in that kind of "prime" sounding techno. Therefore, I've noticed a lot of records cut there that aren't prime techno don't sound as good as they could have. A lot of the minimal records are mastered pretty awfully mainly because of the artist's final mix down. A lot of those tracks are done with standard Ableton plug-ins and all those newbie producers don't know anything about mastering. I think most techno coming out these days sounds pretty well mastered though. Then again, I don't shop for records that much anymore too.

On the positive side of it all, it seems like bad mastering jobs sometimes make records even more raw than they already are. The old disco mania stuff was ****ing mickey mouse, but it still has a lot more attitude and style than most of the house/techno coming out these days.

[oldbugger]

But it`s bad because any DJ or techno fan with a copy of reason suddenly thinks after a couple of months that they are good enough to produce.

and aren't they? why on earth cant anyone do whatever they want?

[dirty_bass]

they can, and you have every right to buy badly produced guff.

[rhythmtech]

But it`s bad because any DJ or techno fan with a copy of reason suddenly thinks after a couple of months that they are good enough to produce.

and aren't they? why on earth cant anyone do whatever they want?

they can and are entitled to BUT we hear so much about the state of our "scene" all the time and this is partly the reason. look at what happened with prime (to bring up an old one), they flooded the market with techno and a lot of it was below par. it killed the business.

what we need is to be looking to top notch productions. making music that sounds as good as its meant to.

i know i didnt start sending out demos till middle of last year and i still hold back 90% of my tracks because they're not anywhere near release quality. i think i've too much pride to let someone release a sub standard production with my name on it.

its nothing to do with elitism (i certainly dont have all the best gear), i just want people to hear something with my name on it and think "thats shit hot!" not "suppose its ok"

[Dustin Zahn]

its nothing to do with elitism (i certainly dont have all the best gear), i just want people to hear something with my name on it and think "thats shit hot!" not "suppose its ok"

if only more people thought that way.
Most of the demos I get end up coming from people who think, "Well, this sounds as busy and funky as 'producer xyz' so let's start sending it out!"

But in reality, they've only looked at the surface of the music so you get a generic clone. Then again, I was sending demos out for years before I got a record deal. Now I understand why, and now I thank god that some labels held back from putting my early stuff out.

[nihilist]

ill agree mastering is an art and takes along time to, er master, and taking the point that people start their own lable because they get know response back from sent out demos this is allso true.

i had two tracks masterd by a very well known techno producer which made them sound far more supperior then my efforts but i still had no takers.

so i guess im saying unless lables are prepared to take a risk and release some stuff from unknown producer your still going to get poorly produced records.

[mattboyslim]

ill agree mastering is an art and takes along time to, er master, and taking the point that people start their own lable because they get know response back from sent out demos this is allso true.

i had two tracks masterd by a very well known techno producer which made them sound far more supperior then my efforts but i still had no takers.

so i guess im saying unless lables are prepared to take a risk and release some stuff from unknown producer your still going to get poorly produced records.

but theres taking a risk, and then being cpmpletely stupid.

If its a good record, then it shouldn't matter that its by an unknown, and therefore, shouldn't be a risk

[rhythmtech]

"shouldn't" being the key word there matt.

[Pheeva]

When it comes to mastering Lawries the Daddy :clap:

[MARKEG]

this is all sooooo true. the mastering on so many more tracks is awful. and the mp3 revolution is just not helping. at least with vinyl, you send your tracks down to be cut and anything you haven't sorted gets sorted out nice by a bloke who knows what the hell he's doing. mastering is an artform, i've read books upon books on the subject and it'snot something that you can pick up overnight. the problem is people with all this cracked and freely available software is people think you can just pile on the limiting and that's it. distort the shit out of it and whooopie it's PHAT. well sorry to piss on your fire but it isnt.

add onto that the fact that the quality control is going out of the market and you're screwed.

there is good stuff out there but there's 20000000 millions time more shit than there ever was.

it will change for sure, but until then happy hunting - you're gonna be searching a hell of a long time! :)

[Evil G]

it's not just techno. the loudness wars are pushing producers in all genres to use too much compression. on first listen, a louder track is perceived as "better" than a quieter one, and the first listen is very important in terms of getting a track noticed, but on the 10th listen (or sooner), that over-compressed track starts to sound distorted, dull and flat. people need to stop competing for the attention of the distracted masses, relax and let their music be what it is. people who actually like music will appreciate it.

[rhythmtech]

just out of interest... every one has a go at mastering for themselves.. how do you all go about it?

i usualy just eq a little and mild compresiion and use a peak master to get it up to about -3/-4 but thats only for playin tracks on ableton.

[The Overfiend]

Mastering is the hardest part of producing.
Period.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

just out of interest... every one has a go at mastering for themselves.. how do you all go about it?

i usualy just eq a little and mild compresiion and use a peak master to get it up to about -3/-4 but thats only for playin tracks on ableton.

you got removing the resonant frequency as well

[nihilist]

ive tryed using a multiband compresser with a little peak master allso, but when i sent some tracks to be masterd i got my wrists slapped for using software to master, and had to resend them

[TechMouse]

Mastering is the hardest part of producing.
Period.

You're quite right, but there's no need to get menstrual.

[TechMouse]

ive tryed using a multiband compresser with a little peak master allso, but when i sent some tracks to be masterd i got my wrists slapped for using software to master, and had to resend them

Oh yeah, if you're getting stuff professionally mastered you want to leave them plenty of headroom to work with.