Mastering

[Jay Pace]

DIY - or send it to the pro's?

And if so, which pro's, and how much do you spend?

Or do you leave it up to the label to take care of it?

Am contemplating giving up trying to master stuff, as I am never going to get anything more than half decent results compared to some dude with £50k of kit, who spends a lifetime dedicated to getting shit to sound unreal.

[stjohn]

chris mccormack does a a service...

www.blacklistedmastering.co.uk

he seems to be one of the cheapest and best around. cristian vogel also does it, but he charges by the day, not the track, which could end up pricey.

i couldnt tell you which is better, to master or not, i spose it depends on the label boss and their personal preference.

[Jay Pace]

Perfect - thanks mate.

Mr McCormack will be getting some business from me.

[theledge]

There's also Lawrie Immersion of course

http://www.curvepusher.co.uk/

Suppose it would depend on the style of techno

[eyeswithoutaface]

can recommend Laurie and Chris very highly, had stuff mastered by both of them and its top notch

also if your US based (or not im sure it's still valid), then Tim Xavier runs a great cutting and mastering studios in Brooklyn, USA, called Chopstick studios. Im not sure if they have a web addy but i presume so

[theledge]

from what i know of the subject, if you're getting tracks released the label should be paying for this anyway

[eyeswithoutaface]

that's one method yes, but alot of people like to get their stuff properly mastered before sending demo's out, all depends on the labels, producers needs etc etc

[MARK ANXIOUS]

i just remember chris mccormatron once saying to me he hated having anything mastered by anyone else cause if it's your track, you want the end result to be the same...... and that sort of stuck with me. you don't want someone fiddling with your own sound. if you truly want to improve your sound, why would you want someone else adding the icing? i think if you don't understand how to master, sure use the expertise of someone like chris, but you need to ask yourself why, and learn it. that's coming from his very own lips... it's a very, very hard science, but it's well worth studying...

[Chris McCormack]

Hi Mark,
That was refering to the time we cut your BOA001 record.

I noticed the sound on my remix was odd, even in the unfamiliar room we were in, then saw the engineer was additionally squeezing my remix through a compressor to get more level onto the vinyl. That I personally didnt want. It was removing the feel of the track just for the sake of a louder cut. I never said anything about not wanting people touching my stuff in mastering! I have always loved getting my stuff mastered at different places, and always enjoyed giving the engineers complete free reign to do what they felt was needed.

Cheers, Chris.

[Chris McCormack]

Perfect - thanks mate.

Mr McCormack will be getting some business from me.

Hi Jay,
OK excellent, just give me a ring whenever you're ready.

And thanks to the guys who have recommended me, much appreciated :)

Cheers, Chris.

[MARK ANXIOUS]

Hi Mark,
That was refering to the time we cut your BOA001 record.

I noticed the sound on my remix was odd, even in the unfamiliar room we were in, then saw the engineer was additionally squeezing my remix through a compressor to get more level onto the vinyl. That I personally didnt want. It was removing the feel of the track just for the sake of a louder cut. I never said anything about not wanting people touching my stuff in mastering! I have always loved getting my stuff mastered at different places, and always enjoyed giving the engineers complete free reign to do what they felt was needed.

Cheers, Chris.

A haaaa! I understood you wrong. Oh well it certainly made me look more into mastering anyway hehe.

[stjohn]

a nice link on mastering...

http://www.izotope.com/artists/dave_moulton.asp?id=1

[xfive]

Yeah.. I was under the impression that for the most part you shouldn't master your own stuff because you have invested so much time into it that you will be missing things that others would catch..

That's what that Dave Moulton guy says in the article above too.

[MARK ANXIOUS]

that article is excellent. thanks for that man. i actually read a book recently by bob katz called mastering audio and it's highly scientific. i think that's the thing with mastering, it's based on principles rather than making the music, which is based on feeling and your ears.

[stjohn]

i have that book in PDF.... i think ill have to print it first before i get to read it coz i cant stare at a screen for too long like that.

but ill take your work that its one to read!!

nerd on :D

[TechMouse]

that article is excellent. thanks for that man. i actually read a book recently by bob katz called mastering audio and it's highly scientific. i think that's the thing with mastering, it's based on principles rather than making the music, which is based on feeling and your ears.

Producing isn't a science, it's not an art... it's a craft.

[Siege]

Correct me if im wrong but isnt mastering for cd and mastering for vinyl two completley diffrent things?

[TechMouse]

Correct me if im wrong but isnt mastering for cd and mastering for vinyl two completley diffrent things?

There's commonality to both, but mastering for vinyl pays special attention to the limitations of the format... No stereo bass frequencies etc.

[danielmarshall]

Luckily for us, now you don't need to know anything about mastering to actually do it. If you don't believe me, check this out:

http://www.curioza.com/

LOL

[Jay Pace]

That would be useful to use after running fantasysoft's top 10 hit generator.