robdowall Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Hi folks, my band album is being mixed and we want to know more about mastering and places to go. Whats peoples good / bad experiences? Places to go? Prices? also if any of you could post up if you have any knowledge about it, that would be great! We are a heavy-ish ([i]insert genre here[/i]) rock band This is our last single, just so you have a ballpark as to what type of band we are and what we need from a mix! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBco1ga5fBA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBco1ga5fBA[/url] Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Mastering should be about ensuring parity between the volume of each track. Unfortunately these days it's about sucking all of the dynamic variations in the playing and JUST MAKING IT ALL REALLY, REALLY LOUD, BECAUSE THAT"S BETTER INNIT? . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalalf Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I do audio mastering as a part of my job as audio engineer for a computer games company and have mastered a number of game soundtracks, songs, EP's & albums. It's an art and not just in making a song sound louder. It's doing the least ammount of dammage to a song, knowing when you have to apply processing (EQ, Dynamics, Limiting etc) and when you don't, being transparent with your work and being smpathetic to each song. Making all the songs work perfectly on their own and when sat with each other and allowing the album the ability to play from start to finish naturally with the right track order, the correct type of fade ins/outs and leaving the right ammount of time between each track. What it's not is slapping a Waves L2 plugin on and squashing all the dynamics out of a track just to make it really loud. If you can afford it go somewhere serious, somewhere that will give you listening sessions in the studio. There are also lot of online inexpensive mastering services which are really very good but becareful of the 'L2 Bedroom' mastering engineers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 thank you for the reply what online places or even studios would you recommend from your experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimskidog Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I've used mastering engineers all over the world. I have come across two good ones. Brad Blackwood and Brian Lucey. Call Brian and ask him for his indie rate. Tell him I told you to call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Valhalalf' timestamp='1333211585' post='1598818'] I do audio mastering .... ....engineers. [/quote] Excellent response. In terms of mastering material for albums, and specifically for CD release it also entails making a redbook standard CD, with ISRC codes and a UPC code. The ISRC codes are one per track, and you get them from the PRS, they are required in order for your tracks to have royalties paid against them being played (ie on the radio), and a UPC code (barcode) you get from http://www.gs1uk.org (IIRC you can get a one off for £25) to put on the CD. Edited April 1, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I just used these guys for a record I'm working on: http://stardeltamastering.com/the-stardelta-way/ [url="http://stardeltamastering.com/cdvinylmp3-mastering/"]http://stardeltamast...lmp3-mastering/[/url] They did an amazing job... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlegreenman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 [quote name='robdowall' timestamp='1333197455' post='1598607'] Hi folks, my band album is being mixed and we want to know more about mastering and places to go. Whats peoples good / bad experiences? Places to go? Prices? also if any of you could post up if you have any knowledge about it, that would be great! We are a heavy-ish ([i]insert genre here[/i]) rock band This is our last single, just so you have a ballpark as to what type of band we are and what we need from a mix! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBco1ga5fBA[/media] Cheers [/quote] Can't help too much on the mastering front, I muddle through doing my own as best I can. Did really like the song and video though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 [quote name='littlegreenman' timestamp='1334108783' post='1611079'] Can't help too much on the mastering front, I muddle through doing my own as best I can. Did really like the song and video though. [/quote] Same here, really did enjoy the song and video. Hope you find someone who does a really good job on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 thank you everyone for the replies! I have contacted everyone that was mentioned (and with the exception of one reply) they are all useful and we will be getting a free sample of a song on our album over the next few weeks. I may post up all the samples to see what peoples ear's think of them. maybe a blind test for you Thank you for the positive posts about the band too, much appreciated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras52 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 [quote name='robdowall' timestamp='1334564690' post='1617516'] thank you everyone for the replies! I have contacted everyone that was mentioned (and with the exception of one reply) they are all useful and we will be getting a free sample of a song on our album over the next few weeks. I may post up all the samples to see what peoples ear's think of them. maybe a blind test for you Thank you for the positive posts about the band too, much appreciated!! [/quote] I'll be very interested to hear them! A couple of questions of my own: Attended vs. unattended... my [i]presumption[/i] is that an attended session is to be preferred... do you agree? The stuff I've got in the pipeline includes fade-outs, and I'm imagining I need to be on-the-spot to say "mm, a bit earlier/later" etc. And, how long would a typical session take? (I have two songs totalling about nine minutes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkpegasus4001 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I can't help you regarding your mixing/mastering question but I really enjoyed the song, it's excellent. great video too! I hope you get sorted out with your needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackers Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 again, I can't help on the mastering front, but I absolutely love the song and video! are you guys gigging around oxford anytime soon? I would love to see you play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Wow great feedback. We are playing Northampton on the 12th Windsor 18th Nottingham 19th Crawley 20th London 21st Eastbourne 22nd Mansfield 24th All in May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Latest News: Still waiting on album first mixes... we'll then feedback any changes. Then we'll send a song out to masterer's(!?!) for a sample. Then totally ignore all about the samples and go with cheapest price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras52 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 [quote name='urb' timestamp='1333356722' post='1600330'] I just used these guys for a record I'm working on: [url="http://stardeltamastering.com/the-stardelta-way/"]http://stardeltamast...-stardelta-way/[/url] [url="http://stardeltamastering.com/cdvinylmp3-mastering/"]http://stardeltamast...lmp3-mastering/[/url] They did an amazing job... [/quote] Can we hear the results? I found the advice on their website assuring but also overwhelming (talk of lots of different formats and codes I never knew of.... plus "vocal up" and "vocal down" mixes: did you provide those?). And how would one choose between them and someone like [url="http://nevomastering.com/"]http://nevomastering.com/[/url]? I'm confused, anxious, and shortly to be in need of mastering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Not yet, Today I got our first final mix of one song from our producer, I am emailing people tonight so should hear soon. A few people mentioned above were out of our price bracket, and for assurance we decided we would only choose people that could offer us samples. Will let you know how it goes when i have something and will find a way to put it online to A/B ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras52 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 [quote name='urb' timestamp='1333356722' post='1600330'] I just used these guys for a record I'm working on: [url="http://stardeltamastering.com/the-stardelta-way/"]http://stardeltamast...-stardelta-way/[/url] [url="http://stardeltamastering.com/cdvinylmp3-mastering/"]http://stardeltamast...lmp3-mastering/[/url] They did an amazing job... [/quote] Thanks for the recommendation, and a big +1: great sound, great service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.