bassix Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Hi, My band are gearing up to record our debut album in the next few months, we are recording at reputable studio who will also be mixing the tracks for us. I am wondering what the value in mastering the album is and whether it is worth the extra money to have this done at a separate studio? I'm a complete novice when it comes to recording processes so any insights welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Mastering can be the difference between your album sound like a demo or a release quality product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EliasMooseblaster Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I'm sure there are plenty of people who will be able to give you a more informed and detailed response than I can, but a decent mastering job will add that certain "fairy dust" element that can often make your record sound like a "proper" album rather than a demo. Which is odd, given that it mainly seems to involve compressing and EQ'ing certain frequency bands and making sure the overall level doesn't change too much between tracks. They may also ask whether you'd like your record to keep some dynamic range, or whether you'd prefer that it was compressed to buggery to compete in the ongoing "loudness war." I'd be inclined to send your mixed tracks away to somebody else for mastering - mainly because most of the recording engineers we've worked with have recommended the same! I can't remember how many of them offered it as an additional service, but at least one of them stated quite emphatically that he preferred to master tracks he hadn't mixed himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 [quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1430820161' post='2764779'] Mastering can be the difference between your album sound like a demo or a release quality product. [/quote] +1. Absolutely vital and worth every penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassix Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 Thanks for the responses, the EP we recorded was released without mastering and in hindsight whilst it sounds uber professional it perhaps lacks some "balls" to the lower frequencies as a consequence. The difficulty I find is establishing whether this is due to the lack of mastering or as a consequence of the engineer's work as there is inherent "topiness" to all his recordings. This may be typical of the genre in which we play. Assuming that we are going to have the recording mastered, does anyone have any recommendations for individuals that can do a good job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh971 Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 It depends on how it's mixed. The way I see it when I'm mixing something a track is complete when it's mixed and an album is complete when it's mastered. Mastering is important to ensure continuity between each of the tracks on your album. For example if one track is mixed so there's loads of top end and the others don't have this the mastering engineer will fix this so they sound consistent. When I'm mixing something I might add plugins (such as EQ or saturation) to the master buss. If I was sending the track to be mastered I'd leave these on with the exception of a master limiter. This video explains it pretty well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DekX3nq5fNE The other time mastering is important is if you're planning on getting your album pressed to vinyl as there are some limitations of the format which need to be worked around in mastering. In which case you will need a vinyl specific master. Hugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Me. PM me and I'll do Basschat discount (sorry mod's if this isn't allowed). I have a thread in the Affiliates forum, website link in my sig, done work for some bass chatters already. And yes, if you want a truly great finished product then it's highly recommended. Many recording engineers will 'master' as part of the mix, but it seems many consider it to be an afterthought and just whack a limiter on it, which is NOT good. Thats not to say your recording engineer won't be a dab hand at mastering, but in my experience it's always best to master separately to mixing. An extra set of ears, a new room, and an expert ear are all powerful tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Mastering to me is like polishing a nice pair of DMs - they looked nice before, now they look amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I home recorded a track a few years ago and it sounded fine. It got picked up by a punk label and was put on a compilation...it was mastered for this. The difference was outstanding. So yes, do it. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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