you can do it like you want but its no different than a cd vs vinyl master (back then)and a good engineer will master differently for
say itunes and spotify (normaly they ask you)

perceived less loud at -8 LUFS than another at -10 LUFS
yes thats exactly the point a "bad" master will/could sound like shit on some platforms
A master should play well either way + its only (mostly) a real problem if its nuked in a limiter

 

Have an album reverb that is consistent for all your mastered tracks, use the wet dry to match it to the mood of each single

 

Prettt curious solution, You say a reverb directly to the master track or across the main instruments?

 

super rare problem, avoid

 

Yes it can be a solution but be careful issa very high level pro tip. The point is to leave an imprint which is recognizable on every track, this could be anything related to an effect to your case, like an eq curve / box tone (works well), saturation timbre (this even bumpy harmonic on bassy elements, or this odd "ooh" round excitement on transients), even reverb (when done well it actually creates a lot of coherence because you'll affect all the transients of the album with a certain "room", "idea of a same space" response right after their play).

But it's tricky and not the way to go for a beginner. You need good hears and a very good listening environment to play with the 1 to 7% of the wet knob of the reverb you would use.

Since coherence should have been a problem solved in the production / artistic direction / realization step, you cannot do that much other than subtlety.

My approach would have been to identify the recurrent elements from track to track (if it's an album there should be recurrent produced elements or familiar ones), set their role in terms of function and importance in each one, and manage with some wizardry since you do not have access to multitracks (I think about dark magic tools like peel), to keep a "coherence", a consistency, from a track to another to make sure there are not awkward gaps in emotional response in the lead voice track from track 3 to 4 for no reason other than technical for example (darker timbre because of a faulty mix or take rather than artistic purpose).

If it works for you already, do nothing more. If your client is still demanding, it's just a gros chiant still looking for its artistic signature.

I hope you won't hurt the "it's an artistic choice" wall too often...

I finally managed to get my password back what a relief

 

Last edited: May 15, 2023

I do this job from 15 years at professional level, but i always had access to the mix or the stems, altough 2 stems! But never been in case of tracks completed and to make them sound coherent!

 

It's totally different indeed. Mastering for vinyl required (still requires?) a good control of the low end of a song, either to make the grooves thinner so you could get more minutes out of a record, or to avoid breaking the lathe, whereas from CD onwards that limitation was gone.

I've never seen this, ever. They ask you if it's going to go on vinyl, CD or streaming. I've never seen anyone get asked for a separate master for iTunes or Spotify.

Actually I think it's more about making a mix that is ready for a loud master. Things like saturation, clipping, and limiting, distortion in instruments, the sound of the bass line, even the arrangement needs to be planned for a really loud master. Of course, a quality master service will take it to the next level.

 

Ahahah obv