No way, in 2017 u can achieve everything ITB if done correctly and 'normal' listeners wouldn't hear no difference. So business wise, that's all that matters. The people eventually paying for it being happy. Unless you're an audiophile and want to pay premium prices for a 5-10ish pro cent improvement, that's cool n all, but dont be fooled, ITB is very powerful, used correct it CAN match up. My 2cent

 

Might as well just do all painting with color pencils and all sculpture with chainsaws then i guess, while we are at it...
Hell, let's just make all feature films with iphone cameras as well!
Fuck art, all that matters is the money right?
No need to be proud of what you create!

 

Listen to
"Soul Ballet - 2019" album, mastered at Sterling Sound. Highs are tooooooooooooooooo haaaaaaaaaaaarsh, obviously track 01

 

so much confidence. can we hear at least one song you wouldn't let manley-less engineers pay you to master? it better be real good.

 

Mastering is simply tailoring your mixes to best suit the delivery medium. No more, no less.

Vinyl is probably one of--if not the most--nuanced and specialized of all forms of mastering because the properties of vinyl reproduction change as the playing time changes. And of course the limitations of bass response and jumping out of grooves and all that. The RIAA curve is a form of mastering, in a sense, although I'm not sure people look at it that way because it's an in-built standard.

You could view the inclusion of Dolby encoding for cassette as mastering as well, but again, it's a standard and not something requiring "artistic" choices due to source material variance.

I would argue that mastering these days is mostly seen as dealing with perceived loudness because that's the primary limitation of the digital medium--lack of headroom. Of course it's all stupid due to the extremely low noise floor of digital, but...

An additional concern with modern mastering is minimizing lossy data compression artifacts.

It seems that a lot of people think of mixing as simply getting instrument balance correct, and mastering as the finishing touches that make the mix shine. I would argue against that viewpoint. If you're putting your 2-bus through an SSL 4000 compressor regardless of whether it is going to CD, tape, vinyl, or MP3 then that's just mixing. Not everything on your 2-bus is mastering, but it seems that's the way people see it these days.

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2017

See, that's a nice definition of mastering, but it doesn't comply with the rest of explanations about mastering I've heard. It seems like everyone, including professionals, have their own individual definition of mastering that varies widely. See the pillocks in this thread talking about expensive eqs and compressors.

I know that the practice started by cutting vinyl, but once we moved to other formats, it got completely jumbled.

Here's an interview with the mastering guy at Finnvox, who mastered thousands of professional records. He says that his "mastering training" lasted only three days, lol.

 

I know an engineer who made 1500 EU for inserting a low cut on a manley.

First I thought it was stealing, but he actually granted his client a service,
his master was selected by that client who had selected several mastering services/engineers.

 

this is a really interesting thread.
enjoyed watching all the interviews

 

Sometimes less is more.

 

lol at the responses. If you think isotope offers the same punch and resonance to a mix then manley massive eq's, and variable limiter/compressors. You more then likely shouldn't be mixing anything professionaly anyways. A simple 1db increase is so much more audible and resonate on a massive and eq cuts create so much more headroom carving out less dbs without destroying the sounds or vocals integrity compared to software vsts. I'm not knocking software mastering tools, just pointing out that there's a reason why professional ME's use dedicated hardware for mastering.

 

I love watching his videos. Very informative. If you're a serious ME I'd recommend you getting dedicated hardware as well as tons of different reference monitors.

 

lol at you. show us your song, so much great and unique, you wouldn't let manley-less engineers pay you to master it.

give me a break. if your shit was worth 6000$ mastering EQ to master it, your ass wouldn't be here wasting his time flaming. you simply wouldn't have the time.

just another hardware snob detected.

 

Flaming? Why are you taking my opinion personally? I've stated multiple times that there's nothing wrong with software mastering tools. Just pointing out that professional MEs use dedicated hardware for a reason. Personally I could careless if you mastered your songs with a CB radio running through an apple 1. Also I can't afford those hardware rack units..lol I've just had the pleasure of witnessing trained MEs master songs quite a few times in person. I'm no snob, just informed from first hand experience

 

Every style of music has its place and methods. Why hate one or another because of it?
I myself like all music from classical to hardstyle, to jazz and death metal, and and have played or produced in many different sub-genres of music. And, I can respect and appreciate the methods and techniques used to make them.
I laugh at the narrow and closed minded people that only like one type and swear everything else is bad. They cant see the the whole forest beyond the one tree that theyre stuck in. It says a lot about a person that only likes one style of anything. Biased and opinionated? Like saying "I only like breakfast, dinner and lunch suck and so do those that eat it." LoL

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2017

no no no, it's not what you said. don't do that. what you said is this exactly

and BTW, I'm still not hearing the song. I'm hearing bla bla. show the song or GTFO.

 

You've pretty much nailed it, and made me giggle in the process, too. That's what mastering is [or should be?] about.

 

tick-tock, tick-tock... still no song worth of a 6 grand eq mastering and I'm already tired waiting.

you ain't got shit, man. you ain't got no songs and you better stfu with your snobbish comments.

or your songs are that awful I wouldn't master them with ozone even if you beg me after you pay me :D

you have so much arrogance. "pay him to master his song", "6 grand eq to master my songs or die". bitch please. those who are worth that much expensive gear, don't waste their time on Audiosex. they've got better things to do, like writing great songs worth on that manley eq, ssl x mastering and sufficient acoustic treatment. "pay him to master his song". give me a break. first time ever I'm hearing this kind of bullshit. you better lay off that crack you smokin'.

 

And this is the reason i respect and value your opinion.