Thank you for these guidelines. These and @Baxter 's introduced unique book gave me pause for thoughts to let this amount of information sink in. I need to weigh up all the different situations before any decision because now I think mastering is being able to make the best decisions regarding the various factors.

 

Thank you so much for this great artwork. You're really a good friend.

 

From someone who has has been directly or indirectly, by his studio staff of engineers, been behind hundreds of gold and platinum recordings.

 

I don't want imitation. I'm interested in whys then hows.

By imitation, sitting in judgment on all waveforms is impossible.

 

Philosophy is following:

- You're mixing a song (you're just young enthusiast)
- You have a friend or friend of a friend who has studio and who is producer

Then, one day you mixed something and you sent your work to him...
He calls you and he is telling you that your kick and bass is muddy and you have issues at near hi freq, etc...

Wow, you have an information... Cool, a man knows... He is a producer after all.

You're mixing a next song and you're fighting with low end (kick bass etc) and you're sending your work to him again by this time with message: "Please, help me how to resolve this muddy kick bass again, It's so bad", and you're getting response like: "Why, your kick is good, bass too."

And actually, you used same kick bass sounds like on previous song, nothing changed

 

So essentially you fix bad mixes? would you agree that a song mixed by a competent sound engineer will not need mastering, or that he can do the mastering on his own? do you agree that it's much easier to fix the sound in the mix stage, rather than in a master?

 

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/bob-katz-mastering-audio

 

Yes, sometimes I actually do some "mixing" (or balancing) in the mastering to fix things (I can't do miracles though, just minor tweaks). This is to get what the artist is going for or when the mix isn't that great but we all want a good and balanced master. If the mix is shit I usually ask for an alternative mix or a new one.

Pretty much all mixes needs some sort of mastering (mastering is more than just adjusting loudness, clarity, balance, etc). The best mixes just need minor mastering.

Ofc it's easier to fix problems in the mix rather than the mastering stage. Just like it's easier to fix problems during recording/production, rather than in the mixing.
"Record like there is no mixing, Mix like there is no mastering."

 

Last edited: Mar 30, 2018

Mastering in vinyl age and later at the beginning of the digital age with Betacam mastering for CD, was a pure technical step without any creativity (checking bass frequencies so the needle would not jump, getting tracks to the same peak and loudness and so on).
It was made with measuring equipment not with ears.

Later record companies realized that they could change the sound of a mix they don't like, in that stage and mastering engineers needed to get creative.
And then something strange happened. The companies were trying to control the whole creative process via mastering and the mixing engineers were told to send in only stems of the mix. Fortunately this wouldn't become very popular, because most good professional mixer wanted to keep the creative process in their hands.

I look at mastering as a second controlling stage in my work and I want another person with good equipment and ears behind me to check if everything is OK. If my mixes are OK there is more ore less nothing to master, but the DDP needs to be done and other technical stuff.

If something went wrong I'll get the mix back and need to correct it, because lots of problems can't be solved in mastering.

So, I see the mastering engineer as a partner in my creative work, but not as someone who has to solve my problems.

 

Mannn, that's harsh... funny as *uck though :P

 

speak something i know:
1,the track must sounding not bad on any playback platform, and any situations.

2,mastering is necessary. one day i was upgrade some audio gears, then playing some tracks made by other producer, id heard some track has serious problem witch i cant heard before, some tracks are well mastered(converted from EAC, a commercial CD), the sound color changed but doesnt has any problem.

3, every genres are different, a edm track shouldnt mastered as same as a orchestral recording.

4, learn more, thinking more, spend more, mastering like hifi system depend on your knowledge and money you have

 

A good mix don't necessarily need mastering. Mastering is just a last check of the mixed down wave file, not worth the money in many cases. In a so called good master you should not hear any difference from the mix, it is just a last check that the frequencies are correct for radio, streaming, tv and stuff like that. So a good master should not take anything away from the mix that is audible. There is plenty of examples mastering destroying the original mix.

 

Last edited: Mar 30, 2018

I agree.

 

Cheers bro

EZ SPIN....now that is a plugin i would buy.

lol

 

Tips?

https://audioskills.com/tips/mastering/

 

Mastering is absolutely unnecessary. If it will only ever be played at home for you and your friends. It is absolutely necessary if you produce music for a large number of clients in a number of styles. Your favourite dubstep bottom end isn't going to work with Indie folk. It is even more essential if you have produced one track for inclusion on an album. With no knowledge of the other material, how else could you match tone and level? I think the people advocating the misconception that mastering can ruin a great mix are not active in the commercial world and are annoyed that their 10hz prominent mix has returned with a flatter eq curve.

 

This day in age it’s simply a redundant mix...

 

Unless you know what you're doing when mastering it might be a better to only focus on mix and composition. Once songs sound full via writing and mix you should be able to get by. You'll also understand what the subtle mastering techniques actually do to the mix more clearly when you do start studying mastering. Otherwise you end up easily destroying a song without realizing how or why.

 

Why the f would someone doing an edm master worry about indie folk bottom end.
If mastering is absolutely unnecessary than why the f bother at all, lets just rewind my life and crawl back to my toddler crib and call it a day.

 

If that were the case and I was the ME, I would ask that it be remixed.