I'm looking for a mastering engineer to master an album that I want to release. It's 30min with 11 tracks and it's an instrumental with distorted guitars.

I'm posting here following the advice from @No Avenger in a thread I opened a while ago about the subject: https://audiosex.pro/threads/selecting-a-mastering-studio-engineer.77442/

I will be posting three 20 seconds excerpts from the album, hoping they present some of the range of the material. I am hoping that if anyone is interested they could show me how they would master these. You can either send them to me or post them here, do what you feel most comfortable with.

If you think you need a full track to assess or to showcase your abilities, let me know. I just thought doing it like this could be less cumbersome but it might actually not make sense.

Here's the archive with the files (choose one):
EDIT: I've added longer samples (around 1min each)
https://mega.nz/file/ZqNVWSwY#Cjz36DxAnQbYldywNhKUSVIQEyWwIVFYrU-JDyXXXrc
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1zlswgygg238gzn/mix_samples_1min.zip/file

I don't know what the common mastering rates are so feel free to tell me how you usually work with your clients on that.

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2025 at 7:56 PM

Ugh, rapidgator

 

I was debating with myself where the hell I should put it. Do you have another suggestion? I'll happily upload it somewhere else.

 

I already grabbed it, no worries. For that kind of thing I usually just send it to myself via WeTransfer then I have a download link I can share around
No hoops, high speed, free! Plus up to several Gbs...

 

That way of dealing is the best way to lead to chaos and instability, MEs are warned.

 

MEGA
MediaFire - File sharing and storage made simple
Free. Upload, after the new year there is a little less work, maybe I'll see what you have there.

P.S. 20 seconds is not enough. Load a minute from the song in which the largest number of tracks.

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2025 at 7:27 PM

I usually also use WeTransfer and I had not thought of doing it like that. Doesn't it expose your identity or similar?

Could you please elaborate? I'm just trying to apply the advice I was given. I said that if people wanted a full track to try it out I could also provide that. And regarding the rates I am just waiting to hear for the proposals like any normal business.

In a slightly related note, I found an artist to do the artwork for this album through a similar way but by distributing physical fliers in an art university and so far the collaboration is working well.

 

Thanks for the file host alternatives.
I'll export larger samples, then.

EDIT: Done

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2025 at 7:45 PM

No, or certainly not in any way that I'm aware of... it might show your email address, I'd have to go double check- I really don't remember

 

I listened to your short samples. Sorry, but it's still far from mastering. There's still a lot of work to do on the mixes.
If you're interested, upload all the instrument tracks of your favorite composition. I'll show you how it's done.

 

Thanks for the feedback but I'm not looking for new mixes at this stage. Good or bad, this album is going to be released and there's no time or availability to remix.

 

Well, it's your album. If you like the way it sounds, that's your business.

 

There are also other factors that force me to take compromises, as there's a finite amount of time and resources I can allocate to this (or any) project.

 

Hi man I also think that the mix need some corrections but I understand if you can't do anything at this point, can I have one track to se wat can I do? I already work with similar circumstances before and I can show you my own work

 

If you're able to point me out which corrections you'd like to hear, I can try to apply them if they are explained precisely, I just don't have time to remix it whole. I can send you a track as well.

 

I really like this stuff. Honestly I kind of like the fact that it's not ridiculously overproduced.

 

Thanks!

 

I will start with some balance I will take down guitars especially the low mids, to gain some clarity between all the instruments on the bass a boost on the low frequencies could be perfect and sometimes distortion work very well, I feel the mix muddy, the drums can be more present with some Eq and saturation but I really like mix doesn't sound over processed, So if you can send me the mix I can show you what can I do, I love this genre

 

I already sent you a track, check your conversations tab.

There are particular reasons for some of those choices, so some of them are indeed on purpose. Take into account my listening environment is of poor quality as it's a small room with bad resonances, which also affects my judgement.

The guitars already have pretty big cuts around 500Hz to 700Hz, depending on the track upwards of 6dB. The reason why they aren't cut more is because these chords are not power chords and they have dissonant intervals that become indistinct without the mids, they just sound (more) like noise. The sound is more pleasant when scooped but I cannot tell the notes apart as easily. Regarding the balance, I can pull them down a db or 2 and re-export with no problem.

On the bass, the low end is pretty conservative because on previous mixes I thought it was extremely overpowering. I have a resonant node in my room around 100Hz that throws me off on this and I tried checking on headphones and compare with some reference tracks and this is how I ended up with a more conservative low end. If you have a particular corner frequency to suggest on a given track to boost or to apply a low shelf on the bass I can also try it.

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM

I've sent you a demo in your conversations tab.