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On 2011-05-09 said:
Now, Ive sat with the mixing engineer and am going off his advice
(and numerous others) about the need for mastering - radio play etc
and the final sound, and it all makes sense, but wondered if folks
in here would share benefits of their experience.
Does mastering change the sound much? I get that it brings the
average level and the peak level closer together, so that it always
sounds the same on every system, but does it actually change things
that much? Its been talked of as if its some magic elixer for the
tracks - I must admit Im happy with how they sound now, and I guess
I will only know once the tracks are back......

That all depends. What mastering *will do for you is bring
a fresh set of ears to your project who is listening to your
tracks in a known environment with an ear toward how they'll
sound on a variety of systems, and how your target audience
might be listening to them. Maybe the mastering engineer
will use multiband compression and other tools to bring peak
and average levels closer and do other tweaks, but that will
depend on what he thinks they might need.

YEars ago I convinced a friend of mine who was building a
nice studio to at least go somewhere else for mastering his
tracks, another nearby room with a wider variety of
monitors, and that studio's engineer's ears, even if he
couldn't afford to go to the mastering specialists.

tHe first couple times he did that for material destined for
radio he noticed that the harder he hit his tracks with
multiband compression during his mastering sessions the less
they stood out from others on the radio.


I look at the process of mastering like your doctor looks at
caring for your health, as in first do no harm. IF I can't
make it better let it go as is, making small changes and
listening carefully before i even print and commit to them.

I'm sure you'll get other replies in this thread as well.
COngratulations.

Have you listened to the work of the mastering engineer
you're sending your tracks to? sOme who are trying to build
a rep will master one song on approval to let you give a
listen.

OH, and if you can, plan to attend the mastering session.
You'll be able to learn from the mastering engineer, and
answer any questions he has about your intentions and how
they relate to his decisions right there.



GOod luck!



Richard webb,

replace anything before at with elspider
ON site audio in the southland: see www.gatasound.com