Mastering
Your Music
If you are planning to release your music commercially and be in any real competition
with other commercial recordings coming out into the market, you will definitely need to have your music mastered.
In the mastering procedure, final adjustments to volume level, equalization, compression, spatial enhancements, etc.
can be made to your mix, to give it that “polished” sound you by and large hear on most major label recordings,
and also put the overall tone of your music in good running with the other CDs being released commercially and played on radio.
Mastering your music is very important and should not be in the
slightest way taken for granted. The mastering process is the last stage to “tweak” and technically
improve the sound of the final mix before it is ready for release and CD manufacturing. In my opinion,
I firmly believe that you should always get a professional mastering engineer and studio, or you may be asking for a lot of
unneeded headache and grief. Also, take a look at the credits of virtually any successful CD release, and you will see that
major labels and production companies normally use a very specialized professional for Mastering and not the same people doing
the mix or the same guys who recorded the song. Why? Because pro mastering services make what was recorded
and then finally mixed, sound better. So when you hire
a great mastering engineer and facility to put that final “magic” into your record, it’s normally worth
whatever the cost is. Know this: when you hire a mastering professional, you are paying for not
only a great room and gear, but you are also paying for intangible things like the experience, and the “ears”
of a mastering engineer; a guy that makes a living from “tweaking” records. Mastering is also as much an art as
it is knowledge and technique.
Now because of today’s
world of home recording, desktop studio programs and software plug-ins, many new producers and artists are led to believe
that they can simply take their mixes and run it through a few “pre-set” compressor and EQ plug-in settings in
their computer software and get the results that they hear on their favorite CDs that are mastered out of New York, Los Angeles,
or Atlanta. BUT - the truth is that Mastering begins with an experienced Mastering engineer, and then, the mastering
suite or studio control room and then the equipment in that
control room. In the professional mastering process, the engineer will optimize
the level of your music, take out noise, clicks, etc. and clean up starts and fades of songs, do equalization and compression
and de-ess parts as needed, arrange the order, and insert space between songs. He will also do other things
like inserting PQ codes for CD replication.
When you have
reached that point where you have worked your best to get the song and performance recorded and then mixed well,
then please, don’t skip the Mastering phase of the project. And even more important, don’t leave the
mastering “process” to the hands of someone without the experience, knowledge and gear to really get the job done correctly. Just
because your buddy bought the latest mastering software for your computer, doesn’t mean he can actually do a good mastering
job on your final mixes. Actually, you may end up doing more harm to your tracks than good. And also know this boys
and girls: most real mastering engineers HATE the idea of someone bringing in a “half” mastered mess - to be fixed
up by them, and then (re) “mastered” correctly. Listen up people; Mastering
is a very serious process. If you are going to put a record out for “commercial” release, please seek a
qualified Mastering Engineer & Studio. If you can't afford professional mastering, you probably can't afford
to put yourself into any real serious or competitive arena – think about it. So I highly suggest taking the smartest road to sonic satisfaction; HAVE YOUR MUSIC
MASTERED PROFESSIONALLY!
