The Importance of Mastering!!?

I think everyone can agree with me that mastering or some kind of stereo mix processing is very important in achieving great sound.
Anyways... I've been thinking about how to achieve the best results with mixing and mastering.......


A common opinion (I think) is that you should mix your song with the right levels, eq, compression, etc. from the start and then make minor adjustments (compression, eq) when mastering.

Another method that I've been thinking about recently is to mix your song a little out of proportion (for example louder vocals and low end) and then "pull the mix back together" when mastering (compresion, limiting).

I like a BIG bass/drum sound, and I've been wondering if it's best to add a lot of bass in the mix and then perhaps cut a little when mastering, or if it's better to add a moderate amount of bass in the mix and then boost the low end when mastering.


Any other opinions? How do you think the big cats (Dre, Quik, etc.) do it?

Let the discussion begin!!!

How do you think the big cats (Dre, Quik, etc.) do it?

they send it to a mastering engineer

DFENS wrote:

How do you think the big cats (Dre, Quik, etc.) do it?

they send it to a mastering engineer

I know that!

But do they like I said mix their tracks a little out of proportion or with extra bass or what?


This was meant to be a discussion about how to prepare a stereo mix for mastering...

Now back to the discussion!

I've found that this works well:
"Another method that I've been thinking about recently is to mix your song a little out of proportion (for example louder vocals and low end) and then "pull the mix back together" when mastering (compression, limiting)."

dont get upset

I know that!

then why ask? i cant read your mind, so i dont know how much or little you know.

But do they like I said mix their tracks a little out of proportion or with extra bass or what?

perhaps you should have asked that in the first place.

unless anyone up in here spends time in the studio with dre or quik your unlikely to an answer on that. my guess is no. mix your stuff to sound as best you can, try an get your mix sounding as close as possible as you want your final product to sound. then when you give it to a mastering engineer, go along to the session and sit in with them when its being mastered. that way if you have any special requests or feel you need any major tweaking your can make sure that these things are attended to.

To prepare a disk for mastering...mix it as well as you can...do not overcompress...ie. do not compress the entire mix at all, leave that to the mastering engineer. If you take away all the headroom - what will he work with. Do not apply reverb to the entire mix. Leave that to the mastering engineer as well. Reverb is easier to add than take away. Understand that mastering is the art of maknig a collection of songs sound as if they belong together. It is not something you do to an individual song. A good mastering engineer will also identify pops, clicks, and noise and remove these as well. IF he's good, he'll hear things you probably missed. It is possible that if you recorded everything in the same studio using the same instruments with a well EQ'd mix that you do not need the services of a mastering house. Note: The process you are referring to is actually pre-mastering. Mastering is the process of transferring your pre-mastered CD to a Glass Master for production. Nothing else. Be advised that you can sit in on the "pre-mastering" session and offer opinions and criticisms to help the mastering engineer.

When you go to mastering you should have several mixes of each song.
One with the vocals mixed "normally."
One with vocals up +1 db
One with vocals up +2 db
Maybe one with vocals up +3 db
....then the opposite....
One with vocals down -1 db
etc.
etc.
On certain songs with solos etc. you might wanna do the same thing.

Sometimes once the mastering engineer starts doing his thing, it can affect the vocal levels (and vocals are arguably the most important element) so be prepared with alternate mixes.

this is how i pepare all of my mixes for release to be mastered.
1. mix it as good as i can or have the mixing engineer mix it as good as he can.

2. make sure that the master fader is between -2.9 and -2 db

3. make notes as to where i want to fade out or how i want the intro to come in.

4. make notes as to whether or not i want the songs to crossfade into eachother or how many secs in between tracks.


u shouldn't even consider mastering unless your music is going to be released or be shown to a label. once u watch a real mastering engineer at work then u really understand that it is an art and to just slapping a limiter on the master bus. i have so much respect for them, and people tell me the stuff i master sounds great. i wouldn't dare call anything i master myself mastered in spite of that.

mixing is the most important step, mastering only touches up your mix, but if you mix is crapy, geting it mastered is like puting sugar on a turd and callin it chocolate

You got that right science.....Ya mix better be tight before it goes
out for mastering!........

DFENS wrote:dont get upset

I know that!

then why ask? i cant read your mind, so i dont know how much or little you know.

But do they like I said mix their tracks a little out of proportion or with extra bass or what?

perhaps you should have asked that in the first place.

unless anyone up in here spends time in the studio with dre or quik your unlikely to an answer on that. my guess is no. mix your stuff to sound as best you can, try an get your mix sounding as close as possible as you want your final product to sound. then when you give it to a mastering engineer, go along to the session and sit in with them when its being mastered. that way if you have any special requests or feel you need any major tweaking your can make sure that these things are attended to.

actually the artist will finish their track, then the recording engineer will send it to the mixing engineer who will send it to the mastering engineer.

depends how much $$$ you have though.

itchyvinyl wrote:When you go to mastering you should have several mixes of each song.
One with the vocals mixed "normally."
One with vocals up +1 db
One with vocals up +2 db
Maybe one with vocals up +3 db
....then the opposite....
One with vocals down -1 db
etc.
etc.
On certain songs with solos etc. you might wanna do the same thing.

Sometimes once the mastering engineer starts doing his thing, it can affect the vocal levels (and vocals are arguably the most important element) so be prepared with alternate mixes.

This is what I've been thinking about...

Maybe the mastering engineer can master a track better if it's mixed in a certain way.
If you listen to The Game album for example, the vocals are pretty "loud" and clear. Maybe the tracks were mixed with "too much vocals" before mastering. And that's why the tracks sound like they do!?

as you where saying about the game vocals on his album^^^^^^^^ where the vocals stand out, this is probally becasu when cats send them beats they take the beats right off the cd and or digital medium. there fore they are recording with a already mixed stereo track.( i have done this also for a few songs on my project) so in turn the music is backin the vocals, and not mixed in relation to the to all sounds on a song where all the sounds, including vocals are tracked out. i remember reading somewhere that dre does that.

samuraisam wrote:

DFENS wrote:dont get upset

I know that!

then why ask? i cant read your mind, so i dont know how much or little you know.

But do they like I said mix their tracks a little out of proportion or with extra bass or what?

perhaps you should have asked that in the first place.

unless anyone up in here spends time in the studio with dre or quik your unlikely to an answer on that. my guess is no. mix your stuff to sound as best you can, try an get your mix sounding as close as possible as you want your final product to sound. then when you give it to a mastering engineer, go along to the session and sit in with them when its being mastered. that way if you have any special requests or feel you need any major tweaking your can make sure that these things are attended to.

actually the artist will finish their track, then the recording engineer will send it to the mixing engineer who will send it to the mastering engineer.

depends how much $$$ you have though.

whats your point?

But do they like I said mix their tracks a little out of proportion or with extra bass or what?
>>>>>>>>>>

no thats not mixing- mixing would be getting everything in balance.....they may do a bass up version a vocal up version but were talking 1/2 dbs here...

greg

I'm a recording engineer and I can't stand when people bring in a 2-track on cd and rap over it. They don't understand that the vocals have to be mixed with the entire track. It's like recording karaoke. It doesn't sound natural at all.