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« on: February 10, 2010, 09:53:14 AM » |
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1. What is mastering?
Mastering is the final step in the recording process, where all the songs are checked for errors and the album is prepared for retail sale. This preparation can include a number of things, but usually involves some sort of additional processing (or "sweetening" as many places like to call it) in order to make songs sound clearer and better. There are a great deal of personal tricks used by various mastering engineers which in part contributes to some of the mystique surrounding their practices. Processing is almost always done on the final mixes, not individual tracks. An example of said processing would be running a song through a powerful and transparent equalizer in order to properly balance the track. Oftentimes, additional compression and limiting is applied to the final mixes in order to give them a more "commercial" sound. In addition to this extra last check processing, more mundane tasks such as properly sequencing the song orders, crossfade editing, and PQ coding takes place as here as well.
2. What do I bring to mastering? What should I expect in return?
It depends on the mastering house. Most big facilities should be able to accommodate pretty much anything. But basically, whichever format/sample rate that you have that sounds the best. Once the mastering is done, the ultimate goal is usually the burning of a premaster copy of your CD which can be sent to a CD duplication plant along with your artwork, etc. If you only need mp3s of your songs or some audio restoration you wont necessarily need a premaster CD, ShapeTapes can just provide you with WAV files in 16 bit/44 khz.
3. Why shouldn't I master my own material?
If you're preparing your music for a serious release, it is very important that you let someone else master your work. The standard reasons for this being that you don't have impartial ears, you have poor monitoring conditions, lesser converters and processors, and not as much experience. Mastering and mixing require different types of listening and a fresh set of ears helps a lot.
NOTE: If you choose to have someone else master you project, do NOT:
1) Add extra compression/EQ on the final mix...let the mastering engineer do this...it's what you're paying them for.
2) Try to do any sort of normalizing...once again let the engineer handle this, give them some headroom to work with (average of -6dB on your master level is a good rule of thumb).
If you're just trying to give your engineer an idea of how you want to sound make them a separate set of your mixes and send them along with your untouched mixes.
4. What kind of gear is used in mastering?
The most important piece of gear used in mastering is the Engineer's ears. However, some commonly used processors in the mastering studio would be from such companies as Manley, Sontec, and Crane Song for analog and Weiss, Z-systems, and Waves (L2) or T-Racks for software mastering. Monitoring is usually done on accurate full range monitoring systems in acoustically treated rooms. Room acoustics are especially important in mastering studios as mixing rooms are frequently flawed.
5. How much does mastering cost?
Mastering costs can vary greatly depending on where you go. How much they charge generally reflects their previous clientele, quality of gear, and experience. Most high end facilities will end up charging between $400-600 dollars for a mastering job taking around 4-8 hours. Most places charge by the hour, so adjust accordingly if you have a lot of material or it needs a lot of work. ShapeTapes Prod. doesn't charge by the hour, in fact we offer a flat fee per song.
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