Oh, Chris, I think you are right again. Yup, I guess I am a bit arrogant? And while I've been doing this all of my life, for a living, I don't think there is anything unprofessional about not being a total and complete professional prostitute. There are certain kinds of musical genres I simply refuse to work with/on. Sure, I've engineered all of that stuff until I decided not to anymore. And to me, while it might be somewhat financially limiting, professionally, it's called integrity. You can't endorse or work on things you don't believe in. It would be hypocritical to do so and there are a lot of hypocrites out there starving anyhow. So they can do it and financially benefit by it but I won't. That simply means you have to do more video instead which I do. I think most of us here can also make that claim? Audio guys may not know when the Blacks of the video look a little crushed. But we sure as heck know when the video guys get their picture right, their audio is frequently crushed, blasé, generally awful. So perhaps people with 100% hearing impairments might know that the blacks are crushed, us and all of our fellow vision impaired family and friends definitely know when we get it right. And that makes us a majority, over the video guys. Just because video killed the Radio Star doesn't mean we should all believe that. So regardless of the musical genre and whether you do it or not, I still appreciate good engineering of sound for musical genres I still refuse to work with. And that's OK and perfectly professional when you have your own standards to follow. So Chris, there's nothing I think is amateurish about your quest for the ultimate decibel. In fact, I find you more of a professional because of that, with great integrity. But then, you're Canadian... and I expect that from you. Americans not so much so.
My mommy didn't sing no rock 'n roll and daddy played his fiddle all night.
Mx. Remy Ann David
Yes...I, too, have to take exception to this thread.
I've been professionally mastering out of my home for 4 years. Prior to that, I spent six years learning as much as I could on the subject.
The bottom line is that my clients are happy, their listeners are happy and I'm happy they're happy.
Well I figure I'll weigh in on this... .
The fact of the matter is there is going to be such a small population (if any) of people listening to music on Hi-Fi systems that there is absolutely no reason for paying big bucks for professional mastering unless ofcourse some corporate entity is backing it with their own bread. And if thats the case then your probably already compromising your artistic freedom.
Lossy formats dominate the industry no matter if its top 40 or a neighborhood mixtape.
Creating a product that sounds great in your poject studio and great in your car is what its about. Does it make any sense to take what already sounds good and pay big bucks to have it "tweaked" only to take it and convert it into a squashed mp3 for the masses? Take all the money your wasting on expensive mastering and save it, instead of needing to recoup that cost. . knock a couple bucks of your cd. Thats what will sell your cd...
I master my own stuff in my humble home studio simply because it's fun. Few bedroom engineers are doing it for any other reason. "Few", not "all". I've also read it's not possible to master records in Alabama anyway because of the humidity, but maybe I read wrong. Just kidding, don't flame me.
For a lot of bedroom engineers, mastering their own stuff is simply part of the process and is another aspect to the art and discipline of making records - for whatever reason. Usually just for friends and fun, right. Of course. Then there are those who discover they really love the mastering part of the whole deal and strike out to further make it a discipline and see where it goes.
Live, Love, and Record.
There you go, and this is exactly where the music industry is headed.Originally Posted by MrMojoRison
Hybrid Mixing and Mastering
Depends on the scope of your project. A project for release on the Sony label for a band with hit records... I'd use a real mastering engineer. A project for local release with limited budget, I'd do it in myself. Then again, I've been doing this quite awhile and have several other engineers here to give opinions.
Thought I would chime in. As a Mastering Engineer for many years now the biggest problems I see is number 1 poorly gained tracks and number 2 poorly EQ'd tracks. Even if your EQ and Compression is spot on (rare in home mastering) if your gain is low, high, or inconsistent then you are going to have a poor product. Mastering isn't about the pride of the Engineer. It is about us in the music industry producing and providing a quality product. If you want to make your CDs more profitable then make them sound better, give your customers (fans) the best product available to you and yes that does mean professional mastering. To my clients I equate it to playing the piano. I'm no Pianist, sure I know all the notes, and can even play them in time and in order but is is my performance going to compare to a professional Pianist ? No because it is the sometime very subtle nuances that the professional Pianist provides that makes his a far superior performance. The same is true with Mastering.
Is it possible to master at home and save money? yes it is. Should you do it for your project ? just like I tell my clients, Look at the total cost of the project. Is it in your budget ? Are you going to sell it enough to pay for it? If the answer is yes then you absolutely should be using professional Mastering. If the answer is no then you have to ask a few additional questions : Is this project of great importance to me ? Is this the sound I want to be represented by ? (i.e. am I sending out a demo for industry consideration ) or is this just something to get me in the door of the bar down the street. You have to look at the big picture when making any decision. Too many people discount the need for mastering and it is much to their loss and the loss of their customers (fans) . There is NO reason that we should not be like any other industry in the world, always striving to provide the best possible product at a price that is both reasonable and profitable.
And just in case anyone is wondering for the "30 ft room" a 36Hz wave takes 30.555 Ft to complete one cycle. 20Hz @ 55 Feet , and 20kHz @17 millimeters.
Your Music Brought To Life www.katalystrecording.com
I think someone just plain missed the fact that he posted in the "Project Studios, Newbies, Home Recording" category, the very point of which is to give people without "real" budgets, "real" studios and "real" expectations of commercial viability a place to discuss how to record and master their stuff. There's nothing wrong with the pros pointing out the pitfalls, but saying people shouldn't DIY because it limits the ability to sell product completely misses the point.
Why can't the DIY person have "real" expectations of commercial viability ? I have heard many many mixes done by the DIY person that were outstanding mixes. but even outstanding mixes still need to be mastered and brought to an industry standard level and quality. This is not possible for most project studios, newbies, or home recorders. Mastering does not have to be an Event that requires a second mortgage on the house. Everyone should have a real budget for every project that they undertake. It doesn't have to be a huge budget but you need to know where your money is going to be spent and that is even more important for the DIY person who may not have a lot to invest in a project. In order to Properly Master your project it takes time, skill, and the proper equipment which is not cheap and is generally out of the range of the DIY'er. I personally don't support the "Mastering Mills" I think Mastering should be done by someone who is willing to put in the time and effort not only on the project itself but with the client to produce a high quality , industry standard work.
DIY is great I do almost of my home repairs are DIY but when it comes to electrical I know my limitations and it is time to call in a professional. Will it cost me more, yes it will but I have the pice of mind knowing my project is is being handled with my best interests in mind and the result will be a high quality job that is beyond my capabilities.
Im not say Don't do DIY Mastering, I am saying know when it is right to do DIY mastering and when its right to have your work professionally mastered.
I'm not saying they can't, I'm saying they generally don't and that should be respected. For them it's not a profession, it's an avocation. Those that rise to professional status will figure out the value of professional mastering without having to be told and the rest won't care.
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