Unfortunately many people have lost the ability to self critique themselves. They think anything they do is FANTASTIC because all the time they were growing up they never had anyone tell them that their music and production values were not good.

I have some friends that run a trophy and engraving shop. They are now making trophies that say PARTICIPATION TROPHY on them. Everyone on the team gets one. I mean what is the purpose in having people be the best and get recognized for their achievements if everyone is a "WINNER" and gets a trophy. IMHO this has gone too far. The next thing will be trophies for the "Best Bench Warmer" or for "Perfect Attendance at all Home Games"

If someone wants to get their stuff professionally mastered they should go to a pro. If they want to do it themselves they should but then not be surprised when others don't share their enthusiasm for what they have done. I can hang a picture, I can put up trim, I can stop a door from squeaking but if I want an addition on my house or a room/framing changed around I will call in a professional carpenter. I can change the washers on my faucets or unplug a blocked toilet but if I need some new pipes put in or my sewer line cleaned I call a professional plumber. Why is it so hard for musicians to understand that there are people who are pros and can do mastering better than they can but it COSTS MONEY!!!

Serpentarius you make some very good points but I think you are forgetting that a pro is a pro because he or she knows what they are doing and can do better job. If you or others on this board want to do the mastering yourself - do it but don't post here asking for the pros to give you all the plugin values they use or how they would "master" your material. If you want to do it yourself then do it yourself...

FWIW and MTCW

I agree with you, Thomas. My problem is that in my profession "professional" has been reduced to "getting paid". It doesn't mean you have the adequate education, it doesn't mean you do a better job, it doesn't mean you know better. I just means incompetent bosses have chosen to give you money instead of an educated, knowledgeable and experienced person—because it's cheaper.

So you can say I'm disillusioned with my own profession. If the same degeneration hasn't set in in yours, then great! But I see the same tendencies unfortunately, no matter which way I turn. I hope for your sake it hasn't gone as far as in my profession.

I have no illusions regarding my mastering skills but I'm confident I have a good ear and musical taste and I'm a good student and have patience. That's all. I don't want no favours, in fact, I'd feel embarrassed to ask, so that won't happen. Anything I glean from you professionals I humbly accept. But don't tell me it's impossible to learn the craft of mastering—something all the legendary mastering engineers learned from experience. Sure, now you have professional college courses. I remember Miles Davis writing in his autobiography that he actually attended Juillard—for about two weeks. He thought it ridiculous to learn music there, when he could go out and play with the most brilliant musicians at the time every night. I'm not comparing myself to Miles Davis, I'm just saying such educational programs as Juillard's suits some, while others learn better by experience. And surely one can learn the mastering profession by experience even today? Or do I have to attend a 7 year uni course?! If there are knowledgeable mastering engineers out there today they can sure pass on their expertise, if they want. If they think their student is worthy... If the student respects his teacher and trust his judgement... There are loads of bad teachers out there. In my professional life I've met many bad teachers. That sounds like a paradox but you know it happens all the time.

Your analogy of the professional carpenter is perfect so let me use it:

Have you ever employed a carpenter who turned out to be worse than you? Have you ever thought to yourself: "Is that supposed to be professional? I can do a better job than that! And I'm paying him?" And how do you know if the guy you hired is actually a good carpenter, and not just someone who charges money for doing their job? You'd have to wait for him to finish before you'd know, right? How can you know in advance? You would have to trust either your or someone else's experience with that particular carpenter.

There are two meanings of the word "professional":

1. Someone who does something for a living, who does a skill or provides a service as a profession
2. Someone who acts professionally, i.e. someone who behaves like a pro.

For example, an amateur dancer can be professional in her attitude at an audition, and that would be a good quality, while a professional dancer could act arrogant and imagine themselves to be better than everyone.

Different professions deal with beginners very differently: some help their beginners a lot, encouraging them, giving hints, etc., while others are very stingy with knowledge, look down upon beginners, are suspicious of them, etc.

Do you want to be counted among the stingy, arrogant ones or the generous, encouraging ones? Maybe you won't be generous and encouraging to me, but someone else on this forum will, hopefully. I'm not asking for settings on a plugin. In fact, if that's what you consider "inside knowledge" in mastering, then—wow...:biggrin:

I only hire carpenters I know personally and trust to do the job correctly the first time. I understand what you are saying.

The problem today is that many people think they are better than a pro just because it is their music and they are the only ones who "really" know how to mix and master it. Some musicians think that because they read a lot of Mix Magazines and have some rudimentary equipment, cracked software and pirated plug-ins that somehow makes them a professional mixing and mastering engineer. Again a lot of people have lost the ability to self critique and think that just because "they" did the mixing a mastering of THEIR MUSIC it is GREAT.

I worked in a Conservatory of Music for many years. I saw students who were GREAT young singers get relegated to the chorus because of singer politics which means that because a certain student was the student of a certain faculty member they automatically got all the staring roles. They may not have been the best of the best but they got where they were because their teacher was higher in the pecking order and could demand they get the the best roles.

Hopefully that is not something that happens in the mastering world. Some people go to the BIG NAME mastering engineers because they have a long list of Grammy winners and the person going to them thinks that just because they have a lot of Grammys on the wall they will do a GREAT job mastering their material. The secret is that the top mastering engineers usually only work on the best of the best material that is well written, well recorded and well mixed and they can add their special skills and make it all sound GREAT. Just like in computers GARBAGE IN - GARBAGE OUT and if the stuff coming in is not of primo quality it may not sound as good as the person had hoped it would. Also sending away materials to someone to master is chancy at best. To use your carpentry metaphor it would be like getting doors made for a cabinet without the carpenter ever seeing the cabinets and then wondering why they don't look good even though all the measurements were done correctly and you gave the carpenter an idea of what you wanted them to look like but forgot to tell him the wood to use and the color of the stain.

C'est la vie

Excellent, Thomas. I think we understand eachother. The conservatory experience you had is exactly the one I had. Many singing teachers at my college that were famous, were actually mediocre teachers, and some were downright harmful for their students' voices. I had a "non-famous" singing teacher but he actually taught me a solid technique. He had the know-how and the experience needed because he actually ruined his own voice when he was 19 and had to start all over. Consequently he knew all the pitfalls from personal experience, and hence could teach what works and what doesn't.

Not to get too longwinded about this issue, but again, the carpentry metaphor is great and reminded me of when I ordered a very unique traditional uniform to be tailor-made by a master tailor in Hungary. I never met him but he received my measurements and a few months later the suit arrived: it was perfect. I knew he was good, but I didn't expect it to be that good! Enough said.

I know that you know what you're talking about—I checked your profile and website!smoke

MadMax, post: 390685 wrote: ....

So, you pull the summation sentence of my post, which states that while you can do every single step (of recording, mixing and mastering) yourself, but that it's usually a wise OPTION not to - to draw an entirely opposite meaning of my statement.

Sigh, I just know this is all going to end in tears, but - I've started so I'll finish:

If you check my own post, I did concede that it's USUALLY a wise option. Your own preceding post gave a real life example of a situation that you had been through yourself, concluding that it is not wise to be involved in all aspects of the process. The conclusion should have been that it's perhaps not wise for YOU to be involved in all aspects of the process. It would be a non-sequitur to conclude by extrapolation that the same advice applies to everybody on the planet. There must be SOME people who can pull this feat off.

MadMax, post: 390685 wrote: ....Now, it's MY turn to play... so... in your opinion, mastering is a needless step, and isn't anything to be concerned with...

Apologies, I didn't explain myself very well. I'm saying that technically, and in an ideal scenario, if EVERYTHING is spot on in the mix, it shouldn't need mastering - but I do accept that the perfect master rarely - if ever - appears, hence the existence of mastering equipment and mastering engineers. However, the real point I'm making is that if the producer/engineers did the job that they were supposed to do, mastering would much more of a facile procedure than it is today. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be the case , whereby the mastering engineer is required to perform any number of miracles to get a flaky mix sounding good. In other words, my comment was more about poor mixing standards than anything else.

MadMax, post: 390685 wrote: ....If that's the case, then why do software plug ins, and external hardware units even exist to perform this one task... and additionally, why are there mastering engineers and mastering shops... and why have they existed in the production chain since the virtual beginning of the recording industry, if it's some useless step?

It's not useless, it's necessary, but as explained above, it wouldn't be nearly so necessary if mixing engineeers and producers got their shit together.

Just to get back to the actual topic...

Mistake 1: You never try to "master" your songs yourself because everybody says you can't!
Mistake 2: You restrain yourself from learning a lot of things about mastering and mixing because you don't even try.
Mistake 3-7: You restrain yourself from learning even more things because you don't even try!
Mistake 8: You think that nobody will listen to your music because you mastered it yourself.
Mistake 9: You don't realize that your mastering abilities suck and thus don't have it mastered properly.
Mistake 10: You DO realize that your mastering abilities aren't that bad. Nevertheless you spend a lot of money to have your hobby project professionally mastered because everybody says you can't do it yourself!

I've found that in forums like recording.org you can learn a lot about recording, mixing, how to build your own "studio"... But when it comes to mastering it's always "DON'T DO IT! YOU WILL FAIL!!!"
It seems like it's totally okay when you record and mix your songs by yourself. But don't even think about trying to master your songs. It is impossible!

I think it always depends on what you want to do, where you want to go and how much money you have.
If you have a record label and your music will be played in the radio and on television it would be wise to have it mastered properly. If you will make money with your music then you really should consider spending some of it for mastering.
Otherwise give it a try. You will learn so much AND save money, because for a basic "mastering" you have all the tools in you DAW.

I do understand all the concerns you guys (I mean the professional MEs) have. And I agree with many of them. But with threads like these

Top 10 DIY Mastering Mistakes

or

Ho[[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]me Studio Mastering is a Terrible Idea.[/]="http://recording.or…"]me Studio Mastering is a Terrible Idea.[/]

as first entries on the mastering forum you keep people from trying and learning...

So please don't scare the beginners with topics like these. You all started someday.

Just some thoughts...

ouzo77, post: 390868 wrote: Just to get back to the actual topic...

Mistake 1: You never try to "master" your songs yourself because everybody says you can't!
Mistake 2: You restrain yourself from learning a lot of things about mastering and mixing because you don't even try.
Mistake 3-7: You restrain yourself from learning even more things because you don't even try!
Mistake 8: You think that nobody will listen to your music because you mastered it yourself.
Mistake 9: You don't realize that your mastering abilities suck and thus don't have it mastered properly.
Mistake 10: You DO realize that your mastering abilities aren't that bad. Nevertheless you spend a lot of money to have your hobby project professionally mastered because everybody says you can't do it yourself!

I've found that in forums like recording.org you can learn a lot about recording, mixing, how to build your own "studio"... But when it comes to mastering it's always "DON'T DO IT! YOU WILL FAIL!!!"
It seems like it's totally okay when you record and mix your songs by yourself. But don't even think about trying to master your songs. It is impossible!

I think it always depends on what you want to do, where you want to go and how much money you have.
If you have a record label and your music will be played in the radio and on television it would be wise to have it mastered properly. If you will make money with your music then you really should consider spending some of it for mastering.
Otherwise give it a try. You will learn so much AND save money, because for a basic "mastering" you have all the tools in you DAW.

I do understand all the concerns you guys (I mean the professional MEs) have. And I agree with many of them. But with threads like these

Top 10 DIY Mastering Mistakes

or

Ho[[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]me Studio Mastering is a Terrible Idea.[/]="http://recording.or…"]me Studio Mastering is a Terrible Idea.[/]

as first entries on the mastering forum you keep people from trying and learning...

So please don't scare the beginners with topics like these. You all started someday.

Just some thoughts...

Not sure what mastering forum you are referring too but their are lots of Professional Mastering engineers here giving GREAT advice EVERY DAY. Some topics have been asked over and over and if people would use the search function instead of just asking the same questions over and over again maybe they would learn something (including how to search). I think "how do I make my stuff sound f#$%ing loud" has been asked at least 100 times. Also "could someone tell me what mastering settings you use to master your music so I don't have to pay someone to do the mastering for me?" has also been asked over 100 times. Try asking a surgeon or a famous painter or a business man to "give me all your secrets" and see how far you get. Yet people here on this forum want the pros to tell them everything so they don't have to pay anyone to do their mastering. I believe in giving advice but not giving everything away so someone can do what I do without paying for it.

I hope this answers your question.

I don't say that the mastering guys in this or other forums aren't helpful and there is a lot of good advice to be found. But in comparison to recording or mixing guys MEs tend to be quite reluctant giving away knowledge.
I know of many recording and mixing engineers who happily share their way of doing things. Why do you think your "secrets", as you call them, are different from the secrets of recording engineers?
I'm sure if you ask a surgeon about his techniques he would tell you (which they often do in their publications). Just because you know what he does doesn't mean you could do it.
I am a designer. If somebody asks me how to do this or that in Photoshop I will tell him. But knowing which buttons I push and which filters I use will not make him a good graphic designer and his picture will not be the same as mine. And depending on his talent it will not be as good as mine - or maybe it will be better. But then that's okay with me. I will not lose my job or my clients just because somebody else is better at photoshop.
To quote an often used phrase: "It's not the gear, it's the ears!"

Somebody who is new to this whole topic and to this forum doesn't know that this question has been asked a thousand times. And the search function doesn't always get you the results you're looking for. (Although it probably will on this topic...)

Anyway, you could make a sticky on top of this forum like "Don't ask how to make your mix loud. If you want to know how to do it use the search!"
This way new people may not ask this question and use the search function instead.
But in the moment the first thing they find on the DIY Mastering forum is "Don't do it!". I don't think that is the advice most people are seeking when browsing a forum...

Which brings me back to what I meant with my first post.
It seems (and that is just an impression someone who's new to this forum might have) that there are more threads on why you shouldn't master your stuff yourself than advice on how you can do it yourself.
I mean we are all in this forum to learn something and/or to share our knowledge with others. If I'm not willing to answer questions and to share what I know then why even bother?

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 390872 wrote: ... Yet people here on this forum want the pros to tell them everything so they don't have to pay anyone to do their mastering. I believe in giving advice but not giving everything away so someone can do what I do without paying for it.

I think this is a quite paranoid view... I mean what kind of voodoo do you do that one can't find out somewhere else? And again, just because you push this button and flip that switch to make that particular song sound good will not help someone else with different gear on a different song. And not telling someone how to do it will not make him pay you to master his songs. At least I wouldn't.
I believe that somebody with all the knowledge and no talent is no competition for a good ME. And somebody with talent will find out how to do it anyway.

No offense meant...

If a client is paying me for my time I will show them everything I am doing. If someone on this web board or other places wants me to "tell me all you know" Then I guess I have a problem with that. What exactly am I getting in return for divulging my techniques except someone else hustling in the marketplace for clients. People say they want to just do their own mastering but as soon as they think they "know it all" they hang out a shingle saying "Mastering Done Here" and start competing.

Newbies should first do a couple of things if they want to learn how to master.

1. They should read all they can on the WWW about mastering and there is a ton of information out there. Some is good, some is so so and some is just plain garbage but it is all worth reading. The trick is knowing what is good and what is trash and you won't know that until you read a lot and can see for yourself who really knows what they are talking about. There is a ton of stuff to read here and on GS. There have been people here who are the best of the best when it comes to mastering but just like Bob Katz they soon grow tired of the same questions asked over and over and over again on "how to make my stuff EXTRA loud" or "give me all the settings you use so I can do my own mastering" or in some cases having a pissing contest with someone who literally wrote the book on mastering. After a while the pros get tired and leave and the person who got into a pissing contest is found to be troll and we all lose.

2. They should purchase Bob Katz's book [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.amazon.c…"]Amazon.com: Mastering Audio, Second Edition: The Art and the Science (9780240808376): Bob Katz: Books[/]="http://www.amazon.c…"]Amazon.com: Mastering Audio, Second Edition: The Art and the Science (9780240808376): Bob Katz: Books[/] and read it cover to cover at least twice. Then put it on their book shelf in their studio so they can refer to it often.

3. They should have a good set of speakers in a well designed acoustic space so they can make informed decisions on what they are doing.

4. They should practice, practice, practice on their own material and material from others they know. They should listen to what other people are telling them. At the same time they should be listening to professionally mastered material that is in the same genre as theirs. You have to refine your ears to the point that you can really hear what how things sound and get enough experience under your belt to be able to know how to achieve those results.

5. To become a good mastering engineer takes about 5 years and 100 projects. To become a GREAT mastering engineer takes longer and the more experience you get the better you get in doing mastering. Scheduling a one or two hour session with a professional mastering engineer is worth the price of admission to see how a real mastering engineer handles the session and your music.

6. Learn to listen to what the client wants and try to provide it for them. If the client is also the mastering engineer/artist then he or she should get someone else to listen to what they are doing so there is another pair of ears critiquing the mastering. It is almost impossible for most people to self critique their own material (which is one reason most mastering engineers tell musicians NOT to master their own materials)

7. Have good plugins and/or outboard equipment that you are familiar with and can be comfortable using and know what it will or won't do.

8. Be willing to really listen to what you are doing and have a thick enough skin that when someone you are working with tells you the mastering sounds bad you don't go off on them or refuse to listen to their concerns.

9. Learn all you can about mastering, the science of acoustics, the science of hearing and know how to recognize when something is distorted or out of frequency balance or simply "sounds strange".

10. Continue to make improvements in your listening skills, in how your room sounds, in your equipment and in your interpersonal skills and after a time you will be able to call yourself a "mastering engineer".

FWIW and YMMV

Please remember that anyone can master their own material but it takes someone with extraordinary skills to make it sound FANTASTIC and ready for airplay and duplication.

Agree with everything you said.

But I didn't argue that. I just wanted to say that threads like this with posts like "Mistake 1-10: It's a bad idea" are counterproductive.

Nobody is expecting the pros in a forum to give free lessons. But sharing knowledge and giving lessons are not necessarily the same...

I too have a problem with people reading some tips in a forum and charging money for bad or non-existent skills. At least I'm sure that even if someone is paying them for their "services" they won't do it a second time.

So just to sum it up:
- Don't think you can charge people money if you don't know what you're doing.
- Don't think that when you master your own stuff it will sound as good as a mastering done by a professional ME
- Don't think that when you master your own stuff it can't sound nearly as good or even as good as a mastering done by a professional ME
- Go ahead and try to get the best sound possible out of your mixes with the tools you have and learn by doing it

I hope we all agree with that!

ouzo77, post: 390880 wrote: Agree with everything you said.

But I didn't argue that. I just wanted to say that threads like this with posts like "Mistake 1-10: It's a bad idea" are counterproductive.

Nobody is expecting the pros in a forum to give free lessons. But sharing knowledge and giving lessons are not necessarily the same...

I too have a problem with people reading some tips in a forum and charging money for bad or non-existent skills. At least I'm sure that even if someone is paying them for their "services" they won't do it a second time.

So just to sum it up:
- Don't think you can charge people money if you don't know what you're doing.
- Don't think that when you master your own stuff it will sound as good as a mastering done by a professional ME
- Don't think that when you master your own stuff it can't sound nearly as good or even as good as a mastering done by a professional ME
- Go ahead and try to get the best sound possible out of your mixes with the tools you have and learn by doing it

I hope we all agree with that!

Well said.

Most really good mastering engineers have years of experience working with all types of clients and mastering many different genres. They may come from a career as a mixing engineer or they may have gotten their start as an apprentice to a famous mastering engineer. They paid their dues along the way and they really do know more than someone sitting at home thinking they can master their stuff because they just read the latest Mix magazine article on DIY mastering.

Lately there seem to be plethora of newbies who have just enough knowledge to be dangerous trying to get into mastering for pay and are trying to convince potential clients that they are the next Glenn Meadows or Bob Ludwig but without the skills, equipment or rooms to do a proper job.

If someone wants to master their own material and they have convinced themselves that they have the necessary skills to do so I say go for it. If they want to compete in the pro mastering marketplace then they have to bring to the table something other than a pair of computer speakers, a cracked DAW and a bunch of pirated software plug-ins. A splashy website and a lot of stolen pictures and equipment list with a fictionalized listing of their "clients" does not make them a professional in any sense of the word.

Bob Katz said it best, "Mastering is both an art and a science" and if you don't have the chops, the proper equipment and the room you should stick with mastering your own songs and leave the rest of the mastering to the pros that do it everyday.

I think wanting to help clients realize their dreams is what makes mastering such a special profession.

Good topic...

well said Thomas!
amount of 'wannabe engineer' lads growing like mushrooms after the rain...
it's not only 'mastering', but they call themselves mixing engineers, recording engineers, etc..
plus INTERNET, well this is a pandora box of all troubles,
anyone with some basic web-creating/html skills and a pair of m-audio monitors is a 'studio owner' and 'sound engineer':)
and there's also another flip of coin,
today we have trillions of wannabe DJs, producer, hell, every kid in Brixton/London with m-audio monitors and laptop is a producer now!
so the music is cRap from technical point of view,
it's just interesting times we are living on - 'thanks' to internet anyone could be anybody
and it mislead genuine people in music business.
I can't complain though, those wannabe 'engineers' can't do job, so it's just a matter of time when it collapses and
I got many clients who wanted go 'cheap' and burned their fingers with wannabe engineers:)

I don't have 10 to list i only have one.

1. Not Reading Bob Katz' book on Mastering Audio. I wouldn't start reading it unless you know what you're doing when it comes to the mix, because mastering a bad mix makes it, you guessed it, a bad finished product

I think that anyone interested in audio engineering,
be it recording, mixing or/and mastering, should read Bob Katz's book
it's a great encyclopedia for audio pro and enthusiast
a must read for sure!

1.You should leave mastering to the pros.

I'm almost 50 (just a few months short) and my hearing over 10K Hz is diminished. (The audiologist says it's within the range of normal for my age.) I don't know if 40 years of spending several hours/day in front of a piano has hurt it.

The biggest mistake I can make is trusting my ears. I just have to get a younger person I can trust to do the mix and any equalization.

We've all seen the charts that look like this:

 
I like to record myself at the piano, and I just leave the mics flat with no EQ. Otherwise, I'll bring up the highs way too much!

Attached files

thrillscience, post: 392947 wrote: I'm almost 50 (just a few months short) and my hearing over 10K Hz is diminished. (The audiologist says it's within the range of normal for my age.) I don't know if 40 years of spending several hours/day in front of a piano has hurt it.

The biggest mistake I can make is trusting my ears. I just have to get a younger person I can trust to do the mix and any equalization.

We've all seen the charts that look like this:

 
I like to record myself at the piano, and I just leave the mics flat with no EQ. Otherwise, I'll bring up the highs way too much!

hey, it's interesting topic,
I remember discussion about losing hearing with age on GS forum,
can't find the link there was a rally good online application to check your hearing
apparently loosing top end is not rally related with age according to some scientist,
and main problem is simply our ears getting too much loud noise whole life and in consequences ppl tend to loose top end
because of not really carrying about their ears, more then age
another thing changing your ears perception is food you eat (but this wasn't proven, it was rather a speculation)

I did tests and I have a 1dB lost in left ear around 23kHz, and I can't hear 25kHz :)
test was only to 25kHz,
I am 41, and I always took care of my ears, but probably genetics and food also add to it
anyway test proved my ears translate as good as 16 years old:)

I'll try to find link to this test, it was really good

Bob Ludwig is 67 years old and still turning out GREAT mastering.

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 392978 wrote: Bob Ludwig is 67 years old and still turning out GREAT mastering.

absolutely!!
and this is a proof, that in mastering it's rather a matter of skills&experience,
then high freq hearing

MadMax, post: 390594 wrote: Oh jeeze... you had to go there, huh?

I agree that the loudness wars are, in large part, to compensate for poor amplification... but not just on empty3 players w/earbuds... but crappy computer speakers delivering poorly encoded audio and video...

This isn't a new problem. "Back in my day" (yes, I'm a geezer), songs were mixed to sound good on little 3 transistor AM radios! There's a guy on YouTube ( [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.youtube…"]Great Music on Vinyl! - YouTube[/]="http://www.youtube…"]Great Music on Vinyl! - YouTube[/] ) who has been uploading the "mono radio mix" of various songs because these are the versions that we remember best, and not the stereo version you can get on remastered CDs.

So even if these folks ever listen to music on something better than an iPod or computer speakers, they'll long for the sound they grew up with.

(I think another problem today is that "kids today" don't just listen to music. It's when they're chatting on the Internet, doing homework, reading, etc. Again, back in my day we used to go over to each others houses, put on a new album, sit in the sweet spot, and listen, quietly.)

so true. hmmm

I'm remembering a most memorable moment cuddling a small transistor radio in bed while quietly listening to songs and thinking, wow... I was in grade 2.
I know my hearing is excellent. I sleep with earplugs and eat very well. I drink a lot of water and try a get rest and keep stress down which isn't easy. I don't listen to music too loud either. 55 this year and I hope it stays this way a long time. I also ask my kids to check my mix for my needs and to teach them to listen to music. I quiz them and this helps engage them. I hope one of them will take over something I'm doing.