We're finalizing a project for a fairly well-known singer/songwriter and, for logistic reasons, are looking to master in the LA area. We've got a few initial appointments set-up at a few of the larger mastering facilities (The Mastering Lab - Doug Sax, Bernie Grundman, Precision Mastering).

I wanted to know what the whole idea/concept for mastering is. Yeah its to sound better, but is it done to put the song onto CD louder? What is done when mastering to make the song so sonically clear and tight? I'm really just curious of how masters get mixes to sound so good, or is the mix already that good and the mastering just cleans it up a little?

how can u tell when your mix is good enough and ready to send out to be mastered when each system you play your recording on it sounds different not enough high, too much highs etc. etc

I'm planning to order all those who stand above to compare and find out what fits best for me.
But I'm curius to find you what you like best?
I know that Joe Lambert uses the Maselec, has he tried the others? what was it that made him choose the Maselec over the others?

What do you like... and what do you not like :)

What's the most used media you receieve from customers that want you to do their master?

CD,DAT,1/4,1/2 have anybody here ever received a 1" to master from? :)

is this mastering software any good? if not can someone refer a good mastering software around the same price as the CDe architect

when running a song thru mastering software should an analizer be used? if so what should i be looking for? I'm having trouble judgeing the low end.thanks for any help. Jim

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. When I sit down to a project, after listening to it a few times to get a feel for where it wants to go, typically I work in a rather backwards fashion - I'll strap my final limiter down before I start doing anything else, simply because I know that limiter will completely change the entire sound of anything else I do.

Could someone give me an idea of what chain you would use to obtain commercial volume levels specifically rap & r&b.(It a db war). The technique i use now is to lower the bottom end with multiband compression(c4)to reduce overload, compress everthing else about 6-9 db then eq the bottom in back in. I know there is no fix all method but there has to be a something thats commonly done.

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, and now I have a question. When I submit audio to an ME, are stems the way to go? How are they setup? Is it vox, rhythm section, guitars/keys? Is there a standard? Is there no end to my questions?
Thanks to all for such a great resource.