Is mastering needed so much?

G

Guest

Guest
I'm not against it. I just want peoples opinions. I've heard great projects that weren't mastered and I've heard terrbile projects that were. At the end of the day the consumer controls how much gain they want. Of course this is all contengent upon a great mix where it is somewhat decent level wise and not quiet as a mouse.

A lot of folks are always like "I NEED MASTERING NOW," and yet the mixing is okay. I'm speaking mostly in terms of indie acts that may not get radio play exposure.
 
A lot if times the ME doesn't have enough "headroom" to even do a proper master. If the ME is running it through pultecs and an atr 1/2" it's probably worth it. I know top studio that will master a single for 125. Def worth it and everyone could use a second pair of eyes. If they serious mastering is a must. But you gotta give them something to work with too.
 
This is a question I wonder about in terms of the indie/upcoming artist. I know an aspiring young singer who told me she spent $400 on getting her single mastered. Now I know from the guys around here that is a standard type of rate, but considering she's basically broke and the single barely got a few hundred u tube views it seemed like a waste. My suggestion, was that in future she focus on getting a clean mix with the best track that could be found and go from there. My point is that if you're trying to break through is the diff b/w getting on or not is it the track/artist talent or a commercial level mix?
 
at the end of the day, it depends if you can afford it.. as a beatmaker, if you can lay down a nice mix your good to go
 
It depends - on a purely theoretical level, if the mix is perfect, the mastering engineer doesn't need to touch it at all. In the real world, this is basically never the case, of course. I guess this is more about people's expectations and understanding of what mastering can and will do rather than if it's "needed".
 
Agree w/ all above.

I personally place emphasis on how much income this said single will potential earn. I don't think hardcore mastering is necessary for 80% of the people making music, especially not for beatmakers. A good mix and some rough mastering just to competitive volume purposes should be more than enough.

But if the single is definitely being commercially released... yes, pay top dollar for the best ME you can afford.

Also... if you just happen to have seriously high standards and have the money for it... yes.

But you shouldn't be going into debt trying to get your music mastered. Find someone who can mix good enough and get the volume competitive, and re-master the song if it gains commercial success.
 
Okay I agree with all that was said above. Especially the one where the singer got little to no views but spent a large sum of cash for the service. If the mix is great then an indie should be able to get away without a proper mastering. Why pay all this money for a master and then it goes nowhere and you rush to record something else because the last take didn't do well.


I wonder if its lack of general knowledge about what mastering is and what ME do. If your tracks aren't competing against commercial records, why waste money on the service when it isn't even right? What I mean by that is artists flocking to those that offer mastering and do nothing more than slap an L2 on the Master.
 
yes it is.

at its most basic it will make it so if you go from one song to another you will not have to adjust the volume knob while listening to it. and it makes it "Loud" but thats a whole different argument hahahah
 
usually people use mastering to make every songs on a [project] have the same levels. Now you could ask to master a single, but like you said, it's really if you know you're are gonna make profit from making it "mastered". Or else, learn what you can on mastering and you can release some pretty good and loud music on your own.
 
mastering is never about fixing problems :)

at least it should never be about fixing problems - send it back for another mix should be your quality control process if you are a mastering engineer and you can hear problems that "need" fixing
 
no, because most people out there dont know what mastering is, they just make things louder, and if you have no luck, someone like this will "master" your stuff.

if you want to sell cds you should look for professional masterings ervices
 
Mastering is such an important part of the process and should not be overlooked. It's an art in itself!
 
Niv Unity Levi said:
without mastering your track will sound like crap..
Click to expand...

Also no. That's two threads where you have made a wild claim that has no merit (https://www.futureproducers.com/for...-eq-tamborines-shakers-485904/2/#post49837259)

Your track will absolutely not sound like crap without mastering

Your track will sound like crap if you have bad gain staging, terrible sound selection, awful composition in general, or eqed and compressed it to death in a mix.

Priority

Arrangement/Composition/Gain Staging > Mixing > Mastering
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top