dvyce said:
I do not know offhand where I said that or what context it was said in (not that it matters) but...
...To say "mastering is what happens after you think the track is done" explaining absolutely nothing about what "mastering" is. In fact, your quote pretty much describes what the general population here knows about mastering...
...and it does not say anything about mastering... it says as much about mastering as if you described "mixing" as "it is what you do to the track."
I had assumed that mastering was adequately explained already in this thread and was only posting a humorous comment by the man behind some of Nirvana's music. If you're looking for my point of view or an explanation of mastering/mixing, here goes.
Creating a Hip Hop CD for mainstream distribution. The very, very, very, very abbreviated version.
(many tracks will evolve in different ways, this is just a quick look at a somewhat typical process)
You (producer) or your artist (rapper/lyricist/etc) get an amazing idea for a song. Enter step 1.
WRITING
The basic structure of the beat is written and a scratch loop or a scratch track is recorded. When you hear producers talking about writing beats in 10 minutes, this is the stage they're at. Step 1. Not so impressive. The artist writes rhymes and all is good.
RECORDING
Let the magic begin! Lyrics, meet beats. Scratch vocals or finals are laid over the beats and it becomes apparent weather this track is meant for top spots on Billboard or the ****can. Provided the former is true...
ARRANGEMENT
Cuts, effects, break downs, builds, and all sorts of other fun stuff goes on. This is where the beat starts to sound like a song. If you're doing this step in 10 minutes, you're likely rushing. Unless it's a 15 second song. Choruses are blocked out and any extra melodies/bass riffs are added at this stage.
COMPS/RETAKES
Ahh finally, we go from something that sounds like it was done on a laptop to a real deal song. Likely the artist will come back in and fix a few things, perhaps retake a verse or two, maybe decide to double up a chorus, etc. This is just about the last chance to fix anything wrong with the artist's material. Get a lot of takes. You should be telling the artist at this point, "Awesome! Sounds perfect! Let's do another..." Remember, you can always delete extra takes. It's a real pain to fly/bus/hitchhike someone back in to town to get that word in the third verse replaced that you should have recorded four times already.
MIXING
Finally! We're mixing something! I'm excited. This is where a giant ****ing mess of audio becomes pure mother****ing fire. There is no 'right' way to do this, however, for the sake of this thread, I'll go with the way I work. First and foremost, the drums. Is that kick badass enough? Does the HH make my ears want to bleed? Little things to worry about, for instance, with the kick drum, is there enough high end in it so that when Joe Blow Average Listener Extraordinaire plays it through his mom's $2 clock radio he'll still be able to hear it? Is the compression used enough to keep the drums together without terrible artifacts like pumping, etc? Once the drums are solid, I like to work on the bass. It becomes easy to get bass levels once you've got the drums running. (remember to be leaving a little bit of headroom here for vocals. If your master bus is firmly pegged out at -0.1 without the slightest hint of movement, it's a good time to start tuning crap down.) Vocals. This could, and should be a whole thread of it's own. Suffice to say, this is where they get in the mix and you make them sound like they should. After all is said and done, your levels are on point, everything sounds brilliant, the song is perfect... It's done, right? No. Not yet.
MASTERING
The black arts! Like some crazy occult type ****. First of all, where the hell is this song going to be played? Are we pressing vinyl for clubs or is it going to ClearChannel Corp. headquarters for some world wide domination sorta deal? Are we aiming at kids with so many speakers packed in to their trunks they could likely run PA for 50 or is this going to be 'on hold' telephone system music for the IRS? This is partly what mastering is about. Has a friend ever given you a mix CD where some songs are noticeably louder than others? That CD wasn't mastered. Obviously. Also, that goes to show you that perhaps the artists on that disc may have had different applications in mind when their songs were mastered. In most cases (hip hop meant for radio/mtv play), the goal is to get the sound as loud as ****ing possible without it sounding like you took a playskool compressor and turned all the knobs up to 11. Also, songs on an album are normally not mixed on the same day, or in the same session even. That song you did three weeks ago may have a little more bass than the one you will write tomorrow. (a little). This is the Mastering Engineer's job to sort out. Every song on the album needs to, at least in some ways, 'sound the same'. Imagine putting a new CD in that you just got from Best Buy and having to readjust your 'sub out' in your car for every song. You'd be pissed. If you can put the CD in, adjust your EQ settings, and leave it alone, thank the ME.
Like I said, mastering is what happens when you /think/ the track is done.
