What is Mastering?
The primary goal of mastering is to prepare audio for distribution, and ultimately, consumers. It's a process that exists at the crossroads of art and science, talent and skill, instinct and experience. It's about having options and making choices; some choices driven by technical expertise, others driven by the vibe, most are a bit of both. As such, I believe that having both analog and digital tools available opens the widest landscape of potential. Digital processing shines when it comes to precision, transparency, and complex, targeted correction. Analog processing offers colors, textures, 3-dimensionality, and the technically indescribable mojo that underlies a physical, electronic audio circuit. Every project, and each song, is different; and the choices made reflect that reality. Adept mastering considers balancing the complexities of the contemporary distribution landscape; streaming, digital download, and dance floor expectations. Conclusively, mastering is about translation; your music needs to sound great on anything from a phone speaker to a festival PA system. Mastering is about achieving that outcome.
Why Hire a Mastering Engineer?
With the plethora of instant, AI-driven mastering services, what benefits does an artist receive by hiring a mastering engineer? An excellent question!
In answering this question, one should consider their goals and desired outcomes, as well as their current skill level as an artist. There is certainly a place in the market for AI-based mastering, but there is also a crucial role filled by mastering engineers. The answer isn't either/or, it's case-by-case.
Let's say you've just finished a first-pass mix of an EDM track, and you want to play it at your gig tonight to get some real-world audience feedback. This is the perfect use case for instant online mastering! AI can certainly get you close enough. Another case might be if you are just beginning your journey in music creation; you've downloaded FL Studio or Ableton Live, and you've put together your first four-track EP. While a human mastering engineer can be quite valuable in order to give feedback on your mixes, it might not yet be a good value proposition to hire professional mastering. In this case, AI is just the ticket to hear an approximation of what your music might sound like when mastered. This will allow you to better understand where you are at, and in what areas you might need improve your skillset.
So when should you hire a mastering engineer? Frankly, in any other case. Many people think of Mastering Engineers as individuals who make your music sound better, but that's certainly not the entire picture. A mastering engineer is a partner to an artist, label, and/or mix engineer in the music creation process. We are your final quality control step; a trained pair of fresh ears combined with a tuned monitor/room system. In product manufacturing, software engineering, and many other disciplines, there is always a quality control step to ensure that nothing goes out the door if it isn't up to snuff. Music is no different. You've been down in the weeds for weeks, months or even years, obsessing over the minute details in your music, while your mastering engineer is really the first consumer of your music. We are experienced listeners hearing your music for the first time. This often allows us to spot details or problems that you are missing due simply to fatigue.
Rarely, you might even be paying us to listen to a song in our calibrated environment, and realize that the mix is near-perfect already and no changes need to be made! That's only happened a handful of times in my tenure, but it does happen. In that case, we're your quality-assurance person telling you "You nailed it!" I'll do the final level control, top and tail, and put a checkmark next to that song.
Finally, we have something that AI doesn't... we're human. AI can try to add EQ, compression, limiting, and other processes in an attempt to get your music to match an arbitrary standard, but it cannot experience the emotional content, nor identify with it. It cannot feel the groove in a funk song, nor begin nodding its head to a dance floor banger. As such, it cannot make the decisions necessary to preserve and accentuate the emotional content of your music, a human mastering engineer can and does.
In answering this question, one should consider their goals and desired outcomes, as well as their current skill level as an artist. There is certainly a place in the market for AI-based mastering, but there is also a crucial role filled by mastering engineers. The answer isn't either/or, it's case-by-case.
Let's say you've just finished a first-pass mix of an EDM track, and you want to play it at your gig tonight to get some real-world audience feedback. This is the perfect use case for instant online mastering! AI can certainly get you close enough. Another case might be if you are just beginning your journey in music creation; you've downloaded FL Studio or Ableton Live, and you've put together your first four-track EP. While a human mastering engineer can be quite valuable in order to give feedback on your mixes, it might not yet be a good value proposition to hire professional mastering. In this case, AI is just the ticket to hear an approximation of what your music might sound like when mastered. This will allow you to better understand where you are at, and in what areas you might need improve your skillset.
So when should you hire a mastering engineer? Frankly, in any other case. Many people think of Mastering Engineers as individuals who make your music sound better, but that's certainly not the entire picture. A mastering engineer is a partner to an artist, label, and/or mix engineer in the music creation process. We are your final quality control step; a trained pair of fresh ears combined with a tuned monitor/room system. In product manufacturing, software engineering, and many other disciplines, there is always a quality control step to ensure that nothing goes out the door if it isn't up to snuff. Music is no different. You've been down in the weeds for weeks, months or even years, obsessing over the minute details in your music, while your mastering engineer is really the first consumer of your music. We are experienced listeners hearing your music for the first time. This often allows us to spot details or problems that you are missing due simply to fatigue.
Rarely, you might even be paying us to listen to a song in our calibrated environment, and realize that the mix is near-perfect already and no changes need to be made! That's only happened a handful of times in my tenure, but it does happen. In that case, we're your quality-assurance person telling you "You nailed it!" I'll do the final level control, top and tail, and put a checkmark next to that song.
Finally, we have something that AI doesn't... we're human. AI can try to add EQ, compression, limiting, and other processes in an attempt to get your music to match an arbitrary standard, but it cannot experience the emotional content, nor identify with it. It cannot feel the groove in a funk song, nor begin nodding its head to a dance floor banger. As such, it cannot make the decisions necessary to preserve and accentuate the emotional content of your music, a human mastering engineer can and does.
What Is The Client Experience?
PrepareMuch like a sculpture exists in a slab of marble, a master exists in a mix. As such, before mastering, you should spend the time to ensure that the intent and character of each song is present in the mix you are sending. As mastering engineers, we can only highlight what is already present; we cannot add something that isn't. If you can deliver mixes that are at least 48kHz/24bit, this is ideal, but 44.1kHz/16bit is acceptable. Ensure that you are printing to a lossless format (wav, aiff), with peaks no higher than about -3dBFS, and certainly not clipping. Also remove any non-artistic processing from your master bus; namely, remove any limiting. Common mix bus processing such as glue compression or broad-stroke EQ can remain if these processes are necessary to the character of your mix. If you have questions about prep, reach out! I'm happy to discuss.
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PreviewOnce your mixes are completed, and you've sent them to me using your transfer method of choice (most clients use WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive), we can select a song from your EP or Album to master first, or use the single. I will master this track and send a preview to you. For new clients in particular, there is sometimes a revision or two at this stage as I come to understand your vision and we develop a shared musical vocabulary.
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ExecuteOnce you are happy with the preview track, I will then use this as a baseline reference for the rest of the project. Delivery time can vary depending on my current backlog of work and the size of the project; it can be anywhere from two days to two weeks. I will let you know the current lead time beforehand. I can accept rush jobs, but I do charge an additional, nominal fee. When mastering of your project is completed, I will send the entire project to you. Any mastering revisions are made at this time. Once you are happy, I will send a PayPal invoice to an email of your choosing. Payment is due within 15 days from the date the invoice was sent.
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What Is My Process?
ListenThe first step in any project is to simply listen. I will load the project with no processing, set the level, and listen cover-to-cover. There are two questions that the listening session attempts to answer. Firstly, what is my client going for? What is the character of the music? Secondly, are there any glaring problems that need do be addressed? During this process, I will take notes of my first impressions. Sometimes I may come back and ask you to correct something in the mix (if possible). It is far better to make corrections in the mix than it is to make them during mastering.
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ExperimentOnce I've listened to the recording, I generally have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to try, but make no mistake, mastering is about trial and error. I will bring in this processor or that, and A/B the results. During the entire mastering process, level-matched A/Bing the raw mix and the master chain is happening with every change. This ensures me that I'm moving in the correct direction. Compared to mixing, every change in mastering is miniscule. Mastering often deals in 0.25dB increments. If drastic changes are needed, it tells me something should be corrected in the mix. The process repeats until I feel that what is coming out of my monitors sounds like my vision for the recording.
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LevelThe next step is to increase level or loudness using a limiter. I have several limiters, but the one I use most frequently is the FabFilter Pro-L2. Each track tells me how loud it wants to be, and there are many variables; crest factor, dynamic character, and target medium, among others. Usually I gain into the limiter while adjusting settings until it begins to become audible, and then back-off slightly. I experiment with limiting algorithms and settings to find the optimum match for the material. For albums and EPs, it's always a balancing act to ensure that each track within the recording is at an appropriately similar level. For any project, I have to ensure that I am being cognizant of the penalty incurred by excessive loudness on streaming platforms. I rely on my ears as well as loudness metering to ensure that I'm around a general target for the genre in question.
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The final step is printing. I will top (add a few milliseconds of silence to the beginning) and tail (apply any fade, and eliminate unnecessary silence from the end), where needed. It is better that I apply fade-outs during mastering, because I can do so in a manner that preserves the character of the master chain during the fade-out. It is during this step that any necessary SRC (sample-rate conversion), bitrate conversion and dithering happens. I generally prefer to deliver 48kHz/24bit masters, assuming that the mixes are at at least this sample rate and bit depth. When the project is completed, I will deliver the masters via dropbox for your evaluation.
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