What exactly does mastering do?

[TRAJIK1]

I dont really have an idea what its for or what purpose it serves, can anyone offer some info

 

[50cal]

Think of it this way. After all your songs are recorded you have to have the songs mixed down. Mixing deals with the individual tracks of each song -adjusting Eq, FX, adjusting levels on each track so everything sounds great. Now after all your songs have been mixed down its time to just deal with the song in whole not individual tracks with in a song. A master will make sure each song is at the same level as well as set the time between when a song ends and the next track starts...all this can be adjusted. This is not the stage to fix any problems from a bad mix.The person mastering willl usually use EQ to adjust certain frequencies on the songs, as well as compression...they will also compress the whole album to get it to todays loud sounding level...So in a perfect world if your album was mixed down perfect the person mastering would have an easy job just verify each song is at same level and add maybe a lil EQ and compression on the whole album....

 

[Sick Wid It]

You can find some good posts/answers on this if you search the forum but in the mean time the wiki definition is probably good enough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastering

 

[TRAJIK1]

dope thanx. anyone know how hard it is to start mastering?

 

[50cal]

dope thanx. anyone know how hard it is to start mastering?

If you are gifted/talented and have the gift of a good ear then you might have a small chance in this world where everyone thinks they can record/mix/master themselves

 

[TRAJIK1]

is there a lot of equipment you gotta use? i got a mixtape im droppin, is it worth the $ to get it mastered?

 

[50cal]

^^^^ do you have distribution? if not the no I wouldnt master it....just make sure it is mixed down good then maybe add a lil compression to the whole c.d

 

[50cal]

they make software like T-raxx for mastering, but unless you have a good ear and knowledge of what you are doing then even that might be useless, and to go into business to master, some of the pros have much gear like this..
http://www.mercenary.com/gml95dualcha.html

 

[TRAJIK1]

Thanx 50Cal i appreciate you takin time and you a knowledgeable dude!

 

[scandal]

I don't have the best equipment but I know How to freak the Waves Diamond bundle to do mastering. I'll do your mixtape for cheap if you want me too. Send me a snippet of one of your tracks and I'll send you back a mastered version.

 

[BASEDVATO]

just load your mixed down song in your program as a stereo wav. then add > Eq, Compressor, and Dither...

play with different levels... I recomment like a 5:1 comp ( and some attack) and just eq's it tell it hits, and the dither will give it a higher quality bit rate (artifical good sound)

that is poor man mastering, and does more then most artist do to there cd's now days

 

[joogrnot70]

depends what program u use. make sure all instruments blend correctly