[Thomas W. Bethe]

There are lots of charlatans out there that will take someone's money and give them little or nothing in return. There are also a lot of people that genuinely want to help the artist realize their dreams and will do what they can to help them. I assume that most of the members of this board fit into the the second category

There are people who really can't hear what you are able to do for their music because they are not listening for the same things you are. The artist maybe more worried that the lead singer will not be happy with the mastering because he will loose his bed partner if she is "not happy". Or that the bass player will not like the fact that you had to cut the bass since it is 14 dB hotter than anything else in the mix because the bass player is the one who is funding the project from his trust fund.

I cannot in all good conscious do very little to help someone and then charge them a lot for doing it. I can do as much as I am able and if the person is not happy with what I have done then we will have to work on the project until the artist is happy. That may involve the artist remixing the entire album or it may take longer than the artist thinks it should but if the artists wants a good sounding album they have to understand that to do a good job takes time.

I am very honest with clients. I tell them what I can do for their music and I also tell them were things are going to be difficult. If the mix is a total train wreck I also tell them that. I find that honesty is the best policy when dealing with clients.

Most people today are trying to do everything themselves from writing the music to shrink wrapping their CDs to sell. They cannot, unless they are very very good, do it all themselves and expect to come up with a superior product.

I am providing a service at the end of the project and the artist sometimes expects me to correct all the ills that have beset the project from the beginning. Sometimes I can work miracles sometimes I cannot.

I remember one artist that brought in the most heavily distorted tracks I have ever had to work on. The artist did not hear the distortion only that some of the consonants were not clear enough in the mix so you could not understand the words. She wanted the words understood because that is what mattered to her and all the distortion surrounding the mix do not matter. I gave her what she wanted but I also told her that because of all the distortion people would tend to turn off the songs prematurely and so all the work on getting the consonants to sound better would be for naught. That information was important to her and she said she would take the material back, remix it and bring it back in. The results were amazing and the material sounded GREAT and I was pleased but more importantly she was pleased and we had a good mastering session and the album turned out well.

If I had just taken her money and given back something sub par it would not have been good for her or for me and even though I would have been richer financially I would have trouble sleeping at night.

Good topic and LOTS of good keen insights.