How did you learn what you know about mastering?

[Big Al]

As far as I know there arn't any schools for mastering, so how did you get into it? What should I do/where should I go to learn more about mastering?

[gainstages]

find an engineer who will allow you to sit in on a few sessions if you can.

read Bob Katz's book - it's great.

study great albums - listen for how they sound, move from one song to another, etc. study them in every way you can - spectrum analysis, dynamics analysis, phase/panning, etc etc...

practice practice practice

and, very important - train your ears. learn to recognize and identify frequency ranges, low level noise, and all of the subtle nuances that make something good verus great.

when you think you are getting pretty good, do a test - master a track, and then send the unmastered track to 1-2 mastering houses, then compare them to yours and see how you stack up.

[AnAverageJoe]

Originally Posted by gainstages

find an engineer who will allow you to sit in on a few sessions if you can.

read Bob Katz's book - it's great.

study great albums - listen for how they sound, move from one song to another, etc. study them in every way you can - spectrum analysis, dynamics analysis, phase/panning, etc etc...

practice practice practice

and, very important - train your ears. learn to recognize and identify frequency ranges, low level noise, and all of the subtle nuances that make something good verus great.

when you think you are getting pretty good, do a test - master a track, and then send the unmastered track to 1-2 mastering houses, then compare them to yours and see how you stack up.

Well said!!!!! and yea You better Practice cause I don't care if you read all the mastering books in the world you still won't know how to master enless you practice... Try to start mastering for free for someone just so you can get the hang of it, thats what I did and I'm still doing it now for some more professional recordings but for my small teens that I mess with I charge them cause there recordings are CRAP!!!! but yea let em know how everyhing works out PM if you need some work

[Bob Olhsson]

Working at a top mastering facility, a label or a replication plant under supervision is the most common way people begin.

I teach a mastering class at Nashville State Community College where we study the issues involved and what to expect from mastering. My students want to be producers and artists rather than mastering engineers.

[carlsaff]

I've learned exclusively by doing the work on my own. Trial and error. It has worked for me, because I was fortunate to have lots of friends in bands and at labels early on, and I didn't screw up *too* often in those early days, which would've hampered my ability to attain future work.

But interning is the smarter (and much faster) way to learn the job. I was turned off to the idea of interning by numerous stories from fellow engineers about whole days spent making coffee, answering phones, and cleaning the studio. Naturally, there are good internships, too! I just didn't happen to know anyone with one when I was looking. I decided to dive in and get my hands dirty. I'm really very lucky that it has worked out.

Diving in will work -- it just takes time, and you have to hope that when you err it doesn't come back to haunt you later. However, as a result of not interning, I've learned a lot of things very late in the game. No regrets -- I'm now pretty much where I want to be (for now... you never stop learning/growing), but see if you can find a quality internship in your town. It's worthwhile.

[lowland]

When I first became involved in mastering in 1995 I already had 15 years or so behind me as an engineer/producer/musician. It seemed a natural step - I'd done a fair amount of on-the-job ear training and bored lots of MEs including Ray Staff, Tim Young, Denis Blackham, George Peckham and Chris Blair senseless with my questions.

I set up my own mastering business in '99, and have had steady business growth since then - this has been absolutely invaluable in letting learn my trade at my own pace, there really is no substitute for just doing it yourself IMO. I can now take on pretty much any project I'd want to do (with some practical caveats - I don't have analogue tape or surround, for example) and expect to have a happy customer at the end of it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend my slow mastering career curve, but good knowledge of the whole record-making chain has done me no harm.

[Bob Yordan]

I have developed my own mastering plugs for the last 3 years and to test them I have during this time downloaded mixes from the net, mastered my own project and even run mixes from cds via them. Approx 25-40 non paid mastering session every week. Last 1/2 year only during evenings,
due to that I work with object oriented programming during the day.

Before that I worked in studios as an engineer during the 80s and with
my own studio in spare time during the 90s.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

I was a classical recording engineer for 26 years before I started into mastering. I served a short apprenticeship at a mastering studio in Nashville and started my own mastering studio 14 years ago. Our growth has been steady but lately with the introduction of a lot of home (basement or bedroom) based mastering studios in this geographical area we have had to branch out into other areas like broadcasting and video production. Not sure what tomorrow will bring.

Mastering has changed a lot in the years we have been in business. When I first started the stuff coming in was well recorded and sounded good. I had to put some polish on it and send it out the door. Lately more and more stuff is requiring more and more "sonic surgery" before it can be mastered. Lots of people that use to go to commercial recording studios are now doing it themselves and many of them do not have a clue on how to properly do a recording or mix down and are depending on the skills of the mastering engineer to finish their project(s).

It is a GREAT business to be in and I can't wait to get to work every morning.

[mrlouie]

Simple. ..

i did the same thing as when i wanted to learn about recording records ... i got a job at a top studio .. learned from the ground up ..

[jayfrigo]

Some things about mastering aren't obvious, and hoping you may stumble across them while experimenting is a crapshoot. Also, contrary to what you may hear, it's not all about the processing. There's so much more to professional mastering than twisting the EQ knobs and making it loud. Preferably, you should start by working under an experienced mastering engineer, but after that, it is indeed all about the experience. Like anything else, you just need to do it a lot to get good at it. With some reading of books and forums like this, you can get quite a lot, but it sure helps you to get the most out of it if you've had at least a little background working under a pro. Reading is no substitute for doing, and doing it blind is no substitute for doing it under proper direction, at least at the beginning.

[Silvertone]

One other thing is learn to become a great listener. Listen to mixes, listen to roughs, listen to individual instruments and sounds. Listen to your room, your power amps your speakers. Know them. That way when you get something in to master you have a frame of reference to go by. A great mastering engineer is a great listener.

As for myself, I started as a touring musician (bass & chapman stick), then an assistant engineer, then engineer, then studio owner and finally mastering engineer/owner. I've built three studios along the way and one building dedicated for mastering.

[ed littman]

I've learned exclusively by doing the work on my own. Trial and error. It has worked for me, and I didn't screw up *too* often in those early days, which would've hampered my ability to attain future work.

Me too, unfortunatly I probably screwed up more than Carl.tutt

then an assistant engineer, then engineer, then studio owner and finally mastering engineer/owner. I've built three studios along the way and one building dedicated for mastering.

I came across an intersting quote from the Geoff Emerick inerview in Tape-Op.

"Because when I first started i was going to be a mastering engineer, and if your lucky by the time your 40 you may be a recording engineer"

Gives a true meaning to Tony Mantz's siginture of "Glorified Tape Copy Boy"

Ed

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by Silvertone

A great mastering engineer is a great listener.

Well put Larry.

A few years ago I was surprised when I opened a fortune cookie, and the message said:

"You will be rewarded for being a good listener."

That's one fortune I kept : - )

JT

[Greg Reierson]

Originally Posted by jayfrigo

Some things about mastering aren't obvious, and hoping you may stumble across them while experimenting is a crapshoot. Also, contrary to what you may hear, it's not all about the processing. There's so much more to professional mastering than twisting the EQ knobs and making it loud. Preferably, you should start by working under an experienced mastering engineer, but after that, it is indeed all about the experience. Like anything else, you just need to do it a lot to get good at it. With some reading of books and forums like this, you can get quite a lot, but it sure helps you to get the most out of it if you've had at least a little background working under a pro. Reading is no substitute for doing, and doing it blind is no substitute for doing it under proper direction, at least at the beginning.

Mouthful!

I mastered my first album in 1984 but had very little idea what I was doing. It came back and I was credited as mastering engineer. I barely even knew what that title meant. Over the course of all those years I've learned from a lot of very experienced engineers, made every mistake imaginable and learned from every one of them. Experience and exposure to sound and to other engineers is essential.

I have huge respect for BK, his work, and his book, but I don't think any working mastering engineers will find any of it new. It's all pretty basic, really. If that's how someone learns to master then they still have a lot of mistakes to make and lessons to learn.


Greg Reierson
Rare Form Mastering

[Silvertone]

Originally Posted by Jerry Tubb

Well put Larry.

A few years ago I was surprised when I opened a fortune cookie, and the message said:

"You will be rewarded for being a good listener."

That's one fortune I kept : - )

JT

That's a great one Jerry!

Truly we are all blessed being able to do this for a living.

[Big Al]

Thanks very much to everyone that replied. I am currently in school to become a recording engineer, and the more I get into it the more I'm hoping to eventually get into mastering. With regards to finding people to teach me I was wondering if there's anything thta would help me do that. I mean, some people are deathly protective of their secrets and don't want to help someone who may eventually be compitition for their own studio. Is there anything that would get me in good with someone more so than just picking their brain?

[barry4audio]

Originally Posted by Big Al

As far as I know there arn't any schools for mastering, so how did you get into it? What should I do/where should I go to learn more about mastering?

Was mixing for a couple of record labels and they would pay me to attend mastering sessions at Grundman's place and at The Mastering Lab. Several years of sitting with good people that would talk about their craft on occasion was a great blessing. Of coarse, much of their gear is custom made, but the puzzle pieces started to come together after a while. The interesting thing is that it is a moving target. The basic principles are the same, but the tools are evolving.

Seems like the thing that is so hard to come by is good practical experience. Until we get very intimate with various styles of music, we only think we know what it is, but in reality what we have in our heads is blurry caricatures. That's why studying a wide range of styles and being mentored by someone that actually knows what they're doing can be the single best thing you can do.

A good college education can cost $20,000-100,000. If you're really serious, use good judgment and invest by buying some time with great ME's and take yourself to school.

[fader8]

Originally Posted by Big Al

With regards to finding people to teach me I was wondering if there's anything thta would help me do that.

Berklee has a few classes, including a couple of
online basic classes.

Here's a workshop you can attend.

Wasn't Roger Nichols running some classes?

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by fader8

Berklee has a few classes, including a couple of
online basic classes.

Here's a workshop you can attend.

Wasn't Roger Nichols running some classes?

While talking to Billy Stull at the AES about the Masterpiece he mentioned they were running some courses as well. There is some info on their website