Thinking about starting a career in mastering..

[MakoBlink]

I've been contemplating starting a career in mastering after I graduate college, but don't know to much about the business side of it. I really enjoy mixing , but it seems that there are only a select few engineers making money mixing records. I really want to make a career somehow delaing with audio. Are mastering studios suffering the same home studio battle as recording studios? Is the idea of eventually starting a mastering studio crazy? Any insight would be great, thanks.

[hurd300403]

it seems to me like the difficulty with mastering is actually working in the music biz long enough to get the reputation and experience to eventually become a good mastering engineer.

i haven't heard of too many good mastering guys under the age of 30....but i'm sure they are around.

[MAzevedo]

I was lucky enough to get an assistant gig at a mastering studio, where I could practice the craft and start building a clientèle. From a cold start, you are probably looking at 2-4 years to get your skills really in place and to have enough of a client base to cover your overhead.

If you want to start building a monitor chain and a processing chain in your home or a cheap space, and work there around a day job you could have the money to keep your head above water, but by not doing mastering full time your are probably going to stretch you 'getting started' period out by an extra year or three.

If you really want to get into mastering, find a studio and intern there (probably for no pay). Do that for long enough to get an idea of how the basics work, and start finding your own clients. Start bringing in enough work to the studio and they'll either put you on staff or you'll have the clients to go out on your own. I got the job I have because I went from being free labor to almost free labor to a major revenue stream. Plan a way to get through those first two steps, and you'll be golden, but you really can't get to step three without doing one and two.

Good luck!

[Darius van H]

Hurd and Matt said it.

I'd add that you build a client base by word of mouth..........you do good work, people come back to you as well as telling other people about you........that's how it works....this takes time to build up a momentum which equals lots (or enough) work.

The other alternatives would be getting a job in an established studio or putting lots of effort in getting work via a website / SEO .....i'm not convinced about the value of the latter approach!.........although i have got a lot of jobs and a few very important regular clients via forums (this one actually) alone.

But the point is, you've got to be good to succeed......and to be good, you need EXPERIENCE.......so in the beginning you need to master (and possibly ruin) as many projects as you can get your hands on in order to build that experience.

If you live in the middle of nowhere and / or have limited contacts, it's gonna be hard........then you might need to consider relocating or getting a job in a studio.

Good luck!

[macc]

Some good advice here. I'm starting out really, having mixed stuff all my life and finally ventured into 'actually-charging-money' mastering in the last year. I'm in an alright situation as I have released a few records in the little mini-sub-side-corner-scene of music I inhabit, and people seem to think my stuff sounds good. As such, through gigs and releases and chatting and generally being nice to all, as well as doing some stuff for free for some time, I have a pretty large pool of *potential* clients.

So far it's going alright - I come home from the day job and work til 1 or 2 am, and get as much done as well as I can. I don't earn anywhere near enough to live from mastering, maybe only a third maximum. But I do have a decent day job, which leads nicely to;

Originally Posted by MAzevedo

If you want to start building a monitor chain and a processing chain in your home or a cheap space, and work there around a day job you could have the money to keep your head above water, but by not doing mastering full time your are probably going to stretch you 'getting started' period out by an extra year or three.

This is great advice. I am trying to use the day job to pay for general bills etc and save some, then use the mastering money to pay for mastering equipment. While you will always take a hit when buying new (serious) gear, you have to speculate to accumulate innit. Buy gear that will last you forever, make things sound better, get more clients. Saving enough for a 'decent' eq will mean you're looking for another in 6 months. Cane what you have until you can get more.

If you want - or financially HAVE - to work two jobs, expect to work twice as hard. I have to be careful to give the lady some time too. It's full on but I am a happy man, and looking forward to what the future holds in this area!

[Ben F]

All good advise. Try and find someone that is willing to have you assist, do all the crap jobs for them to show you have proper work ethic, then gradually ask questions when the clients have gone. Use the studio after hours to listen to gear and experiment, listen to unmastered/mastered songs and try to match them. After a few years you will have better ear training and be ready to start yourself. I was lucky to learn from some of the best before going to another business.

Mastering in my experience is mostly word of mouth. I still do broadcast tech support a few days a week, the studio has enough income to pay for itself but not quite enough to live comfortably. Most of the guys that do it full time have 10 years plus experience.

[Greg Reierson]

I see it two ways. It's probably a crappy time to be getting into a field as specialized and suddenly crowded as mastering. OTOH, I'm as busy as I've ever been so I guess I can't say there's a lack or work. I'm not sure if that's true for guys just starting out.

Just take everything that comes your way and work towards building your reputation. That's ultimately all you will ever have.


GR

[MakoBlink]

Thanks guys, this is all good advice. I'm going to see what I can do about getting an internship / assistant gig somewhere. It seems like it must be hard to start getting clients as a mastering engineer, as opposed to getting bands to come to your recording studio. How do you guys find clients for mastering at first?

[macc]

As said, word of mouth!

You just have to put yourself about a bit, offer to do things (most likely for nothing) until the ball is rolling. Once that comes about, keeo doing great work and the ball will keep rolling.

Oh - in the early stages, listen to what they tell you, especially if they don't like what you've done.