Defining MASTERING for the lay man...

KyleDiSanto · 1st July 2009, 03:42 PM

So here's something that came up after I met up with some of my banking buddies last night that I would like to seek some council about...

How do you guys/gals define mastering for the non-musician/producer/engineer/etc...type?

I have no problem explaining it to clients, bands, artists, other people who work in the industry, but it seems that MASTERING is this really hard concept to grasp for them. Obviously I blame my own communication and so I'm wondering what you say to others, maybe freinds/family and etc... when asked to define what it is you do.

Its funny, because the normal things I would say to a band like "make the album flow as a whole, be balanced, sound great on all systems, bring it up to commercial level"...ya ya ya ya ya...stuff doesn't seem to satisfy them in definition...

So before I drive my self nuts over this one...what do you all think?

Virtalahde · 1st July 2009, 03:47 PM

I always say I make music sound better.

KyleDiSanto · 1st July 2009, 03:49 PM

Yeah I use that one too...and then the "How?" question comes hahaha lol...gotta love over analytical friends man

It'sJoeAgain · 1st July 2009, 03:53 PM

how about, "mastering is the last step for quality control and if i fail millions of copies will be ruined"...How does that rub u??

SurveillanceP · 1st July 2009, 03:55 PM

You: You know how a band records an album, and then its mixed to get all the levels and effects and stuff right?

Them: Erm, yeah.

You: Yeah well before they send it off to make it into a CD, there is one final step in there. Thats where I come in.

Them: Right so what does that involve?

You: You wouldn't understand.

(beat)

Them: Ok.

(beat)

You: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

ALTERNATIVE ENDING
------

Them: So what does that involve exactly?

You: (Straightfaced) Well I compress, surgically EQ, maybe fix a few clicks and pops, establish an overall volume flow and polish. Actually I use a Cranesong with Klaxon Virtual Upsizers for the most part then round it all off by nipping some of the Bass out of the frequency ethernet space to tighten things up. Sometimes I even bake the premaster in our special microwave condenser for 10-20 seconds to add that sugareyness that all your favourite bands have.

(beat)

Them: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

KyleDiSanto · 1st July 2009, 03:55 PM

LOL ha ha ha That's a good one...

IIIrd · 1st July 2009, 04:34 PM

we make it sound like a record....
thats what one producer said to me...."just make it sound like a record"

Bob Olhsson · 1st July 2009, 04:40 PM

To me mastering is all about making sure the presentation of the mix makes the best possible first impression on taste makers while not degrading the repeated listening experience for fans. I never forget that people's music careers are riding on everything I do.

lucey · 1st July 2009, 06:16 PM

I make a framing analogy ...

"mixers give me individual songs and i give them a whole record that's ready for production. each song is like a little painting and i take all those paintings, and make each one better while at the same time framing them into the most beautiful collage possible"

... and that 'seems' to work.

Cellotron · 1st July 2009, 07:27 PM

I tell them it's like a kitchen at a restaurant - the prep chef is the tracking engineer, the sous chef is the mix engineer, and I'm the guy who puts everything in the right portions on the plate and makes the presentation look pretty.

Other than that I tell a summary of the definition I have at What Is Mastering?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

chironomidae · 1st July 2009, 07:59 PM

I think the simplest, if slightly inaccurate, way to describe it would be thus:

"While a mixing engineer is responsible for each individual instrument in a track, the mastering engineer is responsible for the track as a whole. The mastering engineer works with the forest, the mixer works with the trees."

Of course that is oversimplified, but I think for most laymen it is sufficient to at least give them an idea of what an ME does.

domokunrox · 1st July 2009, 08:01 PM

Mastering is your qualified 2nd opinion, quality control, and the preparation of the music for its final medium.

inlinenl · 1st July 2009, 08:20 PM

for the real blanks on this subject :

"I photoshop audio" ..... it always works ...

you know tight and big ....... and I make a nice Pirelli Calender

joeaudio · 1st July 2009, 08:44 PM

They mix it. We fix it.

finetuner · 2nd July 2009, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeaudio

They mix it. We fix it.

good one

Dotting i's and crossing t's

thethrillfactor · 2nd July 2009, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeaudio

They mix it. We fix it.

Or...

They mix it and we crush it & distort it.

(Ok i kid, i kid!!!).

jdg · 2nd July 2009, 02:43 PM

my family never understood what i do...
i tell them "i make s**t loud"

aleatoric · 2nd July 2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeaudio

They mix it. We fix it.

I also like the photoshop analogy and have thought of this myself. If you have ever worked with photoshop simply to enhance a picture you will see the similarities. Manipulating contrast, adjusting color balance, shadowing, minor cropping, etc. The final outcome is still the original photo but the tastefully enhanced image is much more pleasing to the eye and often simply balances the imperfections of your camera equipment, lighting and image placement, very similar to what happens to audio in mastering.

mastertone · 2nd July 2009, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdg

my family never understood what i do...
i tell them "i make s**t loud"

Hey John!

OT (sry) but hows new the room coming along?

jdg · 2nd July 2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mastertone

Hey John!

OT (sry) but hows new the room coming along?

hey jonas! its still messy, but it sounds great :)

wires are everywhere. and fabric is draping over the treatment for now. but i can work :)

/back on topic!

formlabs · 3rd July 2009, 05:06 AM

Great interview with Greg Calbi from Sterling Sound - scroll down to the part on describing the mastering process - he uses photography as an analogy too.

Greg Calbi - ArtistshouseMusic

Adam Dempsey · 3rd July 2009, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleatoric

I also like the photoshop analogy and have thought of this myself. If you have ever worked with photoshop simply to enhance a picture you will see the similarities. Manipulating contrast, adjusting color balance, shadowing, minor cropping, etc. The final outcome is still the original photo but the tastefully enhanced image is much more pleasing to the eye and often simply balances the imperfections of your camera equipment, lighting and image placement, very similar to what happens to audio in mastering.

Helps to have a calibrated (screen & colour temp lighting) environment to make accurate judgement calls though. (plus working from a high res TIFF or RAW, not a low res jpg, which is how I often explain the need & benefits of submitting high res mixes).

dualflip · 3rd July 2009, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeaudio

They mix it. We fix it.

I have one from the mixers point of view: "We mix it, they give us back a brick"

Trell Blaze · 3rd July 2009, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurveillanceP

You: You know how a band records an album, and then its mixed to get all the levels and effects and stuff right?

Them: Erm, yeah.

You: Yeah well before they send it off to make it into a CD, there is one final step in there. Thats where I come in.

Them: Right so what does that involve?

You: You wouldn't understand.

(beat)

Them: Ok.

(beat)

You: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

ALTERNATIVE ENDING
------

Them: So what does that involve exactly?

You: (Straightfaced) Well I compress, surgically EQ, maybe fix a few clicks and pops, establish an overall volume flow and polish. Actually I use a Cranesong with Klaxon Virtual Upsizers for the most part then round it all off by nipping some of the Bass out of the frequency ethernet space to tighten things up. Sometimes I even bake the premaster in our special microwave condenser for 10-20 seconds to add that sugareyness that all your favourite bands have.

(beat)

Them: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

In my experience it usually goes...

Me:You know how, when I mix your stuff, I balance each sound and vocal using EQ, and all that good stuff?

Them: Huh?

Me: Nevermind. I can make you a super loud version of this song if you want...

Susceptor · 4th July 2009, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Dempsey

Helps to have a calibrated (screen & colour temp lighting) environment to make accurate judgement calls though. (plus working from a high res TIFF or RAW, not a low res jpg, which is how I often explain the need & benefits of submitting high res mixes).

Sorry for being OT, but...
Ken Rockwell would disagree on the RAW part of your statement... Also, he probably would insist that you either use medium or large format film, or high quality jpeg; in each case, you should use great lenses (if possible), but the most important part is the vibe of the photo.

asaboogie · 4th July 2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurveillanceP

You: You know how a band records an album, and then its mixed to get all the levels and effects and stuff right?

Them: Erm, yeah.

You: Yeah well before they send it off to make it into a CD, there is one final step in there. Thats where I come in.

Them: Right so what does that involve?

You: You wouldn't understand.

(beat)

Them: Ok.

(beat)

You: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

ALTERNATIVE ENDING
------

Them: So what does that involve exactly?

You: (Straightfaced) Well I compress, surgically EQ, maybe fix a few clicks and pops, establish an overall volume flow and polish. Actually I use a Cranesong with Klaxon Virtual Upsizers for the most part then round it all off by nipping some of the Bass out of the frequency ethernet space to tighten things up. Sometimes I even bake the premaster in our special microwave condenser for 10-20 seconds to add that sugareyness that all your favourite bands have.

(beat)

Them: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

hilarious! this thread is great. There's some great analogies in here.

Adam Dempsey · 4th July 2009, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Susceptor

Sorry for being OT, but...
Ken Rockwell would disagree on the RAW part of your statement... Also, he probably would insist that you either use medium or large format film, or high quality jpeg; in each case, you should use great lenses (if possible), but the most important part is the vibe of the photo.

Definitely, as I would, too (film & lenses). Vibe/the moment/lighting, even more so. Photography is a hobby of mine. True, RAW is really a working format, not really a standard interchange format.

Darwin James · 4th July 2009, 09:26 AM

I get asked at least twice a week when my album is coming out and I say it's being mastered, maybe 1% of the people understand it. No point in trying to explain.

Mr.HOLMES · 4th July 2009, 03:50 PM

Sometimes Mastering is even producing AUDIO-TRASH---->
Listen to DEATH MAGNETIC by Metallica...

But anyway for me as a small business guy I see the mastering engineer as my "partner". In first he makes for me sure that my mix is translating equal on other systems as well.... even if the mix is good...and is well translating maybe he can make it better.

Sometimes I wish he would be true to me.... I have not found a mastering egninner yet who was true and said e.g.:

The mix is not bad but you should do some things different, may you start from scratch ... etc....

This would be nice to find a mastering engineer who is not shy to tell the truth because he wants to get the next job as well.... this is a dream for me to find a real partner in mastering ....

5down1up · 4th July 2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.HOLMES

who is not shy to tell the truth because he wants to get the next job as well

mainly thats not what people want to hear. would be like the guy behind the desk asking you at McDonalds " your sure you want to order all that stuff ? man your fat already "

greetz to berlin

1st July 2009, 03:42 PM	#1
KyleDiSanto Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: NYC Posts: 347	Defining MASTERING for the lay man... So here's something that came up after I met up with some of my banking buddies last night that I would like to seek some council about... How do you guys/gals define mastering for the non-musician/producer/engineer/etc...type? I have no problem explaining it to clients, bands, artists, other people who work in the industry, but it seems that MASTERING is this really hard concept to grasp for them. Obviously I blame my own communication and so I'm wondering what you say to others, maybe freinds/family and etc... when asked to define what it is you do. Its funny, because the normal things I would say to a band like "make the album flow as a whole, be balanced, sound great on all systems, bring it up to commercial level"...ya ya ya ya ya...stuff doesn't seem to satisfy them in definition... So before I drive my self nuts over this one...what do you all think?

1st July 2009, 03:47 PM	#2
Virtalahde Gear addict Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Helsinki, Finland Posts: 346	I always say I make music sound better. __________________ Jaakko Viitalähde Virtalähde Mastering, Helsinki/Finland http://www.virtalahde.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helsin...g/278311633180

1st July 2009, 04:40 PM	#8
Bob Olhsson Motown legend Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Songwriter Gulch, Nashville TN Posts: 8,031	To me mastering is all about making sure the presentation of the mix makes the best possible first impression on taste makers while not degrading the repeated listening experience for fans. I never forget that people's music careers are riding on everything I do. __________________ Bob's room 615 562-4346 Georgetown Masters 615 254-3233 Music Industry 2.0 Interview

1st July 2009, 06:16 PM	#9
lucey Gear Guru Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 11,923	I make a framing analogy ... "mixers give me individual songs and i give them a whole record that's ready for production. each song is like a little painting and i take all those paintings, and make each one better while at the same time framing them into the most beautiful collage possible" ... and that 'seems' to work. __________________ Brian Lucey Magic Garden Mastering "the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ecology" "honor necessity, honor sufficiency" "beauty resists capture"

1st July 2009, 07:27 PM	#10
Cellotron Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Brooklyn, New York Posts: 2,344	I tell them it's like a kitchen at a restaurant - the prep chef is the tracking engineer, the sous chef is the mix engineer, and I'm the guy who puts everything in the right portions on the plate and makes the presentation look pretty. Other than that I tell a summary of the definition I have at What Is Mastering? Best regards, Steve Berson __________________ www.totalsonicmastering.com www.invertmusic.org www.warlockasylum.info

1st July 2009, 03:49 PM	#3
KyleDiSanto Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: NYC Posts: 347	Yeah I use that one too...and then the "How?" question comes hahaha lol...gotta love over analytical friends man

1st July 2009, 03:53 PM	#4
It'sJoeAgain 3 + infractions, forum membership suspended. Member to contact GS admin. Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: NYC Posts: 457	how about, "mastering is the last step for quality control and if i fail millions of copies will be ruined"...How does that rub u??

1st July 2009, 03:55 PM	#5
SurveillanceP Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 246	You: You know how a band records an album, and then its mixed to get all the levels and effects and stuff right? Them: Erm, yeah. You: Yeah well before they send it off to make it into a CD, there is one final step in there. Thats where I come in. Them: Right so what does that involve? You: You wouldn't understand. (beat) Them: Ok. (beat) You: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw? ALTERNATIVE ENDING ------ Them: So what does that involve exactly? You: (Straightfaced) Well I compress, surgically EQ, maybe fix a few clicks and pops, establish an overall volume flow and polish. Actually I use a Cranesong with Klaxon Virtual Upsizers for the most part then round it all off by nipping some of the Bass out of the frequency ethernet space to tighten things up. Sometimes I even bake the premaster in our special microwave condenser for 10-20 seconds to add that sugareyness that all your favourite bands have. (beat) Them: So how about that crazy thing in the news this week that we all saw?

1st July 2009, 04:34 PM	#7
IIIrd Gear addict Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 331	we make it sound like a record.... thats what one producer said to me...."just make it sound like a record"

1st July 2009, 07:59 PM	#11
chironomidae Gear nut Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 111	I think the simplest, if slightly inaccurate, way to describe it would be thus: "While a mixing engineer is responsible for each individual instrument in a track, the mastering engineer is responsible for the track as a whole. The mastering engineer works with the forest, the mixer works with the trees." Of course that is oversimplified, but I think for most laymen it is sufficient to at least give them an idea of what an ME does.

1st July 2009, 08:01 PM	#12
domokunrox Gear maniac Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 233	Mastering is your qualified 2nd opinion, quality control, and the preparation of the music for its final medium.

1st July 2009, 08:20 PM	#13
inlinenl Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,305	for the real blanks on this subject : "I photoshop audio" ..... it always works ... you know tight and big ....... and I make a nice Pirelli Calender __________________ Greetings/Regards Wim Bult www.inlinemastering.com

1st July 2009, 08:44 PM	#14
joeaudio Gear maniac Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Garden State Posts: 169	They mix it. We fix it. __________________ Joe Yannece http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=83478334

2nd July 2009, 02:43 PM	#17
jdg Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: seattle, WA Posts: 1,902	my family never understood what i do... i tell them "i make s*t loud" __________________ Brevity is the soul of wit. panicStudios - mastering in seattle*

3rd July 2009, 05:06 AM	#21
formlabs Gear Head Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 56	Great interview with Greg Calbi from Sterling Sound - scroll down to the part on describing the mastering process - he uses photography as an analogy too. Greg Calbi - ArtistshouseMusic __________________ Brian Jackson, MA Musician, Producer, Engineer, Teacher, Author Ableton Certified Trainer Formlabs • NYC

4th July 2009, 09:26 AM	#28
Darwin James Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: California Posts: 1,377	I get asked at least twice a week when my album is coming out and I say it's being mastered, maybe 1% of the people understand it. No point in trying to explain. __________________ The new Darwin James album is now on sale

4th July 2009, 03:50 PM	#29
Mr.HOLMES Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,973	Sometimes Mastering is even producing AUDIO-TRASH----> Listen to DEATH MAGNETIC by Metallica... But anyway for me as a small business guy I see the mastering engineer as my "partner". In first he makes for me sure that my mix is translating equal on other systems as well.... even if the mix is good...and is well translating maybe he can make it better. Sometimes I wish he would be true to me.... I have not found a mastering egninner yet who was true and said e.g.: The mix is not bad but you should do some things different, may you start from scratch ... etc.... This would be nice to find a mastering engineer who is not shy to tell the truth because he wants to get the next job as well.... this is a dream for me to find a real partner in mastering ....

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