Mastered Cd's Sound Great Everywhere Except in The Studio

[Mark D.]

Originally Posted by ORC

The only track that CLA mixed on this album is "Permanent Monday."

What were your thoughts on the other mixes vs. what C.L.A. worked on?

[Jesse Graffam]

Originally Posted by kosmokrator

IMO, 'if it sounds good in mastering, it'll be the best for every system' is simply not true.

I agree, but that's not what I said.

I am still saying that if it sounds legitimately bad in mastering, that it won't translate as well as it could have to [insert any random system here]. The whole point in having flat room & monitoring is to accurately decide how far the compromises can be pushed, before the track actually sounds bad. The flat system & room are there to represent the mass average. Not all systems are a smiley face, or a frown face. Some have tilted evil smiles like Dick Cheney.

I'm not saying that nothing should be done to help translation to low-end systems, especially if this is the goal... there's a number of acceptable things that can be done that don't compromise how it sounds on a great system to the point of it being considered "bad".

Originally Posted by kosmokrator

Keeping it all hifi and clean with minimal limiting etc. is just not suited for certain things.

There's plenty of stuff out there that translates very well to low-end systems AND sounds great on a great system, and dynamics doesn't have much to do with it unless it's audible clipper distortion for instance. Mainly I'm thinking in a sense of the spectral balance... in peak & density levels across the spectrum.

I'll check out that Katy Perry track, to hear what you mean and get up to speed on your reference. =)

[kosmokrator]

Originally Posted by Waltz Mastering

Listening to an mp3 over the internet doesn't really do any sound quality justice.

That's another myth for me.
Mastering is all about making sure the track / album works in all delivery mediums, on all listening systems, right?

So it's perfectly valid to judge the soundquality of a track on iTunes.
It is the most important delivery method for music like that. So IMO it would make absolutely no sense to judge the soundquality on hires-masters (24/96 or whatever).

If your clients' music will be primarlity distributed online, it makes perfect sense to provide them with lossy-coded reference files. Because that's way closer to what the final listener (who pays our bills in the end) will listen to.

[Waltz Mastering]

Originally Posted by kosmokrator

Mastering is all about making sure the track / album works in all delivery mediums, on all listening systems, right?

I agree. The conversation involves comparatively hearing the source in a mastering room vs. the end users system. Translation and sound quality.

It's not a secret that consumer systems will mask many of the anomalies that a high end system will reveal whether it's mp3 or 16/44.1. Crossing the threshold where a master maybe goes from sounding great in the mastering room to maybe a bit over the top is a game ME's play when it comes to obtaining uber loudness...any side effects of the process will intensify as the level goes up and the file gets converted down stream, but the side effects will be less revealing in something like a car stereo or boom box etc.

Something like the song you mentioned didn't sound like ass on my system even though it was an mp3. Once you get past the fuzz synth bass and white noise hand claps, it's brightness and sound seemed par for the course.

I don't think this music is made to impress someone for it's pristine sound quality..it's made to sell records in the main stream.

On the other hand it seems that a lot of indie artist are aware of certain trade offs and often go for the quality/less risk approach, and for those that choose to go uber loud,.. and that's their thing, so be it.

Most mixing engineers or artist who are in charge of their careers are smart enough to know whether what they get back from an ME is a marked improvement or not. It's really gets back to what they are looking for and their guide lines and expectations that they've set out before hand. They've lived with the mixes for a while so they will know right away if they like what's going on.

[William Bowden]

Originally Posted by Waltz Mastering

It sounded like I expected it to...drum machines and drama queens..

Love that line Tom, I might have to borrow it!

The King

[ORC]

Originally Posted by Mark D.

What were your thoughts on the other mixes vs. what C.L.A. worked on?

They suited the style of the Artist, and the songs much better.

[jeff_free69]

Originally Posted by William Bowden

Love that line Tom, I might have to borrow it!

The King

YEAH! this thread has some good lines could turn into a good song

"Drum machines and drama queens
and an evil Dick Cheney smile"