How did you get into Mastering? or better yet.. how do you!

[kiopo]

Just wondering. I've been doing it for free for people for years, but never had the opportunity to do it in a great room with analog gear etc.

Are there any established routes into it (that don't involve buying your own studio!)?

Be cool to hear some of your experiences anyway

[CJ Mastering]

To do it in a "great room", as you call it, you'll either need to spend allot of money on one or become an engineer at a mastering studio.
Your room is a very important piece of the puzzle and the only way to have a great room is to invest in one. Your ears and the room are the most important pieces

I've been doing it for free for people for years

It might be time to start charging for it and save the money you make to invest on your future mastering studio.

[kiopo]

Originally Posted by CJ Mastering

To do it in a "great room", as you call it, you'll either need to spend allot of money on one or become an engineer at a mastering studio.
Your room is a very important piece of the puzzle and the only way to have a great room is to invest in one. Your ears and the room are the most important pieces

It might be time to start charging for it and save the money you make to invest on your future mastering studio.

Think you're right. Seems to be a bit of a Catch 22 with starting out though. From what I can see, people looking for mastering at this level seem to look to pay based on the equipment / experience you have... which is hard to get without actually being paid for it.

Pretty hefty investment to get it up to the level that some of the guys here are offering, and some of them do it surprisingly cheap. Maybe trying to find a mastering studio nearby would be a good idea...

Did you start out in a similar way then?

[CJ Mastering]

Yea, it can be a catch 22, but if your young, you can start saving and buy one key piece of equipment at a time and in a few years you can have some nice gear.

which is hard to get without actually being paid for it.

You dont need to master music to make money for gear. You can do any job your qualified for to make money so you can purchase mastering gear.

[Greg Reierson]

Originally Posted by kiopo

Are there any established routes into it (that don't involve buying your own studio!)?

The old tried and true method is apprenticeship. That's the only way you're going to get experience in a good sounding, well equipped room with someone who can help you understand the process. It's all about learning how to listen - and then how, when, and when not to twist the knobs.


GR

[JimFalzone]

I started as an intern at a nice mastering studio. Then I found a job working for someone in a pretty descent room. Both of those experiences were priceless because not only did I have a great place to work, I had a mentor and I learned a lot. I took out a loan in '96 for some gear that I really liked and went on my own. While I am happy with my room and equipment, I do miss having a mentor around all the time. That's why I'm really grateful to have found this forum. The name of it is a little odd though! Good luck James.

-Jim Falzone

Venus Mastering

[lu432]

If you can't intern then definitely start by listening to the difference between your mixes and when they come back mastered. Start thinking about how to fix things sonically, and if you can't apprentice or intern, then start by developing your ears using basic mixing methods. Then begin expanding and building from there.

An internship is the quickest way to learn how to master. Any other method will take significantly longer, and be a significantly larger learning curve. However, unlike internships where one is guided; being self taught also has its benefits as well, which include; the satisfaction of growing your own client base, understanding the business from your own experience, having no one else to blame or motivate but yourself, and the satisfaction of knowing that you did it all by yourself over many years of hard work and trial and error.

Both have positives and negatives.

Personally I went through several internships in large studios here in south florida, and eventually went independent. I started building a client base over several years. It takes time, significant effort, and an attention to the customers needs and small details in projects that keep customers happy and coming back. Those things can only be learned through time and experience.

[Franco]

I was doing what you are doing now in '98 - doing it for free and for friends. I was using SoundForge's stock effects then and the speakers I had gotten from my pops, which were these 3-way Kenwoods that I knew very well. Keep in mind, this was '98 and I don't think I even had an internet connection at the time, so I was doing things by "instinct."

As time went by and I got more serious about it (thanks to people I've known who've said "you're really good at this, keep on", I started doing my own research and started doing things that made sense to me. I couldn't (and can't) afford to be out of work to seek an apprenticeship, and since I don't have any relatives with money or know anyone who would want to invest in my business to put up a serious mastering room (why would anyone, really), I decided about 10 years ago to look into headphones.

I don't think you can do it all in headphones, but if you have a great DAC, attenuator and at least two pairs of cans that are accurate in the lows and then mids/highs, and you get to know these really well, you can pull it off. Personally, I'm at a point where I have three pairs of cans that I trust completely and will probably stick to this method as I'm beyond comfortable with them. You've probably heard people saying that you shouldn't trust headphones for mastering, well, I personally think you should try things for yourself first and then decide if it works for you or not. My thing is, don't tell me what you think I can't do, especially if I've been doing it for over 10 years already and you're just repeating something someone else quoted in a magazine.

I now live in my own condo and have done a few structural improvements and some room treatment, but it's definitely not as great as a tuned room; I have a pair of decent B&W bookshelfs that I listen to my work on for the "air pushing" reference, and these are the same speakers I use to listen to music as well (I think that's very important when working in less than perfect rooms; you have to know your setup very well) but for the most part, I do most of my work on my headphones.

In order to do this type of work with cans and not have to run around to various systems to know what you are doing will translate to other systems, you have to know the limitations and respect them, that's the best advice I can give you.

Best of luck, from someone who was in a similar situation and once thought I would never be able to do this.

[strdsk]

I played and wrote music for 13 years...guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. In that time I studied fretboard theory heavily, played in the high school jazz band, and even taught kids on the side. What got me into that was the 80's wedding band my uncles had at the time. Once 18 I went to Columbia College and studied music composition, radio, film, and audio. I got sick of the music, radio, film thing and focused on just audio arts...recording, live sound, mastering, sound deisgn, acoustics, and audio electronics. I even interned at House of Blues...and hated it...lol! I soon graduated and continued recording bands for free out of love of the game...just as you're doing now. Did that for years then opened up a commercial studio. Choked on the overhead, but before I did made sure to get even more heavily into mastering. Learned about custom building my own analog gear and networked with more who were even better at it. Closed the studio down and went full time mastering/CD dupe out of my own private facility...tried hard and spent countless hours practicing. Never looked back is the most important detail!