Kicking out tracks from a CD?

[huejahfink]

Every now and again I offer my own 'wisdom' to people's track selections, and suggest that a production on an album doesn't quite make the grade and could be cut from the list.

How about when you have 20 tracks from a relatively unknown and 4 or 5 of them don't make the grade? I'm very much in the 'less is more' camp when it comes to albums. I would rather 42 minutes of top quality tracks than an 70 minutes of some great tracks and a bunch of less considered, lower audio quality 'filler'.

I'm just curious as to how many mastering engineers take on this kind of responsibility to be very honest about the album, or who just does the best to master the tracks and stays well out of any of that so they can be sure not to upset the apple-cart.

(It's probably worth mentioning that even the 'biggest' artists that I deal with are quite underground in the scheme of things.)

[Greg Reierson]

That's what producers are for. Definitely not something a mastering engineer should get involved with.

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by Greg Reierson

That's what producers are for. Definitely not something a mastering engineer should get involved with.

Completely agree. If the band directly asks for my honest personal opinion regarding a subjective aesthetic decision I will certainly give it to them if that's truly what they want - but I will make every effort to be "diplomatic" in how I phrase it so that there's no possibility of it being taken the wrong way. Otherwise I don't solicit my personal opinions about these types of things, and feel these types of decisions or criticisms are not part of the job of mastering at all.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Adam Dempsey]

Originally Posted by huejahfink

I'm just curious as to how many mastering engineers take on this kind of responsibility to be very honest about the album, or who just does the best to master the tracks and stays well out of any of that so they can be sure not to upset the apple-cart.

It's definitely not a "responsibility" or role for a mastering engineer to take on, although on occasion, if/when requested, I've been happy to give some input or advice, making it clear it's their call. On more than one occasion it's resulted in an improved final release, or sometimes it comes down to discussing what's best as a first impression for track 1, then also hopefully upping the ante for track 2...

So, personally, it's quality over quantity, always. And perhaps even more so if it's a case of optimum vinyl side lengths.

As Steve mentioned: it comes down to diplomacy and an understanding of what the client needs, usually if they don't have a producer on board.