Educate me: the point and use + caveats of PRE-Mastering

[Googlyman]

Really, I know I can use some plugins for 'pre-mastering' or mastering a bit on your own before even remotely calling for a pro mastering service or engineer....

but I would think it can be misleading and you could damage your mix even further up to the point that you loose dynamics trying to meet the 'premastering' chain to sound great.

So, I would like to ask all of you:
1. whats the use of premastering ?
2. is premastering useful on your own ?
3. what are pro and cons, and caveats to watch out for ?
4. how to approach or execute proper premastering ?
5. what to read or know about before even engaging in premastering and mastering as an art on itself ?

Thank you !

[Chris Bauer]

To give an exhaustive answer would take quite a bit of text. However, Bob Katz has written a very useful book called "Mastering Audio" which would answer all of your questions in a lot of detail.

[ProfessorNick]

If you are worried about overdoing things, just be sure to leave a trail of files you can go back to later. Digital isn't destructive unless you overwrite files. Keep the originals so the mastering engineer can chose the. Est starting point, which could turn outto be the un-pre-mastered version. Also try making some stem mixes of the important elements so your mastering engineer can process them separately if need be.
If you are going to pre-master, you might as well master it yourself. If you don't want to master it yourself, there's your answer.
It is kind of like I don't pre-fix my car before taking it to the mechanic.

[MOBMastering]

Go as far as you can with your mix. Be happy with the sound and don't worry about anything else. Ask to a real pro doing your Mastering. If anything goes wrong, he will tell you and will ask for modifications

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by MOBMastering

Ask to a real pro doing your Mastering.

Quoted for Truth!

JT

[DBarbarulo]

do a mastering process on your own before an external professional one has no mouch sense untill you use it to better communicate with the ME about levels and overall shaping you would like to reach if far from your mix. No other sense to me. BTW if you are talking about some sort of processing on the mixbuss like some amount of compression or eq ( not a brickwall limiting) you are still in the mix environment and you don't have to worry aout interfacing with the ME.

DB

[anrug]

Originally Posted by MOBMastering

Ask to a real pro doing your Mastering.

Originally Posted by Jerry Tubb

Quoted for Truth!

I think this calls for a 'provocative' answer (at least in this forum):

Rather ask a real pro (tm) to do the recording and you'll need no 'mastering'.

[Laarsø]

Originally Posted by Googlyman

So, I would like to ask all of you:
1. whats the use of premastering ?

Premasterng is what most people who post here do. (Ask George Z., if you don't believe me.) Yes, lots of people are now calling premastering, "mastering," but they are all jumping the gun, because the gun sounds kewl. I like to think of myself as more of a light brown, but, when you get right down to the nitty gritty, I really came from a cracker barrel.. ): What you are describing is really known as second-guessing the mixing. Just mix to sound great when the control room is flooded with sound. "Hurt me, Bruce," as Jacko used to tell Swedien.

Originally Posted by Googlyman

2. is premastering useful on your own ?

I work best, alone. Most sessions are unattended, but my dog is the dummy load (even though he's the brains of this organization).

Originally Posted by Googlyman

3. what are pro and cons, and caveats to watch out for ?

Most pros are in it for the love. Most cons are just out to get your money! (0r to say that they are "mastering.") Caveat emptor.

Originally Posted by Googlyman

4. how to approach or execute proper premastering ?

Years of practice, cost-no-object acoustics and monitoring, fresh set of ears (which didn't participate with tracking or mixing the job), and lots of strong Chron...

Originally Posted by Googlyman

5. what to read or know about before even engaging in premastering and mastering as an art on itself ?

Mastering requires using poisonous chemicals which are controlled by the EPA. There's a bible of mastering, written by K.R. Smith, or something like this. It is read by the serious galvanizers, here. Premastering requires comparing the sound of the work in progress with a known-to-sound-great premaster or CD extract at the same loudness setting - without turning your head.

Originally Posted by Googlyman

Thank you !

You're welcome!



Cheersø,
Laarsø

[Bob Olhsson]

There are three aspects to mastering:

The first is to make sure you don't get back a thousand coasters from a replication plant!

The second is to optimize the first impression the recording makes on reviewers, promoters and others making decisions about which artists they are willing to get behind. This is the calling card aspect.

The third is making sure the recording will be enjoyable to fans upon repeated listening.

[kosmokrator]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

There are three aspects to mastering:

The first is to make sure you don't get back a thousand coasters from a replication plant!

The second is to optimize the first impression the recording makes on reviewers, promoters and others making decisions about which artists they are willing to get behind. This is the calling card aspect.

The third is making sure the recording will be enjoyable to fans upon repeated listening.

The first one is very valid, but of no importance to many DIY-ers.

The latter twos would probably better be served by having the song professionally mixed or even tracked / produced.
Which is of course more important, more work and therefore more expensive.

So IMO many people do all themselves and then go to mastering to give them the peace of mind that they have a 'professional' production.

Many mastering guys (myself incuded) profit from that development. It's a band-aid in most cases though.
The music probably would profit more from pro mixing in >80% of the cases.

[Laarsø]

Sometimes WackyPedia gets it right:


If you look up PMCD, you get the followink:

"Many CD replicators now accept regular CD-R discs in place of true PMCDs, which can be created using specialized Audio CD pre-mastering software. ... Modern, professional pre-mastering software relies on the DDP format, which protects both the audio data and its associated metadata."




So, all you premastering guys, fire up your just-amortized copy of PreMaster CD and start premasterink! Do it precisely and with preeminence. Make sure the presentation is predominantly precious and proceed with the process of pressink!



Cheersø,
Laarsø

[StephenMarsh]

The process that precedes 'mastering' is 'mixing'

As a couple others have highlighted - 'pre' mastering IS what we nowadays refer to in slang as 'mastering'.

[acorneau]

Originally Posted by StephenMarsh

As a couple others have highlighted - 'pre' mastering IS what we nowadays refer to in slang as 'mastering'.

Stephen,

Trying to tell Laarso about the terms "mastering" versus "pre-mastering" is useless. You'll make more progress banging your head against a brick wall.

[MAzevedo]

To get back to the original topic, could you clarify what you mean by premastering? In a technical sense, 'mastering' is etching the glass at the pressing plant or cutting the lacquer on a lathe and 'premastering' is all the processing and editing that happens at most mastering studios now. If this is how you mean 'premastering' in your question, there are no cons or caveats if someone who is experienced and has good ears that the producer can communicate well with does the work. As to how to become one of those people, the best way is to apprentice with one of them. Alternately, you could read a book (like Bob Katz's) or take a course (Berklee College of Music has a very popular online mastering course my old coworker Jonathan Wyner teaches). Either way, you'll have to work on many, many albums before you are really good at it. (But, good at most anything takes lots of practice, so no surprises there.)

[Bob Olhsson]

With analog disks pre-mastering and mastering were both part of the same process.

The CD required a clean room for the laser beam recorder and produced a very fragile master. That process was best done at the replication plant with the creative aspect still being handled in a traditional analog disk mastering room.