mastering sing/song writer. budget $1000. ideas of who?

[ddanyboy]

Hi
we are about to mix a sing/song writer. most song are guitar, vocals and piano. Some have slideguitar and some with drums (brushes).

I would like to know who would be the best suited to master this. budget is $1000.

I feel like its more about getteing the eq balance right and some soft, fat compresion than getting it as loud as possible. really want it to sound dynamic.

also, is it possible to have the master-guy listen and come with ideas, before the mix is 100% done.
what i mean is, for example;

I send the the to the master person. he says that if he wants to add highs to the mix the guitar would sound to hard. so its better to lower the highs on the guitar a bit.

or that i should deess the vocs so that he can add highs to make the cymbals sparkle a bit without vocs being "essy".

thanks for reading, please come with ideas and stuff to think of when sending to master, since ive never done it before..

[Musiclab]

Scott Hull, does a deal with uinsigned artists, is great and very very musical

[ddanyboy]

thanks for your answer. I really thought many more people would answer. i have got a lot of pms wich i really tend to look up closer.

But what i really meant was that people should give suggestions of "famous" people they know are good and have worked with this kind of music, or softer pop, country etc..

suggestions please?

[UnderTow]

ddanyboy,

I think the questions I ask in my PM are relevant for suggestions of MEs. :)

Alistair

[ddanyboy]

some more info!
the album contains 10 songs.
im in sweden, but if we can work with ftp for example, that would work fine.

whats "redbook master ready for a pressing plant"!?

[UnderTow]

The tracks can be mastered as a collection of tracks or they can be mastered as an album with PQ coding and all that so that the master can be sent straight to a CD pressing plant to be duplicated.

Alistair

[ddanyboy]

i want it 100% ready for cd pressing. whats a PQ coding? sorry for being stupid..

[neilwight]

its one of the many things that you shouldnt need to really think about if you get a good ME to work on your project.
these things are often banded around to make things sound impressive but its part of a defined set of criteria and paperwork supplied to the artist/label to pass on to the duplicator/pressing plant to make the final product.
you should get a "pack" returned with all thats needed and in either DDP or PMCD format for passing to whoever is going to make the final run

much of the work done in a mastering job is ensuring that a rather boring list of criteria is done thoroughly, checked and provided to ensure quality control and traceability of your work. it will also help in the eventuality theres an issue somewhere that impacts your final product. should you end up with 10,000 coasters having had a thorough ME do your project will mean that its easier to find out where something went wrong and if need be prove it too and get the work redone. without this paper trail you can be out there in the wind, unable to prove responsibility

as for your other question.
most good MEs will have good experience of your sort of music. most see a wide variety in a month and back this up by having depth in the personal choices of music. its in our own interests to keep up with current trends.

getting an ME involved early is definately advisable if your new to it all though the intensive nature this brings means that many will not have the time to develop.
you are right to look for this though, especially since it sound like you are self producing.
its often easier to have things pointed out early enough that its easy to change if theres anything glaring oute and building a relationship will enable the finished product to be the best it can be.

ref your mix questions, the general rule is that you should make the mix sound to you as best as you can get it. leaving off anything thats there purely for volume. dont try to second guess the mastering phase. if you mix well enough there will be no need for mastering processing ( but still for mastering ) so aim for this. its been my experience that ive yet to hear a track that i could add to and know this to be the case with every ME ive talked with however some do get very close.
as such, de-ess f your vox sound sibilant and are improved by adding, dont if they arent and the same goes for everything else.

mastering should be there to get a cohesive feel the whole and help each portion be as best as it can be. for it to do this well you need to make the production as good as it can be, not make decisions based on how you think the ME may then do something.

[Silvertone]

What Neil said from Point One Mastering is right on the money.

Just to let you (and everyone else) know, our typical mastering price comes in for this or slightly less for bands and independents.

best regard,
Larry

[lucey]

There are a lot of MEs that could master this project very well, via FTP ... your ability to communicate your taste and present a good mix are your tickets to success.

Specialist MEs are a crock. All styles are welcome. Was Bruce Swedien not qualified to mix pop since had previously mixed jazz? Do you want your record to sound fresh, or just like every other artist in your genre?



And yes, we all consult.

[The dman]

Specialist MEs are a crock. All styles are welcome. Was Bruce Swedien not qualified to mix pop since had previously mixed jazz? Do you want your record to sound fresh, or just like every other artist in your genre?

Good point. I'd rather deal with someone who understands music as a whole as opposed to a one trick pony.

[Fretbored]

Hey, I'd love to master a sample for you to consider. I've been in the business for some time, but have now branched off on my own. Let me know if your interested - mbridegam@yahoo.com I'd love to hear from you.

[ddanyboy]

i understand what you mean by i should make the mix sound as good as possible.
but since i dont have the best sounding equipment i was thinking that it might be a good idea to save the some of the highs to the mastering since he probably has better experience and better EQs. so that he can add som highs rather than taking away..

bad idea?

sorry for being stupid..

[neilwight]

im not sure im fully following you however are you suggesting that you leave your mix bright as you are worried your equipment will not allow you to judge this area appropriately?
you say you want to save the highs for the ME, but then say that this is so that he can add them rather than take away!! do you mean "leave" when you say "save"?

my comments ref just mixing as best you can, on what you have, and making it sound as good as you can get it still hold.
dont try to second guess what will be done after you. hopefully you know your gear, even if its limited, enough that you dont need to take blind guesses with EQ or anything else. trying to make decisions based on something beyond what you are actually hearing is never a good idea. dont get out the freq analysers and chop into things it presents visually. if you cant hear something, leave it. if you can hear it, deal with it.
just listen to what you have and then try to get it as close to what you want it to sound like.

as long as you dont crush the life out of the mix then any uneveness at the top, or any other area, should be easily adjusted by your ME.

the most common issues i see with mixes, spectrum wise, here is overemphasised bottom ends and high freq droop. my own thoughts are that this is due mainly to room variables. many "home studio" rooms ive been in have had poor bass control coupled to speakers with poor low response and been overly bright.

[ddanyboy]

thanks for you answer. and i meant leave when i wrote save, my bad english, sorry!

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by lucey

Specialist MEs are a crock. All styles are welcome. Was Bruce Swedien not qualified to mix pop since had previously mixed jazz?

I agree but nevertheless there are MEs that mainly work in certain genres in the same way that a producer or engineer might have a reputation for certain styles.

As we know, Bruce Swedien is one of the best ever engineers but I don't think that he gets many inquires about doing heavy metal and punk projects.

My methods when choosing a ME was always to read the credits on CDs I like and then checking the availability and pricing of the MEs involved.

Working mostly in the Americana genre, I have most of my projects mastered by Jim DeMain/Yes Master in Nashville. A fantastic ME that I would highly recommend for the project in question.

Check some of his credits here: http://music.barnesandnoble.com/sear...CTR=119130&z=y

[lucey]

Originally Posted by doorknocker

I agree but nevertheless there are MEs that mainly work in certain genres in the same way that a producer or engineer might have a reputation for certain styles.

As we know, Bruce Swedien is one of the best ever engineers but I don't think that he gets many inquires about doing heavy metal and punk projects.

Maybe he doesn't like that style ... but what if he did? What cool metal recording is not being made?

My point is that a good ME is a music lover, and learns all styles. It took me a few years to understand how to nail some styles but I did it, so I'd assume all others can do it too.

When we become specialists, we become habitual, and that leads to sameness ... as a music lover, I'd prefer a little something new.

Mastering is more about communication with the client than a cookie cutter approach to anything, so style is not important unless we're just being lazy or want it "just like band X".