Who sends material out for mastering?

[stainless]

And where?

I'm one of "those" who thinks a fresh set of ears (and unbiased ones) are a definite plus to putting a final mix into "radio play" quality (assuming they don't squash the crap out of it)

I have Ozone and Peak and IK's CSR for verb.... but by the time the final mix is "ready", I've heard the song possibly a100 o (or more) times)... am I really objective?  probably more "sounds great... it's done... pay and go away!!!!" (and that's just on my own tunes!!!


I've used  Crazy Daisy Production out of Oregon and I was happy with what they did.  I'm thinking on the next project trying Mr. Toad in S.F> just because it's a studio with a long history

[Dogbreath]

I just got thru with a country/gospel CD for my bro and since country isn't my usual forte, we decided to send it out. Course, my mastering skillz suck so we probably would've anyway. 

Anyway, we went with Tom at Waltz Mastering http://waltzmastering.com/ and I think he did some very nice work. I tracked and mixed everything fairly "low" (-15 to -10) and he brought out some nice oomph, clarity and space to everything.
When he was done, it sounded pretty cohesive...like it should have been. And keep in mind, this was about a 3 year project so some of my stuff was better than others.

Not pimpin Tom's place or services...just a happy camper. 

[ToniV]

I would suggest, as I myself am practicing that, to NEVER master your own mixes, unless you're forced to (and even that, with a gun to forehead), because it's not that it would be bad, per se, it's just the fact that your music can get treated with another set (or more) of ears, which can spell a BIG difference in almost every aspect of "sonic picture"... Believe me, I've tried that and I absolutely stand behind that! Why? I'll try to give a brief explanation:

You are working on a song for about a week, give or take a day... You know every bit of it,  every MISTAKE that was probably corrected/edited, basically you've heard the song so many times, it's in your head and you find yourself playing it (or a part of it) over and over again unconsciously... That can drive you nuts sometimes, and you can get used to the way it sounds, which means that you are ALREADY BIASED... By the time you've finished mixing you KNOW how it sounds, and you also EXPECT it to sound that way when mastered... And it does, which is the point here... Then you listen to it and compare to others... And believe me, when I say this, it ALWAYS sounds as if something's missing, maybe not at first, but after a while it does. I know, i tried it MANY times, even when i sent my mixes to mastering studio...

And it was such a relief and pleasure for ears, when i got back my mastered mixes, not that they sounded different, but kind of like, for example, imagine having a nice picture on your wall, and you don't swap it with other, just PUT THE PICTURE IN ANOTHER FRAME, and instantly, it seems refreshing, but NOT different! What I'm trying to say, it gets another point of view, which you as a mixing engineer CANNOT see...

And the same goes for another way around; when I get mixes for mastering, I just love doing it! It's a real refreshment and most importantly clients are satisfied...

But sometimes, when you'll get clients on a budget, be prepared to do mastering, if they want you to do it. A few weeks ago I did that for a band... They were happy, I was not... Can't help it!

Well, to sum it up, You're definitely missing out making your own masters. Period.


Cheers, Toni

[stainless]

we've now gone a step further- there's the mix the band has decided "works'".  All the tracks will now be sent to another engineer to mix and then they get mastered.

it is a bit of an uneasy feeling I'll admit to just send out the individual tracks to someone I've never met but our drummer knows him and his credentials are much more impressive than mine (which isn't hard to beat...)

[ToniV]

Sometimes it's even better to have another mixing engineer to work with your recorded material (don't forget to mention details and goals), same as with mastering, can be a good another viewpoint! Just be careful you don't wanna bump into some knowitall-wannabee "engineer", you should always make contact with a person, to whom you are sending your material!

[stainless]

I'm guessing this guy has it together- he was Foreigner's bass player for 10 years, co-wrote some of their material, and has since done soundtracks for movies, PBS, HBO, Showtime. He's a longtime friend of our drummers (and he made the offer, as opposed to our drummer begging....)

we're jazzed... and I'm a little nervous, not sure how my tracks will be received, whether I get an 'atta-boy" or a long "...hmmmmm"

[ToniV]

Whooaa, Foreigner, holy crap! I love their music... wouldn't have my early teenage years back without them! Always brings so much memories... Anyway, i guess you've got nothing to worry about, and you are lucky !

About your tracks, as long as there isn't too much noise or too high a level, you've got nothing to worry about - anything works, as long as you have focus and a concept! You should make a contact with that guy anyway, he'll probably need some additional info on your goals and whatnot... At least I would want to have as much debate as possible with the recording engineer and the band of course!

Cheers, Toni

[stainless]

yes a stroke of good luck (I guess if you stay it this long enough you're bound to catch a break sometimes!) We're basically studio players, a few giggs a year would be fun, but it's not what motivates us anymore

Our drummer has been "feeding" him MP3's of our mixes, so he's got a pretty good perspective at what we've been playing/listening to as to mix and arrangements. He made some early suggestion about kick (which I followed), but that's about the extent of it- Bruce and i have e-mailed back and forth about getting the tracks up - save as .AIFF and put on a flash drive- we're both on Macs and he's very familiar with DP.  I like headroom, so typically I'm averaging ~ -18 to -12 dB, and as I don't use a lot of effects, the tracks will be pretty raw and as recorded.

We've 3 more tunes to finish up and then off they go. We're looking at maybe 3-4 more weeks and then I can get nervous and fidget a lot

[SafeandSoundMastering]

I think that one of the greatest benefits of sending out material for mastering is the fresh ears and objectivity coupled with the experience a mastering engineer has.

No point in denying it many will be self finalizing their musical productions but I do think the merits of sending out are very high indeed. High resolution monitoring and accurate acoustics really allow a mix to be deeply listening into and thats where the often many small subtle changes pull together to make a bigger subjective difference.

cheers

Barry