Sound Recording Mastering?

Question

Had a question about sound recording and mastering.

If I need ten songs mastered, most online mastering services would come out to several hundred up to $1000. How difficult would it be to learn to do this on my own? Are there enough tutorials or "dummy" book information so that it is possible to learn within a week, or does this require the keen ear of someone who has been specially trained at a mastering school and uses industry tools that would take me months to learn?

Basically I just want to know if their service warrants the cost or if it is something I can literally tweak out of Adobe Audition in an hour.

Answer 1

If you can get ahold of a program and learn to master\mixdown the track yourself, that will be better in the long run. I personally prefer Magix or Cubase. It will save the money obviously, but knowing about how to master also can give you a better idea of how to record, since you know where the sounds are going in the end.

Most companies or engineers that charge alot for that service do it also because you're getting their name associated with it. Let's say you get a real well known engineer to do it... you also paid for the added bonus of putting in the liner notes that it was done by the same guy that did (insert platinum selling band\artist here).

Also, you can get alot of free help from forums on various music production sites, such as www.Soundclick.com

Alot of it also has to do with how well someone's ear is for this. I personally like mastering a certain way when I do, which in turn helps me record my own vocals better. Then again, some people just don't have an ear for it, or just have a different perspective of what is a "good" mixdown.

The only suggestions I have for learning it, is to go easy on the reverb, learn exactly what each frequency on an EQ will bring out or "deaden" each tone, learn about panning (both mono channel and stereo), and the only real hard part is using a compressor. Most programs out now have presets for different types of vocals that actually sound really good, so all you have to do is select and click and you're done.

If you decide to get someone else to do it, ask around where you live (or even online)... most local engineers that don't have an established name can do it for much cheaper, usually around here for $30 or less per song.

Hope that helps bro... if you have any questions about how any of that works hit me up for real. My email is in my profile

Answer 2

I have found that the easiest way to master something on the cheap is by getting a copy of cool edit. It will take out most of the rumble and give you a bit more gain on your track without getting too complicated. it does leave a little bit unresolved but it won't leave your tracks sounding muddy or completely unfinished. If this is for a demo or for something you are peddling at small shows I would find this acceptable.