Song Mastering..

[Nicktalopia]

Every now and then someone rages a producer for not mastering his own song and have people deal with it as if it's a scandal, at some point the producer becomes a joke and no one will take his job seriously (Unless it's a big name that people would excuse for not having spare time..) although mastering isn't something you can pull off after reading Online tutorials (At least professional mastering) still it degrades the producer's image by miles considering the great portion sound engineering occupies the final outcome and sound of the original production. You don't see a producer crediting the sound engineer, most of these deals are done under the table, i've done a little research and found out that some charge only 15$ to 75$ per song, the price goes higher if it's a vocal tune or if the sound engineer is more prominent.

So the question is do you think every producer should master his own song all by himself ? and if he can't would it make you think less of him or his productions ?

[Fawzi]

^You're referring to Alex Morph, right?

Anyway, I don't have a clear idea about song production and mastering, so I wouldn't know what is it that they do during that "phase". Even if you tell me it's got a major impact on the outcome, I wouldn't really be able to judge on my own unless I know what it is.

[Nicktalopia]

Well here's a short explanation, mastering a song is when you blend via EQ and mix the instruments/channels of the song all together to get an equalized result, adjusting each sound alone going by sound formulas, frequency and velocity levels. The EQ plays a major part, not exactly but sort of just like the sound you get from your ipod when you mess with the Equalizer only in sound engineering it's done in a way not to conflict with the next sound.
Note:Mastering separate songs is easier than mastering 8 or more songs that are supposed to make an album.

Calculating the freq means:

Frequency = Velocity
Wavelength



SPL = sound pressure level, decibels (db)
P = sound wave pressure, newtons/meter2
Pref = reference pressure or hearing threshold, newton/meter2
IL = intensity level, decibel (db)
I = sound intensity, watt
I0 = reference intensity or least audible sound level, watts
PAV = average power, watt
NPL = noise pollution level, decibel (db)



of course there are other factors involved to get a 'clean' cut sound.
luckily for beginners there are VSTs or standalone programs that take care of stuff such as noise reduction, hum & hiss removal, equalization but nothing beats the outcome when a professional does all these steps manually, that's why producers look for engineers to do the job for them.

Oh and i wasn't only referring to Alex, there are many others that some already know but i don't want to start a names conteversy.

[DIONYSOS]

I don't really care who mastered the track as long as the producer actually produced it. Mastering is just for musicians, it's for sound engineers, so let each do his own thing. A producer can be capable of writing the best melodies and designing the best beats but not know shit about mastering, that doesn't make him any less of a good producer. Do you see Robbie Williams mastering his own songs? Of course not, he does his thing - singing - and the engineers do their thing - mastering. It's completely irrelevant and I find it funny that some people pass judgements about producers based on that. I publicly admit that I don't master my own tracks, I don't know how to, nor am I interested in even learning to be honest.

[Icepick]

Mastering tracks isn't as easy as it sounds, it needs a good pair of ears and some heavy expensive hardware and in some cases software to be done.
I used to edit and somewhat master tracks of friends of mine, and believe me after a couple of hours of work, the result is no where near perfect so I totally agree with DIO, as long as the producer is doing his thing then let the engineers do theirs, thats what they are there for at the end of the day.

There is a mastering studio here, charges a minimum of 500$ per track but can seriously do shit! So producers actually PRODUCE the tracks, mastering is another level !

[Nicktalopia]

Well in my opinion an EDM artist should have what it takes to Master his tune for several reasons, one of them is how far Mastering is involved in changing the course of the track and how deep the 'music and 'pure instruments' element can be manipulated from something totally a flop to a successful melody, pop/rock artists don't really have to master their tracks because the majority of the track is Vocals the melodies are played live most of the time so there's no strong retouch by the sound engineer, compared to the retouch done by edm engineers. Another thing is that edm artists hardly ever admit using sound engineers because they know it would make them look stupid, not many rock songs get remixed and that's a very strong argument in EDM music because some engineers do the remixes for the artist and the artist will have the remix released under his name without any credit to the engineer that remastered the track according to his vision. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we have too many remixes that don't differ much from the original mix of the tune, EDM has turned from a creativity business to become completely a music recycling business, the most successful is the one who knows how to capture the right sample and change the parts in it that make it recognizable as a different artist melody and so on ...

[[IN]Head-Kay]