Is mastering still necessary?

[KingRazor]

Major label records have sounded stupid for decades. Are you old enough to remember the 80's? I am.

Here's an example: did you ever see the Ramones live? Ferocious band. Absolutely beautiful. Have you heard what a Ramones record ca. 1985 sounds like? That's what paying an industry professional buys you. Polished. Like a commercial for a minivan.

I have heard enough homogeneous garbage coming out of the radio for long enough that, no, I do not trust that industry with anything I care about.

Thanks to digital distribution I no longer have to.

Preach it, brotha!

 

[MrCincinnati]

Major label records have sounded stupid for decades. Are you old enough to remember the 80's? I am.

Here's an example: did you ever see the Ramones live? Ferocious band. Absolutely beautiful. Have you heard what a Ramones record ca. 1985 sounds like? That's what paying an industry professional buys you. Polished. Like a commercial for a minivan.

I have heard enough homogeneous garbage coming out of the radio for long enough that, no, I do not trust that industry with anything I care about.

Thanks to digital distribution I no longer have to.

Like I said the reason major records sound like garbage is because the labels demand that output from mastering houses. Not because mastering houses prefer to put out truncated peaks and brick walled product.

It is your job as a client to tell the mastering house YOUR vision for your record. If you do that they will be more than happy to master your project In a musical and sonically sound (no pun intended) manner.

 

[NOVAX]

I think just passing a mix through some Manley-like product with little, if any actual leveling, equalizing or enhancing is going to glue said mix together in a positive way.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

I understand that, but you can't have a conversation about the worthiness of mastering if your reference for "mastering" is a digital ITB master. The answer completely changes.

Exactly. things have changed, and ITB master is the standard now, no matter how much vinyl gets bought. And it is totally what my contribution is about, the worthiness of mastering and ITB production.

My point was that if we're talking about a true master - not a digital eq and level-up by some novice to intermediate engineer...then no it's not worth it if your recordings are crap -

Of course. nobody is saying mastering will turn crap to gold here.

and if you have professional recordings - doing that kind of "mastering" to your recordings is akin to buying a ferrari getting a 9.95 oil change and running 87 octane.

Exactly, we all agree on that. But we're talking about the software that is used in the top markets, by pros, in music you hear daily. This is is affordable now to the prosumer and owned by most average tracking facilities. Why add a step when you have all the relevant information and are equipped to bypass it, and complete the project correctly the first time?

..and to make sure we're talking about the same level of project...

if we're talking about publishing something to soundcloud.. then no - you don't need to hire a mastering engineer

if we're talking about an independent trying to bypass major labels (good for you) and you want the best sounding project possible so that the only differentiation between your project released by you and your project released by them is musical content, distribution channels and money directly to your pocket (if you're lucky) ---- then trust me a bedroom plugin master is only going to get you 75% there. The alternative is to invest money in recording, mixing and mastering... just like you have in practice, instruments, songwriting, vocal lessons (if necessary) etc..

You are still missing my point here, I'm talking about ITB mix buss technology replacing the need for the added steps analog has made necessary, in the average professional studio. As I stated earlier, cross platform media will require special skill sets.
Hope this clears my statements up for you, looks we are in agreement here on your points, but it seems like my one point is being missed here.
Cheers

 

[MrCincinnati]

Exactly. things have changed, and ITB master is the standard now, no matter how much vinyl gets bought. And it is totally what my contribution is about, the worthiness of mastering and ITB production.

Of course. nobody is saying mastering will turn crap to gold here.

Exactly, we all agree on that. But we're talking about the software that is used in the top markets, by pros, in music you hear daily. This is is affordable now to the prosumer and owned by most average tracking facilities. Why add a step when you have all the relevant information and are equipped to bypass it, and complete the project correctly the first time?

You are still missing my point here, I'm talking about ITB mix buss technology replacing the need for the added steps analog has made necessary, in the average professional studio. As I stated earlier, cross platform media will require special skill sets.
Hope this clears my statements up for you, looks we are in agreement here on your points, but it seems like my one point is being missed here.
Cheers

ITB mastering is not standard for commercial releases.

The best software emulates the best hardware, yes. It even allows for more creative processing given the availability of multiple instances, for example. But the idea that there is software available to the masses and that dictates the standard is just something that has not yet been realized.

Perhaps our disconnect comes because of a difference in opinion regarding what an average professional studio is.

I've worked in a professional studio for a major multi platinum producer, with his clients and some very notable mix engineers.

In their spare time they certainly did projects at home and mastered them with their own personal emus, sure. But when it came to their professional projects - the thought wasn't even present to say 1) I can/will, master this myself and 2) my software is all I need to do so. There's a reason for this and it is not personal preference.

There are some great and amazing emus of legendary and relevant processors that are available to the prosumer... I'm with you on that. I'll even go as far as to say for the majority of projects people reading this thread will tackle that level of prosumer software is probably overkill...

But if we are talking about a full fledged commercial release - there are very few shortcuts and mastering is definitely not one of them.

 

[Buster Brown]

Yeah, in the projects I've been involved with, the mastering engineer's fresh set of ears is the greatest asset.

This is the reason for "mastering" in it's entirety. Doesn't matter a damn whether it's 1/4 inch tape, 4 track, 16 track or digital 175 track.

That 2nd or 3rd or 25th set of ears can mean the difference from being "good" to being "great".

 

[thumbknuckle]

ITB mastering is not standard for commercial releases.

The best software emulates the best hardware, yes. It even allows for more creative processing given the availability of multiple instances, for example. But the idea that there is software available to the masses and that dictates the standard is just something that has not yet been realized.

Perhaps our disconnect comes because of a difference in opinion regarding what an average professional studio is.

I've worked in a professional studio for a major multi platinum producer, with his clients and some very notable mix engineers.

In their spare time they certainly did projects at home and mastered them with their own personal emus, sure. But when it came to their professional projects - the thought wasn't even present to say 1) I can/will, master this myself and 2) my software is all I need to do so. There's a reason for this and it is not personal preference.

There are some great and amazing emus of legendary and relevant processors that are available to the prosumer... I'm with you on that. I'll even go as far as to say for the majority of projects people reading this thread will tackle that level of prosumer software is probably overkill...

But if we are talking about a full fledged commercial release - there are very few shortcuts and mastering is definitely not one of them.

Wow, that is some incredibly condescending crap.

How about this: those products are probably overkill for the majority of the disposable, assembly line garbage projects this unnamed 'multi-platinum-producer' will tackle.

 

[MrCincinnati]

Wow, that is some incredibly condescending crap.

How about this: those products are probably overkill for the majority of the disposable, assembly line garbage projects this unnamed 'multi-platinum-producer' will tackle.

Sensitive much?

It wasn't meant to be condescending bro. I personally wouldn't invest that kind of money in any project I've tackled - so hard to condescend on someone when I'm in the same boat or less.

It makes no sense for the average bass player (people reading this thread) without distribution (the majority of people reading this thread) to spend approx $10,000 in plugins when they're 1) not even mix engineers and 2) not mastering engineers.

No offense meant. And no - I'm not going to address the jab you threw...that's just unnecessary.