I agree with Derivative up to some point. These days there isn't that much money in the music industry. Labels prefer artists than can provide a total package (Track, mixdown,master) to reduce cost and maximize the income. With a lot of regular releases in the dance industry, having a separate mixing/mastering engineer to mix/master your tracks could actually be similar to the earnings you make of a track.

But that's from a financial point of view. Who cares if you don't make any money as long as you're having fun?

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Storyteller Website | Storyteller @ Facebook | Storyteller @ Beatport | Storyteller @ Soundcloud | Stephen J. Kroos - Europa (Storyteller Remix)
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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

Last edited by Storyteller on Sep-12-2007 at 07:13

so does anyone know of anyone that masters tracks (professionally) i wouldnt mind checking one out just so that i can hear the difference

Thank you all for the replys and comments, much appreciated. I kinda get the feeling that the general opinion here is that pro engineering/mixing/mastring makes a huge difference, however you have to get it pretty much right from the beginning your self, when producing it.

As a reference track we used "In search of sunrise 6", which in my opinion sounds fantastic. Perhaps not very fair, but still. And I'd love to hear a one of those tracks before it's masterd.

Actually we made a little experiment yesterday, creating a new track with other samples, more minimalistic and did some mastring to it as well, and I really think you can hear the difference between the mastered and unmastered version (not only that it's louder). Please let me know if someone wants a sample of this little demo (wich is a demo, not finnished at all).

quote:

a little bit of 3k makes all the mud go away

What exactly does that mean, 3 kHz boost?

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by catalystG5 so does anyone know of anyone that masters tracks (professionally) i wouldnt mind checking one out just so that i can hear the difference

I can think of "JamesA" on TA and "Atlantis_AR" on t.nu. Many professional trance tracks of today are mastered by the artist itself. You could try e-mailing the artists whose sound you like.

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Connected - Glorafin [drum'n'bass]
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The point isn't to "get out of your body", it's to bring awareness to your consciousness while you're experiencing another reality.

actually mastering doesn't make that big of a difference. it will only make the track a bit tighter and usually louder. the main point is basicly making sure the entire single (or album) sounds pretty much the same (same levels etc).

remix packs are 99% of the time dry samples. it means all the synths and vocals and whatnot have their fx disabled, so they will sound totally dry and clean. effecting is what makes them sound so good.

the ability to really knowing how to use fx is even more important than knowing how to tweak a synth. with fx you can basicly change an entire sound to something totally different, or alternatively you can make it sound a bit better or fix some flaws it might have (too much bass for instance)

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Atlantis_AR though is sort of an engineer. I wouldn't master my own tracks because to be honest, I suck at it.

I can help if you contact me on MSN mate. I don't master anymore and I'm not exactly an engineer, but I know engineering and am only happy to share this "black art."

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Put an end to the loudness war. Don't limit or compress your mixdown until mastering; leave the master channel alone.

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