First shot at mastering!

[Justin Gadell]

alright looking for any advice tips anything i feel we finalyl got a decent recording layed down and i spent a l;ittle bit of time with the eq's and such with what cakewalk comes with standard so any vst's anything im open for.
sorry about the wonderful air force pt uniform...i was to lazy to change before we played :P

[Bassomatic]

Mastering is an art.

Didn't have time to listen, but if it's worth mixing and releasing it's worth having a proper master done by someone who knows what they're doing.

One of the numerous problems with DIY where mastering is concerned as most self-mastering guys are doing so in the same environment - with all the same flaws - in which the material was mixed. Think about it - this presents major issues as to hearing what's going on, even if one does know what one is doing.

[Justin Gadell]

oh i completely agree no arguments there and if i was releasing a cd or something i most likely would goto a professional but for home sake i was just giving a shot to see how well i can make it sound after we took a take or so and this is what i came up with. im not trying to produce a cd or anything im just trying to broaden my knowledge is all

[RocksOff]

Get the Mastering Engineer's Handbook. All three books in that series are great. You should be able to find them easily on Amazon.

[slayerbear17]

Music I,ve recorded myself....whether it be my own or another band, I wouldnt even dream of trying to master it myself. After listening to it for so long its hard to judge, I,ll just mix it best the way I see fit, then hand over to who is going to master it.

A couple times I,ve been burnt, but luckily an easy fix. Sometimes I,ll walk away for a week not even listen to that project I,m working on.

[Rex Anderson]

For self education, I highly recommend Bob Kat's website and book.

digido.com

"Mastering Audio, the Art and Science"

Bob is brilliant and does great work on any genre of music because he knows what he's doing (knowledge), has years of experience, an impressive array of all the gear necessary to do the job and GREAT EARS.

[Rex Anderson]

oops, sorry for the typo Bob. It's Bob Katz!

[Justin Gadell]

thanks for all the info guys imma head to barnes and noble / borders see if i can locate any of these. thanks REX, yeah its just self education i just wanna see how well i can make my own recordings sound to the best of my ability

[vicdeluca71]

My friend stopped by last week and gave me Ozone 4, i'ts a mastering plugin.The beauty of the plugin are the presets just click and BAM! mastered.Great plugin for the home recordist

[paulscape]

How much does it cost to get stuff mastered by someone else for a home recordist? What would be the process?

I try to mix as best I can and do some mild plugins and would love to hear how someone else would interpret it but I don't know where to look that would be feasible.

[Justin Gadell]

gonna have to look into ozone thanks man...@paulscape, good question i dont know any of that really i just do as you said you do...try to mix with some plugins the best you can from some basic reading

[paulscape]

Originally Posted by Justin Gadell

gonna have to look into ozone thanks man...@paulscape, good question i dont know any of that really i just do as you said you do...try to mix with some plugins the best you can from some basic reading

Yeah Ive been using a few Ozone and Waves plugins. I like bits of each preset and trying to work out how to use them all lightly without phasing and whether to run them in serial or parallel.

tweak, listen, wait, tweak, listen, wait, tweak, listen wait...

[Rex Anderson]

Hey Guys,

Mastering by a pro is pricey. Bob Katz (Digital Domain) was $150/hour years ago, not sure of current rate. Bob Ludwig at Gateway, well get a second mortgage.

There are good small house mastering guys in most major markets (Chicago etc).

Check out grahamduncan.com

Graham worked for me at the University of Illinois School of Music Audio Department. He is very knowledgeable, has good gear, good ears and reasonable rates. He'll talk you through the process.

[billyguitar]

It depends on what your CD is for, what purpose. I consider the recordings my band does are little more than business cards. While they do get a bit of airplay it's not enough to worry about. Mostly we just give them away to possible clients. If I can get everything heard in the mix in the car, then I'm pretty happy. Even that is hard to do sometimes!!

[Tonekat]

If you're going to attempt do that yourself, at least have someone come in with a pink noise generator and equalize your monitors.