On Nov 23, 2007 5:09 AM, Atte André Jensen <atte.jensen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi > > I almost finished a cd of electronic music with my linux laptop. Now I'm > thinking about making an actual cd of it. Now I'm wondering if I need to > pay for mastering... > > I think the recording sounds quite good by itself, but I have a vague > idea of mastering doing something magical to my audio. Can anything > general be said about the need for mastering of electronic music? > > Also, can I do a good enough job with jamin? Are there any tutorials > that I should read? What will I be aiming for in the process, > considering I think it sounds fine already? > > Any input appreciated! > > -- > peace, love & harmony > Atte > Hi Atte, OK, no question about it. All CDs will benefit from some degree of mastering. If nothing else a good mastering engineer will give the songs as a group a more consistent volume, presence, feel, if appropriate. In my opinion you can certainly do a credible job of mastering with Jamin IF you understand from the outset what you are trying to accomplish. Masting is not mixing. It's a process of building the CD in such a way that the songs sound good flowing from one to another. You know your music better than anyone else so you have an advantage there. However another set of really fresh ears can add some big value. Consider getting a copy of 'Mastering Audio - the art and the science" by Bob Katz. Great book on this subject. If you do decide to pay for mastering you might consider the following: 1) Try to talk with a couple of mastering houses to see what their approach is when doing mastering for a new artist. Finding a guy you can work with will pay off in the long run. 2) At a minimum try to get a deal you can afford to get at least a few (2-3 minimum) songs mastered. Hearing more than one song helps you understand the engineer's work a lot better. 2) One thing Bob Katz recommends is to send 'stubs' - I'm sure you mix your sings with mix group - drums, horns, bass, keyboards, vocals, etc. However you do it. Instead of sending a final stereo mix of the song see about sending 4-8 stubs with these different groups. This allows the mastering engineer to do his work on the groups individually before mixing them together and will generally produce better results when in competent hands. If you go this way make sure you get the mastered stubs as well as the final combined version back as part of the deal. It will take some negotiation to get this service at the right price but if you search around and get lucky you might find someone you will really like working with in the long run. Anyway, I hope the ideas are of interest. Cheers, Mark _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user
