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BALLSACKS

Dont put reverb on your master

To throw my log on the fire...

At all times, with every decision you make, with every knob you tweak, with every sound you put into your tune, the question you should *always* be asking is 'does this sound better?'.

Very basic, and yet often the first thing you overlook cos of the excitement of turning knobs.

Turning knobs must make it sound better, right? Well... no. Knowing when to do nothing is mastery of the highest level.

Bert advice i can give is to find someone who is willing to teach you if you're just starting out.. Be willing to take alot of criticism. Forums and books can't tell you what your doing wrong, they also can't train your ear. Reading on a forum alot can be misunderstood, and alot just isn't the best info. (i will say tho, that macc has great info if you are at a level of understanding it ) I'm not saying this is the only way, but definitely the quickest. Also realise that not everyone has an ear for it. But don't let that stnp you. There's plenty of people who will mix and or master your track.

Easy. You are fussing around too much, I suggest learning every workings of what your using to get the full potential out of it. YouTube has walk throughs etc. Search specific information. Make shure nothing is clipping and keep in mind the goal or sound you want to get to

This thread is from 2009.

The initial question is still valid in 2012.
My short reply is:
Because what you think to be mastering isn't.

My advice would be, don't master unless you have got the speakers or the ears or the knowledge for it, there really is no point.. just try and get a solid mix, but a lot of beginning producers seem to think mastering is something you should know or be able to do...

If you're listening in a less than suitable environment and have don't have the money to have it sent off for mastering I would give you 2 pieces of advice.

1. Find a track that has the same sort of style / sounds. This will be your reference.

2. Use only x1 high quality EQ x1 high quality compressor and x1 high quality limiter. Then try to get the sound as close to the chosen reference with just these 3 tools.

A common mistake a lotta guys make when trying to "master" there own track is just layering plugin after plugin and ending up with a glorified mess. It's a subtle art very different to mixing, every decision you make impacts the mix massively so think carefully about every step you make and constantly ask yourself "Is this actually improving the sound? or is it just making it sound louder?"

bad mastering will generally make tracks sound worse.

Sharmaji wrote:bad mastering will generally make tracks sound worse.

^^ this all day.

I've heard GREAT mastering still only result in mediocre results on a bad track... but usually if the end sounds TERRIBLE, then it is bad mastering. And there is plenty of it around (or even careless mastering from usually decent ME's).

Listen to it on as many devices as possible. Make notes on each divice and what doesnt sound right. Someone on here does like a pre-master for £10 or something, really good service. Just make sure you are 100% happy with the tune before sending!