CD Mastering engineering - what are the typical costs and merits?

xtedmanzie

The Glue isn't multi band, it's basically an ssl buss compressor.

thomasross20

John_A said:

I've used Landr and it's pretty good for demos, my 'mastering' is pretty basic, but sounds OK for demo use, tracks I've uploaded to Lander come back sounding probably marginally better with no effort. For demos I'd say use it, for release material then a good mastering engineer is worth paying for

Interesting, I hadn't heard of Landr! Have you got examples? 

Maybe I'll upload a song and see how it comes out!

All this is great as long as the music is good. I'd rather have good music and pants mastering.

thomasross20

Jesus!! I just tried Landr and it really brought two tracks to life!!! What a difference!!!

----> I am definitely going to have to pursue something like this.

Deijavoo

Can you upload a before and after? Just interested is all.

thomasross20

Just tried a few other sites out and WOW, what a difference. 

thomasross20

Deijavoo said:

Can you upload a before and after? Just interested is all.

I'll maybe try at the weekend - just started an install of PowerDirector video editor which is making my connection slow. 

--> I can see mastering will be a necessity, and not a cheap one. But for a once in a lifetime album creation, you'd regret not getting it done. 

--> I thought I was listening to a new Satriani album for a moment! Lol!!

EDIT - would definitely pay for somebody to do this. There's only so much one person can do..... 

Cirrus

Definitely interested in a before and after. I guess my reservation with an automatic processor is that if I was given a mix to master, I'd probably do stuff differently depending on what the songs either side of it sound like and what I thought the artistic intent was - ie mastering an album isn't really so much about taking a track and turning it up to 11, it's about taking a lot of mixes and making them sound like they all belong on the same CD.

And going through my record collection, albums vary hugely in terms of volume and spectral content - ie some commercially released albums are bass heavy, bass light, middy, scooped, mellow up top, hyped and bright... LANDR surely isn't intelligently making those kind of judgements, it's just got profile for compression, stereo width at different frequencies,  EQ etc that it'll contort the track to fit.

I'm not saying it can't sound good, obviously you like what you're hearing. I'm just saying results may vary...

PolarityMan

thomasross20 said:

Jesus!! I just tried Landr and it really brought two tracks to life!!! What a difference!!!

----> I am definitely going to have to pursue something like this.

I tried it out on our album and couldnt hear the difference. The mixes were pretty damn hot to being with though.

geepers0677

We use Landr too - big difference on a budget.

thomasross20

geepers0677 said:

We use Landr too - big difference on a budget.

Can you expand? How easy was the whole process? Total cost? 

Do you have a before and after?

thomasross20

One sneaky thing Landr did was increase the volume on the mastered track I have to note. 

I also tried some other more expensive ones and the results were even better. I'm sure they just boost a few frequencies and chuck a compressor on for these but still..

steamabacus

An interesting BBC R4 program about mastering aesthetics ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tvgp1


And an excellent (if a little technically dense) article on the subject from Sound On Sound magazine ....

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb14/articles/loudness-war.htm

thomasross20

What sos article is not dense?

Good stuff, though!

I need an idiot's guide to it... 

John_A

thomasross20 said:

John_A said:

I've used Landr and it's pretty good for demos, my 'mastering' is pretty basic, but sounds OK for demo use, tracks I've uploaded to Lander come back sounding probably marginally better with no effort. For demos I'd say use it, for release material then a good mastering engineer is worth paying for

Interesting, I hadn't heard of Landr! Have you got examples? 

Maybe I'll upload a song and see how it comes out!

All this is great as long as the music is good. I'd rather have good music and pants mastering.

Heres a before and after using Landr some tracks for a covers band I'm in we recording at home using Cubase LE and a Steinberg UR22 soundcard

Mix exported from Cubase

https://soundcloud.com/jc_anderton/whole-lotta-love-mix

Home Mastered Version

https://soundcloud.com/jc_anderton/whole-lotta-love-mix

Lander Version

https://soundcloud.com/jc_anderton/landr-whole-lotta-love-mix

thomasross20

Need to listen to those with my nice headphones. Appreciate you taking the time to do that. 

I see LANDR is now fully integrated with CDBaby - what a coincidence!

Heartfeltdawn

@John-A I much preferred the Home Mastered version. The Landr one doesn't work for me at all. 

John_A

@heartfeltdawn can you say why? I know were only a pub covers band, but just about to get some CD's cut. The home ones were EQd a bit to roll off some highs and add some bottom end

Rowby1

If you can find a mastering engineer who's willing to evaluate your mixes before you send them for mastering it's very worthwhile.

The online for £25 a song guys I would be very dubious of them applying the necessary time and attention to detail to do a professional job. You could probably do better yourself with a bit of software and some practice.

Heartfeltdawn

John_A said:

@heartfeltdawn can you say why? I know were only a pub covers band, but just about to get some CD's cut. The home ones were EQd a bit to roll off some highs and add some bottom end

It sounds very modern and in your face. I had been noodling with a couple of rack reverb units and then listening to My Bloody Valentine before reading your thread. Going to Soundcloud I listened to the first two tracks, didn't touch the dial on my monitor controller. When the Landr mix came on, I winced and had to turn it down. To me, it doesn't fill the ears nicely, it hits them with a spade. 

This one is much better. 

John_A

@heartfeltdawn Thanks for the input, I'll go with the home mastered versions for the CD, it's only to get pub gigs so not getting the pros involved To be fair to Lanr, the home versions are EQd a bit different, and I did use the MAX setting on Landr, they also offer some more subtle versions