steevio wrote:Ldizzy wrote:
cause ull never ever compete with a decent mastering.. .unless u become a successful mastering engineer....
totally disagree.
sweeping generalisations like that dont take into account thousands of factors, like experience, equipment, tune construction techniques, style of music....etc
ive been managing fine for my entire career withour ever having had anything mastered professionally other than the tweaks done in the cutting room under my supervision.
and almost all my musician mates over the years have done the same.
this obsession with mastering these days i find totally bizarre, and i think its driven by the cut throat environment of digital music sales, and a generally impatinece for success and lack of production skills and experience.
if there was ever a style of music where mastering is the least important link in the chain its minimal techno.
ahaahaha, re-reading myself i was an overgeneralizing brat yesterday...
writing this i went like... aight. and then i remembered this was the mnml forum... ( i come from a somewhat commercial hip hop background and dealing with vocals, ive always thought mastering was important... )
to me, ur absolutely right when u say an experienced producer, with tools they know... and a very creative sense can do very well without mastering, or even better then with average mastering... if u can, i say u are truly talented and very good at what u do
besides...some so called m.es ruin the work of the artists they work with and it seems to be hard to grow a good relationship with a good m.e....
my answer kinda went in that way : if ur a bedroom producer who's still learning and who's scared of mixdowns... ull hardly reach the objective of MASTERING tracks as well as a good mastering engineer, for quite a long time... a lot of people overstress about the quality of their releases and it refrains them from finishing tunes or putting them out... that thing can go forever... and i truly believe that for a whole lot of people... mastering is a complex thing to learn that dedicated people spend their life doing... and re-thinking about what ive said, i shouldn't've. ur right. besides, i kno ur a very experimented musician, far above anyhting ive done and i take it as schooling
now here's a more affirmed part of what i believe, tell me if u'd agree more.. : in my very opinion, as u stated... very good mixing doesnt require particular mastering... and in an analog fashion... very good production doesnt necessarily show a dependency towards a very good mixdown (altho in 2011 mixing and production are somewhat blurred together)...
reading the op's post i kinda felt that he was trying to make up for a poor mixing with some magical mixbus treatments similiar to mastering on the go... thus my very radical (wrong) answer. ill be responsible this time... and off course these are MY views.. and im noobish in that field, still.
i still tend to think, relying on other people sometimes can get u going more quickly in the creative process.. and ive suffered from attempts of making my tracks sound huge and fantastic comparing them with the last commercial release...
funny story...
i can't recall who it was but i have a vague memory of him being El-b, talking in an interview about how one of his favourite producers ( idk why buy i have Mj cole in mind if im not mistaken) didnt even operate a proper mixdown in the studio and just spent some time finding the right sounds, the right arrangements and the right processings while sampling... and his tracks still sounded fantastic...
