digital mastering/room accuracy

sylvie.foret · Post by **sylvie.foret** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:08 pm

this is part complaint, part question which pertains only to digital releases.

i've been getting a lot of great tracks from beatport and kompakt that are poorly mastered. to the point where they're almost unusable unless i re-master them myself--which is hard, because my studio isn't accurate at all. i usually mess with them in ableton, and sometimes drop them into logic--then i listen to them all over my house and in my car until i get a workable stereo mix. but most of the time i don't bother and then these great songs just become orphans on my hard drive. such a waste...

this leads me to believe that many producers master their own tracks in inaccurate environments. or possibly release the vinyl masters digitally. this is a mystery to me

my question is, how do you do your digital mastering?

resonaut · Post by **resonaut** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:20 pm

could you give us some examples (bad masters @ beatport)?

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:55 pm

Cadenza mp3's on beatport are terrbile.

sylvie.foret · Post by **sylvie.foret** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:45 pm

oy. was reluctant to name names.

agreed re. cadenza. alphahouse and esperanza are inconsistent. italo business mixes are always too hot. also, i can't remember the label, but a few individual tracks that come to mind: recent cinelli rmx of franklin de costa. pronsato rmx of se & miskate also a little off, but the original is fine.

recent florian meindl releases on trapez brought this issue to mind--"chase the robot" in particular. great song, the mix is rot. mush. goo. i want my money back.

most reliable : m_nus, beretta grey, archipel, kalimari, clink. karloff, meersteif--i'd like to know who does their mastering.

those de costa tracks must also be trapez. wtf! the cornerstone of minimal puts out crap mixes. appalling...

sylvie.foret · Post by **sylvie.foret** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:51 pm

here--i'll offer constructive criticism. on the meindl mixes, the bass kick is too loose and the overall mix lacks definition. however, i just played "worms" in my partner's studio and it sounds better on a big system in a good room. but a proper master should sound great even when it's quiet.

alphahouse and esperanza: mid and highs are too much in front. i found this with the 150 razones ep. when playing them out, i have to pay a lot of attention. recent butane tracks are also tricky for the same reason. is it just me?

jpls · Post by **jpls** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:43 pm

sylvie.foret wrote: this leads me to believe that many producers master their own tracks in inaccurate environments.

mastering should be the responsibility of the label...and they should
use a mastering engineer.

have you emailed the label owners with your complaints?

sylvie.foret · Post by **sylvie.foret** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:55 pm

no i haven't. but that's a good idea.

Torque · Post by **Torque** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:00 am

It is possible that they aren't mastered at all. Maybe they were just Production Masters. What exactly is wrong with the sound one them
are they just too quiet? Is the EQ bad?

digital mastering/room accuracy

digital mastering/room accuracy

Re: digital mastering/room accuracy