am I getting d**k

[Forrrest]

done.

[Forrrest]

no hugs?
no one's got monitors at home to have a quick listen. samples are all under a minute.

[Chankgeez]

Sorry, I've been meaning to have a listen.

They've been doing street work outside my window. When it gets quiet, I'll listen and get back to you.

I will say that if you think you're getting dicked at mastering, you're getting dicked at mastering.

That kind of stuff is highly subjective. There are bands that I think sound great, but only when certain engineers are doing their live sound. This is a similar situation. I think next time you need to look for a mastering engineer with a similar sonic aesthetic.

[AxAxSxS]

Did you send him the raw tracks? Or was it the home mastered version that you wanted some polish on?

I preferred the pre mastered version from your samples.

I think unless you are working with someone really special it's better to do it yourself if you have the capabilities. You know what you want it to sound like and you will put in the effort to get it that way. The engineer may have a few things he typically does to everything. It might not be what you want.

[Forrrest]

yes I provided him with the raw tracks. (that's the premaster)
I know what I want, but I know that the result from a $$$ studio through $$$ gear will sound better then what I can do myself. ideally I'd like to rent the $$$ mastering suit and do it myself, but it doesn't work that way.
I provided him with a sample to show him what I wanted, and then for him to top it. It doesn't have to be exact, but he's off doing his own thing IMHO. Sure he can add some extra tricks, but in general he's not getting me the flavor that I wanted. straight up doing a match EQ with my sample would be crappy, but he should at least be trying to get some elements of it. no? too demanding?
I just uploaded a 90second sample of what my home mastering sounded like.


I think something is up with his gear, and that's why (Even with his flavor) I'm getting it back with what I'd consider mastering errors.



@ Chankgeez, please check out the Sample A and the drop out in the low end. It really is just something that only I hear?

[Chankgeez]

OK, Forrrest, I had a chance to listen.

With Sample A, at first I wasn't hearing a dropout, but after a few listens it became apparent. I think it actually starts a few seconds before where you suggest it does. I don't have the best ears. So, if you hadn't pointed it out, I may not've noticed it.

Didn't hear a click in Sample B, but again my ears aren't the best.

[Forrrest]

thanks chankgeez. is that dropout in the premaster too?

[Chankgeez]

Oh, yeah, good question. I didn't answer that part of it.

Hard to tell. The levels are different. The mastered sample sounds a lot more bassy to my ears overall. The premaster is a little clearer. The same sense of dynamics seems to be preserved from one to the other. So, I'm not sure exactly what I'm hearing. It's entirely possible that there's a dropout in the premaster and it's just become more prominent during the mastering. Not really sure.

[Noise Supply]

Here's what I heard, hopefully it helps...

In sample A at around 22 seconds after a tom fill there is a soft kick drum hit. In the mastered version since he has a lot more low end than your premaster, that soft kick hit doesn't have any low low end recorded with it and so his EQ is boosting nothing at that part - therefor having less umph in comparsion. You don't hear it the same on your mix, because you're not boosting the frequencies he is, but it is a softer kick hit on your mix too. It's made a bit more obvious because it's followed shortly after a tom fill with lots of low energy in it. To fix this you can send him a new mix where you beef up that particular kick hit or hits if there are more (swap it out for another one, automate louder volume and/or EQ, whatever). Or you can ask him to automate a bit more bass in his EQ just on that specific hit to smooth it out. In my opinion it's not that big of a deal as most people won't notice it, and even if they do, it probably won't bug them. But I totally understand you wanting it the way you want it, especially when you pay for it. Sorry if that's not the explanation you wanted to hear. Good ear for noticing it though.

In sample B at 7 seconds. The mastered version totally has a snap in it that isn't on the pre-master version. And since it lands right on a chord change, it makes it even more jarring - I actually thought it was a bad edit when I first heard it. This one you definitely want to get on his case about. There are many issues that can cause little clicks and pops. Clocking, conversions, etc. If I were to guess, it was just the way it was output that caused it, and not a clocking issue or how he mixed it. He probably did an offline bounce or something as opposed to a real-time re-record. When dealing with the final steps, you should always re-record in real-time and not use bouncing and stuff if you are being picky/professional. No matter how good software claims the offline bouncing to be, it can't be as precise as real-time. That being said, if he mastered in ProTools and is automating plugins without being careful about his automation points are (hard to explain what I mean over words) that can sometimes cause a snap.

[Noise Supply]

Forgot to mention: I dig the samples. I love the moody post-rock feel! Is this your band?

[Forrrest]

Thanks Noise Supply. I get what you're saying
sometimes you get chicken coop fever from listening to something too much over and over & lose sight of what's going on/important... ?
for sample A, one one particular system that bass frequency was exactly a node & it was head turning hearing the volume drop 6db. on my laptop there's no way it was audible - but I was mostly surprised that the engineer didn't hear it on his 100,000$ system.

I've gotten a new version, and got all the issues resolved! this time.
it sound a LOT better & we're moving ahead.
I'll post it here on the 5th of november
& yup it's my band.

[Noise Supply]

Glad it all worked out!

I'll try to remember to keep a look out around November 5th. Thanks!