Mastered vs. from the console

Comment

Comment by Mark Capps on December 31, 2007 at 5:39pm

I call it Psudo-Mastered, but on all the copies I put UNMASTERED MIXES - NOT FOR PRODUCTION!!! So hopefully any mastering engineer worth his salt would ask for the Un-Psudo-Mastered Tapes or files before proceeding. I've had Psudo-Mastered Roughs get mastered, from cassette even....... Some folks never learn, or don't know or want to know the difference............

Comment by Billy Sherrill on December 19, 2007 at 10:21am

You know people working in this business should know the difference between a mix from the studio and a mix that has been mastered!!! If they don't they need to learn. As far as I'm concerned every thing is so over compressed that it is unrecognizeable now, but I will continue to smash and dash until someone more brilliant than me decides the music doesn't sound good anymore and we will get to give the compressors a little break.

Comment by Bengineer on December 14, 2007 at 9:01pm

You are so right....I learned from that experience and now squash it, even for most refs.

Comment by Rob Facelli on December 14, 2007 at 8:52pm

Sometimes I'll do a "Mastering Mock-up" so that client's can hear how something might sound after mastering - only if they've paid in advance, of course.

I find myself having to explain all the time what the difference is. And just as often I hear "mastered" versions of my mixes that are clearly L2'd for 6db, and that's it. No attention paid to sequencing, consistency, eq, all the things that used to be expected from mastering engineers. Not to take anything away from real M.E.'S, but there are a lot of people out there selling themselves as such that just don't cut it.

Comment by Bengineer on December 12, 2007 at 9:53pm

Lost a gig over that deal. The client kept comparing the board to something mastered. I squished it till I couldn't take it any more. Client even went to another engineer who told them he could make it sound different, not necessarily better.