Mastering an ep

[LanceBlaise]

Since you are here asking about mastering you should not be doing any mastering on your own.

As a label owner I can tell you I would rather get a track from a novice that is clearly unmastered then something that sounds like garbage. Running some plugs and presets on a wav is not a good idea.

As a producer the first track that Carl Cox signed of mine back in the day was handed to him unmastered on a cd. We know if a track will sound good even if it is unmastered. Many of my artists do not send mastered tracks, we do the mastering for them. We don't use digital plugins, we use analog geAr and it is tested and tried on multiple outputs as well.

Trust me when I tell you that a real label will sign your track whether it's mastered or not. Save your money till after it gets signed and don't run some sh1t pluggins over the wav file.

[Saint]

They take the mixed down stereo waveform, usually at 24 bit.

[stringerhye]

@Lanceblaise yeah I feel you. I definitely don't want to do it for the sake of doing it. I just want my track to sound on par with other ones out there. If I leave the masterbus completely empty then the tracks sound a bit. Hollow.

[LanceBlaise]

@Lanceblaise yeah I feel you. I definitely don't want to do it for the sake of doing it. I just want my track to sound on par with other ones out there. If I leave the masterbus completely empty then the tracks sound a bit. Hollow.

Just let the label you are sending to know that it is unmastered... I am telling you as a label owner it is better to get a mixed down track that sounds right than to get a poorly mastered track.

Take my advice or leave it...

[stringerhye]

Right on. Question about getting onto a label. How do I go about that? I have 5 or 6 tracks that i'd like to get out there.

[alien2k]

Right on. Question about getting onto a label. How do I go about that? I have 5 or 6 tracks that i'd like to get out there.

Well basically you need to find a label interseted in the style of music you are producing. Read their demo policy and send it. You can find lots of new labels looking for new artists on soundcloud. Try to listen to their latests release and see if you may fit there.

As stated by lance they will not care to receive unmastered tracks. If they like it they will take care of that. Good luck

[stringerhye]

Now, as of right now I kind of just wanted to put out a collection of my tracks as an EP to get my name out around town as a dj, etc... Would It be a good idea to try and master them?

[alien2k]

Now, as of right now I kind of just wanted to put out a collection of my tracks as an EP to get my name out around town as a dj, etc... Would It be a good idea to try and master them?

My personal opinion is that you don´t need to pay for mastering if it is not for releasing the tracks. If it is just for promo you might get somebody that knows a bit more to get them sound louder and better. But real mastering is not feasible to do by amateurs. Consider that different methods of masterization are used for digital release, cds or vinyls so the job is very specific.
What you should be looking for is somebody that can get your tracks sounding at the same volume that normal tracks sound, so it doesnt seem your tracks are poor, and basically have them corrected and better mixed.
My first tracks would need lots of work for them to sound right, lately my tracks sound much better without masterization just because the learning process.

So for your own experience I would recommend sitting down with somebody that knows more and have him explain what your tracks need to sound better.

I am playing unmasterized tracks produce by myself on sets in between huge tracks and the difference is not that much even though they are not masterized. What I want to say is that is better to learn how to do better tracks yourself that send them to somebody hoping he fixes everything you did wrong and hoping it will sound great. As stated by lance a good track will sound good even before being professionally mastered. Not want to do any promo here but you may check my last set on soundcloud. I included an unmastered track in between to great ones, the difference is not huge.

Cheers bro

[BentoSan]

I think its a tough choice really, i know for a fact that there are alot of dnb producers who will do some master bus compression as part of getting the sound that they want before it gets mastered - so in essence the track is getting mastered twice(...well sort of, but u get the idea).

That is to say that the master bus compression is actually adding a touch of the artists style/sound to their mix. This is really touchy question where there really is no right or wrong answer if you ask me.

[Saint]

I think its a tough choice really, i know for a fact that there are alot of dnb producers who will do some master bus compression as part of getting the sound that they want before it gets mastered - so in essence the track is getting mastered twice.

That is to say that the master bus compression is actually adding a touch of the artists style/sound to their mix. This is really touchy question where there really is no right or wrong answer if you ask me.

Yeah totally agree Bento, in fact any big record worth it's salt will have gone through an SSL G comp or similar and if you take it into the realms of rock or hard electronica the drums are all sub-grouped into a buss compressor before the main buss compressor! It all depends what's right for the art, this unfortunately is an open ended debate, hence my can o' worms comment as it's also salient on what style the material is and what sort of labels / A&R it's going to and who ultimately it's for....