I personally just mix mine and then throw a limiter on, so I guess I don't really "master" either. However, when I send my music to mastering, they never really make any changes to it, only difference is that they probably drive it into an analog console to bring up the volume instead of my supposedly shabby digital processing.

Yeah I remember you telling me on Skype or a stream that all you need is Pro-L and mastering is done.  Really changed my approach to it all and that's what i've been doing ever since

ive been using mark sherry alot. and usually i send a mastering "blueprint" (roughly mastered version by myself) to insure that what i get back wont be something out of the blue (bass vs drums relationship)
nothing more devastating then sending your demo to the mastering guys at the label you're releasing on and then you hear your track butchered on beatport

Fortunately, my label doesn't just send my tracks off to mastering and then uploads, they have me sign off on the masters. Can't imagine how disappointing it must be to find out your track is out in a ruined version.

Quote from: Volant on January 07, 2016, 05:48:51 pm

I personally just mix mine and then throw a limiter on, so I guess I don't really "master" either. However, when I send my music to mastering, they never really make any changes to it, only difference is that they probably drive it into an analog console to bring up the volume instead of my supposedly shabby digital processing.

Yeah I remember you telling me on Skype or a stream that all you need is Pro-L and mastering is done.  Really changed my approach to it all and that's what i've been doing ever since

because mastering's not supposed to affect the sound so much (at least not as much as mixing)
i'm kinda curious about why so many people prefer Pro-L

I don't know if this has been said already but in "Zen and the art of Mixing" the author highly recommends allowing someone else to master your work. It helps tremendously to get a second pair of ears on your work. Be careful however to not allow the Mastering engineer to squash your work and effectively undo all of your mixing decisions.

Mat!! just tsaw this forum from your twitter thi will help me alot. been making electronic music for a few years. but her im a promoter @Sound can i chill with u and watch ur set when you perform

I think the best example of no mastering has to be either Passion pit's first ep or Daft Punk's homework (which was mastered on a boombox)

Just the rawness really adds to the whole vibe, they both really feels like they've been recorded in someones bedroom somewhere.

Although SebastiAn's production is literally mastering based and its all compressed as hell
Doesn't stop it from being awesome tho

i know deorro doesn't master

thats always been my take on the relationship.

so SOP will be the same.

in this case, i still have to determine if what is bothering me is inherently a mix issue, or if its something that is a translation issue that mastering would address.

i assume that if properly mixed, that the material will hold up acceptably on numerous playback systems, it just wont be as loud as mastered material. i still expect that my responsibility in mixing is to get it right, and id love to hear the mastering guy say he didnt have to do much. i dont want to offload responsibility onto someone else, and i would not prefer to have the mix come back from mastering sounding different.

I mostly look at mixing as making it sound great to ME in the control room.

then its up to mastering to make it sound like that AGAIN, for as many down the line systems as possible.