As both a guy who makes music and a guy who masters other people’s I’ve encountered the tendency – sometimes even in myself – to write off some mix errors as just “stuff that can be fixed in mastering.”
With the rise in the DIY Mastering ethos for independent studios, a number of companies have put out all-in-one mastering solutions, generally a single program or an all-in-one plugin that handles every major step in the mastering chain. I can’t say I’m a huge fan.
The Challenge: record, mix and master a small indian classical ensemble, often performing pieces up to 45 minutes long, maintining the ability to use multiple takes, while managing isolation of individual instruments.
People rarely ask me what they should do when they’re going to submit a demo/compilation/EP/album/whatever to get mastered. I’ve had plenty of discussions to this effect, though, with other people who do this for a living, and they all end up saying pretty much the same thing. Here are a few simple admonitions for musicians young and old.
