Locke

Well most of it was my £4,840 PRS Modern Eagle, so =P Haven't heard any of your recordings yet though.

Although most of us produce, compose and record music in different ways, the general trend is to rationalise mastering down to a few key processes and techniques. It's not rocket science, but does require a different approach to the tracking/capturing and mixing of the music. It's best to, of course, listen with a really critical ear to your mix in order to find sonic problems that others may find with your raw mix. Ill-defined bass, aggressive mids, lack of air and presence, for example. The first step of mastering is to really identify these. A good engineer will take into account how a master will translate when played back on different systems or in different listening environments. That's why it's good to have a few different pairs of monitors or headphones in order to hear this... don't, and I stress don't, master on one pair of headphones or speakers especially if they're low end and crappy. You'll need a setup that offers an extended frequency range, low noise floor. Bass representation is a must and critical in the mastering process... if your system doesn't really represent the 20-100khz frequency range that well you'll benefit from buying a decent sub. Also, listen and compare to commercial recordings... put a few rough mixes on your iPod and listen to them side by side with a professionally finished and mastered song, but try not to do a straight A/B reference, listen to more than just one track in comparison. It's better to have a rounded knowledge of a mastering than just listening to a mastered track in comparison to an unmastered one. It's well worth investing in some dedicated mastering equipment, whether software packages or mastering equalizers and compressors. I personally use iZotope's Ozone 3 for my mastering, it's an excellent piece of software... around £200 I think.

Thanks for the responses! I'll put my band in my sig, I've got a decent banner if we're allowed them. I posted the other threads up last night, only just got back, a lil hungover, but I'll go and check out other's work now like I promised! I need a cup o' tea first...

Hey guys, my name's Simon, 19, always on the look out for new Musician forums to post and critique other's music. Hope I can offer some kick ass material with my band, and look forward to listening to and critiquing other's material. I'm mainly into and play metal, but love other genres too. I've been playing Guitar for nearly 5 years now and have just reached Grade 8 this month, drums for 6, and just started playing keyboard/piano. I've got A Levels in Music Composition & Theory and Music Technology and Production. My uncle was the guitarist in seminal 70's and 80's band Roxy Music so I inherit most of my equipment and software from him, around £11,000 worth of resources. If you want to check out my band, I'm gonna post a thread in the Songwriting and Recording forums. Rock on!