Mastering has been described as “the dark art,” often, I think, because the techniques used are very different from tracking and mixing, and are often misunderstood. One of the things I find amazing about engineers who specialize in mastering is their ability to make the songs sound like they fittogether. A lot of this is based on ear and experience, but what things do you look at to make the songs cohere?
OK, I see we’re done with the easy questions… I think it’s been known as a dark art because it wasn’t an easily accessible process.
Everyone got to see what happened in the tracking and mixing stages but then the mixes got sent off to some guy and it came back – hopefully better. What did that guy do? How did he do it? What gear did he use? Why didn’t my mix engineer just take care of it?
It was sort of like some conspiracy going on in a secret bunker somewhere that only a few could observe. You had to have the secret decoder ring to get in.
Well, that’s changed! The process itself hasn’t changed that much but the knowledge of what mastering is and how it’s done has gone from almost zero to a pretty clear understanding for many people in just the last decade or so. Unfortunately, so has the misunderstanding.
Sure, there are still some who will claim it’s voodoo and you need to hire this name or that name to have it come out right. The flip side is all of these ads for “mastering” plug-ins (that very few – if any – mastering engineers use) telling you it’s easy if you just have the right software – perpetuating the myth that mastering is just processing.
The way I see it, it’s still a matter of specialized skill with specialized equipment but it’s no longer done behind the curtain. There are lots of guys who have been doing it for decades that aren’t household names. Many of them are just as capable of great results as the bigger name guys. You just have to choose wisely.
To answer the second part of the question, I guess it’s just a matter of listening to what you have, getting an idea of where it’s all going, and then pushing things this way or that way to make them all fall into line.
A mastering engineer’s professional goal is consistency. We get mixes from basements one day and multimillion dollar facilities the next but in every case, artists want their music to sound good when played next to everything else out there.
Mastering is really just about taking the time to notice the little details. What sticks out? What’s missing or underrepresented? Why does this song feel empty, or bloated? Why can’t I hear the bass on this song? Why is this song in mono? What’s that noise? Why doesn’t this song move me ina way that the others do?
Once you have identified the differences you can begin to whittle away at them and work towards a unified whole. It’s not an overtly conscious thing. It’s like a race car driver heading into a tricky series of turns. He’s not thinking about his technique. He’s just making it happen.
Like anything that looks difficult from the outside, if you do it long enough you just stop thinking about it. I guess that’s why I say it’s as easy as listening.