Heartland

I'm about to send out a track to a few different people to hear some test masters... I thought if anyone on here has some skill on a mastering board and wants to have a crack at it please send me a PM.

We've got a 3 track EP coming and would like to get a decent mastering job done on it (at a reasonable cost). Ideally we'd like to give people a track to have a play with and then, if we like the result strike a deal.

As I said, we're looking into several options, so if anyone would be interested, it depends on which of several we go with. I feel it's probably only fair to point this out before I ask people to do a test master on a track for us.

We're moving on a fairly rapid time frame, as we're aiming to have it for DV8Fest on July 16th - so we'd be asking to do things on the scale of days and weeks, rather than weeks and months.

How many seperate tracks did you record for each song (~averaged)? I may like to check it out but I can't 100% guarantee that I get all tracks done within the timespan - maybe that's not a big deal if you get other help as well. I wouldn't charge anything more than a copy of the final result

Giving diffferent people different tracks is not a good idea Maisey...

The whole point of doing a (good) mastering job is to get some cohesion in your product, also every mastering engineer tends to have a different view on the term 'good' (see Mulattica's Deaf Pathetic for a 'different' view than mine for ex.).

I would be up for the job if the timeframe was not that tight. Then again, I am a musician, NOT a mastering engineer

Also do not trust the online Mastering services, I always found that mastering is best done close to home, or, if you have the budget, fartehr from home but with one of the band attending.

Good luck with the hunt Maisey!

I know a good Belgian mastering engineer, but I am afraid he can't make that tight time schedule either, also he is a pro so expect a price tag of 150-300 pounds for that EP...

IZ.

Izzy is completely right--you want the same person to do it all.

Maisey, on a sidenote.
we are talking about something you did put a lot of time into, I have heard your music and it would be a shame to see it ruined by a fast (bad) mastering. listen to the guys above and get someone who is up for the job (you need someone who understands what it is YOU want your band to sound like)
rather give it some time and deliver quality.

Oh, we're not giving it to different people to master - we're giving a track to different people to do a test of a song, and then we'll give the EP to the one who's done the job we like the best! That's what I meant to explain in my first post. The choice people we've approached has been based on recommendations.

I realise the whole point of mastering is getting some cohesion, I'd never get different engineers to do different tracks! The whole point of approaching several people was to make sure we got the best job that our budget would extend to?

Maisey wrote:Oh, we're not giving it to different people to master - we're giving a track to different people to do a test of a song, and then we'll give the EP to the one who's done the job we like the best! That's what I meant to explain in my first post. The choice people we've approached has been based on recommendations.

I realise the whole point of mastering is getting some cohesion, I'd never get different engineers to do different tracks! The whole point of approaching several people was to make sure we got the best job that our budget would extend to?

Ah, ok, I misread then... good!

OTOH, that means an even tighter schedule... sending out tracks, waiting for feedback from several people, then send all track to one person again...

Good luck I say, but please don't make the mistake C mentions. I know this day and age jumping the bandwagon is not a matter of years or months anymore but weeks, days and even hours, but don't let your precious child be ruined by a quick and sloppy mastering job...

IZ.

I'll give it a go


... I'm no expert though

Mastering is effing difficult to get right.