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Is it possible and should I bother?
It’s an interesting question.
Something I’ve asked myself many times.
And my conclusion is that if you want to spend an awful lot of time banging your head against a wall then why not.
So ok you’ve landed on this page hoping for a tutorial on mastering and some smartarse behind a screen is wasting your time with smartarse comments and nothing to grab hold of information wise.
Well to be honest been there, done that. I’m in the same position as you.
I’ve learnt some things and If you ready to deal with that then maybe I can help you.
First of all let’s get something straight.
I am not in any way an expert, I’m a rank amateur when it comes to mastering.
I have over 20 years experiance as a professional musician but only 5 years as a DIY home recordist.
And I’ve been messing with mastering for the last 2 years of that.
My best advice is this,
1. If you are recording for pleasure/small audience and want to get the best sound then experiment with mastering.
2. If you are in a hurry and need the best sound possible then go to a specialised company.
Get quotes, recomendations, samples of their work and find out anything else you can about them.
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There is no quick fix with mastering, no preset will do exactly what you want.
You want to do it yourself? Well you’re taking on something that is something of a mammoth task.
Mastering engineers spend a long time learning their craft – if you’re a musician then you’ll understand.
I’ll put it like this.
A guitarist plays guitar every day for 20 years
A mastering engineer learns guitar once a month for 5 years.
Who is the best guitarist?
The mastering engineer understands the principles of guitar and has read books and watched youtube but he still can’t play, not like the guitarist with 20 years experience.
Do you get my point?
This is not to say you can’t do it but that you should think on about trying for the holy grail.
If you want it to sound the best it can then sorry but you’re gonna have to pay for that.
If you want it to sound the best you can make it sound then you’re gonna have to learn.
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