Been offered professional mixing/mastering

Just received this message from Amethyst Audio on Soundcloud.

"Alright Lime Room

I just came across your track A Gathering in the House Nation group. I love the atmosphere in that track, very dope production man.

I'm messaging both music producers and song writers to let them know about my new mastering service. I'm a hip hop producer (but I also work in many other genres) that has just gained a mastering degree at University and now I'm looking to offer my services professionally for anyone who wants them, which includes mixing or mastering. I have a fully acoustically treated room and am using Adams' very clear a7x monitors.
If you're interested I have an offer for 1 free master, no strings attached. Just shoot me a message
If you'd like to hear some previews or find out more information you can find it on my soundcloud profile or visit:
www.Amethyst-Audio.co.uk
Thanks for your time
Nik"



What do you guys think?

[MrBoingBoing]

Who did the mastering on "We" and "Guidance"? If you did it yourself, I'd say carry on doing so - they sounded perfectly fine me :thumbsup:

[RikkiSho]

I do everything myself.
Thanks Si. I figured it could be interesting to see what s/he might do. I did briefly listen to one of the samples on their site given as an example, to compare the original to the new version, and all I could tell was that it was louder. But I did not really give a fair listen.

I don't want my stuff just made louder. I prefer to leave 4db of head room on my tunes these days, and I do all the mixing/mastering, EQing and frequency balancing myself, and I like the idea of a decent dynamic range so if "professional mixing/mastering" means "make it louder" then no thanks. However, I am in my bedroom, and I do not have an amazing set of speakers to mix on, so maybe that makes a difference. But I have already noticed a spectacular difference in my productions since learning of the basic EQing and frequency balancing techniques that I have posted here about - everything is much clearer, cleaner, fresher and everything stands out and plays nicely together. No more distorting and other undesirable sonic artifacts. Do I really want some one else to do the job for me?

[MrBoingBoing]

The current trend does seem to be leaning towards louder and fatter masters – it may work for hip-hop, but it’s by no means for everyone. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on YouTube and watched anything on the “Loudness Wars”, but in short, listeners are just going to turn the volume down anyway; so there really is no benefit unless you want that in-your-face “pumping” sound. To me, a dynamic and well-balanced sound is always preferable to one that’s been compressed and limited to within an inch of its life – so keep up the good work :thumbsup:

Although they say they have kick-ass speakers and an acoustically-treated room, the fact remains that most (if not, all) of your listeners won’t be listening on such high-end equipment. If it sounds good to you, it'll sound good to everyone else (unless they're pernickety golden-eared Audiophiles, of course ). All I tend to use for mastering is the same pair of canalphones I plug into my iPod and work on what sounds good through them – other than that, I just watch the levels and try and keep a decent amount of headroom.

[RikkiSho]

Agreed. I think this "pumping" sound is a naive thing. It's too much. Give me well-balanced and dynamic sound over anything that's "omg so phat and massive!!". I have been reading the odd article regarding the loudness war.

Good point, too, regarding who will actually be listening on high-end stuff.

To be honest, I would rather do it all myself anyway. I mean, all that I have learnt lately I think is already making my mixes sound a lot better. Should I be insulted that this person thinks my track needs his professional mixing touch to get some "superior" kind of sound that seems to be elusive and I can't even imagine how much different/better it could sound anyway? What over benefit to the sound could it provide?

[aoVI]

I wouldn't be insulted, but pleased. He is probably trying to build up a portfolio and may have chosen your track due to the fact it is a really good track. He isn't going to choose bad music or anything that is mixed horribly.

I concur with Mr. BB: your works seem not to need anything additional.

[RikkiSho]

Thanks, aoVI for that huge compliment. I appreciate that. :D

I appreciate also that he is building up a portfolio, but surely it would make more sense to work on stuff that is poorly mixed to make an identifiable difference and improvement?

[seismic1]

I would also hope that he possesses more than just speakers and acoustic treatments. Is he using software, hardware, or both? I don't ask because of any specific preference, but it's nice to know what is going on. One thing I am slowly learning is that mixing and mastering are specialised skills. I recently had one of my tracks mixed and mastered and the results were fascinating, if a little disheartening. Until then, I had been relatively happy with my own efforts

[RikkiSho]

Why disheartening?

[seismic1]

It made me realise how much I don't yet know. I'm glad I went ahead with it. It was an extremely informative process. There is a thread on KVR, but it might take a while to wade through it. I'll dig it out if you're interested.

[Thought Experiment]

...surely it would make more sense to work on stuff that is poorly mixed to make an identifiable difference and improvement?

The fact that he/she hasn't picked poorly mixed tracks is encouraging in itself - it shows he/she knows enough about the process to know that you can't fix a bad mix with mastering processes - in fact it could end up sounding worse. On the other hand, given the right gear, it's relatively easy to sprinkle the ol' magic mastering dust on a good mix and make it sound better, so it's a good way to build up an impressive-sounding portfolio. On the other hand (:uh, I'm a bit old-school when it comes to mastering in that I believe the process is something you do to a number of tracks as a whole (album or EP) rather than a single track. This is a separate, very specialised skill - balancing the relative level between one track and the next, making the album/EP cohere as a single work.

If he/she's offering a single mastering session for free, I'd send an EP mix with two or preferably three tracks just to see what kind of difference he/she can make. If the offer is mastering a single track, it's probably not worth bothering because your mixes sound perfectly fine as they are

[meta4]

Yeh I read this yesterday rikki but I wasn't really sure of what to say, but reading some of the replies now makes me feel, just keep on doing what your doing m8 and follow your gut feeling. But also look upon it as an experience/confidence booster to, like a compliment inih.

Your music has always touched my soul uniquely, that's why they have got in touch with you, because your piano playing has touched their soul to. Like I have always enjoyed how your relaxed playing switches from sorrow to joy in an instant and they have got onto that.

I just checked now the link you pasted in and yeh it looks ok to me. I really enjoyed the self-explanatory in the Mastering? (top of the page) but if they start asking for bank details and that sort of bollocks, then you know what to do ;)

But yeh take it as a compliment. I know I would lol :tu:

[RikkiSho]

Aw Rich you sappy git. Thanks.

In fact it wasn't one of my piano pieces, it was one of my house tracks.

I think I won't take them up on the offer.



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