Mastering Competition

[manray]

EDIT : The source file is now a single WAV file from a final track.


Seeing as there are a lot of heads in here that obviously know what they are doing with mastering I think a little competition could be fun.

Nothing serious, just a show case of talent and an eye opener for everyone out there as to how much a good mix can make.

Rules are simple. You can do anything you like in terms of processing but you cannot modify/add/delete actual elements of the track.

Link to source file : http://resonant.org.uk/russian-master-comp.zip

Please message me with your final mastered copies by FRIDAY the 21st.

I'm going to come up with a couple questions interview style for whoever wins, I think it would be great to understand what was going on and how they got to the finished product don't you think?

[oblivious]

cool idea

can i try it out but not take part in the competiton? im still a newbie at mastering.

[manray]

I mean competition in the loosest sense really. More of a showcase. So yeah you can Just PM me, i'll hit you back with the link.

[paradigm_x]

thats more mixing than mastering

mastering is done to a finished tune ie not stems

good idea tho.

[macc]

^ what he said

Doing it from a mixed stereo file etc is a different matter to stems (which can descend into mixing very quickly).

If you wanted trials btw you could just ask

[manray]

thats more mixing than mastering

mastering is done to a finished tune ie not stems

good idea tho.

EDIT:

I thought it's quite normal for mastering engineers to get all the parts. Of course this doesn't happen most of the time for cost reasons but when you are talking about main stream music that is how it is done all the time surely?

[manray]

^ what he said

Doing it from a mixed stereo file etc is a different matter to stems (which can descend into mixing very quickly).

If you wanted trials btw you could just ask

haha I'm not looking to get this track mastered. I'll be in touch with you about mastering anyway at some point.

I just thought it would be a nice idea to see what people can do.

[oblivious]

I mean competition in the loosest sense really. More of a showcase. So yeah you can Just PM me, i'll hit you back with the link.

alright, i can be the showcase of bad mastering
you got PM.

[macc]

EDIT:

I thought it's quite normal for mastering engineers to get all the parts. Of course this doesn't happen most of the time for cost reasons but when you are talking about main stream music that is how it is done all the time surely?

Nope, not at all. What's the mixing engineer for?

He's there to set the levels, the pan, put the thing together, make it sound as good as poss and ensure that it represents the original musical idea/vision as best he can.

The mastering engineer will take that mix and ensure that it represents itself as best possible on all playback systems, adjust for any tonal/eq errors caused by the room or whatever, blah blah blah

The idea is presented by the mix, the mix is presented by the mastering, if that makes sense.

There are a few MEs who work from stems all the time, but not too many. It's way less common than you seem to think Usually one might ask for stems when one elemnt needs specific work done that will negtively impact other parts too much.

Personally, though I am not a full-time professional (yet! - Basically working two jobs these days, one of which is trying to get this running) I fucking HATE working from stems, unless it is literally '1 thing.wav' plus 'all the rest.wav'. There just rapidly becomes too much room for artistic input, and that's what the mix is for, really.



Also, and don't get me wrong here, this showcase *is* an interesting idea, but it's missing a lot of the point. Without a brief or the artist saying 'I want it like this' or whatever, it's just a muscle-flexing exercise.

I'd be interested to hear the results, and if I don't have any real work on then I might have a piss up the wall Although I am off my fucking feet here atm

[stenchman]

free mixdown / mastering. genius

[macc]

[martello]

Hi, clever idea I'd like to try. Can u send me some links to your tracks (myspace or whatever) aswell before i download the whole package. Just want to check what you have got and can i improve your tracks or not.

Alvin

[EDIT] damn, I wanted to send a PM but posted here. Well, PM me.

[hugh]

I wish i'd thought of this first

[macc]

Just a thought;

Why not rename this to a mixing competition, being your tune you decide which you like best, then the winning entry gets put up for a mastering competition?

You can pay the winners after

[deadly_habit]

and macc wins already

[somejerk]

free mixdown / mastering. genius

this

[macc]

and macc wins already

Haha - I didn't mean it like that... I meant the sneaky bastard can pay people for their work

[deadly_habit]

and macc wins already

Haha - I didn't mean it like that... I meant the sneaky bastard can pay people for their work

yea i know
hopefully once i get my comp sorted i'll have some business to toss your way soon (love what you did with those nsf tunes)

[macc]

NSF.... Oh what the half speed jungle things?

Man that was aaaaaaages ago - things have got even better since then Send em over!

(hijack alert - sorry!)

[deadly_habit]

yea just waiting on a hard drive in the mail since my main win/program partition is dying then i can get back to finishing some stuff minus the BSOD
anyways back to the thread at hand