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I heard some of them barely mixes their tracks and sends them off for mixing and mastering as soon as they are finished with the track.
How much do guys like Rusko, Nero, Skrillex, Datsik, Deadmau5 etc mix and master their tracks? Of course there will be a huge difference between different artists but if you listen to for example Skrillex before he got famous and after he got famous you can hear a HUGE leap in production value.

Im sure the labels would pay to have tracks mastered for them.

labels pay for mastering, otherwise dubplates generally are just mixdowns
anyone who masters their own tunes is doing it wrong

Think chads question is really about using a mix engineer, and I think it is a good question. I'd like to know. I bet some do. Nowadays the production is so tight every thing is so slotted into the mix I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to alter the mix much without doing essentially a remix.

I'd like to know though.

well it's also worth noting that a lot of said artists recycle their drum kits and patches quite a bit so it's not like they're changing much mix to mix

The extremely vast majority I'm sure do the mixdown on their own. Don't know of many guys that self master stuff. I think Deadmau5 does

I'd imagine the usual is for artists to self-master if it's for playing out and using as a dub. If it's getting released though the label will usually pay for it to get mastered by a dedicated engineer (unless budget is tight)

One place worth checking out is this:-

http://www.amsterdammastering.com/

They did the mastering for Noisias split the atom album which although is loud as can be (parts in 'shellshock' regularly at -5 dbfs rms ) sounds superb.

outbound wrote:They did the mastering for Noisias split the atom album which although is loud as can be (parts in 'shellshock' regularly at -5 dbfs rms ) sounds superb.

Again, may have more to do with Noisia's mix.

deadly habit wrote:labels pay for mastering, otherwise dubplates generally are just mixdowns
anyone who masters their own tunes is doing it wrong

Not really true... Four tet did master 'sing' a track on There is love in you himself... Well yeah, he didn't really master it! It's just his mix! But yeah, if you listen to that track I don't think many people would say: SHIT, is that mastered? or What a fucking retard mastered that track?
So in my opinion is whole the mastering engineer thing in edm a little bit overrated! (Except vinyl mastering). But yeah, It's always better to have somebody else's fresh ears on the master!

Question by musicradar: Any mastering secrets you can share?

skrillex wrote: Maybe there are magic techniques out there that I don't know about, but I think mastering is something that's given too much credit. I always get people asking me about my mastering techniques and where I get my stuff mastered, but for me it's more about getting the mix right.
Mastering, for me, literally consists of an iZotope Maximizer, maybe with a little bit of EQ and harmonic excitement, but that's it. It's all about what makes you smile at the end of day.

And btw, with the mastering being overrated he probably means that too many people rely on mastering to make a shit track good, not that mastering isnt good or anything.

Honestly, if I could have a sound designer, a programmer, a mix engineer, and a mastering engineer, I'd be more than happy to be the producer

nowaysj wrote:Honestly, if I could have a sound designer, a programmer, a mix engineer, and a mastering engineer, I'd be more than happy to be the producer

I'll be your sound designer nowaysj

Deal, now if I could get Outbound to mix it, I'd be half way there

nowaysj wrote:Deal, now if I could get Outbound to mix it, I'd be half way there

Come on outbound me you and nowaysj could be the new edm boy band.

I have a fresh rack of hair product ready to go.

nowaysj wrote:I have a fresh rack of hair product ready to go.

I will have to use it on my balls as i'm going bald
Could give my pubes a bieber wind swept look then just roll around with my cock out.
That should gain us a few fans even if it is the police.

Really like where this is going.

nowaysj wrote:Really like where this is going.

Listen man all boybands have a gay one and i think you just covered that area.All we need now is outbound to become the song writer who's ever so slightly eccentric and maybe a token tard who can stand in the background and shake a tambourine and dance like a tnuc(ala bez)i reckon we will dominate.

you need a couple guys who have nothing to do with anything, you know like the dancers for the prodigy

deadly habit wrote:you need a couple guys who have nothing to do with anything, you know like the dancers for the prodigy

I'm hoping by that comment deadly your wanting in as well.