Have You Ever 🤮Ruined🤮 a Song Trying to Master It?

Evan here from Stock Music Musician - 

I can't tell you how many of my tracks I've ruined over the years in my clumsy attempts at mastering.

If you're anything like I was, you're painfully familiar with some of the symptoms of bad master:

• Too loud...
• ... or somehow too quiet!
• Over-compressed
• Lifeless
• Scooped out
• Over-hyped
• Harsh

Ok, I'll stop there, but trust me, I found a lot of ways to ruin my tracks over the years!

I wasted so much time chasing this magical thing called "mastering." I was unable to be confident in my music for years because of it, because I had no idea how to make it work for me.

If you're reading this, you're probably in the same boat I was in.

You don't know what plugins to use. 

Or even worse, you know you need to use a limiter, and you strangle your mix to death!

Still, you feel like you have to do something, because your songs sound too wimpy with just mixing.

Success Doesn't Happen Overnight

I got my first taste of home recording in the late '90s, but didn't start seriously working on my skills as producer and mastering engineer until 2013. 

And boy, was it ugly at first.

A lot of it was because I did not understand the first thing about mastering.

I mean, I knew how to use plugins, but things just didn't come together!

At first I thought it was because I was inexperienced.

Or maybe I didn't have the right plugins.

But I was all wrong.

But As My Songs Started to Become Successful, I Realized Something...

...I'd been approaching mastering all wrong. I'd only happened to stumble into the right mastering framework by sheer luck (and a lot of hard work).

As my songs started being included on NPR, added to TV shows, a Netflix documentary, and streamed 100,00s, I realized that I actually did know what I was doing!

It turns out, I'd been thinking about mastering all wrong.

Developing an "Ear for Mastering" 👂

For those of us who write, record, and mix our own music, mastering can appear to be an epic challenge.

In fact though, it's all about perspective. It's about developing an "ear for mastering."

I want to show you that there are only three skills involved in mastering, and  anyone can learn them.

✅ Skill 1: Quality Control

When you put on your "mastering ears," you need to divorce yourself from the person who recorded and mixed the song. You need to listen critically.

This is your last to determine:

• Is the mix really balanced?
• Are there performance mistakes that need to be corrected?
• Does a sub-synth need to be added?

Repeat after me: the fastest way to ruin a song is by trying to use mastering to fix a problem that should have been fixed earlier in the process.

The skill involves:

1. Learning how to listen your track critically (especially for the 1000x time)
2. Learning when a song is ready for mastering, and knowing when you need to do more work
3. Learning to use tools, like analyzers, that can help you stay objective
4. Learning how much mastering processing you can get away with before things fall apart

But don't forget - quality control is also important with the finished product you create when mastering!

I bet you've made some of these quality control mistakes while mastering...

Have you ever made a master where the song didn't start at the right place?

Or was there a bunch of silence at the end?

Or maybe the song name was spelled wrong?

Once I show you how to use mastering for quality control, then you'll need to focus on the next step...

✅ Skill 2: Taking it to 11 🤘

The next step is where everyone goes wrong. They try to do too much with mastering (see step one).

Please don't be one of these people!

Look, there's a reason there aren't a lot of rockstar mastering engineers out there. 

It's because your job when mastering isn't to change the recording!

Your job when mastering is to take the recording and turn it up to 11. 

What each recording needs is different, but generally what you'll want to do is take away just a bit of the least pleasant bits with judicious EQ.

Then maybe you glue everything together with a touch of compression to enhance the groove and control the dynamic range.

You could also consider sweetening the mix just a touch, with a little tube or tape saturation, or some gentle stereo widening.

Finally, you want to bring up the volume so that the song sounds appropriately loud.

The goal isn't to make it the loudest thing around though!

I'll show you how to be disciplined in chasing loudness, so that your music gets the attention it deserves, without losing its rich harmonic beauty. At the same time, you'll learn how to enrich the recording in ways that only a seasoned mastering pro can.

✅ Skill 3: Delivery

At the end of the day, when you master your job is to reduce a bunch o,f "stems" into a single stereo file that anyone can play, anywhere.

So this means you'll need to know what final formats are most important, and provide the .Wavs or .MP3s. 

You'll need to figure out whether they should be 24 bit or 16 bit. 44k or 48k.

And you'll need a good online backup solution so that you never loose the final masters!

Can't I Just Skip Mastering? 

🤦

No! You can't just ignore mastering! 

I guarantee you have never heard a song on the radio, TV, streaming, in a video game or even on YouTube that wasn't mastered.

Mastering is an essential step in making a song ready for sharing.

Think about it this way:

• Would you rather driver a dirty car or a car that's just been detailed?
• Would you rather eat a meal with no salt and pepper, or one that's been deliciously seasoned?
• Would you rather listen to a guitar that's out of tune, or one that's just been tuned and had new strings added?

Mastering doesn't make the song, but it's what makes the song accessible and appealing! 

But What Equipment Do I Need to Master?

Ok, I'm glad I've convinced you that you need to master your music. 😃

But now it's time to get practical about it.

Obviously, you'll need to find a way to develop mastering skills.

Thankfully, you won't need to spend a fortune on new plugins. Most modern DAWs include all of the plugins you need to master your own music, for FREE!

If you've got a compressor, an EQ, an a limiter, you've got the basics. 

My 100% Satisfaction Guarantee 

This course is designed to:

• teach foundational mastering skills
• build your confidence,
• save you time by teaching you how to become a more efficient producer,
• improve the quality of your music,
• help you create radio-ready masters,
• and to be fun and entertaining

If you're dissatisfied for any reason, I offer a no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee. Just shoot me an email.

What People Are Saying About 10 Minute Mastering

What's Included?

This course will give you the skills you need to grow your confidence in mastering, so that you can quickly create recordings you'll be proud to share with your friends, stream, and sell!

This course is laser-focused on teaching you a simple system that you can use to master. Over time you'll refine the system and add more of your own taste and artistry, growing in confidence and skill.

And from day one, this system will ensure you get great results from the start!

Lessons include:

• What is Mastering?
• 3 Mastering Myths
• What to fix in Mixing vs. Mastering
• How to Save Time When you Prepare to Master
• Using Subtractive EQ for a Clean (and louder!) Master
• Multi-Band Compression to Add Punch and Control Harshness
• Adding Extra Groove with Glue Compression
• Adding Fullness with Harmonic Saturation
• Sculpting Your Sound with Additive EQ
• How to Create Wide, Immersive Recordings
• Using Limiting to Get the Perfect Volume
• A Simple System for Putting all These Steps Together
• How to Master a Song vs. Master an Album
• See the entire mastering process - watch me master 3 songs completely using stock plugins and 3rd party plugins
• The entire mastering workshop, with the filler and technical difficulties edited out
• 6 Powerful mastering reference worksheets to ensure you make great masters, every time!
• 3 Pre-Recorded Q&As answering the most common mastering questions