Mastering Matters
The dark art that adds some extra sparkle!
What even is mastering I hear you cry!? Well, I’ll leave that for one of my favourite mastering engineers - Steve Kitch - to explain:
What is mastering? Competing On The Same Level
A mastering engineer’s main goal is to make your music sound as good as possible on different listening systems…
Every commercial release has been mastered. In order to compete in terms of loudness and quality then your music must be mastered too. Each track must be homogenous in terms of level and EQ so that your single, remix, EP or album remains consistent throughout and competes on a commercial level.
You can read more of Steve’s fantastic explanation on what mastering is here: audiomaster.co.uk/what-is-mastering/
I know that lots of studios/producers offer mastering as part of their packages, but I’m a huge fan of having somebody with a fresh pair of ears and a different set of monitors put that final sheen on a recording.
Of course, I appreciate that budget constraints are quite often a barrier for artists - but if you want to punch above your weight and compete with “bigger” artists: mastering matters.
And it doesn’t need to cost the earth!
It’s also worth noting that more often than not, mastering sessions are “unattended” - which basically means you’ll send a WAV of your final mix to the mastering engineer via something like WeTransfer or Dropbox, and then they’ll master your track in their studio, before sending the final master back to you online.
It’s also important to note that you can ask for revisions if your master doesn’t sound how you expected. That’s something I learnt the hard way earlier in my career!
Anyway. Back to the point of this post. I don’t half babble on, do I!?
Here’s a few of my favourite mastering engineers - be sure to consider them for your next release:
Steve Kitch
Steve has mastered releases for me by the likes of Cattle & Cane, Jodie Nicholson, Mt. Misery and even my old band DARTZ! when we re-issued our album on vinyl. He’s my go-to-guy and although we’ve never met in real life, he once went on a holiday that I recommended (Lagos in Portugal, if you were wondering!) - which is a huge level of trust! Steve trusts my holiday recs, and I trust his mastering. What a combination. At the time of writing, Steve charges £50 for a track but that comes down to £35 a track if you’re getting 7+ songs done.
Check out more here: https://www.audiomaster.co.uk/mastering-rates/
Jack Kennedy
It’s unfair to pigeonhole mastering engineers with one specific genre, but Jack really knows how to make a pop song shine! He’s mastered Loren Heat’s recent tracks and really brought out the best in Chad Rodgers’ brilliant production. Another good thing about Jack is that his emails are the most enthusiastic and positive communications you’re ever likely to read! What a guy. It’s fair to say, I’m a big fan of the cut of his jib. And as I say, he really knows how to bring out the best in a pop song. Jack’s based in America and his current rate is $75 a track, which is around £60 at the moment.
Find out more here: https://www.masteredbyjack.com/
Katie Tavini
Katie did an amazing job mastering Jodie Nicholson’s self-produced sophomore album ‘Safe Hands’. She’s also mastered music by the likes of Arlo Parks, Nadine Shah and Rudimental to name but a few, and was the mastering engineer Jodie had always wanted to work with. Based in Liverpool, Katie is one of the driving forces behind Weird Jungle, an artist-friendly collective of independent mastering engineers working with bands, artists and labels to release the best possible version of their work.
Read all about it here: https://www.weirdjungle.com/about
Robin Sutherland
Remember when I said mastering can usually be unattended? Well, if I had a bucket list, attending a session at Robin’s incredible mastering suite in Finland would be fairly high on it! Just look at this place - beautiful:
I first met Robin when he was working with incredible Scottish indie-rock/emo band Stapleton many years ago and it’s been so good seeing his career go from strength to strength. He also does remote mastering, so if you can’t make it over to Finland, you can always use WeTransfer…
Here’s where to find out more: https://robinsutherlandmastering.com/#services
Who do you usually get to master your tracks? Always happy to hear more recommendations!
Thanks for reading.