nearly every time a green-ish artist i'm working with asks me what is mastering and do they need it and should they have someone else do it like it says to do online, i tend to babble on for about 10 minutes trying to explain the nuances and intricacies of exactly what it is and why they should probably hire a mastering engineer, before circling back around to the idea that it's more or less included with the mix i'm doing for them already and they actually don't need to worry about it.

is this the correct answer? i think so.

first, you have to understand the era we're living in. it's literally the future; cars drive themselves, people communicate with each other by sending their voice and face through the air telepathically, and songs recorded on a phone get uploaded to the internet not only immediately, but even as they're being created.

second, you have to understand who you're talking to. my client wants to make their music sound really good, so they scrape some money together and take their project to a big fancy recording studio, and everything is going well and it's all sounding great, and then suddenly i'm telling them that they shouldn't actually release what we work on until they pay some other person to do.... what, exactly?

mastering: the black art?

many musicians, even a lot of very seasoned and experienced musicians, couldn't start to explain what mastering is. this is not a big deal. it's not their job and they don't need to know the ins and outs of what is entirely a technical process. as a complete layperson i can hire someone to produce a video for me without knowing what color correcting is, or how to do it, or why one would even want to change some colors to slightly different colors - but i would absolutely be able to tell if the final look of the video didn't adhere to the tone and feel i had in mind. it's important, even if i don't understand it.

mastering, in theory, works like this: an artist, who has produced a track (or album) with the help of a producer and recorded it at a studio with a recording engineer, then hands over the multitrack files of their song (or album) to be mixed by the mix engineer, who after a long and painstaking mixing process delivers the 2-track stereo file of the completed mixed song (or album) to the mastering engineer, who does some or all of the following things:

• balances out the overall dynamics of the song taking into account the genre, the surrounding songs on the album, potential playlists, radio play, etc.
• brings the volume and loudness up to an appropriate level for physical/digital release, streaming, radio, etc.
• addresses inconsistencies or imbalances in tone and equalization, either within a song or among multiple songs
• enhances the energy of the more visceral elements of the mix such as the transients, the sub bass and the high-frequency 'air'
• adds extra polish, sheen, warmth, grit, drive, space, or any other texture the mix may be subtly lacking
• attenuates harshness, unpleasant frequencies, etc. through selective processing
• measures and tends to the stereo width of the program material
• checks and trims the tops, tails, and transitions of each song
• implements any other finishing touches as needed
• perhaps most importantly, the mastering engineer monitors the master in a very accurate listening environment and can test or predict how the sound will translate across a wide variety of different sound systems, speakers, headphones, etc.

you may read this and wonder, what is the difference between this and what happens at mixdown? aren't most or all of these things that the mix engineer should be doing? well, yes and no. a great mix on its own might need close to no mastering at all, or it might sound awkward when placed alongside other songs and need something more substantial to push it a little more in line with everything else out there. it's hard to actually make these determinations until you're at the point of the master.

mastering is the editor-in-chief of your song. it's the closing pitcher. it has the final say on how your music presents to the outside world. on some occasions it might have much more or less work to do than others, but it's always going to be part of the deal.

all mixes i do get what i call a 'quick' master on them. i have a setup i use and a checklist of things i go through similar to the list above, and it's not really an option for me to not do these things: to a client, it's very hard to evaluate a mix outside the studio when a whole bunch of the most important final steps are missing. as such, most or all of these things indeed generally get looked at toward the end of the mix, as part of that process. of course it's ideal to get someone to spend a little extra time on all these things, but the setup i have can handle it all well enough.

so, as usual it's 10 minutes later and again we must ask: when and why do you need to hire an outside mastering engineer?

short answer, truth be told, in many typical sessions it's probably not needed. if we are working together in any capacity my goal is to get the music sounding as great as it possibly can, and for you to come out of our session with no doubts or reservations. the real benefits of an outside mastering engineer come into play in situations when the mix engineer has spent a significant amount of time with the song already and is losing perspective, or there's otherwise too much work for the mix engineer to comfortably stay on top of. this is when mastering starts to peel apart from the mixing process, and it really pays to hand off the additional work and get a fresh listen plus valuable input from a specialist.

so, here are some situations in which i might push for the client to have their music mastered by a dedicated mastering engineer:

• if you are already investing a very significant amount of time and money in the release of your music
• if you are in a highly competitive genre such as pop, AAA, etc.
• if you are working on a larger collection of songs
• if you are targeting specific nonstandard playback systems such as stadiums, movie theaters, art installations, etc.
• if you have already spent a very extended period of time producing or mixing the project in question
• if you have a label or other such organization or person signing off on your music (in most cases, they will have preferred contacts for mastering)

even in some of these situations you might be fine just leaving the work in the mix engineer's hands. always confer with your mixer and ask for their opinion! they will tell you what the best course of action is.

and of course, if you do happen to need a little extra mastering every now and then, as we all do, you should totally get in touch.

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