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I woke to the pleasing but ominous sound of freezing rain on the roof at 4:30 this morning. No worries though, temp is supposed to be up around 40 later today.
I have a tentative (weather permitting) meeting with Bill Dees this afternoon. We’ve mixed the record and the next step is to send it off to mastering. The mastering process is very mysterious.
One thing we have to do, before sending the record away to the mastering guy, is decide on a track sequence. Right now, they are in the order that we recorded them. Everybody is used to hearing them in that order, at this point. But, is that the order they need to be in? Who knows? It’s really a crap shoot. There are 14 songs and the number of possible combinations is mind numbing. I’m no math wiz but I know it’s a big number. So, out of these Quadrabagazillion possible sequences; what are the chances that, by using some mysterious combination of logic and emotion, by committee, that we arrive at the perfect sequence? In the end, you would have just as much of a chance drawing the names out of a hat.
There are several methods of going about this task; here are some usual suspects. One is to, “try and tell a story” with the order of the songs. Tie them together in some sequence in which a “main character” goes through a series of events and the whole thing comes to some satisfactory conclusion. Now, if you started out thinking this way; if you went in to the recording process with a batch of songs that had a story line, maybe this would work. Otherwise, it never works. Because, there isn’t a real story there. If by Divine intervention there somehow was a cognizant plot line, there would be four slow songs in a row, or something like that. But, even though I know that, it doesn’t mean we won’t try it.
The next one is to think like you would if you were putting together a live set list. Through the years, I have heard about a billion different “fool proof” formulas for putting together a set list. Most of them involve avoiding placing songs in the same key or tempo back to back. The problem with this kind of thinking is that the listener is in a different environment than a club or concert hall and a sequence that appears clever at a show, sometimes comes off as drastic on a record.
Then there are a myriad of rules of thumb that are left over from the days of vinyl such as; the title track should be first, the title track should be last, start the side with a fast one-end the side with a slow one. Then you have the logic that says; “Put your best effort first”. Well, they’re all great, all brilliant; that’s why we made a CD. How do we know which one’s the best? I might like this one best but, somebody else…who knows.
At some point, a magic, golden sequence will be decided. Later, folks who actually buy the CD will put it into their multi CD changer or, load it on to their iPods and hit shuffle.
Anyway, back on track, sequence then “Mastering”. Mastering, to most recording artists, is a mysterious and distant land where there is a good chance that their record, which they have put their heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into, will be ruined-just ruined. You can understand why sending a record off to the mastering lab would make an artist nervous. If you were a painter, how would you feel about sending your artwork “away” to a “lab” to let someone else put the finishing touches on it?
What is mastering? See, it’s one of those things that differs from project to project. But, a simple answer would go something like this; Mastering is a process in which equalization and overall compression is added to a finished mix. Mastering is tweaking. It can turn out bad, for sure. It can be like trying to even up your mustache or shortening a table leg. Conversely, mastering done well, can take your record to a whole new level.
Mastering is having another set of ears, professional ears, give your hard work a final say.
Nowadays, with everybody making records on their computers, in their spare bedrooms, a lot of what you hear has not been properly mastered. Software, plug-ins to master your own project are readily available and cheap. You get what you pay for. The old saying is’ “Doing your own mastering is like doing your own dental surgery”. A real mastering guy has gear that is specific to mastering and a plug-in that you got for free with your software bundle is not going to compare in any way.
Hmmm…turned into a bit of a rant there. I’m mentally prepping myself I guess. Just where my head is at this morning-sequencing-mastering. Then it’s over, all is well. Except for, artwork, liner notes, replication, shopping for a label, distribution, promotion………
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