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Every artist has their influences. It’s how inspiration arises to create new hits.

However, this often causes a problem. At any given time, there are thousands of artists being influenced from the same great acts of the past.

As a result, too often everybody begins to sound too much alike—and this makes it hard for you to stand-out enough in the overcrowded marketplace.

Sure, you can have “better” music than everybody else. But, there are countless great musicians who failed to get noticed during their lifetime.

Simply put, your music must have the clear “edge” (in quality and emotional charge) over the rest. Otherwise, you’re most likely going to get drowned out by all of the competing noise.

This is another reason why mastering is so important. It’s what gives your music that final touch and helps drive your music home to becoming a hit.

After all, it’s hard to edit your own work. You may think you’re music is new and different. But, in reality, it may need some more polish to differentiate it from the crowd.

What you need is a new set of skilled and impartial ears a good mastering engineer offers… to help you put out the best possible version of your music.

Additionally, this means when you get mastering, you must consider how you can make your music stand-out.

You should pay attention to how you can give your music a more innovative sound – so you grab the attention of your listeners (or others in the music business who can help get you heard.)

A good mastering engineer you trust is what’s key here. Because a unexperienced one won’t know exactly what to improve to make your record truly special. It takes the talent of a real pro to give your music that final touch to make sure it gets noticed.

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

There’s a lot that goes into the production of your music. It’s got to be written, performed, tweaked (with each person involved adding his or her own personal touch), recorded, mixed, mastered, and finally distributed.

All of this takes months or years before any potential listeners get to hear your record.

Although this is often a difficult process, there is one step you can do to make the production go quicker, easier, and more pain-free.

Moreover, this step is a vital component to creating a hit record.

It’s simply this… continually work on building a cohesive vision of where your music is going.

In other words, you must have a picture in your head of the final sound and “feel” you’re trying to create. To get this vision, it involves actually stopping and taking time to answer the difficult questions.

You must think about (from the start) what sounds you want to experiment with and how you want the music to flow together. Think about how you would describe your music to people who’ve never heard it.

If you’re not certain of this picture, then you’re in for a difficult time. Because you’re going to go back and forth between changes and be indecisive about your music.

It’s a bit like being lost in the woods. If you keep on changing directions, then you’re never going to find your way out. You’ll keep going in circles.

As a result, you’re going to frustrate those who you work with (sometimes causing disagreements that can result in disaster) and it’s going to take longer to create the record.

Plus, you should also keep in mind that this vision is part of the creation process.

You’re not going to get the complete vision, until you’ve discussed your ideas with all of the people who help in the music production.

The holes of your final vision get filled-in as your music is produced and experimentation with different sounds takes place.

In the case of the mastering engineer, for instance, you need his expertise to get a clear view of what can technologically be done (based on his tools and skills).

This is the same with the mixing and recording engineer.

Another key point is that the more experienced the people you work with are, the better. Their experience is going to help guide you to making the best decisions based on years of working in-the-trenches.

They know what to expect and can guide you painlessly to creating your vision. All you have to do is figure-out how to explain it to them. Those with good communication skills are going to be the best people to work with.

Additionally, the biggest place where experience matters to help create your vision is in the mastering studio.

Mastering is the process of putting the final touches on your music and making all the sounds run seamlessly together. It makes your record complete.

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

Everybody wants an experienced audio mastering engineer, as it’s vital if you want any chance of creating the “Hit” sound. Without it, the engineer is never going to deliver the complete results you want.

In fact, having an experienced engineer offers you 3 key benefits:

1. Knows which changes and adjustments are going to produce the best results.

Every song has its unique quirks that require adjustments. An experienced engineer is going to know quickly what the best course of action to fix problems is and how to go about doing it to get amazing results.

While, an inexperienced engineer may not feel comfortable with all of the techniques or the full capabilities of what his tools can do (which often takes years of work inside the studio to master).

2. Avoids making the wrong changes (based on a thorough understanding of the potential consequences all the adjustments can have.)

You see, mastering is like cooking a big pot of soup. If you just make one seemingly minor mistake, such as not realizing how much salt you’ve put in (until you’ve got way too much), then you’ve ruined the entire soup.

It didn’t matter that you did everything else right. All it took was one tiny mistake to ruin everything.

Mastering is often the same way. Be aware, a bad mastering engineer can actually make your music worse than what it was to begin with.

This is why you need to go with a proven mastering engineer who has heard it all and knows all the potential pitfalls the wrong adjustments can have.

3. Has experience working, talking, and understanding the wishes and problems of clients… and, in relation, offers you revisions (if needed), until you’re satisifed.

This alone can save you from a major disaster. If the engineer fails to communicate with you in an effective way, this is where the big problems occur. Because the engineer is going to miss vital information needed to get you the result you want (based on your wishes)… or is not going to let you in on what he or she is doing, until it’s too late!

With all that said, experience is sometimes not all it’s cracked up to be. What you should look for instead of the number of years the engineer has been working, is his or her track-record.

You want to ask yourself, “Has the engineer proven he or she has what it takes to create a ‘Hit’ sound?”

After all, an engineer may have been working for 10 years, but has little to show for it. On the other hand, another engineer may have only been working for 4 years, but have already helped many clients create hit records.

Who do you want mastering your music?

Additionally, you should look to see if the engineer has testimonials from satisfied clients on his or her website. Meeting the clients’ wishes satisfactorily is just as important as the final results.

Because nobody likes working with an engineer who is talented, but is no fun to work with either. You should look for someone who is the best of both worlds.

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

When it comes to making a record, mastering is usually the last thing on most people’s mind. After all, there’s a whole lot more that goes into it before you even come close to the mastering process.

However, this lack of forethought often causes a problem.

Too often people wait until the last minute (just after the mix has been completed) before they put any thought into their mastering.

This can be a costly mistake.

The biggest reason is that it often puts you and the mastering engineer “Under the gun” to get it done fast. And, when this happens, it’s often impossible to get the best possible sound from your music.

Why?

Well, the most important reason to get music mastering is the fresh, skilled, and independent ears. This is because they are the only way to catch mistakes and ensure your music has the “Hit” sound before it’s released.

Otherwise, only those who have a lot invested in the music (or people with some type of bias) are going to give you feedback on your music – and that’s how deadly mistakes often occur (Click here for more on this topic).

So, when you give the mastering engineer only a day or two to get it done fast, then there’s no guarantee you’re going to get the best possible result. 

Plus, you’ll often find that the best mastering engineers are booked weeks in advance and so they have to pass on your project to one of the less busy (and in relation, often less good) mastering engineers.

Yet, this is what most people do. They go with a mastering studio that promises to get their music done in a short time and expect the same results than if they went with a “Real pro.”

You see, the best mastering engineers take enough time as it takes to get the master right. If a song doesn’t need much, then they can finish their job more quickly. But, if there are serious changes that need to be made, then a pro is going to take his time to make sure the best possible sound is achieved. And since the pro has many happy clients because of this approach to work, he is often booked weeks in advance.

This includes talking with you to get a clear picture of what you want… and giving the music as many listens and adjustments as it takes before he feels confident in his work. If his ear gets tired from listening to the music too many times in a row, then he’ll take a break to let it rest – and have new ideas come-up.

Simply put, what all this means to you is simple… don’t wait until the last moment to start thinking about your mastering. You should begin by communicating with your mastering engineer during the recording and mixing phases to make sure you have the best sound for the engineer to master.

Because, remember, the mastering engineer can make a good recording sound great, but he can’t rid a bad recording and remove all of its flaws.

Then, when you finally get to the mastering phase, you should give the engineer as much time as it takes to work his “Magic”— because you know that rushing is going to mean you can easily miss-out on some killer improvements.

This means, if possible, pre-book a slot in his mastering schedule far in advance to make sure time is not an issue (because his schedule is too full to take in your project in your desired time frame).

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

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If you want to guarantee that your music has that “Hit” sound every time, then this short article may be the most important you will ever read.

Here’s why:

Too often people think that one type of music is better than another. Some people love country, but hate classical music… or they love classical, but can’t stand rap.

When in reality, great music is up to the listener. There really isn’t a good or bad because it all depends on what the listener relates to in the music.

But, here’s a key point that few of those in the music business think about.

What is it that makes a listener of your music become a fan? Or go from simply liking your music to wanting to play it non-stop in their CD player for years to come?

The answer is that your music touches something that comes “alive” inside the listener. You can’t really place what it is, but it makes it him or her boil with excitement.

Maybe it’s your lyrics the listener can relate to… or he just sees himself as the type of person who would be fan of your music (because of the image that is portrayed).

Simply put, the music is less about the quality (though still important) and more about emotions that are stirred-up when the person listens to the music.

And this is the secret key ingredient to mastering… focus on making your music pack an emotional punch in the listener.

By tapping into what the audience thinks and feels on daily basis, then this is how hits are made.

This means that when you make changes to your music (such as raise the volume or make certain parts of the song more cohesive), then you need to focus on stirring-up the right emotions of the listener.

In other words, a good mastering job can literally be the difference between your song failing or becoming a smash hit.

This is because you may have a created some great music, but it’s irrelevant if nobody can “feel” it. If it fails to reach what the listener cares about, they’re not going to listen to it.

Mastering gives your music that little extra edge needed to hit the “Sweet spot” inside your listeners – and make them raving fans.

And since the mastering engineer is an unbiased listener (not involved with any other parts of the music) he or she can adjust the music to give the listeners more of what they want.

For instance, maybe the drums aren’t prominent enough to get the listener going along with music… or, on the flip side, maybe they’re to loud and drown-out another important part the song the listeners want to hear.

Working one-on-one with the mastering engineer allows you to perfect your music during the mastering to give it the crucial emotional punch that creates hits!

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

For many, online mastering seems like something you’d only use in two circumstances: You’re either in a rush or are short on cash.

The reason some people have this image of online mastering is because there are a lot of so-called “Budget studios” that only charge $5-$30 a track and guarantee a quick turnaround time.

Usually, these studios are amateurs who do the work on their home computer. You then hear stories about these studios giving back masters no better (or even worse) than what you sent!

The truth is that the studio is not so much important as the engineer you get to master your tracks.

It doesn’t matter if you’re online or off, if you don’t have a professional working on your music, then you’re probably not going to get a quality result.

With that said, online mastering also has much more to offer than most realize. And, in fact, is much better than offline studios in many respects with the right engineer.

One of the key reasons is because the time spent mastering your music is 100% productive. You don’t have to travel anywhere to get to the studio and sit there while the engineer works.

Often this can take-up valuable time and distract the engineer from doing the best job.

Because when the engineer is alone he or she can take his time to test various adjustments to find the best sounding combinations. If you’re still waiting in the studio, the engineer often feels pressured to make the adjustments more quickly.

With online mastering, communication is quick and easy through email or over the phone. If you have an idea in the middle of the night, then you can quickly notify the engineer.

As a result, the engineer has the freedom to do his or her thing without any pressure, but while still having and following your input—so you get the best possible result.

Then, when the engineer’s done, he can send you over the music instantly through the internet for your review. And, if something needs to be changed, it takes only a few minutes to tell the engineer.

You don’t have to return to the studio or ship anything back.

Additionally, this also means you’re usually going to pay less – because the engineer does not have to spend as much time like in a offline session, while still being able to achieve the same and even better results.

Plus, another key benefit is that online mastering engineers often have more experience with different types of music. Since people throughout the world use their services, they’ve heard it all. And know exactly how to improve your music to get the best sound.

Offline studios often only have experience with a certain type of music that is popular in the area.

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

Mastering can often result in a significant improvement for your music. However, the difference it makes for you depends on the quality of the engineer doing the mastering.

An inexperienced mastering engineer can only help with a few small improvements in the quality of your sound (if you’re lucky). Sometimes they can even make your music worse!

But, a pro mastering engineer is going to give you feedback and know how to make the right adjustments that results in a final “Hit” sound.

For this reason, let’s cover what you should look for in a top mastering studio:

1. Has a solid reputation. There aren’t a lot of mastering engineers who work for the big studios. Only a small number have gained their trust.

The reason is because the best mastering isn’t easy to achieve. It takes years of experience and even then you’ve got to have knack for the process.

Average mastering engineers are not hard to come by, but the best engineers are a rare find. When you come across an engineer who you can trust with your music, then you’ll want to stick with them album after album.

2. Has a wide range of experience, especially with your genre of music.

Every song has its unique quirks and only experience allows the engineers to know the best solution for every song.

Moreover, each genre of music is going to be slightly different. Your ideal mastering studio should be very familiar with your genre of music… and preferably be a fan.

This allows the engineer to give the best feedback and help get the creative juices flowing to bring out the best possible sound.

3. Has fast response times.  A good mastering studio offers you quick responses and once the work is done, they are prompt in sending it back to you.

A mastering studio should give your music a top priority and be devoted to achieving your final vision.

4. Has the right equipment and is skilled with it.

A common problem with many “budget studios,” which seem to offer a good deal (at first sight) is that they often don’t have the proper equipment to give your music the adjustments it needs.

And if they do have some of the equipment, then they don’t have the experience needed to get the most out of it – meaning your music turns out far short of what it could.

5. Guarantees you’re happy with the result.

A good mastering studio works to ensure that you’re happy… and you’ve gotten what you wanted (and more) out of the mastering process. So, if something is overlooked, you can rest assured that they will go back and fix it – so your music is a success!

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

The music world is filled with one hit wonders and those that made it big for a short time, but are now forgotten. Their loyal fans are non-existent.

You see, most artists don’t realize that you can attract lots of fans in the short run, but it doesn’t mean your music is going to stick around for long.

New music comes out. Fans move on.

On the other hand, some bands have loyal fans that are die-hards forever. Even more, the music is passed on to their kids, a new generation of fans (the Beatles, for example).

But, what is it that keeps fans loyal to your music long into the future?

Of course, there are a lot of different factors. But, probably the single biggest one few people put enough emphasis on is creating a record that fans want to listen to nonstop – without tiring of it.

Because think about it. If you have good music, then your record is likely going to have some sales even if the record stinks.

But, how many of those fans are going to want to listen to your record years into the future? Not many. Because there’s nothing memorable about it.

And this is where good mastering comes into play. Mastering can by no means completely fix terrible recordings and mixes… But, it is what transforms your record into a masterpiece.

Without it, you have about 1 in a 1,000 chance of creating a timeless record. There are just going to be too many flaws that prevent your music from flowing smoothly from beginning to end.

And that’s the goal of a good mastering job. You want the listener to be able to replay your CD dozens of times in a row without wanting to throw it out.

Because when this is accomplished, you have created a memorable record. The listener looks forward to the next time he gets to listen to it it, tells his/her friends about it because it sounds great and fat – instead, of feeling “Sick and tired” of hearing it.

The need to listen to something new and different is reduced. Your music is a “Go-to” record time and time again.

In other words, what all this means to you is simple. Take your record serious and give it the respect it deserves. A good mastering engineer can literally be the difference between having your CD tossed or kept in the record player for generations to come!

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.

When most people look for a mastering engineer, they often think that talent is the most important characteristic.

Although it’s true that skill is vital to getting a “Hit” sound, it’s NOT the most important part.

Far more important is effective communication.

This is because without it, the engineer’s talent doesn’t mean a thing. It’s impossible to get the “Hit” sound YOU’RE after.

You see, the reason communication is so important is that there are countless adjustments the mastering engineer can make.

But, knowing which ones can be tricky. They must be based on the sound/feel you’re going for and what the engineer is technically able to do (based on experience and tools).

Additionally, good communication also allows you and the engineer to get on the same page.

Because each person only has half of the story. You have an idea of what you want your music to sound like and the engineer knows the full scope of what can be done to achieve your vision.

And when everybody involved with the production gets in the groove of creating the best possible sound, this is how hits are made.

A good dialog allows both sides to fully picture what can be achieved… and generate the ideas needed to get a successful master.

With that said, let’s move on to…

5 Tips to Achieve Communication Success:

1. Give references of bands you want to sound like. Then, discuss with the engineer the parts you like and what you want to capture for your music. The more specific you are in what you like, the better job the engineer can do.

2. Talk to the engineer about all the potential changes and solutions he or she has in mind. You can then give your input to generate new ideas and ensure these changes are what you’re going for.

3. Look for an engineer who you can get in touch with using the phone or email.

You can then quickly reach the engineer if a good idea hits you.

4. Look for an engineer who’s interested in listening to your ideas. The last thing you want to work with is somebody who fails to listen to your input. A good mastering engineer will deeply consider your ideas and then tell you what can be done.

5. Pay attention to the engineer’s critique of your recording. Often the engineer has worked with hundreds of other acts and knows exactly the common problems that occur. By listening to the engineer’s ideas carefully, then you’ll know exactly how to get the best sound out of your music.

Relating to this, you should also be in contact with your mastering engineer during the mixing and recording phases to make sure that you have the best possible mix by the time it gets to the mastering engineer.

Mastering can only improve your audio based on where it starts. A bad recording can’t be turned into a top-quality master (though it occasionally can be transformed into an average sound with a star engineer).

Simply put, good communication is the difference between having simply “Average” or “Good” sounding music… or creating memorable music that leaves a lasting impression on the listener.

About the Author:
Lorenz Vauck is an Audio Mastering Engineer, Musician, and Internet Entrepreneur from Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He is the Managing Director and Chief Mastering Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first online audio mastering studios established in 2003.