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A key consideration in successful mastering is the equipment an engineer has to work with. Professional mastering studios spend thousands of dollars on the right equipment.

But, when it comes down to it, few customers know what they should look for or why the equipment is so important.

The reason it’s so vital is that it gives the engineer much more flexibility in what they can do to improve the quality of your audio.

If you’re doing mastering on your personal computer, then you’re simply not going to have the ability to do what a pro can.

When looking at the equipment a mastering studio has, there is a lot to look at.

But, the most important consideration you need to think about is if the engineer really knows how to use his or her equipment.

Because an engineer can have the best equipment in the world, but if he or she is not skilled at using it… then it makes little difference.

In other words, you should think of mastering equipment as “tools” of the trade. A good mastering engineer is going to do the best the job with the equipment he or she knows the most about.

This means that when you look to get your mastering done, don’t look so much at what equipment a studio has, but focus on what they can do with it.

And, in the end, you’re more likely to get the best possible result.

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 Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first on-line process audio mastering companies established in 2003.

It’s just plain criminal…  Mastering studios that take your hard-earned money and then give you mastered tracks worse or no better than the original mix!

You see, good mastering is balancing act.  Because as soon as you adjust one part of the audio track (such as boost loudness), then several other factors change as well.

When looking for a mastering engineer, there are 5 important qualities you should look for:

1. Experience.  You want somebody who knows what to listen for and what to do when a mistake is noticed.  Each type of music has its unique quirks that takes hundreds of working hours discover them all.

Additionally, the engineer should have experience with your medium (such as CDs, Vinyl, or DVDs). 

2. The right equipment.  Mastering studios spend countless thousands of dollars on getting the best equipment for a reason.  Each piece allows the engineer more flexibility in getting the right sound.

This alone is an important reason for going with a pro.

3. Responsive.  A good mastering engineer works one-on-one with the client throughout the entire mastering process to achieve the best result.

This is important to maintain the artists vision of what they want their tracks to sound like.  The last thing you want is to work with someone who demands on changing the music to how they think it should be, instead of what you really want.

Moreover, a good mastering engineer should also give feedback on what needs to be done to get the right sound.

4. Good ears.  Since every track is different, a good mastering engineer needs to know what to listen for.  You should think of a mastering engineer as a musical artist.

5. Dedication.  Finally, your mastering engineer should be dedicated to doing the best job possible.  You want somebody who is going to stick with your project, until it’s the best it can be.  Not someone who calls it quits soon after they start.

After all, every little bit counts to give you the edge in a very competitive market place.

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 Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first on-line process audio mastering companies established in 2003.

In the past few years an explosion has occurred in the mastering world, as online mastering has begun to take over.

This growth has been fueled by a growing number of talented mastering engineers taking their studios online.  And artists are discovering the countless benefits online mastering has to offer.

These include:

• More experienced engineers.  Since online mastering has a global market place, online engineers often have a wide range of experience from many different types of music.  This means you can rest assured they are comfortable with what your music needs, no matter what type it is.

• More flexibility and faster turnaround time.  With online mastering, everything is done on YOUR schedule… because it’s all done online.  This means you can quickly communicate with your mastering engineer through e-mail and share your music instantly without having to wait for snail mail.

• There’s no rush – quality comes first.  A typical practice with “brick and mortar” mastering studios is that they are forced to go from mix to final master in a day or two.  With online mastering, extra time can be put in to make sure the job is done right.

And on top of all these advantages online studios often have the same equipment and studio as traditional mastering studios.

The bottom line is that nowadays there are many talented mastering engineers who prefer the online mastering option (to having an offline studio)… and you can now benefit as a result.

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 Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first on-line process audio mastering companies established in 2003.

One of the most important parts of every successful record is the final step of production… mastering!

Simply put, mastering transforms your music from average sound quality (or even worse) into a professional “radio-ready” sound. 

It’s usually done after mixing and right before your CD’s are produced.

When many people think about mastering, they think its main importance is making tracks louder. This is true, but there’s also much more to it.

A good mastering engineer adds punch and gives your tracks a unique feel. Additionally, problems in recording can be identified a corrected.

This is why mastering so important. It’s the difference between having a hit sound or being ignored. It gives you the professional edge you need for your music to get noticed. 

And, considering how many other artists are out there, you need everything available to make sure you stand-out. 

Be sure to listen to the before and after demos at www.xarcmastering.com/demos/ to hear for yourself what professional mastering can do for you.

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 Engineer of XARC Mastering, one of the world’s first on-line process audio mastering companies established in 2003.