LorenzVauck.com

There are two directions you can take when producing your music. Although both begin with weeks, months or years (and lots of money) spent getting quality work inside the recording and mixing studios, they diverge upon arriving at the mastering house.

The first path looks tempting at first glance. It’s where you decide to get your mastering done fast and cheap. And mastering is only seen as something you do as a last minute step to catch errors and make small adjustments that aren’t extremely necessary.

However, the lure of this path eventually wears off. You soon discover this road isn’t as smooth as it once looked, as the reality of having to compete among thousands of other artists hits you.

Of course, few artists choose this path because they want to. But, they just don’t know what can be achieved during the mastering process with a skilled mastering engineer. And so the cheap guy seems like a pretty good deal.

As a result, their albums lack that certain “Edge” to stand-out over others in the marketplace. And they are less likely to catch on.

Not only in the short term because their music fails to capture as much attention as it could… but, also in the long-term as fans soon forget about your album if it isn´t “up to par”.

This is compared to the second, less traveled path… where the “Golden sound” lies (and more record sales as a result).

Instead, of being a last-minute effort, mastering is given more respect and attention. It’s where the artists are actively involved in discovering what can be achieved. They work one-on-one with a skilled mastering engineer and describe exactly what they want their final vision to sound like.

The engineer then offers feedback (based on years of experience) and adds the “Polish” that brings out the greatness in your music so it remains in fans’ CD or record players for years to come.

Simply put, this path is the way to go! In the end, it’s actually a lot more expensive to go with the “cheaper” mastering house. And, if you want your music to be remembered as one the greats by your fans long into the future, then don’t hold-back on mastering.

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.

As a little thank you for all my followers on Twitter, here is a special limited time offer for you: If you follow XARC Mastering on Twitter you will receive a 10% discount on your next online mastering project. Just contact me with your Twitter-Name when booking.

Today, there’s no question CDs and MP3s are the dominant format for listening to music among the average listener.

However, Vinyl records are still alive and well (and a very important format).

In fact, if you want to launch your record in the most effective way, then you still need to get mastering for Vinyl done.

Why?

Well, the most important reason is for clubs. Vinyl is still the preferred format for most DJs. This is especially true if your music is in hip hop or dance genres.

The other reason is that there are many die-hard music fans that prefer listening to Vinyl because they feel like it produces a better, “warmer” sound.

This is often the case with a good mastered Vinyl because it is not limited to the frequency range of a CD and the “low” bit resolution (since Vinyl is analog, not digital).

This means Vinyl opens-up an important new market for your music.

Because, keep in mind, often the people who listen to Vinyl are close to the music business (or are real music lovers) and are in a position to spread your music by word of mouth to a lot more people than the average listener.

So, how do you go about getting your music on Vinyl?

Putting your music on Vinyl is a tricky process and requires the experience of 2 skilled mastering engineers.

One for the pre-mastering (or sound optimization to make it sound professional)… and the other for the cutting (where the mastering engineer cuts your Vinyl for the pre-mastered songs).

For Vinyl, a good mastering engineer is even more important than if you were just releasing your music on CD and MP3.

This is because of the difficulty in telling what the music sounds like on Vinyl and the special preparations that must take place (such as, phase coherent bass, lower high-end and only soft peak-limiting, etc…) in the pre-mastering phase.

Often it sounds fine on the playback system, but terrible when your music’s put on the Vinyl.

There are many skilled adjustments that must take place (which are difficult to master).

XARC Mastering is one of the few studios that offers online mastering for CD -and- Vinyl.

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.

Mistakes happen in the recording studio. Some are irreversible, but many can be fixed by an experienced mastering engineer.

These problems that can often be fixed with the help of a mastering engineer include:

• Background noises (from leaving unused mics on, guitar amps, chains from poorly-constructed analog equipment, and other excess room noises).

• Clicking, ticking, popping, and crackling, hissing, and buzzing sounds (caused by bad recording or old vinyl samples),

• Humming (caused by power supplies, guitars/amps, or just bad cable connections will be removed).

• Fixing a “bad” frequency response (caused through wrong recording and mixing techniques – e.g a to “dull” sound can be improved through lifting the high-end through professional equalizers that are in use in the mastering studio).

Plus, there are countless other techniques an experienced mastering engineer uses to improve the overall sound of your tracks.

Simply put, a good mastering engineer can restore your audio and bring it back to life.

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.

The mastering studio holds a lot more than meets the eye.

It’s designed as a single place where the audio can be clearly heard to catch errors and identify what needs to be fixed.

A major difference between a professional mastering studio and a “budget studio” (who charges $10-$30 a track) is the quality of the studio and especially the person behind it – the mastering engineer.

A professional mastering studio has a proper design and is filled with thousands of dollars of the hottest equipment to have full flexibility in adjusting the audio.

While, the “budget studio” may be done with minimal equipment and rely on software plug-ins to achieve all the effects. When this happens, the mastering capabilities are greatly limited and it’s often impossible to do a professional job.

Some examples of equipment in a professional studio are:

• Accurate Monitoring

• Equalizers (analog and digital)

• Compressors

• Tape machines and analog systems

• And a mastering console

In essence, a mastering studio is a massive production. A lot goes into it. And there’s a reason why good mastering engineers can charge so much. They are able to transform your music from just average into hits.

And a large amount of what allows them to do their “magic” are their mastering tools.

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.