The resume of mastering engineer, coach and technical specialist of our studio Alexander “NЁRD” Artemov has an impressive list of musicians of various genres: from dreamy Elka to the stomping metal band Embrace Eleonora. In our interview Alexander talks about the very essence of his profession, helps to choose the most appropriate format of mastering and recalls the time when he worked on a track under the strict control of a four-legged inspector.
The importance of mastering
Mastering is quality control of the mix and the last stage at which the following occurs:
a) feedback on the completed work (the mix) for fixing any existing errors that a mix engineer can correct;
b) finalization of a musical work, when it is possible either to correct inaccuracies without strong intervention, or to improve some quality of the recording.
Mastering ensures that the quality of the final music file is not lower than existing releases in a particular musical genre.
Analog VS Digital
These days there is both analog and digital mastering. But it’s wrong to think of it in terms of which one is “worse” or “better”. These are simply different sound processing methods, and each one is used depending on the wishes of the client and the work philosophy of the mastering engineer himself.
Speaking from a historical point of view, the digital method introduces the least distortion into the signal (if we’re already working in the digital environment while recording, mixing and mastering). But if we are talking about the analog environment and recording music on tape, then it is better not to enter the digital world during mastering and stick to the analog processing.
Loudness talk
You may have noticed that some tracks differ in loudness on the same streaming service. There could be a huge number of reasons for this.
Firstly, these can be tracks from completely different eras, when different technologies were used. Secondly, the technical specifications given by the artist or producer to the sound engineers may differ. For example, the customer wanted to maintain maximum dynamics, timbre matching, or had other sound tasks in mind. Accordingly, the track may not be too loud or, on the contrary, be too compressed and loud, with distortion, if this is relevant to the initial task.
If an artist is preparing his own material, it is a good idea to decide how important it is to get maximum loudness from the recording. Feedback from a mastering engineer will be very helpful here.
If we are not talking about musicians playing in academic styles (jazz, blues, classical music), then the first release of a beginning artist can be a little louder. Even if it means sacrificing some sound quality. It will make a statement and attract the attention of a potential listener, and make the promotional campaign more successful.
Most artists have a noticeable decrease in loudness in future releases in favor of other characteristics (dynamics, timbre matching, etc.).
You need a professional
In the modern world mastering is almost the most important stage in creating and finalizing a recording and preparing it for distribution. Since mastering is not about interfering in the sound or any processing, but about getting feedback on the already completed work.
And depending on the budget and level of the artist, for new or money-saving musicians mastering can help ensure that their material sounds as good as the other releases in their genre. And for professional artists mastering is about maintaining an existing sound level based on their past releases.
Studio or home
You can work with a mastering engineer either in a professional studio or book him for a home session. It all depends on the philosophy of the mastering engineer himself and his tools. Some work only on the equipment they are used to: in order to provide the artist with the maximum quality (this is why the engineer has probably created his own studio).
Others have a portable setup with special acoustics or headphones (as in my case), that they use in various conditions that are primarily comfortable for the artist. For example, Ariana Grande's mastering engineer came to work at her home, and the result pleased many listeners.
Duration of work
There are several options for working with a mastering engineer:
a) booking a studio session, so the artist and engineer work on a composition together in real time. Here the duration of work is unpredictable;
b) remote work, when an engineer works with a track one-on-one according to the wishes and tasks of the musician or producer. Such work can take from 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the wishes of the artist and the complexity of the musical material.
What affects the fee
The cost of a mastering engineer’s services is influenced by many factors: his fame, big clients in the portfolio, and much more.
As for the technical side of the work, for some engineers the duration of the track determines the size of the fee. For example, the price list may include the following condition: “a track longer than N minutes” costs more.
Instrumental tracks will not cost any less than vocal tracks. Since a mastering engineer works with material regardless of style and genre. Therefore, both an electronic track without words and a rock song are rated equally.
If several versions of one track are ordered from an engineer at the same time, additional versions may cost slightly less than the original composition. Also, if a mastering engineer works live with an artist, most often the client is billed not per track, but per hour. So it can be either cheaper or more expensive.
What mastering engineer doesn’t do
Some engineers don’t even offer such a popular thing as stem mastering, because they don’t consider it to be a part of the mastering process (it’s a mixing process).
Many engineers are also asked to correct the balance of one specific instrument, which is physically impossible to do within a single file.
A portrait of a perfect mastering engineer
A perfect mastering engineer must have both social and technical qualities.
Social ones include love for music and people and the ability to provide excellent service. Because mastering is not about creativity and ego, but about good service. Therefore, the ideal quality of a specialist is the ability to listen to wishes and requirements and not do anything that he was not asked to do.
Technical qualities are golden ears and knowing how to make the most out of the chosen tools in order to reach the goal.
Personal experience
Once I was, so to speak, a “mastering engineer for an hour.” And while the artists were talking and drinking tea, I was mastering the recording on an improvised table made out of a keyboard case and using my mobile setup (laptop, sound card, headphones).
I also met my mix engineer when I was mastering while lying on his bed with a cat at my feet.
I was once asked to make the background vocals a little louder at one point in the song. And although this is not a mastering task and it is practically impossible, everything was achieved with the help of tricky psychoacoustic devices.
There was also a case when I was mastering the sound from a concert. The guitarist turned off the electric guitar at the end of the song and the noise went into the official recording (according to the instructions, this should not have happened). To disguise this, I cut out the sound of the crowd’s clapping from the beginning of the track and added it to the end of the recording.
One of my favorite stories: I had less than 24 hours to make 20 master recordings for the artist’s TV performances. I also had to tell the production engineers from the TV that they could not touch the sound and that my master had to remain the same as in the studio (without the use of third-party devices). And we succeeded!
