Freesound Forums

Would you prefer to hear merely final master?
Or would you prefer to compare the mix to the final master?

I ask this as I recently put a track onto my website I was given permission to use as an example of my mastering results.
I put both the final mix (specifically included "Before:" in the label) and the final master (specifically included "After:" in the label) ... & yet the mix has almost twice the amount of plays as the master!

Any thoughts/opinions appreciated. Thank you!

1) Did you post the final mix before the final master? The one uploaded earlier usually has more views.

2) Half the people don't know and don't care about mastering. The word "mix" itself lures more people. You can easily check this on youtube as well. Mastering just isn't that "out" there for people to know or appreciate it (I'm talking about the lay people, the noobs and the entry-levels).

Some of my friends think mixing means taking 3-4 songs and putting them together so they sound like one song. I said, no, you're thinking of DJ remixing which has NOTHING to do with the mixing I'm talking about.

They stay silent, and they just smile the most innocent smile, probably saying in the back of their minds, "whatever dude, I'm feeling uncomfortable with your music-related jargon. Can we kiss already?"

Uh.

afleetingspeck wrote:
1) Did you post the final mix before the final master? The one uploaded earlier usually has more views.
Nope, both were uploaded at the very same time

2) Half the people don't know and don't care about mastering. The word "mix" itself lures more people. You can easily check this on youtube as well. Mastering just isn't that "out" there for people to know or appreciate it (I'm talking about the lay people, the noobs and the entry-levels).
Good points. However my website makes it very clear that I do not offer mixing as a service; I am a "Audio Mastering Engineer" & "Fine-Audio Editing Specialist" (quoted directly from my website).

Some of my friends think mixing means taking 3-4 songs and putting them together so they sound like one song. I said, no, you're thinking of DJ remixing which has NOTHING to do with the mixing I'm talking about.

They stay silent, and they just smile the most innocent smile, probably saying in the back of their minds, "whatever dude, I'm feeling uncomfortable with your music-related jargon. Can we kiss already?"
Hehehehe. I know exactly what you mean LOL...

Uh.
Thanks heaps for your input, man!

I agree, Mastering is almost an invisible art form to people who are unaware of the actual process. I myself am trained in mix mastering, and have noticed lay persons shrug it off as just "making it louder"; which hurts me a little, and you can empathise with that I'm sure.

I have had similar problems in the past with people failing to engage with the actual enhancement when in comparison with the mix. My advice to you would be to make a single demonstration video whereby you alternate the playing of the mix and the master to make several comparison clips side by side, labelled, also with the waveform of the respective file in the background, slightly tinted as a visual aid. This may take a bit more work, but will get you a better engagement. Unless of course you are relying on votes or plays of the individual files as a gauge for preference, then a single demo can be more problematic.

Hope this helps dude

i prefer the master.

compare a mix with the master is nothing for the masses. i mix my music to somthing arround -5 db peak and somthing over -20 RMS. the masters from that music have the most time somthing arround -0.1peak and ~16 RMS. so if you copy that in one file and play 10sec the mix then 10sec the master. the master in the most ears win because it is louder (== unfair). if you make 10 sec so and 10sec so .... and reduce the volume lvl of the master to fit the mix -> the mix wud be sound better to 50% of the ppl. (higher dynamics). but this depend a bit of the style of music and whre you "glue" the thing. i try to glue in my mixes but most ppl glue in the master...

you see i cant help you...