JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques General Technical Forum Radio Ready Recording

Ben, it is my understanding also that a properly mastered recording is both radio ready and of broadcast quality...as with any recording sh*t in, sh*t out so all they are talking about here are levels, you're levels must meet a normalized output level and the peak output of the entire recording generally dictates where the rest must adjust to, too high of a peak needs compression, too low of a peak needs EQ to boost it, there is where the trained engineer is well worth the money, I myself can f*ck up a set of great tracks and turn it into a furball of a mix, done it several hundred times...ha...when it counts, I hire a pro...worktapes it just isn't of much importance, the only place they are going is your inner circle...
Lyle, the mastering phase was made easier by all the mixing, and the engineer I used was the same guy, I think he set himself up as he went so the mastering would be easier...the one thing I walked away with is how a trained set of ears is so invaluable, the pro who has mastered hundreds or more projects knows,hears,does things that I will probably never learn and be able to do...of course he's not a great songwriter like us...ha...he is a great bass player though...I was there every hour that time, my second cd I dropped off and said do your thing, but it was a different scenario I took him a two track and had him normalize, compress, and EQ the overall project which is in effect what they call a quick master, the studios had already done all the mixing on that one...it , like my 3rd one will be, is mostly used for shopping my country market songs...I'm about half way on that third one, hopefully pull it together this summer...great discussion guys, thanks...Moker