I've been pondering the idea of developing the skills necessary to professionally master other people's music for income. I wouldn't be too picky, but hopefully I could target clients that would have something remotely in common with me taste-wise? Experimental, electronic, sometimes rock, sometimes pop, you get the idea. I'm yet another dude who mucks around on electronica ambientish solo computer stuff, so I figure I'm already inclined towards this kind of work.
Anyway, is this even a viable avenue anymore? Is there a school for it that doesn't suck? Is contacting a masterer directly and offering services as an intern the way to go? How do you do that? Do most people work through bigger agencies or are they self-employed?
If there's anybody that's on my wavelength and would care to share their experience, I'd be very interested to hear what y'all have to say. Thanks very much!
having mastering as a (part-time) job
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leedsquietman
- Posts: 6659
- Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:56 am
- Location: greater toronto area
Re: having mastering as a (part-time) job
Anyone can offer these services, but if you don't have the correct training and reasonable facilities in terms of monitoring environment and equipment, you will be found out pretty quickly.
Mastering studio work and internships are thin on the ground (in any given large city there may be 20-30 decent sized recording studios, but typically only 3 or 4 mastering studios worth their salt) and most commercial mastering studios will only give internships if you have industry qualifications (although some will allow fullsail/berklee/sae graduates, where the course efficiency is variable to say the least) - or very good references from known and respected people in the pro-audio field.
A lot of people do audio engineering and mix engineering first and then kind of drift into mastering because of studio connections. They put in the time, take it seriously, really develop an ear and know how to get your mixes to the same level soundwise and volume wise as major label commercial artists etc.
Other people get cracked copies of Waves and Ozone and run you track through volume maximizer presets and charge you $30-$60 bucks a track and call it 'Mastering'.
So depending on how you want your career and reputation to go, there are different ways to achieve it !
Either way, start off low and give freebies or low cost mastering to friends, get their HONEST feedback and develop a bit of a portfolio and reputation that way before aiming any higher is a recommendation as someone who does the occasional mastering job for others. Maybe Tarekith or others who offer mastering advice or with knowledge in this area might want to give their advice on this subject ?
Mastering studio work and internships are thin on the ground (in any given large city there may be 20-30 decent sized recording studios, but typically only 3 or 4 mastering studios worth their salt) and most commercial mastering studios will only give internships if you have industry qualifications (although some will allow fullsail/berklee/sae graduates, where the course efficiency is variable to say the least) - or very good references from known and respected people in the pro-audio field.
A lot of people do audio engineering and mix engineering first and then kind of drift into mastering because of studio connections. They put in the time, take it seriously, really develop an ear and know how to get your mixes to the same level soundwise and volume wise as major label commercial artists etc.
Other people get cracked copies of Waves and Ozone and run you track through volume maximizer presets and charge you $30-$60 bucks a track and call it 'Mastering'.
So depending on how you want your career and reputation to go, there are different ways to achieve it !
Either way, start off low and give freebies or low cost mastering to friends, get their HONEST feedback and develop a bit of a portfolio and reputation that way before aiming any higher is a recommendation as someone who does the occasional mastering job for others. Maybe Tarekith or others who offer mastering advice or with knowledge in this area might want to give their advice on this subject ?
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