@Raj 485875 wrote:

Mastering is something best learnt by experimentation – trying things and seeing how they sound – dont be afraid to do nothing to a track – sometimes it is not possible to do anything to a track apart from normalise the levels that makes it sound better. Dont think that you have to use an effect on it just because everyone else does – using effects for the sake of it results in shoddy music

This can all be done in the mixing down stage though. If you want to learn to master tunes then go full out, try everything, see how it sounds, make sure you do it in a “sound” environment (and what I mean by that is acoustically neutral). All mastering is is fixing mixdown mistakes, so mix your tune amazingly, and it will not not need mastering. If you can get every sound in the tune “flush” on 0db where it matters and the rest in exactly the right place below with the right eq on everything in the right place in the stereo field … there’s NO NEED for any further alteration! What is what a mastering engineer will do.

If you’re listening to your tune and you are thinking “I really need this mastered” then you are wrong, what you need to do is GO BACK AN MIX IT AGAIN! The ONLY benefit to a good mixdown, with regard to mastering, is the superior equipment they will use to get the best out of the sounds presented to them. 99% of people’s tunes will benefit from a mastering engineer giving them the once over, and that 99% don’t have either the ear or the equipment to do it properly.

Now the likely hood of you getting your mix perfect isn’t very lightly. Even the top bods of music production don’t. Infact, they are more likely to get someone else to even mixdown their tune! You have to start at the base up, if you can’t get a mix right, forget about trying to master. Learn how to mix a tune and you’ll not need to worry about mastering. It’ll just be something that happens after and adds a little extra touch, as opposed to anything that really make or breaks your song.

It’s the mixdown what’s important!

A mastering engineer will sit there and assess your tune .. and will look for things like …

It’s too loud here … that sound is too shrill … the bass is lacking … I can hear a little bit of mud here in the tune …

ALL things what are problems with the mix in the first place.

If you can’t mix down a tune don’t worry about mastering, the first step is mixing down, I guarantee you EVERY mastering engineer has had many years experience, in some way or another, in the process of mixing down tunes before they got to where they are now.