Tag Archives for " home mastering "

RSR008 - Ian Shepherd - Home Mastering Masterclass

Home Mastering Masterclass (Click the link to check it out)

Ian Shepherd is a professional mastering engineer with over 20 years experience and owner of Mastering Media Ltd. Ian has mastered thousands of CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays for all of the major record labels, TV stations and independents, including several number one singles and award-winning albums.

Some of the artists and clients include: Keane, Tricky, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deep Purple, The Orb, Leslie Garret, Culture Club, Porcupine Tree, Andy Weatherall, The Las, Ozric Tentacles, Christine Tobin, New Order and King Crimson amongst many others.

Ian has taken all of that experience and created the popular website, Production Advice.

He is also the founder of Dynamic Range Day raising global awareness for the loudness wars, and he is creator of  the award-winning Perception Plugin with MeterPlugs. The one tool you need to make sure your masters sound 'better" not "worse!"

But the best tool that Ian has created for you is:

The Home Mastering Masterclass

This class will help you get better results mastering your own music.

This is an awesome resource that can help you with your mastering whether you are just starting out and wanting to master from home on your laptop or looking to deepen your understanding of what mastering is really all about. Even if you still rely on professional mastering!

Use this link below for the RSRockstars discount!

The Home Mastering Masterclass

Mastering Advice - Q&A:

Q: Have you worked at a number of mastering studios or do you do it mostly at your own?

A: I worked at SRT for about 15 years. I learned most of what I know there, and now I do my own work.

Q: What is mastering?

A: It’s actually really simple. It’s like Photoshop for audio. It’s about taking the mixes and taking them to the next level. Mastering is balancing the songs within an album. Mastering mostly consists of EQ, Compression, and Limiting.

Q: What is the loudness war?

A: People like louder music. If you play them the same song at different volumes, they will like the louder one most of the time. Over the years, people have been compressing or limiting as close as possible to 0dB Full Scale. The trouble is if you go too far, it can actually make the music sound worse, and that’s the situation we’re seeing today.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your Home Mastering Masterclass.

A: I’m still learning all the time. I understand most people do not want to pay someone to master something when they can just do it themselves, so I want to teach them to do it well.

Home Mastering Masterclass covers EQ, reference tracks, compression, and limiting.

Q: What are some of the most frequent questions you get about mastering?

A: How loud should it be? How loud is too loud? How loud should your monitors be when mixing or mastering?

Q: How often is your Home Mastering Master Course available?

A: Usually about 3 or 4 times a year. The course lasts for 8 weeks. Every week I master a different song of a different genre, using a different DAW and software. I assign the listeners a small task that will help them improve their own mastering skills.

“Jam Session” - Q&A:

Q: Tell us about what was holding you back at the start of your Mastering career?

A: I had no gear. I had nothing at all. I persuaded my parents to buy me an old computer that had an 8-bit sampler. It got me started making noises and allowed me to create little songs. It doesn’t matter what gear you have, just how you make use of it.

Q: What was some of the best advice you ever received about recording or mastering?

A: When you’re making comparisons, always loudness-match first, so you’re not fooled into thinking it sounds better just because it’s louder.

Q: Can you share a recording tip, hack or secret sauce?

A: Loudness matching. My plug-in called Perception, allows you to loudness match with the click of a button. You can do this without a plug-in, but it takes much longer.

Q: Can you share a great resource related to the business aspect of mastering?

A: My advice would be just be as generous as you can with the knowledge you have. Don’t be afraid to provide free information or lower your rate for a band you think is truly amazing. You never know who you’re interacting with.

Q: If you were dropped into a strange city with only a simple mastering set-up, what would you use, how would you find music to master, and how would you make ends meet while you do it?

A: All you need is a laptop. I can improve the way you perceive a song with just an EQ and Limiter. If you’re just getting started, you will probably have to do work for free to begin with. People will not want to pay you to master until they can see that you really can master.

Twitter - (@IanShepherd)

Folow Ian on Twitter - @IanShepherd

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shepherd.ian

If you have any or questions about recording you would like me to answer on the show or suggestions for the show please email me:

lij@recordingstudiorockstars.com

If you dig the show and find it helpful I would be honored if you would subscribe, and leave a rating, & review in iTunes.

And if you want to get on the email list for free content full of videos, tips, studio tricks, and special offers just text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 from your phone (super easy and I promise you won’t get spammed!)

Credits: Thanks so much to Merissa Marx and Hunter Hansen for assisting with editing audio and show notes. You guys totally rock!

Cheers!

Lij