Seven Suggestions While Mastering

Tips from the guide "Mastering with Ozone".


Before you jump into a marathon mastering session, here are seven things that are good to remind yourself of periodically:

1)  Have someone else master your mixes for you. OK,in most project studios we realize that the same person is often the performer, producer, mixer, and mastering
engineer. At least get someone else to listen with you. Or find someone who will
master your mixes if you master theirs. You’re too close to your own music. You’ll
hear things other listeners won’t hear, and you’ll miss things that everyone else does hear.

2)  Take breaks and listen to other CDs in between. Refresh your ears in terms of what other stuff sounds like. OK, the pros just instinctively know what sound they’re
working towards, but for the rest of us being reminded from time to time during the
process isn’t such a bad idea.

3)  Move your listening position. Studio reference monitors are very focused and
directional. The sound can change significantly depending on your listening position.
Shift around a bit. Stand across the room for a moment.

4)  Listen on other speakers and systems. Burn a CD with a few different variations and play it on your home stereo system, or drive around and listen to it in your car. Don’t obsess over the specific differences, but just remind yourself what other systems sound like.

5)  Check how it sounds in mono. Check how it sounds with the polarity inverted on one speaker. People will listen to it this way (although maybe not intentionally)
and while your master probably won’t sound great this way hopefully it won’t completely fall apart either. Ozone provides a quick check for this by clicking on the Channel Ops button. You can quickly switch to mono, switch left and right speakers, and flip the polarity of speakers.

6)  Monitor at normal volumes, but periodically check it at a higher volume. When you listen at low to medium volumes, you tend to hear more midrange (where the ear is most sensitive) and less of the lows and highs. This  is related to something called the Fletcher-Munson effect, which involves how different frequencies are heard differently depending on the playback volume. So check from time to time how it sounds at different volume levels.

7)  When you think you’re done, go to bed, and listen again the next morning.