Re: Powered Subs...on to mastering

[Bill Fox <billyfox@soundscapes.us>]

Krispen Hartung wrote:
> I've been doing a lot of mastering and mixing lately on a project and 
> have learned a lot of new methods and techniques.  I've heard folks 
> say mastering and mixing is a black art, now I know why. In these 
> particular songs, they sounded wonderful on my headphones. There were 
> some really cool and deep things going on in the 44hz range and below, 
> and some others in the 62hz range. It all sounded great through my 
> headphones, but those frequencies were reeking havoc on my consumer 
> stereo systems - car stereo, portable stereo, etc. 
Hi Kris,

I recommend that you do not mix using headphones.  That is an even more 
phony environment than stereo speakers.  Speakers pushing air to your 
ears is closer to how you hear a live event than headphones.

Mixing and mastering are two different processes.  I recommend that you 
do not master songs one at a time in isolation.  One ought to master an 
album's worth of songs together.  Not all at once but as a set.  How you 
want to volume balance, equalize, and compress things is very dependent 
upon the song order.  Concentrate only on mixing.  Save mastering for 
last and use a pro if you can afford it.

If you are having bass region problems, there could be many reasons; the 
system, the speakers, speaker placement, the room, and on and on ad 
infinitum.  I'd look at what track in the song is supplying the bass 
that breaks up in certain systems.  Work on that track's EQ and 
compression then remix the song.  Can you mix using your portable 
stereo?  If if sounds great there, that's how 90% of your audience will 
hear the song.  Then compare the result through you regular studio 
speakers and then headphones.  Listen to your mixes in as many 
environments as possible.

Take what I and everyone else tell you with a few grains of salt and 
experiment on your own.  Mixing *is* a black art.

Cheers,

Bill