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I Paid 3 Top Mastering Studios to Master the Same Song... I'm Shocked at What Happened
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2023
- 1 song, 3 masters...and the lowest priced master is 2x more than I usually pay!
Find out if paying more for mastering is worth the price in this blind test.
☛ Learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes with my FREE Mixing Cheatsheet: mixcheatsheet.com
Thanks to Matthew LeFevers for contributing the song & multitracks! open.spotify.com/artist/4Br4i...
Watch This Next: I Paid 4 Mixers to Mix the Same Song... The Difference is Shocking
• I Paid 4 Mixers to Mix...
Music I’ve Worked On: open.spotify.com/playlist/6I7...
Website: hardcoremusicstudio.com
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MY FAVORITE GEAR:
Computer / Interface:
Mac M1 Studio Max sweetwater.sjv.io/anOMOo
Avid Carbon sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQ6M6g
Apogee Duet 3 sweetwater.sjv.io/y2qXqb
Monitors / Headphones:
Avantone CLA-10a sweetwater.sjv.io/WqyMyZ
Audio Technica ATH-M50 sweetwater.sjv.io/PyOMON
Microphones:
Shure SM57 sweetwater.sjv.io/daOMy7
AKG D112 sweetwater.sjv.io/Kj0MBy
Sennheiser e604 sweetwater.sjv.io/DKyvWa
Shure SM7b sweetwater.sjv.io/5g5vk3
AKG C451b sweetwater.sjv.io/jre9Rv
Shure SM81 sweetwater.sjv.io/eK1LnD
Audio Technica AT4050 sweetwater.sjv.io/JzKMqr
Preamps/Outboard:
API 3124 sweetwater.sjv.io/eK1LRD
EL8 Distressor sweetwater.sjv.io/XYmMd4
Favorite Plugins:
BSA Clipper blacksaltaudio.com/clipper
Escalator blacksaltaudio.com/escalator
Low Control blacksaltaudio.com/low-control
Waves SSL Bundle waves.alzt.net/dMd4q
Waves CLA Compressors waves.alzt.net/0va0P
Waves Platinum waves.alzt.net/jxz2M
Slate Trigger 2 sweetwater.sjv.io/MmAM53
SoundToys Rack sweetwater.sjv.io/xkLgyd
Auto-tune Pro sweetwater.sjv.io/OreMYr
Vocalign Project sweetwater.sjv.io/xkLgyA
Cranesong Phoenix II sweetwater.sjv.io/PyOMrz
Instruments / Amps:
Ludwig Black Beauty Snare sweetwater.sjv.io/1r9vDR
Gibson Les Paul sweetwater.sjv.io/B0nvz1
Evertune Guitars sweetwater.sjv.io/WqyM6P
Fender Jazz Bass sweetwater.sjv.io/nLX5R6
Sansamp Bass Driver DI sweetwater.sjv.io/OreM9Q
EVH 5150 sweetwater.sjv.io/4PGvr9
Mesa 2x12 cab sweetwater.sjv.io/75avGA
![Megan Thee Stallion - Mamushi (feat. Yuki Chiba) [2024 London Performance]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pxTCJUuorKc/mqdefault.jpg)
Grab your free Mixing Cheatsheet to learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes: mixcheatsheet.com
This is a great guide and highly worth checking out! 🔥
Who was Master One?
Can you also reveal the best mix from previous videos?
You should do one of these where you choose your favorite and a casual music listener chooses their favorite. Someone with no musical background and knows nothing about music beyond listening to popular songs. I’d be interested to see what they’d choose 🤔
It really would be, I just hope they don't just go around saying " but bro they all sound the same to me" 😅😅😅
@@lightiskalkin I’d put money on that 😂
@@lightiskalkin to be fair that’s valuable info to know too.
@@martyshwaartz971 you're right!!
@@WILKESmusic us
I’ve been critical of this page in the past but this was a great video. Thank you. My one issue though is your criticism of the mastering house that gave you a choice of two masters. We’re in a time when a lot of mixers are still participating in the loudness wars and some are actively resisting the loudness wars - and the mastering engineer is not a mind reader. Clearly they’ve lost clients in the past because the client had very strong opinions about how loud masters ‘should’ be - and the master they received wasn’t exactly that. Even though a simple revision could’ve fixed the issue the client didn’t give them that chance. By sending two options they’re just trying to avoid that happening again. It doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re doing
Definitely agreed that master 4 had the balance right. Full, and louder without sacrificing the transients.
One was muddy, another was thin... Only 4 really had the whole package.
Depends on the style of music, you don't want too much transients through in EDM for example.
For me it was really close between 2 and 4 until that de-essing part
Every time I watch one of these videos, it’s emphasized that finding a good mixing and mastering engineer is just a dice roll. You do not always get what you pay for, even at the high end.
Another great video, Jordan! My two cents... The ME's job is to serve the client. I appreciate them sending the option of a super loud master along with a more conservative option. I for one appreciate the chance to choose rather than the ME just deciding what they think is best. Keep the awesome vids coming, bro!
well said David, he's a bit over confident and a bit snarky, its a little disconcerting, his ego gets in the way
@@studiorat67 I love Jordan and wouldn't say he was being snarky or anything like that. He just has his take on it and it happens to be different. ;)
For me if i had a whole album and had to choose between every song of different versions i would go crazy hehe. And also keep in mind making it louder may need to change the eq or tweak the master to get it there, so that would basically be mastering it twice
Really cool video. I actually liked Master #2 the most until you revealed that crazy ducking happening on the S sounds.. I thought it had really nice balance and clarity and then sadly was completely botched. Interesting!
Yeah apart from that technical issue I liked it the best as well. How hard is it to go back and say hey can you fix that?
All the content on this channel is incredible! and these types of comparisons are my favorites, greetings!
I love this kind of videos. Besides that, i learned a lot from you. Thank you !
Really love this kind of content, they prepare you & train your listening skill as well
The Sterling master sounded so great! Everything I'd like to hear from a master, bringing the best out of a mix.
Love these videos so much! Thanks :)
It would also be interesting to see each of these run through an EQ to see how they made different choices on the low and high ends. 👍 Good video.
Before I knew it was the $400 master it just sounded (and looked) like it would be the most expensive. It has the sheen and push of modern mastered pop music,...hard clipped, etc. I do agree that the one you picked as #1 sounds the best and I actually think the unmastered mix sounds good on it's own.
I partially understand the reasons behind the loudness war, but in my humble opinion I would never trade dynamic range for an higher overall loudness. I don't like to ear nor not see a brick shaped waveform.
judging a song based off its waveform is like judging a book by its cover
Enjoying this content, Jordan!
I agree with your assessment. Good video, thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to do this comparison. 👍
These videos are amazing, keep’em coming!
The only mastering I’ve paid for more expensive than Sterling was Adam @Gateway studios.
His work was remarkable.
these videos are awesome bro.. really puts things in perspective for us aspiring musicians. I made the decision a couple years back to learn how to engineer and produce myself & I feel like its the best decision I coulda made.
I'd like to hear you talk about old albums you mixed that were decent back then competitively in the field and also that you were proud of and what you'd do to improve them now.
Great video, thank you!
Sterling sounds master was definitely the best :) I could hear it straight away! This is a great video man! Cheers for sharing!
Everytime I watch your content, I feel like I walk away with a little more knowledge. Thanks!
Videos like this are the reason I will always be a bedroom producer. If I had to deal with music like this I would lose my mind. Sitting through years of local bands would destroy any passion I have. I feel it is important to realize this though, so thanks.
Number four was my favorite already in the middle of the video🤘, thanks for your work, I largely share your views and philosophy in approach to working with sound. Just wondering could you also challenge me to master your track too? just curious👀. Thanks
Super interesting!
Great
Now i get to have this stuck in my head again lol
Very catchy
I would love to know how you (or others) use the Artist Mix in your workflow.
Questions like:
1. How much do you use the Artist Mix vs your mouse when mixing?
2. Do you do all your level balancing with the fades?
3. Do you use it to write automation?
4. Do you use custom layouts? If so, how do you navigate between them because I heard the iPad AVID Control app doesn't work with the Artist Series anymore?
5. Do you use it for adjusting plugin parameters? If so, do you wish the Artist Mix could do custom layouts or are you comfortable with the factory layouts as is?
6. Would you even recommend the Artist Mix as it's past its lifecycle and support is coming to an end (or might be already?)
I'm sure there's other questions or other details you might want to share.
Control surfaces are limited with Pro Tools and the S-series stuff is super expensive when compared to a used Artist Mix. I'm also really interested in pairing a set of faders like the Artist Mix with Mulligan and the X-Touch Mini so that I can have custom maps for plugin parameters. Seems like a good workflow, especially if the Artist Mix can still handle custom layouts.
Would be interesting to compare these entries against just letting the AI in Ozone 11 Advanced do it using AI. The technology in Ozone 11 Advanced is amazing.
Actually, some of these Online AI mastering services secretely use Ozone. I remember the Snake Oil guy found it out by comparing - it nulled with Ozone.
Hi Jordan, I agreed with your ranking! Nice job from Sterling!
Fun video. Agree with your ranking
The Mix Sounds already really good
Weirdly Master 3 was initially my favourite! Only when you equalised the volumes I could hear the lack of low end.
Yeah master #4 was my favourite too. Had the most euphonic and distinguished sound to me, especially with the drum&bass envelopes. Had that iconic sound.
Master #2 was impressive how loud they got it without it sounding totally flat and squashed. It still had punch
I agree with your take on all of the mixes. Mix 1 to me almost sounded a bit distorted in the areas where it was pushed hard.
I think that choosing an expensive mastering engineer with incredible credits has to do with the conviction that this person will do a great job and you just don't need to worry about the final result. It's just a 'safe bet'. It's pricey but it's a good option always if you have a budget for that.
I think the de-essing on Master 2 might've been a written-in shelf, which is pretty scary if true. IMO the compactness of Master 1 was nice for certain few parts kind of providing immersion, but the Sterling master was definitely the best. Man the pros have damn good ears for depth, transients, freq balance, translation especially, all of it (which is to be expected, but definitely informative on how far there is to go as an intermediate). Thank you for making this vid, great to get insight like this
I had 4 mastering engineers do 1 song for me, in the search for someone to do the whole record. 2 of them pro with accolades, 1 of them a prominent RUclipsr who gives advice on mastering, and 1 cold message from some dude on Facebook. The Facebook guy was easily the best. The RUclipsr and 1 of the pros did just, a bad job.
The guy that did the really great job was Adam Matza at Magic Ears Mastering.
I understand, you did well! I tried using the most talked about American master engineer right now. You know, the one that doesn't screw your mixes like others. It was a nightmare, smiley face EQ, cryptic emails, no vision: he kept sending opposite views just to have me shut up and approve anything. I ended up doing a quick master and submitting to my dad blindly A and B, he told me exactly what was wrong, the master engineer made my mix suck in the bass, boomy and physically unpleasant. My master he thought was fine. I paid him to NOT used his work, and I mastered it myself. The mixes and masters are well regarded by a few respected dude here in Europe. it's all fine. I will never waste time ever again with "mastering" except go listening and maybe finilizing IN PERSON to someone studio and ears I respect. Nothing is fixable other than in the mixes, once it's great, be gentle with the master and sequence it and be done with it! I have also studied with Shawn Everett and he does master his own stuff a lot, total control, no alteration of the art. keep it up !
@@Journeymanlive That’s awesome! I absolutely love Shawn Everett’s work!
@@stevedoesnt @stevedoesnt he is fantastic! and a great colorfull and funny, talented guy. His "rainbow mixing" is also a clever way to mix while keeping the overall balance in check. Best
@@Journeymanlive is that the thing where he uses the waves Multiband to solo individual sections to see what’s going on?
@@stevedoesnt exactly! one inactive Waves MB on the master to so while A/B with a ref and check with PAZ analyzer, another MB on his mix to adjust.
Dang, the mastering bar is super low now 😳
No surprise to me that Sterling Sound would win. I’ve got dozens of records that sound so good I had to look up who mastered them, and every time, it’s Sterling!
My opinion is that the better the mix the more difficult it is to judge a master and the easier it is to master it in the first place.
In this case the Premaster-Mix is so good that i am convinced that if you threw a good limiter over it doing some reduction you could fool many many people into thinking „wow nice master“. I think more interesting would be to send out a medium quality mix with level imbalances and see how much a good engineer will save. I have tried all the online automatic mastering in the past. If you feed it a good mix it is absolutely accetptable at times but if you feed it something with a 4-5 db too loud snare the results started to deviate meaning it did not really balance it to a satisfying degree for my taste while a good engineer would be able (i want to believe) to tackle it a bit before further processing imho
Having said this i feel like this mix should not be limited to more than -8 lufs. It becomes too stif and harsh higher than this
Great series
Hey! Is there a way to monitor a Logic drum set VST by using an Alesis drum amp instead of monitoring what I'm playing through headphones? That would be cool if that's possible! I just want to be able to hear the VST sounds in the room using the amp instead of the module sounds of the Alesis kit. Thanks a lot! :)
Wow when that treble loss at Mix 2 came in I thought for sure you'd changed which track you were listening to. I wasn't looking at my screen at that moment and I had to go back to see what you switched to, but there was no switch! Man, that's something they definately should have picked up before releasing the track.
Cool comparison! If you ever need someone to mix or master for another comparison video, I'd love to give it a shot!
Unrelated to the master, just wanted to say that verse bass line makes the song, it's so sick. Thought the same thing in the mix video
Shout out to the beard Jordan 👌🏻
The $400 master was definitely my favorite b4 I knew the price. Sounds analog, the fullest by far - don’t be afraid to spend $400 on mastering- you are paying for expertise! Also find a mastering engineer who gives you multiple revisions for free or a low cost - that’s one way how you ensure you are completely happy at the end of the day.
Any chance to put these on Spotify? I have been listening to it a bit and would like to compare the full versions for full listens :)
Jordan, I was very relieved to hear you say "this sounds too pushed" because I honestly can't stand how a lot of tracks are being mastered; the tracks I'm hearing at -5 LUFs sound bad but it seems like everyone just wants to go along with it for some reason.
To begin with, I liked the quiet master the best and didn't notice the de-essing problem. It was very interesting how my rankings changed when you put them all at -3dB. I ended up with the same ranking as you, but didn't love any of them, truthfully.
Agree and I think it's due to the mix. there are no instruments coming out in front of the vocal to make it interesting. the vocal is like a top blanket and I detest that
Major Something Corporate vibes. Love it.
Mono the masters and evaluate that also. Also listening on headphones. Might come to some surprises ;). Besides loudness, mastering engineer's job is to make sure the track has a eq curve that works across different platforms. Online streaming will normalise your super loud master that seems to work best on studio monitors. Etc :)) The loudness compettition seems a bit ridicculous.
Is George Marino still alive? I remember reading album credits from the 70s and 80s seemed like they were all mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound.
Your unmastered mix sound more mastered than my mastered music 🤣🥲
ty!
The DeEssing suction sound is also in the other tracks, might be in you mix track.
Master 4 and 2 are my top choices (if there weren't ducking errors).
Giving two loudness options are great imo.
hey man, id love to try mix these multitracks, are they available in your courses? I really have been thinking about trying to join for a while but first im getting a bit better first. Lovell your content btw on RUclips, I really like the content man. :)
id pay to mix these files lool :))
I agreed with pretty much everything you said regarding the masters. I'm listening on Ear buds currently, and the purple master translated the best through Ear Buds, imo..
The Blue master as you said was quite loud but a little too much for the song,
I must say though the Green master did not translate well at all on Ear Buds, it had almost no low end and as you pointed out the ducking highs issue was just not good.
The Landr master actually translated a little better on Ear buds than the Green, as far as weight and size , but was not right at all in terms of feel, and felt like what it was, a computers approximation of what a good master might sound like
I'm so curious what caused the weird de-essing artifacts in Master 2. Total guess would be it was an actual de-esser but a more of an intelligent one (like the fabfilter DS in single vocal mode). At least with the fabfilter allaround mode is the obvious choice for mastering applications
Sounds like an automated Soothe
I see Shinedown's Planet Zero album on Sterling Sound there....the reason I have started watching and listening to Shinedown on a regular basis....that's COOL!!!!!!!
I personally liked master number 1. The loudest one.
could you do a video comparing your ns10s sound to your clas sound
could we get a viewers masters comparison any time soon? where you select 5-10 people to master a track, or same with mixing
What mastering engineers can you recommend for more around $100/song that you use?
For me, "uncertain" aside, Master 2 was the best, followed by 4, then 1, then 3. 2 had such a nice clarity and quite a bit more detail than the rest.
Right now, though, admittedly, I'm on a pretty post-process-heavy headphone... maybe on my Audeze planar magnetic set I'd think differently, but on this SXFI #2 is extremely lively and crisp.
This is a great song! The artist did a good job
Use mastering the mix expose 2 for comparison. You have gain match and eq comparison build in.
Hey, you know what you should do next is a shootout of just AI mastering. Slate has one now that seemed to do an alright job, be interesting to see which one wins, and overall if the winner even comes close to a human mastering engineer at that.
5:55 ive instantly noticed this too. crazy bro
Sterling Mastered my first release Shawn Everette Answers. Wow they are still doing great stuff.
Id love for you to send it to some of your listeners, and let us master it. I dont think it will be much different honestly with a decent professional.
I'm a re-recording mixer in post production. We normalize after mixing if it's for TV/Streaming.
As all the streaming services normalize tracks to way below a loudness level of what I'm seeing in this video and everywhere else for that matter, I'm wondering what the incentive is for the artist to get a competitively loud master if it's not for the sound ? Radio play compresses it further and auto-normalizes anyway. Normalization on streaming services puts all tracks in range of each other. Thus it can't be overall loudness.
The sound is the only aspect of a master that I can come up with that makes even a shred of sense to me. If I'm overlooking something, please do tell.
Great video. I got used to Protools' skippy soloing quickly :). Reaper's no better at that I find.
it's insane isn't it? The requirement for all streaming services is -14LUFS!
Normalize them at -14 LUFS and listen at 75-80db spl (c), have a friend do the swith between the songs and then come and post the results!
Master number 4 indeed is the best one. For me there is no problem at all having two or three versions of a song that is been greatly mastered. In fact I generally do this to all my clients. I have mastered over 750 albums.
Mastering music should be as innovation oriented as creating it, imo.. it's just the final instrument - guitar, bass, drums, vocals, mastering.
I feel so dang dumb for not being able to really hear any difference. Granted I am a little sick currently, but god damn..I guess it is no wonder why I am real bad at mixing and mastering my music and I tend to not even bother to try and just move on to writing the next one.
First of all What are you listening on? You need something that'll show you the differences.
Pay attention to the way the instruments sound rather than the song as a whole. Specifically choosing to focus on the kick and snare, or bass guitar, or hihats/cymbals while comparing mixes/masters will help you realize the differences
Totally agreed clearly before you said it even. Sterling sound you can hear greatness in there before we even knew that was who did it.
Pretty quickly I felt like I enjoyed 4 the most. It has an, overall calming sound to it and closer to your mix. I didn't mind 2 at first, but after a while I felt was a little to much low end for me (The bass guitar), and then the de-esser problem. You got to spend a little bit of time when using it on the master IMO.
I actually think ME should be communicating with their clients (I think all the engineers should be communicating with clients throughout the process). Maybe not bugging them all the times, but asking questions and such shouldn't be really out of the question. Not that it happened with you, but if a mix is bad I do think the ME should express their concerns if it's something that could be done in the mix. A side of mastering is, in a sense, QC. I'm sure it's a good day when the ME only has to throw on a limiter, and maybe a quick EQ because then it's a good mix. I think they issue with the bigger studios is they don't have time to do that with smaller clients, and it probably goes off to a ghost engineer. I'm sure they will give someone like John Mayer the Platinum treatment while people like us get the, well, participation trophy.
I find loudness to be of UTMOST importance in terms of dynamics. I never master to more than -12LUFS and that's pushing it for me.
Idania Valencia at Sterling Sound is also great she’s underrated but very good.
#4 is definitely the most balanced, #1 is way to compressed, feels like the dynamics have been cut off. #2 isn’t bad besides the dynamic EQ or multiband comp they used on the high end. #3 has a high/mid bark to it. My 2 cents.
I knew it had to be Sterling sound!
Please provide a mixing vocal recorded course
What software are you using?
I agree with you Master 4 ( Clear Punchy - 8 LUFS still have good dynamic
Master 1 louder but I personally have problem with squashed very Loud masters I feel it might lack some dynamic and taste
Master 3 the AI version is desaster very highe in high frequency and high end
Master 2 make it very bad to me because of the mistakes deesser
Too many mixes today try to be the loudest, and as a result, eliminate all dynamic range from the song. Loud does not necessarily equal better. I’ve even heard clipping on “hi-res” songs from HD Tracks. Give the song some room to breathe.
Old Industry saying: You cannot polish a turd...
The money doesn't really mean anything in the end...it's about the final product. I've had mastering done that I paid way too much for, and they butchered the songs (distorted and overly compressed). And then I've had great results from LANDR...and then I have a guy who used to be the in house mastering guy for Sony, that charges me a great price and his mastering is the most consistent out of anyone I've had work for me, especially with the differing styles of music I send him. Just because it's more expensive, doesn't automatically make it better, just like paying less doesn't automatically make it crappy.
Hi Jordan, if that's possible on your next mastering comparison, I'd like to make a mastering for free only using a very old plugin that's been out since more than 20 years. I think I'm able to get the best out of it, so it would be nice to compare with others, especially the ones with high end audio gear. Hit me up if you are agree. Take care
Back in the day it was Sterling, or Bob Ludwig. They did everything!!!
Uncertain day after restless night...
4 crushed it on the drums.
Would have been kool if you did 1 bar loops so we could hear the same spot for each master
What is the odd whistling/windy sound in the background when you're talking at 1:41?
You mean the background music?
Such a nice song! I preferred the unmastered version :)
So who do you recommend at the $100 price point?