Hanno di Rosa wrote..... > Real Mastering uses the best possible equipment, where a stereo EQ costs > 5-10k$ and the signal path is as clean as physically possible. Consider the > cost of such a facility as high as a midclass recording studio in the 100k$ > range. If you want to use those professionals to MASTER your mix, give > them the raw DAT, or > even analog master tape . The uprising of 'mastering facilities' with 02R > and Masterlist CD and AM II and waves plugins are not serious contenders to > the pro's business. Anybody can do that at home. I agree with you on this. in many cases the one missing ingredient even in a well equipped studio is the 20+ years experience of a successful mastering engineer. Still, people will want to demystify this art and learn how to use the equipment they have available to them. The best place to start IMO is thinking about the target market of the recording. Having a "well balanced eq range is NOT what it's about and that's where confusion arises. Just because something kicks butt on your system doesn't mean it will on another system AND the fact that it kicks butt could be the very thing that stops your target radio stations from playing it. I'm sure that during the grunge era mastering and studio engineers were instructed to make the product sound...thin and crappy and earthy and garage and......credible. This made those recordings distinct from "well" engineered and mastered recordings which were deemed "slick" and therefore "corporate capitalistic" product. This of course was a quite relevant technique, particularly if you wanted to be active in the marketplace. What I mean is the final products sound has everything to do with what market it's aimed at and very often this doesn't equate with "good balanced" sound. In the perfect scenario you need an engineer with his finger on the pulse of what's happening in the field of music you are in and a well equipped studio. In my attempts at mastering my own work one method I employ is to import a track from a CD into Logic....a similar style...... along with the song I'm working on and try to match the eq by constantly soloing and adjusting. I've had good results doing this but I don't think I've ever really nailed it. The most successful method I employ is sending my stuff to someone who knows what they're doing. Phil Buckle.