Barry Grint is one of the most experienced mastering engineers out there, a director of Alchemy Mastering his discography covers some of the biggest selling records of the last 40 years. You’ve definitely heard Barry’s work.
In this free video Barry shares a refreshingly frank discussion of mastering, what it is and what it can and can’t achieve. Interviewed by film composer Guy Mitchelmore this discussion of what’s actually important in mastering has genuine perspective.
Barry’s Mastering Tips
Know your room and how different genres should sound in it
If you want to master your own music, get someone else’s opinion, anyone whose opinion you trust and get them to listen to it in their listening environment
If your room and monitoring isn’t up to scratch, listen in other environments and use quality headphones
Use a reference track
EQ, Compression and Limiting pretty much covers all jobs, that’s usually it, though multiple passes using multiple processors is often better
Gain staging is important
It’s all about being able to trust what you are hearing
So take it from someone who knows, it’s usually a simple process, though unfortunately simple isn’t the same thing as easy!