Why You SHOULDN'T Learn Mastering

You're wasting your time by trying to learn mastering! ...Or are you? Justin Colletti shares why you shouldn't bother learning mastering, and focus on other parts of music production instead. (And when you should.)

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[ScottWilkinsonM.D.]

I am a composer for theater. I must create and present my work in a professional manner in the form of a demo. However, I have found that those that evaluate my work have very little imagination and the closer i can get to a “finished” product that is Spotify ready, the more opportunities I will have to work. So I have found that I need to be a good mixer. And in order to get the best mix, I need to know a bit about mastering. My work will never be completely DIY. I will involve other performers, mix or master engineers and sometimes producers or arrangers. But even knowing that- knowing more about mixing and mastering better informs our collaboration. Learning is never wasted

[synthoelectro]

been mixing and mastering for 23 years, and I learned as I went along. With each mix, the next is better. Now people rely on my quality mixes, which I always master at the same time.

[nafe]

I learnt mastering to improve my mixing. And it was worth it, knowing how to master made me understand what can and cannot be done in the mastering process. I understood the level of mix that translates best in a master and my mixes have gotten so much better for it. And to your point I have ended up mastering a few songs on the side. I do recomend a good understanding of what mastering is for anyone getting into mixing.

[humorustrout.]

I enjoyed your take on this. After spending a year or so in a mastering-specific program, I've found that it's a much deeper rabbit-hole than I ever imagined. As someone who would rather be creating and recording music, I would almost have to devote all my time into mastering, which is such a technical discipline compared to the creative side of music-making. On top of that, the room/acoustics/monitoring is a massive hang-up unless you're planning to take out a business loan. There is only so much time and you're right, you need to be selective on what skills you really want to hone. Also, learning mastering at a beginner/intermediate level has been very useful when it comes to pushing back on my mixes and recording, which is benefit for sure. Thanks again

[howardbwade]

Great episode! I’m a guitarist, songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist. My recording experience goes back to the pre-digital days. I’ve had some sort of home studio since the mid 1980s. I send my mixes for critical projects to Dave Glasser at Airshow in Boulder for mastering. For me mastering is so critical that I really don’t trust myself to do it and have never focused on learning it. With Dave I’m confident that my recordings will sound fantastic and professional. I’ve done my own mixing at times but again for critical projects I generally work with a mixing engineer. BTW - working with a great mixing engineer is a great way to learn mixing. On my last album project we tracked in my home studio. It’s a large room. I went the diy route for bass traps and absorbers but bought some nice diffusers. In terms of production I decided to focus on getting good at tracking - mic choice and placement, outboard gear for tracking, etc. Likewise in terms of gear I focused on building up a great mic cabinet, good preamps, compressors and converters. This has worked out well for me. If I had tried to learn mastering or focus more on mixing I don’t think I’d have enough time and energy for practicing, songwriting, rehearsing, etc. For any artists out there who think they can do it all themselves and get top quality results I encourage you to think again.

[Twongo]

I agree with everything you said in this video. You mentioned nearly every consideration that kept me from feeling I needed to learn mastering. You left out one of my primary motivators and brushed lightly a secondary result of that same practice. I'll add that here:

I've been mixing in and out of multiple high end, exceptional sounding rooms for 40 years. No matter how good a room sounded or how well we thought did on the project I have always thought it a good idea to hand off the project to someone who listens to a lot of different material in a pristine monitoring environment for further verification. Fresh room, Fresh ears. It's been rare to not find something that could be improved. The better a project sounds in the end, the better everyone involved is represented. And you set a new bar for yourself.


A bonus to this process is direct critique of YOUR work in technical language by another audio engineer who wasn't there for every minute decision. Every project is a springboard to better skills. Objective criticism is best criticism.

[bumpty]

I'm an amateur musician, and every aspect of the music I make is amateurish. I don't need a professional master because I don't have a professional mix, and I don't need a professional mix because I don't have a professional recording or professional musicians. It's all just me and other amateurs. But I enjoy learning what I can about each stage of the process. When I'm done mixing a track, I do go through a quick mastering process, mostly to get the levels up high enough for the services (like YouTube) that don't normalize volume upward. I won't be learning much more about mastering until I'm a lot better at some other things, but I'm glad to have learned what I have, which could be summarized by: 1) Take one more pass at EQ, 2) normalize the track and check loudness. IF it needs to be louder, 3) carefully apply compression to squeeze out a few more db.

I appreciate having so much educational material available free to us DIYers.

[NikolausBrocke]

The key for being a good mastering engineer is of course having very good monitors and a professional room treatment. I also agree that nowadays you can be very successful in just using special plugins and the minimum of outboard gear.
But even more important is your listening experience with many, many different music styles and working on hundreds of song mixes in your room. It takes time -- years not month. "Grass does not grow faster when you pull on it."

[genuinefreewilly]

I cant afford very much so its out of necessity I have to attempt to do all things as well as possible. White Sea studio had a good episode about mastering of late, where he compared a professional mastering engineers work against AI products. I was surprised at how fast the mastering engineer was at getting good results with the age old hardware tools at hand.
So I'll go with his chain of tools with my matching virtual counter parts.
The whole mastering thing is still a mystery, however in the pursuit of creating an EP or playlist for Spotify or where ever I want a consistent blend from one song to another
I really don't have time to putze around. The goal at this time is to churn out content, interesting compositions and mixes with a quick easy mastering chain. If that includes AI tools that work, so be it.
If I could afford a professional mastering engineer, Id go that route
I really dont think you need room treatment and expensive speakers, good headphones are better and also reference tracks. I can tell on my current home system what mixes are crappy and those that are decent. If one cannot tell the difference between a bad mix vs a good mix on their system, well its time to invest in a playback system that works and makes that distinction. If a decent cellphone with ear buds can make the distinctions thats ok as well

[peterheinen]

After having mixed a lot and banging my head in experimental mastering, i realized that my ears were the most important plugin. And then, i invested in better headphones and only checking masters on nearfields. My attic studio is small, asymmetric and featurea carpets, wooden furniture and a lot of bookshelves. That, and the level of "mastering online" that was inferior towards mine

[tommyzai]

I find myself agreeing with Gary, but with some added reasons . . . Back in the day, I bought an instrument, played it, wrote some lyrics, got a band, practiced, saved money, went into a studio. Then, over the years, piece by piece, the studio moved into my bedroom. Alas, 2023, I am wearing all the hats and accomplish nothing. Even if I did complete a song, it would be half-assed written, arranged, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered. But now I'm in so deep (time and money) with plugins that have a million times the options the Beatles had . . . or anyone else pre-2000s. I feel stuck in the rabbit-hole, mentioned by humorustrout. I'm swirling down and down and down. How do I get out? I need to throw away some hats . . . or at least give them to someone else whom they fit better. And, the first thing that needs to go is the mastering hat . . . next is mixing.

I think I'll hire someone who took your courses . . . someone who LOVES mastering and is good at it! ;-) Feel free to quote me! I am Tommy Zai, songwriter and educator. ;-) Weeoooo!

[alexeysmirnovguitar]

I personally think that basic mixing skills are helpful for any person involved in recording, including vocalists. Mixing is very important, it makes multitrack recordings listenable at least. Mastering is also very important, but it's much more specialized and needs better listening skills and environment.

[toddpipes]

Building a relationship with a mastering engineer will improve your work in three ways: 1. a mastering engineer will be able to point out consistent issues with your mixes which you can then address and improve upon. 2. it gets your mixes out of your hands so you can stop obsessing and never finishing. 3. different ears, different monitors, different room, and different input on the final stage of the process.

[shaft]

The greatest reason imho, is that the mastering engineer is listening to the project from the opposite direction of the tracking and mixing engineers.
Tracking and Mix engineers start with blank tape and may end up squeezing hundreds of channels down to 1-2 for 9x% of listening situations.
The MaE has to massage a fixed set of channels with a mind for optimizing to the delivery format. Two very different approaches to listening!

[KudaKwashe]

Hey Justin 👋 In my case I really didn't learn Mastering, I just tried to understand what the results should be and do a kind of pseudo Mastering or pre master for my clients

[JimGramze]

I think everyone should have a basic level of understanding of mixing, mastering, production, and composition. The basic structure and arrangement of a song can undermine or enhance the processes to follow.

[alienhalfbreed]

What made me reflecting deeply about your words was to question what my strength is. Composing, songwriting, editing, arranging, recording, performing, coaching, mixing and mastering (really !?) And additionally all the social media work including videoproduction?
I think it is plain, to be honest: You can't be excellent on each of these stages.

[bananermat]

How do people define a producer? I feel like music producers should be talked about more. I'm aware the producer's role has a past which is different from today. Notably, producing now can encompass a combination of everything, except maybe mastering, where in the past it was more of a big-picture facilitator role. "These cats in a room is a hit I tell you!". Now a producer can be the artist on par with the engineering, or just have a kick ass beard and a vision for someone else. I refer to myself as a producer but few non-musicians understand what it means. Can we come up with a better definition?

[stefanleibing]

Hello Justin, I love your videos! Thank you for providing all that great content! I have a question: The Blue headphones you are using, which model is it - the Mix-Fi? Thank you! Best regards, Stefan

[ProAudioLessons]

A very defeatist attitude if you ask me. many songs released on Spotify everyday are produced, recorded, mixed and mastered in home/project studios. In fact, one of the most sought after and highest paid mastering engineers in the business does his work in headphones. (Expensive ones, yes) But “at home” was never an equivocation to “free” or even “cheap.” Aaaand as I’m writing this you mention the guy I’m talking about hahaha.