Mastering, you say? (Pt. 1)

This "In the studio" series is about any news from the studio, what’s up, what’s going on there, what’s on my mind :)

Hi all, here's an update of what's happening at the moment.

This past days (few weeks, even) since I last posted in this series, I've been very busy selecting some mastering alternatives and options for the songs that will be part of my next album, Fools of Us, that will be released next Fall (exact date to be announced soon - stay tuned!).

This means that all the songs are now composed, written, recorded and mixed in their final form (the last one of them being Long Gone Memories, see there and there), and that what it's all about now is finalizing them so they can be released.

Ah! Now I hear some of you say: "What? How can you 'finalize' a song that's already in its 'final form' - because that's exactly what you just wrote right above, man? Are you kiddin' or somethin'?"

No I'm not, good people, and I'm actually dead serious. Mastering is what you HAVE to do, when you think it's all good and you're done with it all. And what you have to do is something that 99% of the listeners won't hear at all! Because it's not meant to be heard. It should not be heard, so to say.

So what is it that you have to do on a song, that must be done though it's not meant to be heard (at all), eh?

Well, it's a long story, seldom told to you guys who are just music lovers but not necessarily professionals in the music business. Because it's long (and complex), I'll write another post just for that in the coming times. For now (suspense, suspense), let's just say that:

You hear mastering (or rather, lack of) when it's missing;
Mastering (or rather, lack of) is why almost all home musicians (and I've been one for a very long time) get very frustrated when they've produced an extremely good, well done and well mixed song, and it just does not sound as good as those of their favorite, pro-released bands when listened to next to them;
Or the same, when that song sounded so well in your studio, but suddenly just sounds like crap on another system (boombox, car system, mobile phone, or the beautiful hifi system of your friends or family to whom you were so proud and happy to show this new tune of yours - you name it);
Mastering is an art of its own;
Mastering is a kind of magic to most musicians and, for most of us, a frightful kind of one: you just don't wanna mess with it, leave it to some specialized gurus.