Period.

Kensho

Hey Steven,

Thanks for your point of view. I understand what you are saying.

My fault. I hit the back button and scrolled down one more and came across you providing links to some mastering, mixdowns, and song arrangements. They were great reads and I’ve enjoyed reading all the stuff you’ve personally wrote so far, Petri. Big thanks to putting information out there that you would never have to share otherwise. Keep doing what you are doing! My last comment didn’t even need to be said other than just some cruddy feedback but I’ll avoid that needlessness in the future. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some learning to do :]

It did, I agree it sounds really good as I was allowed to best serve the music, a free hand so to speak. You requested the second album to be louder and did not like the results of the masters delivered which were competitive in level to others in the genre. I provided a full refund rather than provide new masters in what was an exceedingly busy period. This decision was made to save both parties time and further inconvenience.

‘You gave the refund on all tracks as they were unusable and unsuitable for release’

This is your opinion as you say yourself ‘as a paying customer (non engineer)’ and some of the artists opinions on their specific tracks after you instructed me to make them loud, relative to a collection of disparate and widely varying tracks both tonally and in terms of transient content and perceived volume.

“3 of them were clipping and one of them had an overpowering mono stab that made getting a good master very difficult”

I cannot confirm whether they were clipping or not as the project is deleted.

‘Mono stab being overpowering’ is a matter of taste and opinion.

It is not the job of a mastering engineer to critique mixes unless they have been specifically requested to do so, you did not request mix critique. A mastering engineer must be careful not to second guess an artists taste and artistic choices in their productions. I provide mix feedback daily to clients when asked and make judgement as to whether a track will be impeded by any given element if not specifically asked and respond accordingly.

I am sorry you still feel disappointed that I did not provide good service on your second job despite the very good first album and a full refund. Being successful in professional mastering means encountering many types of project and with such volume it is inevitable that on rare occasion one or 2 will not proceed as smoothly as both parties would like. Fortunately this is a rare occurrence.

I am pleased you found a studio that satisfied your specific needs and that you are fully happy with the end results, It would be nice if you can link to the end results of project 1 vs project 2 and people can make their own mind up about which sounds best as there is undoubtedly an element of subjective taste.

All the best with your future label projects.

cheers

Potential clients feel free preview from myself (always match perceived volumes of samples by ear, listen for depth, punch, transients and detail) I am convinced you will be pleased as is my large and constantly growing clientele.

A free preview allows you to hear *your* track mastered (time permitting – I am usually very busy here).

To help people understand the mastering process in detail have a look on this page it has a wealth of information for beginners and professionals alike:

https://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/masteringfaq.html

cheers