The Importance of Mastering in Metal Production – Part 2

In our second Youtube video, join Roland in discussing the details and specifics of working with a metal specialist for the mastering portion of your next album.

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Transcript

Hello everyone. My name is Roland. I’m the mastering engineer at Cavern of Echoes, and this is the second YouTube episode that I make.  It took a while to make the second one from the first one because, well, life happens, but here it is nonetheless.

Today we’re gonna expand on the previous episode, and we’re gonna talk about why mastering matters for metal music and why you need a metal specialist. The previous episode, we talked a little bit more in the broader sense, but today we’re gonna get into some specifics.

So here we go.

To recap from the previous episode, we talked about what mastering is, what mastering is not, and the fact that when you partner with a mastering engineer that specializes in metal, your album will be in good hands because they know what to do with it.

They do not need to be explained what metal is supposed to sound like.

They do not need to be explained how much low end versus how much mid range, how much top end we need. A master engineer that listens to metal will be the best partner you can have because they will understand where you’re coming from.

So let’s get into some of those specifics right now. So number one. Metal needs controlled chaos. What I mean by this is,  metal is one of those music genres in which there will be sometimes a wall of sound, which it’s gonna be very dense and you’re gonna barely be able to hear everything. But that’s the goal.

Or there’s gonna be sections in the music where there’s a lot of openness and there’s a lot of space and there’s a lot of room in the mix and in the master, consequently. To do multiple things with it.

A good master engineer will understand that in metal sometimes it’s okay to have a little bit of mush, and a little bit of muddiness in the master, versus sometimes you need to keep it clean and keep it open and keep it as crisp as you possibly can.

The important point here is that recognizing that aggressive music requires sometimes a little bit of controlled chaos in the production, and therefore it’s okay, if there’s a little bit of chaos. It’s a matter of how much and how do we control it.

The strategies that we used to control the chaos or the openness in a slower section is with compression. A master engineer that specializes in metal will know exactly how much compression. A fast part needs versus how much compression a slower, more atmospheric part needs.

And that takes a lot of practice and a lot of trial and error, but ultimately we train to do exactly that.

Point number two, we know how to handle the low end and we know how the low end it’s supposed to sound. In the previous episode, I talked about metal being in a weird middle where like you need a lot of low end for the mix to have weight,

but you can’t have too much low end to the degree that hip hop has, for example, because then it just overpowers everything and it’s just not pleasant anymore.

So rock and metal, as a music genre, live in this weird middle where yes, we need the low end. We need it to be big, we need it to be present, but it can’t overpower everything else. So that’s one of the things that we train for. That’s one of the things that we practice for as metal specialists and metal focused mastering engineers.

So the two goals with the low end when you’re mastering a metal song is the low end has to be tight. Like the low end cannot be loose. There are some exceptions of course, but for the most part, for 90% of the time, the low end has to be really tight and has to be really well controlled.

The low end has to add weight to the mix. And what I mean by this is if we’re talking about numbers, the track has to have a decent amount of 20 hertz all the way up to 200 hertz. Like that has to be present in the mix. However, like I said before, it can’t be the most important element in the mix.

Otherwise, we’re going into hip hop territory and that just doesn’t sound pleasant in metal. Like I said, there’s some exceptions depending on the part, depending on the band, depending on what the goal is.

But for 90 to 95% of the time, the goal is to have present low end that is tight, that is controlled, that is well compressed, but that is also not overpowering the mix.

But it’s still adding weight to it, and that is a very hard thing to do. Obviously with practice it gets easier, but it’s one of the things that we have to learn how to do really well and really quickly.

point number three as to why a metal focused mastering engineer helps your album sound better, and that is we understand loudness and we make your album loud without ruining it.

What this means is for 90 to 95% of the time, we will want to achieve a certain degree of loudness so that it can compete with other music out there, but we’re not gonna sacrifice dynamics. We’re not gonna sacrifice punchiness simply for the sake of loudness. Loudness is important, but it is not everything.

Again, there’s some exceptions, of course, like if you want to compete in the loudness war, then we have to go into that territory. But for the vast majority of cases and the vast majority of clients that I work with, that is not the goal. Instead, the goal is to make the music loud, but also sound pleasant.

This is what I called the dynamic sweet spot. And that’s what I try to aim for. It’s that spot in the dynamic range of the master in which, yes, it’s loud, but I can also hear everything. And it, it doesn’t sound like it’s being overly compressed.

And it sounds like the drums are still sounding punchy. Some of the numbers that I can talk about this, usually I start with -10 lufs as my target. That changes depending on what’s happening in the music, but that’s usually what I start with. Doesn’t mean that that’s what I’m gonna end with,

but I do feel like -10 lufs, it’s a good starting point that offers that sweet spot between dynamics and loudness.

All right.

Point number four, and this is the more fun one, we speak the language of metal. As you know, there is no one size fits all for approaching music production in the metal genre.

There’s a vast quantity of differences between each subgenre of metal, and there is no shortage of nuances that define each one of those. So by having in your team, someone who also listens to metal and likes metal and enjoys metal.

They are gonna be aware of those nuances, even if it’s a sub genre that they don’t necessarily like, they at least have heard of it at some point in their life and they at least have studied and analyzed, a few tracks from that sub genre.

So therefore a metal specialist will know all the specific nuances to each subgenre of metal, and will be much easier to communicate with when you wanna say what the kind of sound that you’re aiming for.

Now, if you contrast this to someone who will be a generalist, like a mastering  engineer who doesn’t listen to metal, they will treat each subgenre of metal the same. Or mostly the same, unfortunately. So this is why I think there’s an advantage to hiring a specialist in metal versus a non-specialist in metal.

And the third option, regardless of the genre that you’re working on, I think that it’s important to work with someone who gets it. Someone who gets you. And in this case, if we’re talking about metal music, then it’s important for you to partner and to work with someone who gets your music.

Point number five, We help the album flow. this particular concept is not unique to metal. but, let me elaborate on it a little bit.

Mastering is all about seeing all the songs as a whole, like how are all the songs going to fit into one album, one cohesive album, specifically.

We need to make sure that the songs have consistent loudness across the board, and the transitions in between the songs are gonna sound natural. And this is the key point.

Metal is one of the few genres in music in which transitions in between the songs change a lot, and quite significantly.

Sometimes the artist will want the songs to have no gap in between the songs. Sometimes they will want to end abruptly. Someone they will want to fade out and fade back in or, fade a song out as the other one is fading in.

Therefore there is no one size fits all. Someone who listens to metal will be used to making the transition in between the songs of all kinds that you can imagine. Therefore, we train to make this sound naturally and as flawless as possible, versus a generalist will think that these things are.

Outta the norm or weird, or think that it should not be the way to go.

Point number six. we can help save the mix. More and more are bands self-producing. And are mixing at home. Therefore, sometimes we have to work with less than ideal mixes.

I’ll take myself as an example. I have trained myself, to before I even begin mastering, before I even start the actual mastering, of a mix, I simply spend time listening to the mix and trying to correct the things that I’m hearing that are not the best.

so The goal of this is we have some tricks that are gonna help the mix. We’re not gonna over do it and we’re not gonna ruin the vibe. We also have to still do our mastering job and to respect what the artist wanted to do. But there are some tricks that can be very subtle or not so subtle, depending on the case,

that will save a mix and improve it. And like I mentioned as a focused mastering engineer, I will spend a decent amount of time trying to make the mix sound better before I even begin the actual mastering of a track. And by the actual mastering,

I simply mean, , simple eq, simple compression and limiting and clipping, if I need to. I will spend a decent amount of time trying to make the mix into what I think it should be, based on my conversations with the client.

I don’t think I’ve ever done a mastering which I didn’t try to do some little adjustments to the mix first.

Now that would be a really interesting experiment, but I think that it’s worth investing that time into trying to get the mix to sound as good as it possibly can by some of the little tricks that I’ve learned along the way, versus going straight into the mastering process.

As a side note, if you would like to learn what some of those tricks are, if you would like me to make a video showcasing what I do sometimes to try to, save a mix or try to fix a mix, let me know. I’ll be happy to make a video about that. Let me know that in the comments.

To summarize everything I just said, it is important to partner with someone who gets it. Someone who gets you and gets your music. And the reason for that is, it’s best when you can communicate with someone without having to explain a lot. It’s a lot easier to communicate with someone when you don’t have to start from zero.

You don’t have to explain everything about your sound from zero. Like I mentioned in our previous video, if you’re aiming for a suffocation type sound, you don’t have to explain who suffocation is to me. If you are aiming for a

Modern thrash sound, you don’t have to explain what that is to me. If you’re aiming for like old school cannibal corpse, for example, you don’t have to explain what that is to me. We can always go back and forth and It won’t be hard to get your point across.

And also, like I mentioned in our previous episode, I think that you see why it’s important to not treat mastering as an after thought. Mastering is just as important as mixing.

 mixing goes first in the process. So if you want the best masters, you have to get the best mix. But, the mastering process in the chain is just as important because it can make or break your sound. It can make or break how your dynamic range sounds.

It can make or break how your loudness will sound. It can make or break the overall feeling and the overall tightness of your tracks.

And to finish this episode, I’m gonna read a quote from one of the blog posts that I recently posted on my website, and I’ll add a link in the description to that blog post.

And the quote is this:

If you’re serious about your music, don’t treat mastering as an afterthought.

Especially in metal. A specialist doesn’t just make it louder, they make it right.

They enhance the power, the detail, and the emotional impact of your sound without compromising it.

Whether you’re putting out your debut EP or a full length album, working with someone who lives and breathes heavy music will make a huge difference.

Your songs deserve that kind of treatment.

Thank you for watching today’s video. I very much enjoy doing these. I hope to make another one soon. Let me know down in the comments if you have any questions. If there’s any suggestions on any topics that you would like me to touch on.

i’ll keep making more of these as I can. Thanks guys. See you soon.