Listening

Mark Dann Recording Mastering and Recording Studio (212) 941-7771 - NYC USA - email: Mark107 at aol.com

Pre-Mastering Listening Tests

Because one can only master what the mixes are, it's important that the mixes be as good as they can possibly be. Many people are working with mixing systems that allow for total recall (a mix can be recalled EXACTLY as it was, so incremental changes can be made). In these cases, issues that would be problematic in mastering can be more easily corrected simply by "tweaking" the existing mix. Sometimes issues can escape notice until carefully compared with other CDs.
I encourage clients to bring in a few of their favorite CDs for a quick listening test. Upon careful listening in a proper monitoring environment, we might discover some issues that if dealt with will produce a much better finished CD.
Some issues I see on a regular basis include:

buried vocals
vocals (or certain instruments) that are way too bright (or dull) compared to the rest of the mix
WAY too much compression
extreme muddiness in the bass region
certain critical instruments relatively inaudible (i.e. kick, bass, snare)
mid-range instruments (i.e. guitars) eq'd with too much low end, thereby obscuring the bass instruments
kick and bass loud on large speakers, yet inaudible on small speakers

Being able to correct these issues prior to actual mastering can make a huge difference in how the finished CD turns out. So I offer clients the opportunity to come in with their mixes and favorite CDs, and do a careful comparison on a proper monitoring system, before starting the actual work of mastering.