Thrilled to have found this forum. Thank you very much, George.
I'll try to be brief.
I have a project ready to master which is very important to me. Adult contemporary/some cuts pseudo-orchestral. Real strong singers, bg's, etc. I'm very very happy with the mixes I've got.
I've tried mastering once with a real pro... a great guy. The problem is that what I hear outside of the studio just seems to sound a little too much different than what I heard in the room. I came to find out that this engineer... once again, a real pro and a wonderful man... has obviously come to learn his room, but the room is not professionally tuned. When you walk a few steps one way or the other, the sound changes... you can also hear some traffic outside.
I've talked to pro friends and gotten varied opinions. I know lots of people master - especially in project studios - in non-tuned circumstances and get great results. However, I'm not an engineer... I'm a composer/producer/arranger.
I fully realize that the most important components - bar none - are the engineer, his equipment, and my being able to adequately verbalize what I want.
But isn't it important that at this last bastion of the process, if financially possible, you're in a setting that's as well acousticized (sp?) and tuned to some kind of established standard as possible? Don't you stand the best chance of the mixes sounding the same on a multitude of systems outside of the studio that way?
I'm scheduled to fly to a big time, recognized-name place which I'm sure is the definition of tuned and treated, to try again.
I understand this isn't a mastering forum (looked at that one for a while already... seems a little hostile sometimes), but I would sure appreciate some input from you pros.
FYI, I'm looking for ridiculously hot levels - I WANT the dynamics to stay in place... I just want these mixes aligned appropriately and cohesively so the listener doesn't have to keep adjusting the volume knob, brightened-up collectively a hair, and that's it.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.