I find myself in the strange position of being a producer. I was told there would be a producer for the project but apparently the band fired him just prior to my starting work with them. It was slow at first, "What do you think of this line?" and such type questions, now I find I am arranging songs, deciding on instruments, composing and playing parts, etc... Now I have been asked who they should have do the mastering.
I know next to nothing about mastering, hell, I'm bright enough to know I don't know all that much about mixing yet! So my question to you is who do I send an independant band on a very tight budget to for mastering?
Also, if you're a mastering engineer feel free to PM me with your website address.
As their 'producer', I've recommended that they find someone who will leave as much of the dynamics in the music as possible. Frankly I don't think their music is really mass market compatible, so I think that instead of trying to compete in the loudness wars they should go for the best sounding disc even if that means its not as loud. I tend to think that if they establish themselves as putting out a great sounding, dynamic disc they will be catering to the people who like (and buy) their music instead of the radio stations (who likely will not play them anyways). I also figure that their best bet is college stations, and that those will be less concerned about loudness than Clear Channel, etc. Is this just my naivete, or does this all sound reasonable? Frankly I'm barely coming to terms with this whole producing thing and I feel like I'm in a bit over my head. They're quite happy with my work and I'm enjoying it, but I just can't help but think I should have had a class in producing or something since I'm mostly going on feel and the experience of playing in my own bands.
Thanks for any help or info!
Seth
