Mastering dance music requires a keen ear and an engineer who is familiar with the music form.
One of the key requirements when mastering dance music is to ensure that the music will sound good on a large format club
sound system and yet work nicely on a set of standard in ear headphones from an iPod. For this to happen the mastering engineers
monitoring system must be capable of presenting an impression of how the music will "scale up" on a much larger
system. Using high end PMC IB1 monitoring (a 3 way system) with transmission line bass ducts and 10 inch drivers allows
me to understand how the music will sound on a large scale system. The PMC IB1 presents accurate sonic information for mastering
dance music.
When choosing a mastering studio for mastering dance music ensure
you can see what speakers are being used. If a studio uses small speakers it is highly unlikely that the mastering engineer
will be getting a realistic impression of how the music will sound on those all critical club systems. Find out what speakers
are being used and make a judgment. In addition you can now receive a free preview from a mastering studio and check the quality
of the mastering ability of the engineer.
Mastering dance music is performed
with great care and it is very important to balance punch, energy, detail and perceived volume. With any given track
there will be an optimal trade off between perceived volume and the clarity, space and detail present in a track. As a mastering
engineer who has experience working with dance music (as a producer previously) and as a mastering engineer I like to work
closely with a client and understand what goals are prioritized. I seek to impress with the best results possible. At
SafeandSound mastering we use a combination of both high end analogue equipment and the ultimate choices in software technology.
Choice of tools makes a difference that is evident in the results, this is a key area which is rarely spoken about.
Mastering dance music optimally requires an uncompromised tool set and engineer. Mastering dance music encompasses many styles,
drum and bass, house, trance, dubstep, garage, techno, psy trance, breakbeat to name a few. An engineer who is sympathetic
to these music forms will produce great results and ensure they work with competing tracks by other artists in any given genre.
When enquiring about mastering dance music please let me know how important perceived levels
are and you may of course provide a reference track which should give me an idea of which sonic qualities you are aiming towards.
In any event the music will be mastered to enhance the strong aspects and minimize any weaknesses whilst improving the overall
translation of the music across many different sound systems.
TOP TIP for preparing for mastering dance music : One significant issue that can be quite common with dance music mixes
is the bass content of the track. A top tip that I can recommend for helping getting the right level of bass in your mix down
is to proceed as follows. When you mix your track try importing a dance track you love and respect in the same genre as that
which your track is.Place the reference track on a new stereo track in your digital audio workstation. Then you can reduce
the level of the "reference" track so it meets the perceived level of your own mix down. (it will probably have
been mastered so the level needs to be reduced) Once this approximate level match has been made you can now more easily judge
kick drum sub bass/attack level. You can also judge the level of the bass line within your mix as well. This will assist the
mastering process as radical equalization moves in the low frequency spectrum will not be required. This means the engineer
has an even better mix to produce punch in the low end without the negative side effects of any extreme low frequency equalization.
Another issue that concerns dance music producers is
the use of ITB tools "in the box". Software tools are always improving in this department but SafeandSound uses
an approach where the use of high quality analogue equipment is involved.Valves and audio transformers can undoubtedly add
an extra something to music that has been predominantly mixed inside a precise digital audio workstation. There are numerous
ways of adding warmth and character during mastering dance music and these will be dependent on any given mix downs strengths
or weaknesses in this area. Suffice to say that SafeandSound mastering is capable of giving your music the analogue touch
should it be required.
Please read the
FAQ section for lots of information on how to submit, but in short please send 24 bit .wav or .aiff files, with no limiter
on the master output. Please ensure files are not clipping. (exceeding digital zero / 0dBFS)
Utilize www.wetransfer.com to send the files using the following address:
Email : safeandsound123atgooglemail.com (at being @ with no gaps)
Contact Barry +44 (0)7810 271370
