Originally Posted by WaoBand
What a really great song! The vocals and production are excellent. When read the lyrics are a bit depressing, but when sung they come to life. I thought "Blind-Sided" would have been a better title. I'm asking others this as it's my blind area: what do you use for mastering?

Chay, thanks for the listen! Yes, "Blind-Sided" would have been an excellent title. Though the lyricist owns the song titling responsibilities in our arrangement, I'll think of this one as "Blind-Sided" in my head now. smile

My finished mixes go to Lurssen Mastering Console to gently shape the overall sound and set the levels. Honestly, I don't spend a lot of time on this step, sometimes under a minute. I spend a LOT of time at the Studio One mixing console building and balancing the sounds. I also use Andrew Schep's rear bus technique in mixing, and have a Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin on the main mix. I'll audition a few interim masters on a variety of sound sources (monitors, headphones, earbuds, auto, etc), tweak in Studio One and resend to Lurssen, where I've saved and reused the song's previous Lurssen settings. I've reached the conclusion that WHAT one uses for mastering is less important than HOW ones uses it, and that listening carefully is the most important step of all. Know mastering can be a journey, so good luck!

DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)