You've just finished recording what you think is a pretty good song in your project studio. The playing is good, the recording is clean and the mix is decent. So you burn it to a CD and proudly pop it in your CD player. But when you hear it played after a "commercial" CD, you realize that something is wrong.
It's not loud enough. It sounds wimpy next to other CDs. Turning it up or mixing down at a higher level doesn't solve the problem. It sounds louder, but not, well LOUDER.
It sounds dull. Other CDs have a sparkle that cuts through with excitement. You try boosting the EQ at high frequencies, but now your song just sounds harsh and noisy.
The instruments and vocals sound thin. Commercial songs have a fullness that you know comes from some sort of compression. So you patch in a compressor and turn some controls. Now the whole mix sounds smashed.
The bass doesn't have punch. You boost it with some low-end EQ, but that just sounds louder and muddier.
You can hear all the instruments in your mix, and they all seem to have their own "place" in the stereo image, but the overal image sounds wrong. Your other CDs have width and image that you can't seem to get from panning the individual tracks.
You had reverb on the individual tracks, but it just sounds like a bunch of instruments in a bunch of different spaces. Your other CDs have a sort of cohesive space that brings all the parts together. Not like rooms within a room, but a "sheen" that works across the entire mix.
Any of this sound familiar?
It's not that you've done anything wrong it's just that you've omitted the final step in the process of making a great sounding mix - the mastering process.
At Nova Sound Laboratories, we care about your music as much as you do and strive very hard to give you that sound you're looking for. With state-of-the-art mastering tools we can give you that sound.
Our rates are competitive (and negotiable).
For a demonstration of our services, Nova Sound Laboratories will master one song for you free of charge to evaluate the quality of our work for yourself.
Send your MP3 or WAV to novasoundlab@sbcglobal.net and we'll get it back to you within two days of recieving it.
