Pete Maher Mastering

When done correctly, mastering makes a huge difference to all things audio. It increases height, depth, definition and volume. All the classic albums from the last century were mastered which is partly why they still sound amazing today. Back then, it was a major label service only. In other words, expensive! But results were stunning. From The Beatles to the Sex Pistols right through to Nirvana and Coldplay, those records still cut through today on all platforms including radio. Bob Dylan once stated that his albums sounded average before mastering. Then polished, loud and vibrant afterwards. That says everything you need to know about the impact of professional mastering.    

I entered the music business as a young guitarist and songwriter, signing indie deals with Native Records and Skyclad New York followed by a long term publishing deal with Warners but I was never happy with the sound of my recordings. Mastering was considered too expensive by my labels so that never happened (a 4 track EP would cost approx £3000 in 1995). Then in 2004 I transitioned from analog (Tascam 4 track) to digital and that's when I discovered some cool mastering plugins. I then mastered all by bands old recordings and brought them to life. So it started out as a hobby. 

I think home recording is cool as you can take your time to get it right. No watching the clock and paying by the hour in the studio. Just record and mix whenever you're ready, but once it's mixed, no matter how sophisticated your set up is, it will benefit from professional mastering. For example, most mixes including big budget productions, still need work in the low end to tighten them up. The mids often require a lift. And volume needs to compete. 

That said, you should not confuse volume with power. Retaining the dynamics should be the main focus. This is where most home mastered tracks fall apart. Sure, you might think it sounds good in your headphones or home monitors but wait until you hear it on the radio through harsh radio compression or on Spotify in a playlist where everyone else's tracks sound bigger and better. Home mastering or worse (AI mastering) is a huge mistake. And like most huge mistakes, you only find out when it's too late. 

AI mastering is a creative sonic disaster. Yes it's cheap and sounds like an OK option when reading through their amazing bluff about how their algorithm is based on many leading mastering engineers. But who are these leading mastering engineers? Is there anybody there? They even give you some parameters to tweak after you hear how bad it sounds. How cheeky is that? Then there's others that tell you they use valve technology to process your master in seconds. So a 10 minute song can be processed through valve technology in seconds? Really? Then you pull them up on it and they change it to 'mastered in real time'. Really? Get your story straight!

But some artists just want to tick the mastering box and move forward with an AI master for a quick release. To me, that's like watching moths around a bright burning lightbulb. It doesn't end well. That said, if they box clever, they can get ahead of the competition by using a professional apple approved mastering engineer. I'm not the only ADM engineer that does it properly. There's quite a few of us and we make a huge difference. 

For example, a pro master will sound louder and more defined than an AI master on Spotify and YouTube. And this is why major label releases still sound sonically superior when compared to the average indie or unsigned release. Major labels use professional mastering engineers. So once again, mastering when done correctly has remained an exclusive high end major label service. 

This depends on the mastering engineer. Unfortunately the quality of mastering in recent years has gone down the sonic pan. It can be so bad now that it falls into the bass player joke. What do you call a failed guitarist? The bass player. What do you call a failed mixing engineer? The mastering engineer! But try telling Sting or Paul McCartney that they are failed guitarists and try telling me I'm a failed mixing engineer. It just doesn't wash. Some of us actually know what we're doing. 

When I mastered Jack White's track 'Love Is Blindness' for the U2 supergroup album, Jack was totally blown away. His manager called me and told me how excited Jack was. They had no idea how big it could sound but I took it to an amazing place and nailed a great master. Bono said it was the best track on the album. That's what mastering can do when you use an experienced, talented mastering engineer.  

Again, I will use the U2 supergroup album as an example. This album was my breakthrough project and featured tracks by The Killers, Snow Patrol, Nine Inch Nails, Damien Rice, Jack White and Depeche Mode. That in itself was a massive challenge. Here's what Q Magazine's project manager, 

Dave Henderson had to say about it 

'Pete did a great job mastering ‘(AHK-toong BAY-bi) Covered’, not an easy task with 12 completely different sound sources from 12 different studios, he managed to make it sound as cohesive as the original, no mean feat indeed'. 

If you watch YouTube videos on how to master a track you will see dozens of plugins being used. To me that's ridiculous. No doubt sponsored by plugin companies trying to make more money. Instead, my sound is centred around valve multiband compression. I find the sonic sweetpot in each mix and push it forward whilst fully retaining the vibe and character of the music. I use EQ to tighten the lows and parametric EQ to increase height but only when needed. I also use correction tools if required. But it really is a case of less is more. It's the smallest tweaks in mastering that make the biggest difference. I learnt this from my days at Freestyle Records and Acid Jazz. Funk and jazz musicians love volume but they hate compression. So I had to dig deep into the world of multiband compression to acheive louder masters that sound clean, warm and fully dynamic. 

I have been through the mill as an artist so I know how difficult it can be when starting out in music. The industry is full of sharks and charlatans so when it comes to the music business versus the artist, I will always side with the artist. 

I don't suck up to the machine. I have a great shop window (track record) but I didn't chase it. I actually have an inbuilt distrust of certain major record labels. For example, I mastered a huge smash hit in 2017 but I was never paid for it. I chased it up for months but had to write it off as a bad debt. That particular major label is now on my avoid list. 

So compare that to an unsigned artist that works hard and saves up for mastering and then pays upfront. Tell me, who is the good guy? The bloated major record label or the hard working honest artist? 

I'm a healthy guy. No alcohol or drugs. Just coffee and healthy living. When working, I monitor at a relatively low volume. Sometimes I crank it up, depending on the music but that's not often. I have my ears tested every year at the ENT and I'm told that I have the hearing of a 24 year old. Not bad considering I used to play a les paul guitar through a hiwatt stack at full volume ha! 

I'm still working on that ha! During covid, everyone was at home making music and at that time I was living up in the mountains of sunny Cyprus with a studio in the basement of our villa. So I worked 16 hours a day. 7 days a week. It was a near burnout! Thankfully, it's now much easier to manage. I have an excellent team for admin, accounts and prep work, so I get to concentrate on all things mastering. 100%. So I'm now much closer to working sensible hours. Happy days ..