An aspect of the mastering engineer's job that is often overlooked is the "people skills" it demands. Often sessions involve meeting artists for the first time, making them feel at ease, gaining their trust, listening and learning about what they want from the session, and then navigating the delicate process of explaining what you're doing with their music and why. All within only a few hours.
As a mastering engineer who is also a musician, recording and mixing engineer, I have a great deal of empathy with both artists and engineers - trying to make a great record can be a demanding, grueling and sometimes emotional process. People often express insecurities about what they've achieved, be it in the performance, recording or mix, and I always try to focus on the positives in what they've achieved, even where there may problems that need addressing. And I hope that I come across as friendly and supportive in the process.
Recently though, the importance of all this was brought home to me even more strongly than usual. Last month I did a really enjoyable session for an unsigned band called the millionstars - gorgeous, quirky, ethereal british acoustic pop with mild electronica influences - cellos, bassoons, beats, breathy vocals and bass clarinet - how could I not love this stuff ?
The session went well and I felt it had been a great success - the recordings and mixes were excellent to begin with, the material was catchy, clever and varied, and in the mastering I was able to add a whole extra dimension of "width" and "gloss" as Rose and Malcolm had hoped I would. We found we had a lot in common as far as our musical tastes were concerned, we had a good laugh, and at the end of the day we all agreed the album sounded great. Job done, and I went home a happy man.
So, imagine my surprise when I was absentmindedly surfing a few days ago and found themillionstars blog, where on 03/07/08 Rose said:
"we went to get our album of songs "mastered" this week. It is a Dark Art...
...our good friend Mark compared it to calling out to a total stranger in the street to babysit your children. There you go. Perfect. all those tiny fragments of song in your head, the strands of experience, the homespun, uncomfortably, possibly-inappropriately heartfelt lyrics, brought out and recorded and melded together, and then letting them be played VERY LOUDLY to a complete stranger in a room full of boxes and lights. (One word, girls: Gynaecologist...)
anyway!... we have an album. and it feels like us."
anyway!... we have an album. and it feels like us."
Initially I was amused by this, but then I started to feel a bit uncomfortable - Rose was saying I made her feel as if she was visiting a gynaecologist !?! I'd hoped my "bedside manner" was better than that... so I sent her a slightly worried message, and thankfully she reassured me that I'd misunderstood.
"oh no... it's just the process, letting someone else hear each strand of a song... [a bit] like doing my music exam grades all over again"
And then she added a comment to her blog:
"[Ian] made me feel as comfortable about my voice, bassoon-playing, glockenspiel-mangling and general flouncing-about-on-the-piano as anyone has ever made me feel.
if you're ever considering mastering anything, look him up... He'll make it sound beautiful, and soothe your soul."
- which has to be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me professionally ! So, all was well with the world again. But it reinforces the point of this post:
Mastering engineers need to be sensitive.
Not only to people's musical intentions and the genre they are working in; not only to their possible insecurities on a technical level as far as the recording goes, but also about the music itself. Even though people often ask me if I like their music, it had never really hit home in quite this way - until I read Rose's comment - that my customers might feel judged by a mastering engineer on an artistic level as well as a technical one. But of course they do ! Often the mastering studio is the first place musicians have their art listened to by someone other than close friends and family or long-term fans - it's natural they might feel uncomfortable, and it's important to be aware of that. Especially since the critical listening environment and constant repetition puts everything under the microscope even more than ever before.
And finally, we need to realise that the mastering session is actually the first step of a new phase for the artist - all their hard work is about to be released for scrutiny, review and criticism by the world at large, and we represent the first concrete example of that. It's up to us to make sure that transition is as comfortable as possible, as well as ensuring that the music sounds the best it possibly can when it arrives "out there".
And finally, we need to realise that the mastering session is actually the first step of a new phase for the artist - all their hard work is about to be released for scrutiny, review and criticism by the world at large, and we represent the first concrete example of that. It's up to us to make sure that transition is as comfortable as possible, as well as ensuring that the music sounds the best it possibly can when it arrives "out there".
It's a big responsibility, I hope I can continue to live up to it.
