A Shift
Posted on | October 11, 2009 | No Comments
I’ve been mastering music for about 10 years. During that time, a shift has taken place in this segment of the industry. Mastering was always an esoteric — and somewhat inaccessible — service performed by a handful of mysterious people. You’d read there names on the back of album covers but had no idea what they really did.
About the time I got into mastering (the late 1990s), a groundswell was taking place. Technology allowed semi-professionals who were interested in mastering to setup shop. It was good and bad. Mastering was becoming more accessible (and affordable) to the average musician…but more amateurs were doing work of dubious quality.
A decade later, many people who were (and are) part of that “new” mastering movement are still around; the serious ones have remained and the amateurs have faded away. And I’ve noticed something interesting: Over time the technical skills and quality of the newer generation of mastering engineers has caught up to the established pros, and the establishment has lost a lot of clients due to competition and poor customer service.
Offering something at a cheaper price is one thing…and many “indie” mastering studios do that. But offering a comparable product with better customer service is another thing entirely, and that’s when the establishment starts losing its clientele to the upstarts.
It’s a shift that’s been creeping up for a while, but I feel that for the dedicated “indie” mastering studios that have stuck with it, their efforts are coming to fruition.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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