Outsourcing Mix/Stem Mastering and Song Placement

[TheElement]

Hi Just wondering is it ok to outsource mix/stem mastering?

If a song got placed what are the legal issues involved? Thanks!

[andygabrys]

as always.....

signed Work For Hire agreements and appropriate payment up front.

Mixing and Mastering were never considered "a song share", they were always a Work for Hire.

of course, the principal drawback to not doing in yourself in this case:

a library or publisher might come back to you with a custom request (edits etc.) for a particular song for a particular job and you have to take it back and get it edited and remixed / remastered. And hope that whatever system was used for mix or mastering provides easy recall.

The other side of the coin is the "stems" - then you might CYA but its more money up front for you to pay.

[TheElement]

as always.....

signed Work For Hire agreements and appropriate payment up front.

Mixing and Mastering were never considered "a song share", they were always a Work for Hire.

of course, the principal drawback to not doing in yourself in this case:

a library or publisher might come back to you with a custom request (edits etc.) for a particular song for a particular job and you have to take it back and get it edited and remixed / remastered. And hope that whatever system was used for mix or mastering provides easy recall.

The other side of the coin is the "stems" - then you might CYA but its more money up front for you to pay.

Thanks Andy. whats CYA?

[andygabrys]

as always.....

signed Work For Hire agreements and appropriate payment up front.

Mixing and Mastering were never considered "a song share", they were always a Work for Hire.

of course, the principal drawback to not doing in yourself in this case:

a library or publisher might come back to you with a custom request (edits etc.) for a particular song for a particular job and you have to take it back and get it edited and remixed / remastered. And hope that whatever system was used for mix or mastering provides easy recall.

The other side of the coin is the "stems" - then you might CYA but its more money up front for you to pay.

Thanks Andy. whats CYA?

Cover your butt in other words.

[ochaim]

have you had any comments in your critiques about shortcomings in your mix/mastering?

if they havent been glaring you're probably doing fine since you've been getting forwards?

[TheElement]

I see. Thanks Andy.

[TheElement]

have you had any comments in your critiques about shortcomings in your mix/mastering?

if they havent been glaring you're probably doing fine since you've been getting forwards?

No but I want more. I want my stuff to sound like EDM from like Spinnin Records. I need to take it to another level. So thought best let someone who lives and sleeps EDM mastering handle it so I can write more. Theres a lot of competition out there so it could make the difference.

[shorttonpro]

Andy's got the right idea.

The benefit of having the session files with you is that you can make edits and changes as needed. On the other hand, you don't want to always be mixing and it can be sort of nice to have it finalized and out of your hands when someone else does it.

As you mentioned, the benefit of having someone else mix/master it is it allows you to concentrate your efforts on composition and leave the mix to someone who does this day in and day out. And yes, a well-composed, well-mixed track would stand out from the pack, but is also expected.

You'd certainly have all rights to your music - nothing to worry about there.

Mixing is of course the most involved and most expensive, but the engineer has the most control. Stem mastering is the next option where you provide a few grouped stems (bass, kick, snare, percussion, leads, synths etc...) and still gives the engineer some control and a better result for less. Or if you're generally happy with your mix you can just get it mastered for some extra polish, but less can be done to address certain issues, though this is probably your most affordable option.

With EDM, sound choice at the source is certainly an extremely important aspect.

You could certainly try getting one song mixed/stem mastered/mastered by someone in the genre and compare it to one of your own mixes as well as commercial tracks to see if the improvement makes a difference in your bottom line.

[TheElement]

Thanks Scott you make some good points.

I actually had the guys who master Spinnin records master one of my tracks and it really was not worth the extra money. The most important as you say is sound selection and the overall mix. The mastering is just polishing and limiting. I have a lot of work to do on my mixing.

[guitargurumike]

In regards to your original question I think Andy covered it.

I'm in the EDM genre as well and did some outside mastering early on in my producing based on under confidence.

What's cool about the outside mastered tunes is they sound great everywhere I play them--on any device/car/system (whereas mine sound good on great soundsysytems only), and they have enough volume and bass to hold up next to anything in my live DJ sets.

I master myself when I make things for TV/film/media, its just easier especially when they want rearrangements or stems.

When I do remixes or original works that are intended to be marketed to the public as stand-alone pieces, I get as much outside help as possible.

Cheers,
Michael