I don't even know where to start here...

The truth is, it is not inaccurate to say "do what the mix tells you (i.e. what the mix needs)" in response to a question of how to master.
...and the fact is, the same thing goes for mixing and songwriting (each of which are all very specific craft and art, no less so than mastering.)

Mastering, mixing, and songwriting ALL take a lifetime to learn. That is a fact. Every day that goes by, you will get better and better... and if you actually have a talent for it, you may become great.

It should be a given that you need the highest quality equipment... and that goes for mixing, recording and mastering EQUALLY.

...you shouldn't need someone to tell you that... even though it has been told to you countless times.

in order to master (or mix or record) you will need a complete intimate understanding of various tools such as compressors and EQ's...

...not to mention (with regard to mastering) the guidelines for preparing a finished master ready for manufacture, which is really the ultimate goal of having a record mastered... but I have a feeling that when people ask how to "master" they are really asking "how do I make my track sound as loud as that song from that CD and how do I master it so the mix sounds like a professional CD" (and in that case, there are a lot more steps you need to address before you reach your goals.)

You will need to have the ability to objectively look at a piece of music and hear and understand what needs to be done to it.
(i.e., doing what the music is telling you to do)

You can give instruction on the technicalities of how to use various pieces of equipment and what the various controls do and you can explain what types of sounds have fast attacks (or whatever), but actually using it in the proper place in the proper way is up to the users ability to:

1. hear what the audio needs;
2. decide which tool is the proper one to use; and
3. use it effectively

Some people seem to just be happy having someone tell them what to do whether it is correct and useful information or not.

Someone could tell you some completely useless and false information and people will say "finally! thanks for the help man! good lookin out!"

Please understand this:
There is no "frequency" someone can tell you to boost.
There is no "compressor setting" someone can give you.
There is no "level" someone can tell you to make an instrument in a mix.

--these are all things the audio will "tell" you it needs... and it is up to you to be able to hear what the audio is saying and it is up to you to know how to "answer it when it speaks."

If you are mastering your own material, there should be NO CORRECTIVE MEASURES NEEDED with mastering.

If your hi-hat is too loud, you don't need to try to correct it in mastering... you just lower the hi-hat in your mix!

If your mix doesn't sound right and basically like what it should sound like on the album, then you didn't mix it well.

With regard to both mixing and/or mastering (not everything I am going to mention will apply to both), you can be told things like "don't overcompress, get your levels sounding good, pan your instruments in a balanced way, make sure each instrument has its own space, make the overall album sound consistent, etc"

...but it is up to you to know your tools and how to use them... and it is up to you to know what sounds right.

Every day, I see several people here saying "you should pan this here and use this compresor setting and boost this frequency and roll this off and copy this to another track and use this plugin and this preset and this synth"

...and it is generally bad advice...
...and people say "thanks for the great tips!" because they don't know any better.

If you want help with your mastering... post something you mastered' and have people critique it. Maybe you can get an objective opinion on it. Maybe someone can tell you "it sounds like you have a lot of

Here are some of my tips for better beat productionz.

1. Make somewhere around 5-10 beats a week 'if not more....

2. If you are bad at something practice. If you are bad good drum patterns then just make alot of drums patterns in one sitting. Same goes for anything. Bad at mixing then just make a SIMPLE beat (doesnt have to be spectactular) then just play with settings and find something you like then right it down and use it. If bad at effects just play around with them.

3. Have a organized work space. Dont have pictures of artist or anything supposed to motivate you because be honest wont you say Man I wanna be him or He lucky or something. If you want put something like a scene of moutnains or something to help concentrate..U decide?

4. Have beat battles every month with beats you made and get your top 10 or top 5 and then keep those. THROW AWAY WACK BEATS(or find some crack head rapper and sell for like 20 dollars lol)

5. watch other people make beats. weather it is watching a beatmaking video or go to a studio and just watch or act like your looking around or something.

6. When you start a beat finish a beat. dont make half a beat and then finsh the next day. you will lose your rhythm you were in.

7. Study music. Study other producers, study other genres of music like blues, sould, old school hip hop, etc. Do this and I gurantee your beats will increase in there creativeness and production skills. STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!!!!

8. Practice chopping samples. You can just get a good sample then just chop and rearrange in different ways. Just do it like 10 different ways. Do this with drum patterns you made too. Make a drum pattern then chop it up and rearrange with the SAME SOUNDS to make a totally different you might be suprised. Make sure you practice looping samples too to get the right point to loop at just cut off end and start points till you like how it flows.
I hope this helps' and if you have a tip you have found helpful then post it.

"If we dont make good music who will our kids have to sample"
MDT|PRODUCTIONZ - UNDERGROUND|ENTERTAINMENT

2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MDT|PRODUCTIONZ.
EXCLUSIVE - DREW WEST DOWNLOADZ'

DREW WEST_TRACK - BEEN THINKIN' ABOUT U...
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5433579c...

DREW WEST_TRACK - NOW I KNOW...
http://www.zshare.net/audio/41062439... DURATION - 4:28

DREW WEST_TRACK - LIFEZ A BITCH...
http://www.zshare.net/audio/41063398... DURATION - 5:41

DREW WEST_07SYPHER - GETALONG...
http://www.zshare.net/audio/41064039... DURATION - 3:20
KEEP YA EARZ OPEN 4 THE NEW MIXTAPE'
(THE ART OF RAW) COMINGSOON!!!

EXCLUSIVE:SAMPLEZ FROM THE ART OF RAW...(BONUS TRAXX)
- http://www.zshare.net/audio/41233765... DURATION - 1VERSE
- http://www.zshare.net/audio/41233363... DURATION - 1VERSE