Mastering Ideas? Options

[kundama]

hi all new to the forum so i thought i'd start with an easy one :-)

i've been writing tunes for a while now, and always get to the same stage in the prossess before encountering problems...Mastering.

getting the compositional elements right isn't a problem (well it is it just takes a lot of time but when i come to bouncing down my tunes and compare them to oh i don't know some one like prefuse 73, the quality of sound is different. They always seem to be able to get it that little bit louder than me. Obviously they've got all that fancy equipment, but i'm sure it's just a question of time again, and knowing the right steps to take.

at the moment when bouncing down i simply make sure all the volumes are right, nothing is clipping, the panning is nicely spread and there is't too much frequency intrerferance, (everything has its own space) idon't use any compression, or effects, (just a bit of limiter) because i want to keep the dynamic range. iwas wondering if anyone had any tips for me, coz iwant to put up a websight with all mi tunes on , but none of them really feel finnished, ya know.

wicked well if any one has any tips let me know
thaks for your time

take it easy
kundy

[deegone]

i think mastering is not only to compress or 'maximise' the final mix ,but also to even up the frequencies.i usually set an eq (often if not always a renaissance eq 6 bands),then a L2 and finally a PAZ analizer.to get a rich or 'pro' sound on the mastering stage is rather difficult if not impossible if the mixdown it's not done properly.the ideal would be to have a mix with no needs of 'make up'.once you get this,you can add some air on it by rolling off frequencies below 30hz and boosting @ 10khz with a shelf eq(just a little,the freq depends on your taste,but always around there and up).after that maximise it without getting to crazy or the mix will loose it's life,always checking the analizer(you don't want to have too many out of phase freqs if you intend to air the mixes on the radio or tv,as they will cancel on mono speakers).waves are really good tools to do all that.