In this week’s B-SIDES episode, we’re talking about mastering: what IS audio mastering, and do you need to hire a professional to do it for you?

• We discuss what audio mastering is, and why it’s important that your music is properly mastered

• We talk about the pros of doing mastering yourself: with the main one being financial

• We talk about the cons of doing mastering yourself, and why you would want to hire a mastering engineer

• Marcio shares times where he masters tracks himself, and times where he would hire an engineer

• “Mastering engineers should take an already great product and make it even better” – Marcio Novelli

• We talk about DIY online mastering services, and the pros/cons of using services like these

• “Online mastering services are not a substitute for human ear, skill or experience” – Ross Barber-Smith