Hello .
i saw hat there is a post about mastering for Metal
or hard rock.

ok one thing i got to say- metal is very different then allot of rock styles or pop and the difference is the intensity
not every mastering engineer works with metal because its a different style and it asks for a different approuch
ofcourse like with every mastering you want to enhance the original mix to get the best results - but its more about what are the main factors in the music that you want to bring out.
in metal thease days the mastering is a huge part of the process and it can change the sound from night to day- i know some people dont agreee with that approuch - but thats what sometimes is needed (not everytime but in allot of cases)

when i master a song / album / ep /single or a myspace single- i always try to understand where this music is supposed to go to and where it comes from - why is that important ?
becuase in most cases the mastering engineer is actualy the "first listener " that is the only objective person that listens to it and does crititcal judgments on the sound so it will fit the "normal" or "casual listener""
and at the same time i have to ask my slef how do i make it fit the specific audieince that is listening to it

when i work with Rob Halford (the singer of Judas Priest) or David Ellefson (the bass player of megadeth) the mastering is different then when i work with Yngwie Malmsteen or Tony Macalpine so every case is different
- they all need a different mastering to different places formats and tones.


so the real answer to how to get your stuff mastered right is actualy to go to someone that masters - i know you dont want to pay for anyone but maybe thats a good option to learn from some one who does that for a living
also one thing i can tell you about mastering - its an artform that you really learn the best from only doing it

you can mix for so meny years and still not master the same way as someone who only masters

when someone puts so much of his time into becoming a mastering engineer in years to come he develops to that place
where he can hear what things are missing and what to do and what not to do
here is a short video explaining the importance of mastering

David Ellefson (the bass player of megadeth ) interviewed me about it- its basicly a short explanation of the mastering importance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSkKvfJ1Zjw

send me the mix to check
here is my email:
mappelbaum@gmail.com