Question for experience mastering engineers

[rothbard]

I have a bunch of rock and pop songs to master. When I listen to hit rock and pop songs at normal volumes, they of course almost universally sound good. But with many tracks, when I turn up the volume to louder levels, fairly often ear knives come out. Since rock and pop songs are often played loud, I'm really wondering how pro mastering engineers balance the tradeoff of managing that 2-4kHz range for good shine and presence at moderate volumes vs making the tracks not "painful" at loud volumes. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[Hevy (IL)]

Haven't mastered in a while, but I think I aime...

[nΛve]

Depends. If the track is painful at high volum...

[mdk__]

What nΛve here is saying is right. If you compa...

[rothbard]

The knives come out on a variety of speakers wh...

[Shruard7]

nΛve wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 8:33 pm Depends. ...

[N_K]

rothbard wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 6:01 am The k...

[donkeytugger]

Remember that a lot of big bands (Pixies, Nirva...

[fde101]

The general rule of thumb on level in the room ...

[nΛve]

Shruard7 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 6:23 am anoth...

[jbarkerhill92]

I think some kind of EQ would be the answer, wh...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 29, 2024 3:40 pm ...

[jbarkerhill92]

nΛve wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 2:45 am jbarkerhi...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2024 6:06 am ...

[jbarkerhill92]

nΛve wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2024 4:53 pm Those a...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2024 6:27 pm ...

[jbarkerhill92]

nΛve wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 1:22 am jbarkerhi...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 3:10 am ...

[jbarkerhill92]

nΛve wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:11 am jbarkerh...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 4:36 pm ...

[jbarkerhill92]

nΛve wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 6:54 pm I'll ha...

[nΛve]

jbarkerhill92 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 9:26 pm ...

[donkeytugger]

nΛve wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:11 am If I wo...

[nΛve]

donkeytugger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 9:30 am I...

[donkeytugger]

nΛve wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 11:47 am donkeytu...

[fde101]

nΛve wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:11 am Okay, no...

[nΛve]

donkeytugger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 1:50 pm n...

[donkeytugger]

nΛve wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 2:56 pm donkeytug...

[nΛve]

donkeytugger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 4:22 pm T...

[donkeytugger]

nΛve wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2024 3:45 am donkeytug...

[nΛve]

donkeytugger wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2024 4:16 am n...