Future Music gave one lucky Twitter follower the opportunity to have their track mastered by the best in the business.
They asked followers to submit a track to a special SoundCloud group and then FM chose a track that they thought demonstrated some good examples of common mixing mistakes as well as offered good headroom and potential for mastering.
Lukas Lyrestam's Vanishing Point was the chosen track and FM took it to Mazen Murad, an experienced mastering engineer working out of the Metropolis Studios in London. Mazen's CV includes M.I.A., Groove Armada, Bjork, DJ Shadow and many more and he also played a big part in designing Brainworx's much-loved bx_digital plug-in.
The video above shows FM at Metropolis filming Mazen at work and to trying to uncover some of the mystery behind the mastering process.
BEFORE MASTERING
AFTER MASTERING
Here's what Lukas had to say about the final master; "I was very impressed with the mastered version of the track as it retained the mix balance I wanted while having that bit of extra sheen. The bass became warmer, rounder and gelled much better with the kick drum, while the vocals were given body and presence. I was particularly impressed with how well the mix translated onto a club sound system." Lukas Lyrestam - Vanishing Point