Mastering
Introduction
Mastering is the final process that your track will go through before it goes to vinyl or CD.
Read on for:
What it does
Matching sounds
Better listening
Mastering for CD
Mastering for vinyl
"Mastering can put that final sheen on a recording. It is the opportunity for a song to get that final impartial tweak."
Jason Goz
Mastering Engineer
Transition
What Is It?
You might have noticed your tracks sound a bit lighter and less in your face compared to the commercial ones you buy in a shop.
That's because these professional recordings have been processed to make them sound louder and bigger.
A mastering engineer will apply this sort of processing to make your track sound louder, fatter and more commanding.
A good mastering engineer improves your track sonically by using tools, for example, to control wayward high range and boost mid and low frequencies.
If you use a dedicated mastering house it can be an expensive process but it can help give your recordings a professional polish if you can afford it.
However, a lot of studios do have mastering capabilities and there are also loads of mastering plug-ins available for Mac and PC.
"In a nutshell what we're after is a disk you can listen to without having to get up to change the volume between tracks."
Sean Magee
Mastering Engineer
Abbey Road Studios
Matching Sound...
Even if all your tracks were recorded in the same studio, they may sound very different.
Each track will have its own sound and each mix will have its own identity - some may sound bassy or may have more top end compared to others.
A mastering engineer will process the tracks to get a consistent sound.
The mastering engineer can tidy up things like fade-outs, trim down any overly long tracks and also put the right amount of space between your tracks.
Spacing is the sort of thing you don't notice when it's right but it can be really obvious when it's wrong.
The engineer can set the silences between songs to get the feel from one track to the next just right.
"If, for example, you have ten songs recorded at different times on different recording desks by different engineers, then the sound can vary from song to song."
Jason Goz
Mastering Engineer
Transition
Better Listening
The acoustics in a mastering room will allow the engineer to hear the track as it will sound in a club, on the radio or even in a front room.
In a recording studio, it's all about hearing the details of the track and for this reason studio monitors are often tuned for a slightly harsher sound.
However, in order to fix any sonic weakness in your music, a mastering room will have monitors with a very neutral sound.
"Mastering engineers work in a room where they're fully aware of the acoustics."
Sean Magee
Mastering Engineer
Abbey Road Studios
Mastering for CD
Because of the way digital audio works, what you hear in the mastering room should be almost identical to what you hear when you get your CDs back from the pressing plant.
Mastering a CD is really a matter of matching the levels and sounds of the tracks, and making your tunes sound their very best.
So, if you're not happy with the way your finished CDs sound go back to the pressing plant and tell them.
You've got the master, you know how it should sound, so stay on their case.
"I would recommend that clients do as many mixes as possible. For example, more bass - less bass, more top end - less top end, more middle - less middle etc."
Jason Goz
Mastering engineer
Transition
Mastering for Vinyl
Vinyl is a much more physical medium than CD.
When you're working digitally, pretty much the same limitations apply to the sound of the engineer's mastering workstation as to the final CD.
With vinyl, the limits aren't so obvious and there are certain things which will sound fine in the studio but not so great when transferred onto a vinyl master.
For example, really extreme stereo effects on bass sounds and kick drums don't tend to cut very well.
That means that there may be compromises which will be needed when mastering for vinyl and that's why you need to find an experienced engineer and to be there while they're working.
You can discuss the options and approve the changes as the engineer makes them.
"If you are going to use destructive processors, e.g. any type of compression on the whole mix, normalizing, ultra maximizing, peak limiting, please provide the engineer with a non-processed mix."
Jason Goz
Mastering engineer
Transition
More... from How to...
Send out white labels/demos
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/whitep01.shtml
Promote your releases
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/promotep01.shtml
Press CDs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/distribution/cdsp01.shtml
Press vinyl
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/distribution/vinylp01.shtml
Use distributors
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/distribution/distributorsp01.shtml
More... from the web
StudioCovers
Huge set of mastering articles
http://www.studiocovers.com/articles9.htm
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