Best Definition of mastering

Mastering is the last stage in the recording process. Mastering takes all the separate songs for an album and puts them together so that they sound good together. Mastering balances the sound of a CD from song to song so that the CD sounds cohesive. Mastering balances the levels from song to song, making sure that each song is as loud as it needs to be. It also makes sure that the tracks are relatively equal in volume and tone. Mastering might also apply some compression to smooth out the dynamics of an entire song. In many cases some subtle EQ is applied to help polish up the tracks. As Mastering deals only with the final stereo mix down, it is a separate stage from the actual mixing process. Compression and limiting are the most common processes applied during Mastering, along with the aforementioned EQ.
 
Mastering is everything that keeps mixing and duplication from slamming into each other. :)

Seriously:

Mastering is the process of preparing the "final" versions of recordings for duplication. This process includes

- final processing of the recordings to polish the sound quality and set final volume levels.

- organization and assembly of seperate recordings into a coherant collection such as a CD album of songs. Track order is laid out as are transitions between tracks.

- Editing and addition of extra informational data to the CD, including PQ data, track info, etc.

- creation of the final "pre-master" disc to be sent for duplication.

G.
 
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