Bandwidth (limiting of) in Mastering ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter mark4man
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mark4man

mark4man

MoonMix Studios
hello...

Released my ex-band's CD in 2006; & at that time, my vehicle only had a Cassette player. So I dubbed the music down to cassette for playback in that vehicle...& it sounded GREAT...I mean, really clear, detailed & punchy.

Sold that vehicle not long ago; & just recently began to play the CD itself in my new vehicle. It sounds CRAPPY...masked & flat.

So I took the original cassette & played it on my project studio's audiophile system (or...as close as I could get to one at the time of purchase...it sports an Onkyo Power Amp, Sony Cassette Player & CD Changer; & Pioneer Speakers...sort of a poor man's audiophile system, I guess). The Sony cassette player is also the same unit that I used to dub the CD to cassette.

I did this in comparison w/ the CD...on the same system…& the results were astonishing similar.

So...my question is...did I discover one of the untold secrets of mastering...rolling off the sub-sonics from the bottom end & the ultra-sonics from the top end ??? (to sort of match the limited bandwidth of cassette tape).

I know a practice such as this would vary w/ various musical styles & even recording & mixing techniques...but...do any of the ME's here limit the bandwidth of music they master ? (& if so…what techniques do they use?)

I'm guessing what happened in my case is that the subs and/or the ultras were masking my detail & punch...does that sound correct?

[what exactly IS the bandwidth of cassette tape, anyway?]

Sure could use some expertise on this issue...as I'm back in the studio working on my first solo release; & planned to cycle three tunes form the aforementioned CD into my solo project (&...they'll obviously need to be remastered).

Thanks very much,


mark4man
 
You really don't have to "match" anything - You make it sound as good as it can and let the chips fall to some extent.

If the particular cassette stock you're using rolls off quickly after 14kHz, you don't have to do it for it - It just won't take it.

Vinyl is a different story...

In any case - Work for the highest resolution and let the lower resolution suffer. Don't work for the lower resolution and make everyone else suffer.
 
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