Mastering at it's simplest is the art and science of maximizing an audio track, or collection of tracks in an album, soundtrack or video accompaniment, in order to improve it's quality, balance and presentation.
Incorrect. That is the job of the mixing engineer.
It is the mastering engineer's job to assemble and massage what the mixing engineer created into something ready for duplication and or distribution on the media for which it is intended. There are not other legitimate definitions that deviate greatly from that main theme.
The whole idea of using mastering to "improve" what comes out of mixing is a creation of Internet myth, supported by those few actual mastering engineers (only a few of the many, most of which who don't) who see it as a way of increasing their revenue in an age where the big box studios that supplied most of their previous business are disappearing.
My problem with that, Gizmo, is not that I am an old man who doesn't like evolving definitions (as others have accused me of many times before), it's that in my time here interacting with the current breed of home recorders, I have seen an alarming majority trend of folks who simply do not wish to learn how to actually mix, and are in too much of a damn hurry to get their stuff published - for no actual reason other than their own impatience - to be bothered with it. They WANT to see faux mastering - i.e. working the 2mix in an effort to turn an unfinished mix into a finished one - as their saving grace that (they believe) allows them to phone in not only the mixing, but the tracking as well.
Why should I care what they want? Because it damages the MUSIC to think and act that way. As good as some mastering engineers may be, both the real pros and the amateurs, they are NO substitute for frontloading the obligation to tracking and mixing, it just does not compare. In fact, it's just the opposite, the best mastering results come from the best mixes, not the ones that need mastering to sound good to begin with.
The torch is being passed. Home recording is becoming a majority force in the music world. We're not just building birdhouses here; the homerecorders of today are the architects of tomorrow's music industry.
I am passionate about seeing that torch not be dropped along the way just because of a myth of misinformation that enables laziness or impatience amongst so many home recorders, because it will result in a general decrease in quality of the final product which will be available to everybody over the next few decades.
If some people want to misinterpret that as a bully-ish attitude, I can't help that. Thee main reason some folks see that as bullying is because in the 21st century culture many (not all, but a disturbingly large amount of) people want to hear what they want to hear. They ask questions, but if the answer is not what they want it to be, they don't want to be bothered with it.
And what is most certain in this forum is that any answer that tells someone that the best answer is not sitting on a silver platter for them to just take when they want and how they want, they see it as interfering with their sense of self-entitlement. And anyone who tries to take away their sense of entitlement without their having to earn it or work for it is just being a bully at worst, or an elitist at best.
That response is something no one can do nothing about, no matter how many niceties they try couching it in (I've tried, believe me, as have many others.) Even the nicest most constructive replies are bullying to some folks who just do not what to hear that music production is not something that one can learn to do well in 3 days, or that they can just count on "mastering" as a loophole to let them sidestep that unfortunate truth.
Some folks with the proper knowledge or experience just keep mum just to keep the peace. And so do I - you have no idea how many posts I have NOT made in the interest of just shutting up for a while and letting things ride. But sometimes I do make a stand on principle.
If someone doesn't like it, they can always put me on their ignore list, I'm perfectly OK with that; no one is forcing anyone to listen to my alleged bullying or elitism.
G.
