I think there's a confusion surrounding mastering...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beathoven
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Beathoven

Beathoven

New member
Hi all,

There seems to be a confusion surrounding mastering.

What I understand of mastering is that it is the fact of determining the volume of each song on a CD... like making sure a ballad won't sound as loud as a hardcore metal rock song (Ya know what I mean?)

Am I right or am I wrong on something or on the whole thing?
Mastering don't seem to be that for everyone.

Anyone?

Beathoven
 
I'm not pulling this from a book or anything, but could you say that "mixing" is about working with people and instruments and "mastering" is about preparing pre-recorded material for a given purpose?

Personally, I think of mastering as just about anything done after the initial recording, but perhaps that's too broad. In the strictest sense I would define mastering in the sense of preparing an audio CD from any number of "tracks" or pre-recorded sources (or a film score, or movie, tv show, radio show, whatever...)

-Shaz :rolleyes:
 
Geez,it has been probably a year or more since I have been on this board.Lots of things went on to keep me too busy to keep up,anyhow,it is good to be back.
Anyway,about mastering.A dear old friend of mine who taught me much about the music biz,recording and so on once said "mastering a good record starts when you set up the mics and such for that first session,start doing it right there and keep doing it right until you are done,son." What he was essentially saying was that the quality at each step in the process was equally important. "Don't move a knob until you move the mic" and "don't fix it in the mix,fix it now" were two of his favorite sayings.
Assuming one has followed such advice and done the best job possible at recording and mixing,"mastering" is the final creative step in creating the finished product.If you have put many hours of blood,sweat and tears into your masterpiece,and intend for it to be a big selling commercial product that could take you all the way to the grammys,for god's sake send it to a reputable mastering lab for that final step if you can in any way find the money to do so.You will not be sorry.The guys at the lab have the experience and gear to make it sound big,fat,clean,wiiiiiiiiiide,and louder than Gods' own thunder.
However,if you must "master" your own stuff,put it away for awhile,take a vacation or whatever,try to forget what it sounds like and then remember,espscially with compression,"less is more"


peace to you all.............L
 
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