Mixing vs Mastering

[digmudvayne4lif]

What's the difference between mixing and mastering? ie what do you do in each stage? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Multitrack audio production is generally broken down into three engineering phases:

TRACKING - A fancy word for recording. The tracking phase is the first phase where all recording is done.

MIXING - This is the middle stage where all the individual instruemt tracks and takes are edited together, sonically refined and summed - or mixed together - into a stereo (or surround sound, if that's your game) version. This version is usually called the "mixdown".

MASTERING - This is where the mixdown gets it's final sonic "polish" and where it is combined with other polished mixdowns into an album of material and made into a CD.

Technically the polishing part is called "premastering", and the assembly of a final master CD is the "mastering". But in home recording cases where there may be no CD compilation, and/or where everything is done on a basic level on a home computer by a single person, the whole process after mixdown is just referred to simply as "mastering".

G.

 

[Massive Master]

Unless you're doing hip-hop, where "sequencing" is called "producing" and everything else is called "mastering."

 

[studiomaster]

Unless you're doing hip-hop, where "sequencing" is called "producing" and everything else is called "mastering."

LOL...thats true!

 

[chessrock]

Good one.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Unless you're doing hip-hop, where "sequencing" is called "producing" and everything else is called "mastering."

....And where "scratching" something is actually a good thing .

 

[pingu]

Hi mate.

Dont be sorry.

If you cant ask here, where can you ask.



http://www.bluebearsound.com/articles/mixing101.htm

http://www.learjeff.com/tips/mastering.html


http://forum.cakewalk.com/searchpro...single&top=300&criteria=AND&submitbutton=+OK+