Mastering is the final creative and technical step prior to pressing a CD. Professional Music Mastering=Volume level optimization while enhancing inter dynamic details and deepening the sound stage with life like imaging of even the most delicate parts of you mixes. All of this is done with the goal of retaining and presenting the best musical character your music has without technical processes getting in the way of or damaging the music itself. Really great mastering is a process that is totally transparent allowing only the music to be experienced, not the processing. We are convinced that humanbeings are music lovers by nature and not normally lovers of processor artifacts, noises and other non musical distortions.
Compare the Art of Mastering to the following
analogy:
Let’s for the moment equate the recording and production process of a
music album to the process of baking a cake from scratch. Let say you have
a particular type of multi-layered cake (album) that you ultimately want
to end up with.
You first have to agree that there are a number of ingredients you must gather up. (this can be related to recording all your tracks in the recording studio like drums, bass, guitar, piano, brass, vocals, special tracks, etc.)
Secondly you have to precisely mix just the right amounts of each ingredient together. (this can be related to the mixing session in the studio)
Question! Is this cake mix now ready to consume? In the opinion of most, it isn't. Many of your listener's may not know why, but your album just doesn't measure up when played along side other professionally produced and mastered music albums.
We agree that most people aren’t of the opinion that a raw, uncooked cake mix is a finished ready to sell product, right? So why would anyone consider stopping their album project at this point and call it finished.
How would you like it if you went down to the local store to purchase a particular type of cake. After you pay for the cake that’s in this great looking professional box and upon getting it home you find a package of cake mix in the box. The great looking box lead you to believe this cake is just like the others you’ve purchase in the past. Would this be a little disappointing? To say the least you would probably never buy a cake from this person again!
Ok, so why would the industry and the music buying public buy a raw product when there are others that are fully artistically and professionally baked, trimmed, and assembled with just the right type and amount of icing?
So the mastering engineers job can be compared to this final process of baking, trimming, and assembling. In the case of the music album the very best ones are recorded and mixed in a recording/mixing studio by a your engineer/s. The raw mixes at this point then must be taken to a mastering engineer where the mix is optimized with a custom precision process. After optimization, the songs are trimmed so they will perfectly work together. The optimized and trimmed songs are then assembled and finished with just the right gap/transition between each one. Your album along with any other special conditions required by the artist/producer has now been transformed into a single musical event and no longer just a collection of single songs.
The Art of Music Mastering
Music Mastering is much more then the normal volume optimization
that is referred to as Mastering in many places. The music mastering engineer is a specialist who
constantly spends their
time perfecting the craft of mastering. Music mastering is
performed in a dedicated studio with quiet, calibrated acoustics,
and a single set of wide range monitors. Signal paths are kept to a
minimum plus customized gear and tools are used.
The monitors should not be encumbered by the interfering acoustics
of large recording consoles, racks or outboard gear. In other words,
the acoustics are first optimized, and all other considerations must
be secondary to the acoustics.
For optimum results, mastering should not be performed in the same studio as the recording or by the same engineer who recorded/mixed the work. It is important to find a mastering engineer who will bring his expertise and unique perspective to an album project, to produce that final polish that distinguishes an ordinary recording from a professional and musical work of art.
Our attention is focused on the Music so that our clients end up with a "Music Album" or "Record" if you will, that is second to none and that it truly does play back as a "Musical Event" that it is consistent in every type of play back system.
Attending Mastering Sessions
Due to acoustic considerations the
attendance is limited to no more that two people.
Out of the maximum of the two people attending sessions one must be
the final authority when it comes to making any decision that your
mastering
engineer ask for. Most of the time session attendance is only
necessary for the initial consultation at the time the final mixes,
song sequence, and any documentations are delivered
to the mastering engineer. The other instance would be after your material
is successfully mastered and ready for a final listen and editing
and of course the final QC of the Pre Master (PM).
In most cases the producer in charge or an agent for the record company is the sole person that makes any decisions about such issues as song sequence and transitions between songs. Your mastering engineer may also help you in making these important decisions if you are unsure.
Finalizing Your Master
After you have lived with your
reference CD for a day or two and are completely satisfied then the
certified PM is created along with your registered documentation and
test results of the PM media. This is the product that goes
directly to your replication or pressing plant where it is used for
the glass master creation. This product is registered to it's
own set of documents that accompany it to the pressing plant and
requires a professional product be delivered back to you.