With the current market of home, basement and "low
rent" recording studios, professional mastering services have
never been more
important. Recent
technological
advancements in recording
have proven that most
home & small project
studios can put out solid
work. A qualified
mastering engineer can
then help to enhance and elevate the project to compete with
the big boys.
Although most of the same guidelines apply to the
analog realm, this booklet assumes that your recording will be
mixed to a standard digital format (DAT, CD-R, etc.) at a pro,
home or project studio. It also assumes that your final master
will be a “Premaster” or “Production Master” CD, known as a
PMCD for short (“PMCD” is a term originally introduced by Sonic
Solutions®).
And yes, the “proper” name for this is “premastering”
as the actual “master” disc is made at the replication plant.
However, we’ll just use the term “mastering” for our purposes.
If you’re not completely familiar with the concept of
digital audio mastering, the following pages should give you a
good idea of some of the “do’s” and “don'ts” during your
studio session. Keeping these guidelines in mind can save you
huge amounts of time and money in the studio AND give you abetter sounding production master to boot!
These are only guidelines - As you are probably well
aware of, there are few hard rules when it comes to recording.
Use your best judgment. That being said, knowledge IS
power. So, read on...
What is MASTERING?
A QUICK PRIMER:
Your mastering session is the final step - The ultimate
hours of the assembly of your project. Edits made - Levels
set - EQ tweaked - Stereo field adjusted - Fades established.
Most importantly, by an unbiased set of ears and using
equipment specialized for the task. Mastering is the last
chance to get your project sounding as good as possible
before manufacturing. It is in some sense “critically” one of
the most important, and probably least understood link in the
audio chain. Many mastering houses (MASSIVE Mastering
included) use techniques that are just not feasible to duplicate
during a mixing session. It’s a LOT more than strapping a
compressor and an EQ to a mix and calling it “mastered” at
the output. But it’s not a substitute for a good mix...
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