Audio Mastering
Pennylane Studio Audio Mastering.
If you are a musician and like performing I guess sooner or later you will want to get into the studio and record your stuff, fantastic experience in it's self and should be enjoyed to the full. Some people prefer to do it at home and good on em' some great work is produced in the kitchen and I'm not talking food.
You spend hours writing, arranging and recording your beloved work maybe expecting the technology to make everything sound exactly as your hear in your head or what you think you hear on stage. You play back your recordings but they are not quite what you wished for, you can't put your finger on it but you know it's not quite there. Oh well those guys on the radio or TV are pros.
Well it's true, no amount of studio time and music technology can make you better than you are but an experienced Mastering Engineer can get the best out of your recordings by not only using very specialized equipment but also applying often a life times experience in the music industry to your tracks with an independent ear.
What is Mastering?
Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced.
Process
The source material is processed using equalization, compression, limiting, noise
reduction and other processes. Subsequently, it is rendered to a medium such as CD
or DVD. This mastered source material is also put in the proper order at this stage.
This is commonly called the assembly or track sequencing. More tasks such as editing,
pre-
The process of audio mastering varies depending on the specific needs of the audio to be processed. Steps of the process may include but are not limited to the following:
Transferring the recorded audio tracks into the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) (optional).
Sequence the separate songs or tracks (the spaces in between) as they will appear on the final product (for example, an audio CD).
Process or "sweeten" audio to maximize the sound quality for its particular medium.
Transfer the audio to the final master format.
Examples of possible actions taken during mastering:
Edit minor flaws.
Apply noise reduction to eliminate hum and hiss.
Adjust stereo width.
Add ambience.
Equalize audio between tracks.
Adjust volumes.
Dynamic expansion.
Dynamic compression.
Peak the tracks. Source; Wikipedia.
All sounds easy but the truth is that once you've used the compressors and all the other gizmos in your armoury it has to sound OK and that's the rub, what you think sounds great your mate may think sounds pretty average. So part of the mastering engineers job is to make your work sound as good as it can, not only to you but also to anyone else who has a listen and not only on the top of the range super duper Hi Fi but also on Joe Blogs MP3 player and what's his names mid range car stereo.
Good luck with your creations and why not contact
Pennylane Studio to have some of you work mastered, no obligation, we will master a track or two and send you an MP3 snippet, you might like what you hear.
Rob.
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