{"id":45,"date":"2011-01-04T15:43:24","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T23:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recordingengineerschool.com\/?p=45"},"modified":"2011-01-06T09:00:30","modified_gmt":"2011-01-06T17:00:30","slug":"14-what-is-mastering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/recordingengineerschool.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/14-what-is-mastering\/","title":{"rendered":"14. \u201cWhat is mastering?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you have finished mixing all the songs for your album you may think that it is now ready to be presented to your eagerly-awaiting public. Not so! There is one more all-important stage your tracks must go through.
\nCommercial recordings are almost always “mastered” after the final mixes have been completed. This is usually done by a “mastering engineer” in a “mastering room.”<\/p>\n

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Mastering room<\/p><\/div>\n

It can however also be done by the people at the manufacturing plant where you plan to get your CD copies produced.<\/p>\n

One way or another, your “final mixes” should be “mastered” by a professional. They will sound even better.<\/p>\n

A mastering room is a bit like a recording studio with a specialized selection of extremely high quality equipment.<\/p>\n

One of the functions of this mastering stage is to increase the loudness of the overall recordings. This is done using a delicate combination of compressors, limiters and equalizers.<\/p>\n

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Mastering software<\/p><\/div>\n

This ensures that all your songs are the same volume and all have the same tonal quality so that they blend well as a cohesive sounding album. The engineer also determines the varying lengths of silence in between each track.<\/p>\n

Experience really matters here. All of these processes could easily mess up your mixes. That’s why it’s important to use a great mastering engineer who has had lots of experience in different styles of music. Age really counts here. A youngster will not have had enough experience.<\/p>\n

It is a stage which can cost a few hundred dollars but everyone who has ever had it done all agree that it’s money well spent.<\/p>\n

If you can’t afford to go this extra step, home-studio mastering software is available but you really have to do your homework to make it work properly. Lots of trial-and-error.<\/p>\n

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Sound waveform for editing<\/p><\/div>\n

The mysterious mastering stage is completely explained in great detail in our course because we know some of our graduates go on to become professional mastering engineers.<\/p>\n

And by the way, when you are shopping for a place to get your CDs manufactured, check the small print in the companies ads — CD replication is better than CD duplication. (Much more in the course).<\/p>\n

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When you have finished mixing all the songs for your album you may think that it is now ready to be presented to your eagerly-awaiting public. Not so! There is one more all-important stage your tracks must go through. Commercial […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…<\/a><\/p>\n

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