What is audio Mastering? Is it worth the extra step? What does the difference sound like?
Listen to the audio below. The "after" is when the audio has been mastered and "before" is prior to any alterations.
Diane Menges
Les Filles de Cadix
Recorded Live In Concert at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland
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"Les Filles de Cadix" (Diane Menges)
You
know that CD mastering is the final step before replication. You know that the
order of the songs can be changed easily. Maybe some highs, mids, lows, or
compression is used. Or we'll leave it flat, limit it a little, and bring up
the level. You've checked out some mastering procedures (1) and you know that your
music deserves to be taken seriously. But what the heck are these surprising
differences... with traditional stereo mastering?
Mastering began primarily as a transfer step from tape to master lacquer - a
required step toward pressing vinyl records. As more sophisticated
mastering techniques developed, compression, eq, limiting, de-essing,
filtering, editing all became commonplace, since artists and labels are
competitive for bigger, better sounding records.
Today, traditional mastering can achieve better sound when the music is played
on a variety of systems - from boom boxes to 10,000 watt nightclub systems,
high-end mastering will soothe the savage beast
Some surprising
Traditional Mastering differences are: (2)
• Reduced vocal sibilance allows over-all clarity to be added to
the entire track, without creating harsh jabs of high frequencies. Sibilance
was avoided in the days of vinyl and cassette tapes because it easily
distorted.
•
Careful sculpting of low frequencies can make bass notes more even and help
prevent speaker distortion
•
Vocals can be made to come forward or dip back into the mix, depending on the
processing
•
Enhanced width of instruments, room ambiance, reverb, tightness or warmth of
certain instruments can be achieved with Mid-Side processing, as well as some
phase correction of lower frequencies
•
More consistent song-to-song levels.
•
When we catch a slightly out-of-sync instruments on song beginnings or phrase
beginnings, we can make improvements with skilled editing.
• We
can extend the sustain to the end of the song - for instance if the reverb tail
is too short, we can clone a portion of the tail and make a graduated edit that
seamlessly extends the ending.
•
Traditional mastering usually take between 1/2 hour and 3/4 hour per song --
but every project is different!
There
is also a “new” technique in mastering called “Separation Mastering.” (3) This
technique was made popular by the famous mastering engineer, John Vestman.
Some surprising
Separation Mastering differences are: (2)
• Equalization and distinction of instruments is more noticeable
and clear
• Everything has more of it's own "space" - the articulation is
better
•
Certain musical sections that need more precise compression, or expansion -
vocal issues in particular can be solved without compromising instruments
•
Multiband compression can be used for de-essing, removing harshness, tightening
bass response (even removing certain resonant "boomy nodes" and more
•
Flaws hidden by "masking" of poor acoustics in the recording studio
can be corrected
•
Copy-and-paste solutions, cross-fades, waveform redraws, de-clicking only
what's needed
•
Split tracks makes eq-by-section effortless. If the chorus needs more
muscle, it's easy!
• On
the average, Separations take 1/4 hour more per song - but every project is
different!
Know
your budget, though, because these changes can take time. If you come into the
mastering session prepared(4) , your project
will sound it's best, and you'll feel confident about it when it hits the
market!
(1) "" Mastering Procedures"" John Vestman.com
(2) “Surprising Differences Mastering Can Man” John Vestman.com
(3) ""Separation Mastering"" John Vestman.com
(4) ""How To Prepare for Mastering"" John Vestman.com