What is Mastering?
it s Mastering focuses on refining the mix and preparing for duplication and distribution. It involves precise and objective listening, honed through years of practice. A fresh set of ears, separate from the production process offers a new outlook on the music.
Loudness
One of the first words someone uses when describing mastering is “loudness.” While sounding loud is important for some genres, it’s important to do what’s right for the music. Loudness refers to how compressed a song is.
Loudness may need to be considered, it’s necessary to be careful how this is achieved, making sure quality doesn’t suffer.
Balancing an Album
When working on a full album or EP, mastering helps all songs sound like they belong together and feel good as a group.
This is done by adjusting volume, EQ, and adding compression when needed.
Release Prep
Before an album or song is ready for release, there are specific specs that need to be looked at.
An example is adding appropriate spacing and fades to the top and bottom of each song. This helps to avoid playback issues the listener might encounter, and setting indices for CD production.
A Polished sound
This is often described as “shiny,” “breathy” or “open” sounding. Mastering isn’t a cure-all, but there are loads of techniques that can add clarity to a mix through mastering.
The job of a mastering engineer is to preserve the choices made in the mix, proceed with care, and enhance it. With proper equipment, listening environment and skills, mastering will elevate the mix.
Matching Your Genre
Each genre may require certain techniques. For example a solo piano song doesn’t need to be squashed to all hell! It can remain dynamic and have room to breath.
However, a pop song might need to be heavily compressed to fit the expectations of that genre. That said, some can take it too far and quality can suffer. There’s always a happy median to strive for.
Digital Release Prep
Depending on your release platforms, there can be an extensive process when preparing a project for digital download and streaming. Some find this work tedious and boring. I like to call it it necessary and important 🙂
This process involves adding metadata to each song so music players can display the proper info. This is incredibly important for an artist’s brand.
Another step is collecting and organizing all information added to digital streaming platforms, such as artist name, musicians, producers, and even mastering engineer credits 👍