Mastering & Creating Your Last Mix Like the Pros (Mastering Process).

The mastering process allows you to perform final adjustments after you have blended your multitrack recordings to 2 stereo tracks (we'll leave quad and 5.1 surround-sound circumstances for another day.) Some changes are made to enhance a specific song's sonic quality. Others are made within the context of an album - ensuring that many songs strung together have a similar sonic "consistency." Normal locations of concern for a mastering engineer are: equalization (eq), compression, levels (volume) relative from one song to the next, and spacing between songs. Equalization: Often you'll wish to change the eq or compression on a mix after you've done the final mix. Or you may have 10 tunes mixed by three different engineers in 5 various studios.

Each tune's eq may seem best by itself, however if you sequence them together, suddenly one tune sounds too intense (or too dull ...). Changing the eq can even everything out. Tip # 1: bear in mind that any eq modifications to your stereo mix affect the whole mix - if you wish to cut 3 db at 80Hz since your mix sounds muddy, remember to check how that impacts all the instruments (e.g. the vocal), not simply the bass guitar and kick drum. Suggestion # 2: if you're unsure about an eq choice during mixdown, know that it's much easier to cut lower frequencies in mastering than to improve them, and simpler to boost greater frequencies than to cut them. Compression: In mastering, this is used not just to manage a mix or to add character, but likewise to "print" or send as much level to the master as possible without clipping the signal. This can nearly seem like a competition for who has the loudest cd (" my record sounded excellent up until I listened on my CD carousel and Green Day was 5 db louder!"). But mastering engineers need to balance level with sonic integrity. Levels: Ideally, a listener can play your record and not need to get up to adjust the volume. This is resolved in mastering, after the record has actually been sequenced. Only then can you actually know how levels connect to each other as one tune ends and the next begins.

Spacing & Crossfading.

Spacing: there are various philosophies as to how one must approach the areas put in between songs on a record. Last pointer: you may be inclined to master the very same recordings that you mixed, whether it is for financial factors, imaginative reasons, or simply due to the fact that you can. We strongly suggest that you get somebody else to master your project.


Common locations of issue for a mastering engineer are: equalization (eq), compression, levels Free Type Beat Hip Hop (volume) relative from one song to the next, and spacing between tunes. Or you might have ten songs blended by 3 different engineers in five various studios.

Each tune's eq may seem ideal by itself, however if you sequence them together, all of a sudden one tune sounds too intense (or too dull ...). Tip # 1: remember that any eq modifications to your stereo mix impact the entire mix - if you want to cut 3 db at 80Hz since your mix sounds muddy, remember to inspect how that impacts all the instruments (e.g. the vocal), not simply the bass guitar and kick drum. Compression: In mastering, this is used not just to manage a mix or to include character, however also to "print" or send as much level to the master as possible without clipping the signal.

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