|
|
So you're a musician that just recorded your first album. You probably went into a recording studio and played all of your parts a couple of times, with the audio engineer handling all of the technical stuff. As far as you know, they should be able to take all the parts they recorded, burn it to a disc, and then it should be ready to press. While this isn't completely wrong, most professional musicians take their mixed down recording and pass it off to someone else for mastering.
What is mastering?
Mastering is the final step in the production of an album where they add the final 'polish' to the recording. This is done by technically enhancing the clarity of the mixes. This makes the compilation of songs sound more coherent, more 'together'. This also ensures that the mixes sound well on all listening devices.
Well, that's all fine and dandy, but does a professional mastering technician do when mastering a recording?
1. Volume Level Maximization
This is to make sure that all audio is at maximum volume, so that all songs are at the same volume level. Ever watch late night TV, where the volume of the commercials are a couple notches higher than the show you were watching? If a professional mastering engineer was involved, they would raise the volume of TV show to match the volume of the commercials.
2. Ensuring a Consistent Balance of Frequencies
This ensures that all frequencies are accounted for in the recording; bass, mids, and treble, so that there are no areas where there is no bass/mids/treble.
3. Noise Reduction
This is the process of removing noise from an audio signal. When using analog technology, sound recordings exhibit a type of noise known as tape hiss. This is related to the particle size and texture used in the magnetic emulsion that is sprayed on the recording media, and also to the relative tape velocity across the tape heads.
4. Encoding
A professional mastering lab may also take your recording and encode the UPC (Universal Product Code), ISRC (International Standard Recording Code), CD Text (additional information about the CD, e.g. album name, song name, and artist name) or other PQ information.
5. Error Checking
This ensures the integrity of the data stream during CD duplication / replication at any CD manufacturing plant.
Still confused about what a professional mastering engineer does to your CD audio recording when you hand it off to them? Don't worry, audio mastering is a very complicated process. I just hope that you better understand why professional mastering is an integral part of the whole audio production process. It can make a world of difference! |
| Author: Jason Cole |
| |
Author Bio:
Jason Cole and www.DiskFaktory-Mastering.com offer great services and information regarding audio engineering and CD mastering. Get the professional mastering information you are seeking now by visiting diskfaktory-mastering.com/evaluation.htm |
| This article can be searched using: music lyrics, free music, sheet music, myspace music, christian music, rap music, classical music |
|
 |
|
| |
Related Articles |
| |
Why Quality Content Is A Long Term Winner
|
| |
Writing Articles For Permanent Traffic
|
| |
Paris Off the Beaten Path: Try Small Museums
|
| |
Ceramic and Pottery Defects 9: Defects Generated During Gelding Operations
|
| |
Simple Ways To Play Guitar
|
| |
The Neighborhood Mint
|
| |
A Working Writer's Website: Publish, Promote and Profit?
|
| |
How to Learn a New Piece of Written Music
|
| |
Antiques and Reproductions: Can You Tell the Difference?
|
| |
Ken Lay and the Great Equalizer
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
If you think abstract paintings are a phenomenon of the 20th century, you can't be further from the ... - Ken Marlborough |
| |
|
This is what I'd call, a Mighty Hunt, I think Mr. Dennis Siluk is after everybody today...Rosa - Dennis Siluk |
| |
|
Artwork, like life, is a product of subjective experiences by which we judge things as they appear t ... - Robert Curtis |
| |
|
|
| |
|
Motivation, visualization, and focus are three of the essential skills the aspiring expert skier nee ... - Jim Safianuk |
| |
|
Arts and Crafts can be both exciting hobbies as well as money-makers. What's better than to earn som ... - David Kamau |
| |
|
The guitar is one invention that dates back more than 5000 years ago. Through the years, it has evol ... - ian Williamson |
| |
|
The face or art is ever changing. In this century, it takes the form of digital art. But what exactl ... - Peter Emerson |
| |
|
With many brands and types available, finding the right headphone can be very difficult. Here's what ... - RC Rougeux |
| |
|
| |
|
|
About Us
