What Is Mastering?
 What Is Mastering...Do I Need To Master?
These are questions that nearly every musician, songwriter, band, or recording artist asks at some point in their recording career. Hopefully the question is answered early on and correctly; before projects go to press, and before irreparable damage is done to a mix! It is important to raise the issue of mastering initially in the planning and budgeting of a recording project. In the case of recordings being produced in the basement/garage project studio, mastering often goes un-addressed and the finished product falls short of is potential.
So, what is mastering? Mastering is described by most engineers as, "The last step in the creative process and the first step in the manufacturing of a recording." Mastering is perhaps most importantly, the opportunity to have a set of impartial and experienced ears listen to your work.
When we say the last step in the creative process, we are saying that we make adjustments to the final mixes, edit the pieces and assemble the master. The adjustments could include the following processes:
- Spectral Refinement and Correction with EQ & other tools
- Dynamics Enhancement and Optimization
- Stereo Image Enhancement
- Song Editing, Sequencing, Spacing, Fading
- PQ Coding (setting the start and stop times)
There is often a considerable metamorphosis from a set of good mixes to a great sounding master when handled with the proper care and tools of a professional mastering room. Not every project needs the kitchen sink of processing. Each piece of music calls for its own identity and fits into the grand scheme of the entire album. Good mastering transforms a group of musical pieces into that album. Yes...you need mastering!
The first step in manufacturing? Sure, there is a critical point of quality if overlooked, can be disastrous. Quality mastering is a technical checkpoint for our work. After all the creative work is done and the album is communicating just what you set out to say, the music must be meticulously transferred to the master medium. Reference and safety copies need to be cut from that master. The master must be checked for data integrity and viability for replication. If there is no audit point for this, the replication plant may not be able to use the master. This could hold up deadlines and result in a scramble for a back-up. Worse yet, you could end up pressing CDs with glitches. A good mastering house will not only insist on providing a safety master but all the work should be archived and documented for total recall in the event of catastrophe.
"I'll just master it myself or use the recording studio to master it."
This is a typical scenario lately as studios acquire digital audio workstations and mix processing boxes. We see a fundamental problem with this approach. The engineer who tracks, mixes and masters an album, using the same room, the same set of ears, and the same perspective can end up compounding problems that wont be apparent until the work is all done. Inferior monitoring will mask problems in the recording. Low-End workstations will brutalize the sound of the music and all "in-one-boxes" can be inadvertently overused.
Mastering rooms are set up differently than a typical recording studio. Where a recording/mixing room is designed to accommodate lots of gear and the aesthetics for the musicians to get their ideas to tape; the mastering studio closely resembles the environment where the music will be played...more like a great sounding, calibrated living-room. The opportunity to have the music worked on in this space is a great help. Perspective is everything.
Good recording engineers recognize the value of quality mastering and develop synergistic working relationships with the mastering studio. The excellence in the sound of the music, and piece of mind that a quality mastering job can provide is invaluable. |
