While the business model of the music industry has its ebbs and flows, the general methods of creating a good audio mix and master have only slightly changed. The competition level of producers in the music industry to create the best sound track or master is still at an all-time high. The goals are still to deliver a master to the client that sounds better than their competitors. There are so many books, videos, tutorials, websites, blogs, etc. on recording, mixing, and mastering that it can be somewhat overwhelming and esoteric for novices to learn the proper methods and best techniques. Everyone has what they feel are best, but provide such information with complexity and confusion. Not all efforts are this way, and finding the ones that are clear and succinct can be a daunting task.
You might ask, “what is the information that a songwriter, musician, producer, sound or mixing engineer needs to know?” Hopefully, this blog will provide tips and insights that are useful for helping to deliver a master can compete with the competition. The task of mastering can be very complex and involve pulling aspects together to create an album with seamless transitions between songs, preparing files to be sent to a CD or DVD manufacturer, wav file conversions, etc. So, let’s keep it as simple as possible, and touch on the most essential aspects of the mastering process.
Continue reading “Mastering: Rules of the Road”