What is Mastering?

There are a lot of misconceptions on what mastering is. Most people think all we do is tweak the sound and give another interpretation of the music. Well my friends, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everything needs to be mastered. Now here is what I mean.

Mastering involves the load-in. This is taking a clients file and loading it into your workstation. This may mean either transfering a file into your workstation, or even doing a tape transfer. Yes, a tape transfer is part of mastering. This can be totally in the analog domain, or converted to the digital domain via an A-D converter.

Next is listening to the music. The questions I ask myself is it coherent from top to bottom? Do any frequencies stick out, like a resonant bass frequency? If not, then I don't do anything. The decision not to apply any EQ is just as important as if I HAD applied any corrective EQ.
Mastering is all about a 2nd opinion, just like the Doctor. When Recording/Mix engineers finish with their step, they are so close to the project they can't see the forest for the trees... or something like that. Mastering is an unbiased, fresh set of ears to listen to your project in a known acoustical environment. When something is recorded, mixed and mastered by the same person, I shy away.

The next part is a controversial one. What if the client wants me to make it "louder"? Or what happens if the songs were mixed by different engineers. I then need to make these tracks sound like one cohesive element. I may need to use compression or even spatial effects. Workstations have different panning laws and some songs may sound almost mono while some may sound almost out of phase because the stereo width is so wide.

Next is sequencing. Does the next piece of music "fit" into the flow of the album. Unlike at a concert where you have your best material at the end of the show so people won't leave, you have your best stuff at the beginning of the album. Think about standing at a kiosk or clicking the mouse on your computer. If the first 3 songs on the album don't catch your attenion, you're not going to buy it.

After I've sequenced the album, I then do "tops and tails". This is getting rid of, or adding silence between tracks. All albums should have a "flow" between tracks. You have a metronome in your brain that is going to the beat of the music and if the next song doesn't start on the "beat" or the natural flow of the rhythm, then something will be "off". It will take about 30 seconds or so to get your body back into the "flow" of the music.

This is where I usually make a reference copy for the client for their QA. If this has already been done, then I can move on to the next step. Otherwise, if I need to make any changes, I need to start back at the beginning.

Next thing I do is place PQ codes. These codes tell the CD/SACD player laser where to start and stop. Sometimes there can be markers for "ghost tracks", where the only way you will be able to find them is to start the CD and then hit "rewind".

After the PQ codes, somes text and metadata. This is where I place ISRC or UPC codes into the tracks and other pertinent data such as Title, Artist, Composer, Lyricist, Performer and others.

After that is all done, then I must produce a digital image for replication, physical disc for duplication or produce a file for downloads.

Now from the beginning I need to determine what the final deliverables will be for the project. Is this going to vinyl? Is this going to download such as ITunes or HDtracks? I will need to perform different mastering techniques depending on what the final outcome will be.

Hopefully this sheds a little light on the mastering process. It's not all about fiddling with knobs.
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Vincent Kars said:

I often hear the phrase “how the mix translate” assuming this is to the average gear at home?
Your thoughts please

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When I hear that phrase, I think of being able to understand what the artist wants to say. Music is an emotion. If something is out of place in the mix, the emotion doesn't come across. You can have a killer mix, but if there is an errant snare hit, or there is a resonant bass frequency sticking out because it was mixed in an improperly treated room, then you can't enjoy the music or feel the emotion that the artist is trying to convey. This can also be applied to does the mix sound good on "all" systems. As a mastering engineer I always check my work on as many systems as I can. The first thing I do is pop the CD into the car. A car's environment is brutal.

When I have attended sessions, I always have the artist bring material that they are familiar with. That way, they can get a sense of what the speakers and room sound like.

One of the first questions I ask an artist/label is: What do you NOT like about your mixes? They tell me what they want and after I listen I give them my critique. Hopefully there is a happy medium. It's really great if we both agree on the same things.

I then let them listen to their mix in the sweet spot. Then I do any tweaking that I need to do... this may involve 2-3 passes doing A/B switching to make sure I'm not doing any "harm".
I then level match both the original and altered music and have the client sit in the sweet spot again and do and A/B comparison of what they brought in against what I just tweaked. I ask them if that is the direction they wanted to go. There has to be good communication between you and your client. Being an audiophile puts me at an advantage because I can translate Audiophile to Engineering speak.

After the session is over, I then give the client the finished Reference disc. I tell them to play it on as many systems they can over the next few days and where they can have a clear head with more familiar surroundings.

amirm said:

Thanks Bruce. Very educational. What percentage of the time do you get pushed for maximum loudness?

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I'm at the point now where I can cherry pick my projects. Unfortunately it happens more times than not. The biggest complaint that I get after I give the client the Reference CD is it's not loud enough. I try to educate my clients and do give them more than one example of making it louder. I know a couple of times that I've crushed it beyond recognition and they said it was too loud.... LOL

whart said:

Bruce: a couple questions. First, the product you are getting has already been fully mixed to stereo (or perhaps multichannel), right? So there are limits to what you can do with something that has already been mixed down? Do you ever find yourself having to go back (with the engineer or otherwise) to the separate tracks and remix?

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I have sent many mixes back to the engineer to "fix". Most of the time I ask for a "vocal up" and a "vocal down". This entails having the vocal 2-3dB louder and 2-3dB attenuated. On a few occasions where there was no way to send it back to the mix engineer, we were able to do "stem mastering", where separate elements of the music were broken down and we could alter the whole drum set or guitar sends or something. Otherwise, we can't do anything to individual elements of the mix unless they were done in mono and panned in the center. Sometimes we can fix guitars if they are panned L/R away from all the other elements.

whart said:

Second, generally speaking, can you speak to the differences in how you would master a recording if you knew it was primarily intended for vinyl release or put another way, and would you fully master same recording twice, once for digital release and separately (and differently) for vinyl release, or is it more like 'tweaking'?

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There can be 2 or more masterings depending on what the final deliverable is. For instance, if it is going for vinyl release, we want all bass elements mono to the center. If you don't, you'll see your TT arm go flying across the platter. Secondly, I would never hit 0dBfs peaks. I'd keep peak and RMS pretty low and let the guy cutting the laquer ride the fader. If it's going for a film soundtrack, you need to master to Dolby specs.... and so on.