I’m just a tad bit weary right now. We had a Thirst N’ Howl rehearsal this afternoon and then Allen Edwards (bass player) and I went over to see Lou (Sorry I’m not early) Whitney at The Studio. The new Bill Dees record, “Where Does The Time Go” (which Lou and I produced and played on) was back from mastering and I wanted to give a listen on Lou’s monitors. It sounds great. Randy Kling down in Nashville did the mastering. He’s done a couple of other ones for us including the “Trouble Ain’t Over” record and we continue to be pleased with his work.
What Is Mastering?
I was afraid you might ask that.
Short answer-Tweaking
Long answer-Go read “Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science” by Bob Katz.
Jack’s real answer-Mastering is the final sonic step in the record making process. After you have recorded the music and then, mixed the music it is time to send the music away to be mastered. The mastering guy will then decide what types of finishing touches need to be applied to the mixed tracks. These finishing touches may include such delights as equalization, overall leveling, compression and even things like tiny bits of delay. The mastering guy also will put the songs in sequence, cut unwanted noises like chatter, drummer counting the song off, and guitar player playing an A chord to see if he is in tune before and after songs, and decide how much silence should go in between the songs. Also, if you would like to have groovy hidden tracks or far out cross fades, things like that, the mastering guy will perform these tasks. See what I mean, tweaking.
Note that I said, send the music away. I want to stress that. You may be very clever with your plug-ins and mixing and engineering and brilliant and all that. But, it helps to have another set of ears, especially ears that are experienced at mastering, involved in the finished product. If you are serious about your music, you should want another set of ears involved.
For some reason (ego?) a lot of folks think that it’s a good idea to bypass the extra ears. In fact, in these days of everybody having a digital work station and everybody releasing a CD, most of everybody decides that they don’t need to spend the extra dough to properly master their masterpiece. Consequently, there art a lot of whoomphy or hollow sounding records out there. See, they sound good through the monitors of the digital workstation or through the headphones but, whoomphy in the car or living room. The mastering guy goes to great lengths to make sure that your record sounds good when played on different devices and different systems.
So, don’t settle for whoomph childrens,
Send The Music Away!
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com wrote,
It is hard to rely on somebody else, especially when you think you are right enough, but indeed, ears get used to a particular sound and don’t make the difference anymore after a while. I remember a friend of mine, here in a local studio, when mixing, from time to time played a few songs on a CD he had to get back on tracks, to feel the difference.
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com’s last blog post..Why did your band fail?
Link | March 31st, 2008 at 3:28 am
J wrote,
Stop the Whoomphyness - support your local mastering house!
J’s last blog post..Cesar Millan and the Music Business.
Link | March 31st, 2008 at 5:33 am
Pat wrote,
Yes Ovidiu, and J, and JP but:
Should be called “tweaking,” because the “maestros” turn over the “masterworks,” then the finishers de-bur, polish or stitch-up the plates… yep Finisher, or Tweaker, not Masterer, unless they are baiters…
Now could one of ya’ explain “re-mastered” to a blind freeloadin’ pig?
Pat’s last blog post..Tool Shelf with Schmitty and Billy
Link | March 31st, 2008 at 11:19 am
Pribek wrote,
Re-mastered=Re-tweaked
When digital became the format, new frequencies (highs/lows, treble/bass) became available to the palette. A lot of older recordings were re-mastered for this reason.
Link | March 31st, 2008 at 1:02 pm