Mastering is the final step before the release of any song (single), EP or album. It deals with fixing any issues, balancing and “sweetening” the mix, making sure that the EP or album is consistent, bringing it to a commercial loudness level, and preparing it for release. (iZotope Inc, 2019)
Mastering could be seen as a dark art, as it involves as much philosophy as technicality, if not more. It is not about just making the record sound good, but is also about making it feel good. It has to do a lot with translation of the artist’s vision. Hopefully the mixing engineer has done a good job with that, so that the mastering engineer could take it another step forward towards translating the artist’s feelings and vision. (Becker, 2008)
During our Mastering classes, we learnt that during mastering we need to work fast, and with our instincts, so as to not lose our objectivity. There are trade offs while mastering, which should not bother us as mastering engineers. We have to care about the song as a whole, more than the tiny details.
Loudness is a big factor in today’s world. Every producer wants their song to be the loudest on the radio. In our classes, we learnt the average loudness levels that’s calculated with LUFS for different genres. It could sometimes get quiet tricky to get the required LUFS without sucking the life out of the song. We learnt a few different ways to get there while still maintaining the excitement and energy in the track!
Monitoring, room acoustics and equipment are also to be taken in consideration for mastering. A mastering engineer should be able to listen to the truest possible sound, and should be able to process it through high quality convertors, so as to produce top quality masters.
Preparation for release and distribution is another job for the mastering engineer. This includes; top and tailing, spacing between songs, fading, printing them for different platforms like CD or iTunes, embedding metadata, etc. (CD Baby, 2012)
References:
- iZotope Inc (2019). What Is Mastering and Why Is It Important?. [online] Izotope.com. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/blog/mastering/what-is-mastering.html.
- Becker, R. (2008). Robert Henke talks with Rashad Becker about Mastering. [online] Roberthenke.com. Available at: http://www.roberthenke.com/interviews/mastering.html.
- CD Baby (2012). The Magic of Mastering: An Interview with Grammy-Winning Engineer Evren Göknar – DIY Musician Blog. [online] DIY Musician Blog. Available at: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/the-magic-of-mastering-an-interview-with-grammy-winning-engineer-evren-goknar/.
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