MASTERING

 

 

PRINCIPLE Once a piece of music, or a piece of anything, is mixed, then comes the mastering work - which is, more or less, finalization. What's the use of mastering ? Mastering is supposed to serve several purposes : 1. correcting the spectral balance of a mix 2. boosting or adapting the level of a mix 3. making sure the mix will sound "good" (whatever that means) on most speakers

 

MASTERING IS AN EXPENSIVE ACTIVITY Mastering usually requires expensive machines. Expensive EQs : you need to precisely address the right frequency, without disturbing the nearby ones. Expensive compressors : you need to be able to compress something complex (a whole mix) without too many unwanted side effects, like pumping, etc. In case of the compressor, compression amount must be precisely accessible, with a clear and precise scale. Same thing with attack time etc. Thus, such a machine requires a fine, precise, controlled design.   Typical mastering console : austere and expensive

 

MASTERING IS A DELICATE ACTIVITY Mastering is a delicate process, and a very dangerous one : it can easily destroy a mix. Why is it so delicate ? Imagine you are mastering a piece : you're in front of your speakers, and you listen to a complete mix. Your task is to make the mix sound "better". What is better ? Is it a snare drum being more "punchy" ? A deeper bass line ? Let's say you decide to work on a deeper bass line. OK, you focus on the bass line and it becomes deeper. Then someone else comes into the room and notices that : 1. the kick drum has become too boomy and has lost all its precision 2. one of the guitar parts, which is a dark, low medium part, has practically disappeared, masked by the huge bass you got   Another possible case : you are satisfied with your bass line, you stop the work for the moment, and you go back home. Later in the evening, you check what you did on your domestic speakers : big disappointment, the huge bass line you made has totally disappeared. Instead, what you hear is a general drop in overall level. What happened ? In the studio, you tweaked the bass line to make it sound really good on your professional speakers, that had a nice bass response. This nice bass response doesnt exist on your domestic speakers : it doesnt work anymore. What's more, to add basses perceptively, you had to add a lot of electrical level for the basses, and not to overdrive, the electrical level for the other frequencies had to be lowered. The result is, perceptively, a drop in overall perceptive level.

 

WHY ? Good and precise mastering is hell. This may be due to the fact that mastering is a distinct task which comes after everything else, made by other people. Mastering engineers have to respect something already made, and make it better. That's difficult.

 

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR MASTERING   Do creative mastering, and do your own. Dont let yourself be intimidated : specialists do use expensive and rare gear, they do obtain brilliant results, but there are other ways. If you need a transparent mastering, go to a mastering studio. But if you want to be creative, to have fun and to get innovative results, do your own.   Forget the hierarchy according to which : 1. music is paramount 2. the mix has to respect the music 3. the mastering has to respect the mix and the music Also, tell yourself than nobody really knows how to do a good mastering ;-)   Consider the mastering as a process which, like creative production, "rotates" the mix into something more interesting, even it it means destroying certain aspects of the mix. The main preoccupation should be not how to respect a mix, but how to make it more powerful. This is really easy if you do your own mastering and think about it as something creative.   Back to main index