So if the recording were ever to be heard by members of the public, the studio people had to have a way to make the audio go from those wide strips of tape onto a flat plastic or rubber or shellac, depending on when we're talking - see the wikipedia entry here that normal people could play on their record players.
Actually, before there was magnetic tape, the recording engineers captured wound through recording "horns" which were hooked directly to a cutting stylus that would etch the disc directly. But when magnetic tape allowed the creation of a master disc from which mass produced records were made to occur at a time and place completely separated from the time and place of the recording, specialization began to occur.
The recording studios focused on capturing the sound. And separate facilities dedicated themselves to moving the audio on the non-consumer-playable tapes onto master discs , which were then used to create lots and lots of plastic discs people could play at home, and eventually in their cars, etc. Much specialized equipment was used to optimize the audio from tapes for use on the master discs, which needed to be as fault-free as possible, since millions of records were going to made from this disc.
Mastering engineers became experts at optimizing already-recorded audio such that it would sound its best when it reached consumer ears. That is why we still have mastering engineers today, and why mastering is still considered a separate process from recording and mixing.
While recording and mixing is primarily concerned with capturing good tones and blending them properly, these processes are not always carried out in the most pristine of listening environments. And the ears of a mixing engineer are trained to make sure that the different sounds work and play well together. So these folks use effects like EQ, reverb, and compression, etc. The mastering house has rooms that are designed to allow for totally unbiased listening, meaning that what the mastering engineer hears is as close as humanly possible to what is actually coming out of the speakers.
Most regular home listening spaces especially the converted bedrooms of the intrepid home recordist impart any number of changes to the sound so that what leaves the speakers assuming they, themselves are reproducing what they get electronically is not what reaches our ears.
The source audio is being changed by the speakers, then the room. So in addition to the finely tuned listening spaces, mastering facilities contain the best loud speakers and the best in equalization, compression and limiting tools. Armed with these tools in these rooms, engineers whose ears are as sensitive as the noses of wine connoisseur or perfume testers perform audio surgery to produce music that sounds good on as many devices in as many places as possible. They can make certain sounds or instruments be more easily heard, or do the opposite and make overbearing or undesirable frequencies less prominent.
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Most multi-band compressors can also be used as multi-band expanders, meaning that specific bands of frequencies can be affected differently, and used to accomplish varying degrees of amplification.
This is perhaps the most overused dynamics processor in both mastering and mixing. Although it has become a popular option for many engineers, using it sparingly if at all is certainly better than using it excessively.
A limiter is truly the most dangerous tool in mastering. It can easily offer seemingly impressive loudness, which we often mistake for quality; however, it does so at the expense of your dynamics. A limiter contains the same functionality as a compressor and has the same intention — to attenuate any signal that goes above a threshold.
Lastly the output is typically set at or right before the point of clipping distortion. The name for the true output of a limiter is often referred to as the ceiling since the signal cannot go above it. Although the functionality of a limiter can become much more complex, this is its basic setup. If dynamics processing is used during a mastering session, the odds are a least one of these tools will be used. Certain genres are more dynamic than others, and some implement dynamics in various and unique ways.
This typically depends on the instrumentation involved, but can also relate to how a song naturally flows from one section to another. For example, a rap track typically has a very dynamic relationship between the kick and snare, and the rest of the instrumentation.
In addition, rap tracks are typically mastered louder. With this in mind, a mastering engineer could make a rap master loud, but not so loud that the dynamics between the kick and the rest of the instrumentation are hindered. Finding a balance between the two is pivotal to creating a master that sounds like what listeners expect to hear when listening to rap music.
Another example of how dynamics play a role during mastering can be found in a classical music recording. In classical music, certain parts of the composition are incredibly quiet, whereas others are loud — this is done to convey an intended emotionality or story element during the performance. Without this dynamic range between song sections, a lot of classical music would lose an aspect of the genre that many listeners expect and look forward to.
That being said, when mastering classical music, dynamics hold precedence over loudness. Limiting a classical composition would severely truncate these ever-important dynamics. Understanding how dynamics relate to listener expectations and the genre itself is an important aspect of mastering. A mastering engineer needs to keep these things in mind when using dynamics processing during the mastering process. With a vinyl record, the dynamic range needs to be controlled to avoid a skipping needle during playback.
If a section of a song or an instrument is too dynamic, the sudden increase in amplitude will result in a large dip made during the transfer process.
When mastering for a vinyl record, the dynamics need to be carefully monitored, to find a balance between maintaining the dynamic range and ensuring uninterrupted playback on even the most entry-level turntables. When mastering for a digital medium such as streaming or download, a new set of technical limitations need to be considered during the mastering process. For example, a digital file has a particular bit depth which dictates the dynamic range a master can occupy.
If the bit depth of audio file is 16 bits, this results in 96dB of potential dynamic range. When mastering for streaming, a process known as loudness normalization needs to be kept in mind. In short, this means that regardless of how loud a master is, it will be normalized to a specific loudness before playback — this way all tracks are played back at a relatively similar loudness.
This means that excessive limiting serves no practical purpose when mastering if streaming is the intended medium for distribution. Again, these examples are not comprehensive, but they do represent the importance of knowing the technical limitations of a medium, and how these limitations relate to the potential dynamic range of your master.
Spectral processing includes any processing that directly affects the frequency spectrum of a recording. The frequency spectrum we are able to perceive ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz — any manipulation of this spectrum can be considered spectral processing. Although dynamics processing affects the frequency spectrum to a certain extent, spectral processing is typically associated with directly affecting the amplitude of specific frequencies.
Whereas dynamics processing is rather straight forward and the tools associated with it seem appropriate or obvious, spectral processing is characterized by many different plugins or effects you might not associate with the frequency spectrum. Equalization is a go-to tool for affecting the frequency spectrum. It is typically comprised of frequency selection, bandwidth selection, gain be it amplification or attenuation, and the shape of the filter.
With it you can amplify or attenuate certain frequencies or groups of frequencies. When it comes to mastering, equalization is used in a subtle manner. Conversely, equalization can be used in a drastic way when applied to individual instruments — such as during a mixing session. But when affecting the entirety of a mix, small changes to the frequency spectrum can have large implications. One example of how equalizing a stereo file during mastering can have large implications is when you consider the effect of masking.
With masking, louder elements cover-up, or cancel other signals. In a full mix, these phase relationships are incredibly complex. Any spectral change made to one part of the signal will no doubt affect these phase relationships. With masking, lower frequencies will typically mask the frequencies directly above it.
So, if you wanted to bring out the vocals, instead of amplifying 2kHz, you could attenuate 1. Because the frequencies that were masking 2kHz are attenuated, the extent to which 2kHz. Simply put, distortion is any altering to the shape of a waveform. Distortion more closely relates to mastering when discussing harmonic generation.
Harmonic generation is the purpose of the majority of analog emulators. The addition of harmonics creates a more complex signal and can either be pleasant or unpleasant based on the order of the harmonics. For example, lower order harmonics, or harmonics closer to the fundamental are more pleasant.
These are the harmonics generated by tube, tape, and transistor or transformer-based distortion. Because they are lower-order, they are typically more difficult to perceive as separate from the sound source from which they originated. For this reason, these harmonics are introduced during mastering to create a more complex sounding master.
The opposite is true for higher-order harmonics. These are typically the ones generated from quantization or sampling-rate distortion. Dithering is the purposeful introduction of high-frequency noise. This noise covers or masks the perceivability of high order harmonics, and is typically introduced at the end of a signal chain. As stated above, it counteracts the effect of quantization distortion that occurs when converting a digital file from a higher to a lower bit depth.
An exciter is similar to distortion in that it affects the harmonics of a frequency spectrum; however, instead of generating them as distortion does, it amplifies existing harmonics.
In mastering, an exciter can be used directly after harmonic generating analog emulation. By doing so, the harmonics created by this distortion will become more pronounced, and perceivable. Like with equalization, small changes made with an exciter can have huge implications for a master. If you intend to use exciters, do so sparingly.
The expected frequency response of a song can vary greatly from genre to genre. This is because accentuating certain instrument groups over others creates a unique identity for the genre.
For example, in rap, the kick and the high hat are accentuated. Furthermore, the vocals are processed to include extra sibilance for the sake of making them more intelligible. This results in a low-end and high-end that are amplified, especially when compared to other genres.
Another example of how spectral processing relates to mastering can be found when listening to lo-fi music. In this style of music, the high-end is attenuated and the total harmonic distortion is greater than most other recordings.
If a lo-fi mix was approached by a mastering engineer who thought it should sound like a high fidelity mix, any work the tracking and mixing engineers did to achieve that sound could quickly be undone. In this example, understanding the genre and respecting the intentions of the artist and mixing engineers is crucial to creating a great sounding master. In this case, maintaining the frequency spectrum created by the mix is a good approach. When it comes to creating a digital master, the frequency response depends on the sampling rate of the file.
If the sampling rate is Furthermore, a digital master plays back in an identical manner each time. All this to say, a mastering engineer can expect an accurate reproduction of their master from the digital medium. This is unlike a vinyl record, or a cassette, with which the frequency response should vary based on the cassette type, or with vinyl, the sequence of the tracks.
When mastering for cassette, if the cassette type used is type two, the high-end of the master will need to be slightly attenuated while the low end should be amplified. These are just a few examples of how the technical limitations of a medium can affect how a master is equalized, distorted, excited, or processed in a way the alters the frequency response.
As stated previously, temporal processing is typically reserved for mixing — but it does present itself in an interesting way during mastering. In mastering, temporal processing is typically used in the context of psychoacoustics. By multiplying and delaying the return of signals, the perceived image of a source can be shifted from a relatively mono source to one that can occupy the 90 degree or even degree stereo field. The reason that the previously mentioned effects of delay and reverb are not implemented during mastering, is typically due to the phase issues delaying or reverberating an entire stereo mix can cause.
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