Day 297: Good solid audio Mastering Tips

Mastering, the dark art of music production. This is the realm of audio-philes, you know, the types that have £4000 amplifiers, yet, they don't really ever seem to like music all that much, usually more interested in the quality, not the content.

These dudes are your friend however, they make you creative masterpiece leap out from the CD. Yeah you made that killer lick, but these are the guys that will give it the extra oomph.

I personally find this part of the process the most frustrating. It's obviously not my forté. After spending hours on it, I compare it to the original and realise it's just louder, but with less punch :(

This is largely because it's quite a complex area. One for the more scientific minds, as we get in to the realm of Hz, and muggled mixes. All those frequencies competing for a place in the mix, and the intricacies of perceptual loudness... yeah, see what I mean.

Also as is often the way with these things, techies are often naturally bad at explaining their own expertise, so therefore good information in lay terms is often hard to find. However there is a great article about it over on the Propellerheads/Reason site.

Don't worry it's not specific to Reason, and is all good gen info, in a readable format. Almost makes me wanna remaster all my stuff. Almost. (link via VST cafe, great site for VSTs and more)

40/365

p&&l

bang!