• Audio Mastering
  • Blog
  • Free Test Master
    • Free Mastering
  • Mastering FAQ
    • What is a DDP?
    • What Are ISRC Codes?
    • How Do I Get a UPC Code?
  • Mastering Rates
  • Mastering Samples
audio mastering tutorial

Audio Mastering Tutorial

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

In this audio mastering tutorial we’re going to address the basics of how to master your own audio using basic audio software.

Let’s start off this audio mastering tutorial by talking a bit about the kind of file you want to start off with. It goes without saying but the first thing you need to do is ensure that you’re working with the best possible audio quality possible. Take your various tracks and render them into a Wave or AIFF file. Do not work with an MP3 file unless absolutely necessary as you’re already giving up some quality.

Once you have your rendered file for your song, fire up your audio editing software of choice and load that file as its own track. Be sure to unwarp that file if necessary to ensure that its not shrinking to fit the default tempo of your audio software.

Time for the most important part of this audio mastering tutorial: the actual mastering stage. This is where effects such as compression, reverb, and EQ come into play. The most valuable tool at a mastering engineer’s disposal is likely equalization which splits the audio map of your song into various ranges or “bands”. Typically most equalizers work with a 3 band set up of low, mid, and highs, though some equalizers work with a 4 band spectrum to give you more control over the mid range.

Once you break up the spectrums of your audio, you can edit them individually one by one to boost or diminish the effect and presence that range or part of that range has over the entire mix. Tweaking different ranges yields different results. For instance, boosting the low end will give your track an obvious bassier and thicker tone and removing it will give your file a more tinny and treble sound.

Boosting the high end will yield a more crisp sound and removing it will give the impression that your song is being muffled. This is why a lot of engineers will typically boost the high end but a word of caution as if you boost that range too much then your sound will come across as being too tinny.

Reverb is another popular effect I just mentioned and works to correct a flat sounding song and give it more room. Adding or diminishing the reverb on the track will yield different sounds, as well, so it’s typically done to the artist’s preferences and sometimes done in the mixing stage as a result.

Compression is useful for giving a track more unity but over compression will rob your track of its dynamics, so use it sparingly. You might also apply compression to your entire album’s tracks at once and adjust each track accordingly to ensure that they’re all at similar levels.

Generally most other “novelty” effects you could add should be done on individual tracks during the mixing stage, so you’ll mostly be sticking to some variation of those 3.

If you don’t know what you’re doing then definitely consider hiring a professional. Music Guy Mastering is currently offering $5 per track mastering with quality which you need to hear through a free test master to believe, so get yours now.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
mastering music

What Happens in Mastering Music?

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

Mastering your music or having it mastered is one of the best things you can do to significantly improve the quality of your audio. In this article I’m going to discuss what goes into mastering music and why it is so critical in achieving the most polished and professional sound out of your music regardless of the sound you’re trying to achieve.

The most oft misunderstood assumption when it comes to mastering music is that the purpose or endgame is to simply make it “louder”. Artists become obsessed with this idea that their music needs to sound as loud as top 40 radio hits to be taken seriously. It’s fine for them to think this so long as the mastering engineer realizes the true intent of music mastering which is to achieve the best possible tonal quality.

This is achieved through the effective but sparing application of effects such as reverb, compression, and equalization. Equalization really just breaks the audio spectrum into different ranges or “bands” which can be tweaked, boosted, or diminished in the mix to achieve a completely different sound.

For instance, boosting the low end obviously yields a bassier and fuller low end and track in general while boosting the high end can make the audio sound crisper. Go to far and abuse the high end and the recording will sound too tinny, so it takes an experienced and naturally talented ear to determine how much is too much to bring out the full potential in your existing audio.

Reverb is applied to a final mix to give it a more three dimensional feeling and to correct a flat sounding record. Compression is used to smooth out your mix to give it greater unity without giving up the dynamics of the mix. Ultimately, the volume levels of a track being boosted are a welcome byproduct of mastering music.

An illegitimate mastering engineer will simply boost the volume and to the untrained ear a louder sounding record, when played side by side with the original, the louder version will seem stronger as if it sounds better. They’ll use this to trick your ears into believing that it is an improvement over the original when really it is all just smoke and mirrors designed for your ears.

For this reason it’s important that you always get a handful of test masters from different mastering engineers so that hopefully you’ll hear one which actually improves your audio rather than simply boosting the volumes.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
mastering audio

Mastering Audio For Digital Release Vs. Physical

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

Mastering audio for a physical release is much more involved than simply having your audio mastered on a track by track basis for digital release, for example. The primary difference is the extra steps which go into creating an actual album out of your music versus simply enhancing the audio by itself.

When mastering audio for both a physical as well as a digital release, you’re going to add plugins such as EQ to achieve the most from the audio itself. In the hands of a skilled mastering engineer, these simple audio editing tools can give your music a wholly different and more professional sound even if you didn’t record in a professional setting.

When mastering audio for a digital release that’s where the process ends. The purpose is to get the best possible sound out of your audio. When mastering audio for a physical release such as a CD or a vinyl release there is much more involved. One example is that the mastering engineer creates the sequence of the record to ensure that the table of contents is correct and setting the spacing between the songs so that it’s to the request/specs of the artist.

Perhaps most importantly in this stage of mastering is ensuring that every song is at a similar volume level with every other song on the record. This is important because it’s likely that you didn’t record every song with the exact same settings or even in the same environment which can cause certain songs to be naturally louder when rendered into a final mix. By placing every song of the record side by side, the engineer can determine if particular tracks need to be boosted. In the same vein, the engineer works to make the entire record on par in terms of volume with other current records.

Ultimately, mastering audio is far more involved than simply improving the audio and really the engineer works to compile the image of that record and ensure that everything is perfect before it is sent off for replication.

If an easily overlooked error occurs such as one of the tracks not starting when it should on the compact disc version of the record, that’s obviously a costly mistake if left unnoticed as odds are the CD replication plant isn’t going to notice that problem and will press your records as is, rendering the lot worthless after you have paid.

This is just one example to serve to show that the engineer needs to be meticulous in every aspect of audio production.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
online mastering

What to Consider Through Online Mastering

Posted In Online Mastering | No comments

We live in a much different world for musicians nowadays than we once did. Nowadays artists can have their music mastered online without having to send a physical CD or record to the technician they use. Instead, with online mastering entire albums worth of tracks can be uploaded at once to the mastering technician so that the technician can create their entire CD master for them without ever having to meet the artist.

Of course there are still concerns which you should have as the artist and client before you hand over your music and record to an engineer for online mastering.

For instance, you should absolutely demand a test master before committing to them. Most any reputable mastering engineer will offer a free test master so that you can hear a sample song of yours in the hands of that engineer to get a very solid idea of what to expect from the rest of your record if you decide to move forward with them.

Even if it’s someone who was recommended to you personally by someone you trust, you should still get a test master. I don’t care if you’re dealing with the most talented and decorated engineer in the history of the music industry, your music is different from every other artist out there so you need to know how your music will sound rather than relying on the samples of hundreds of thousands of other artists that engineer has mastered.

Another important aspect to consider when interested in online mastering relates to how much does it cost? Some engineers will charge by the hour, others by the track, and others will quote you a lump sum before starting the job.

Additionally and obviously, different engineers charge different rates which can be commensurate with experience, but don’t expect just because you’ll be paying more that you’ll be getting more back.

No matter how much you are paying and even after you’ve received a test master to get a good idea of what to expect, there’s still a strong chance that you may not like what your engineer does with a particular track.

This is why it’s paramount that you know that you’ll be able to contact that engineer and receive edits and tweaks after you receive it back. All of this is another way of saying that you want to feel comfortable with the engineer whom you go with and want to feel like you have an open dialog with them and they are reachable if need be at any point in the process before, during, or after the online mastering process.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
cd mastering

The Difference in CD Mastering

Posted In CD Mastering | No comments

CD mastering generally assumes that there is more work to be done than simply enhancing the audio itself. First off, yes you still enhance the audio. This is done by adding effective plugins and effects to the final rendered and mixed down file in order to improve the sound. An example of a popular effect would be Equalization. It takes an artful hand to get the most out of EQ without going overboard, but generally EQ involves tweaking the audio spectrum itself to boost specific regions to get a different and ideally better sound overall.

For instance, bring up the high end will give the track a crisper and less muffled quality not unlike removing a plastic wrap from the track. Conversely, the low end can be boosted to give the bass and deeper channels of that audio more presence. You can affect the EQ to achieve different results in your audio and many mastering engineers may ask you flat out the kind of sound you’re going for.

Reverb is another popular effect which gives the track more atmosphere to improve upon a flat and lifeless sounding record. Adding too much reverb will give the track too much echo to the point where it sounds cheesy, so you’ve got to be cautious in how much you use.

Once the audio itself has been mastered, if you’re only looking to release your music digitally and online track by track then your job is finished. If you’re looking to create a physical record in either vinyl or CD form, then you’ll need CD mastering.

CD mastering involves actually constructing the file which will make up the record itself which can be sent off to be replicated at the plant. This involves creating the table of contents and more specifically the sequencing in terms of how each track will flow into one another.

This also involves getting the volume of each track in harmony and unity with one another so that there are no changes on the record. In the same vein, the mastering technician works to increase the overall volume of your record to be on par with records from other contemporary artists or in other words to get it on par with current industry standards.

In the CD mastering stage, the data of the record is also added to the tracks including information like the artist and song information, tracking codes, and even lyrics in some cases which can be read on computers.

Try the CD mastering services from Music Guy Mastering and receive a free test master to hear how good one of your songs will hear after the unparalleled vision of the music guy himself, Paul Ventura, is applied to your track. Turn around times are less than 24 hours, so submit your track now.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
What is Mastering Engineering

What is Mastering Engineering?

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

Mastering engineering is an important and oft misunderstood aspect of music production. Most casual listeners as well as artists themselves are familiar with the recording and mixing process, but mastering engineering still tends to be a bit nebulous. In this article we will identify what is mastering engineering and give you a better idea of why it’s so important in getting the most out of your music.

What is Mastering Engineering?

Mastering engineering is frequently misunderstood as simply being the process of making music louder. This is oftentimes simply a useful byproduct of a good mastering job when mastering engineering really refers to the process of bringing out the true potential of the audio quality of a song.

A skilled and consummate mastering professional understands how to carefully and sparingly apply careful equalization, reverberation, and compression to bring out the true colors in your audio, boosting and diminishing different ranges of your audio map, adding atmosphere, and providing unity to the track, respectively.

A good way to think of a good mastering job is to take the plastic wrap off of your song. Listening to your final mix of your song before mastering makes it sound flat, two dimensional, and restrained. Once the engineer is able to play on the strengths of the audio and let them shine through it’s like listening to it on a different level which comes off as sounding much glossier and professional no matter what sort of music you are creating.

One final aspect generally associated with mastering engineering involves the engineer constructing a final image of the entire record which will be sent off to the CD or vinyl replication plant for reproduction. This involves getting the various songs in the sequence which the artist wants, setting the spacing between the songs in terms of should some songs flow into one another immediately or should there be a 2 second gap, creating the table of contents of the record, and adding data such as ISRC/UPC codes, artist/title data, copyright information, etc.

Ultimately if you take nothing else away from this article, you should understand that mastering engineering simply makes your final product much more professional in so many different ways in addition to “raising the volume”.

The best way to understand the true virtues of mastering engineering is to hear it on something which you have created. Upload one of your songs and receive a free test master to experience how much better your music can be sounding in the qualified and skillful hands of Music Guy Mastering today.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
Mastered Audio

3 Advantages of Mastered Audio

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

A lot of musicians don’t get their audio mastered because they don’t see the importance or don’t think that they can afford it. It’s much more affordable than you likely think (more on this later) but right now let’s cover 3 substantial advantages of mastered audio over audio which is not mastered.

Quality Improvement – Most notably, getting mastered audio means that you’re improving the audio/final mix which you or your producer created. There are a lot of effects both analog and digital which the audio mastering engineer can make use of to improve the quality of the audio overall.

For example, equalization is used to boost particular ranges of the mix to give it a clearer/less dampened sound without going too far. Equalization can even be used to correct errors in the audio which went unnoticed in the mixing stage, so not that it’s ideal but the engineer does have that ability.

Reverberation is used to give a mix more atmosphere and to correct a “flat” sounding record. Compression is used to ensure that the track is completely in unity with itself while not sacrificing the dynamics created in the track itself. It obviously helps to get a skilled and experienced engineer to produce your mastered audio for you who knows how to use these effects effectively.

Second Opinion – Getting mastered audio means that you have a fresh set of ears giving you a fresh perspective on your mix. If you have a producer doing your mix for you or worse if you’re doing it yourself, whoever is in charge of it can have a difficult time distancing themselves from it after having been around it for so long. Therefore, it helps having that different perspective to determine what’s missing or wrong in the mix so that they can master accordingly.

Levels – The levels of your final mix likely won’t be on par with contemporary records of the day and will likely be much quieter than a track from another artist. The problem with this is that anyone listening to your music in a mix will have to adjust their volume accordingly when your track comes on in the mix as it’s likely much quieter than any other professional record they’re listening to.

This also comes into play if you want your record played on the radio as it needs to be comparable with other records they are playing. A mastering engineer knows how to boost the volume of a track (typically through other changes which they are making) to make sure that it’s on point with other current records.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
Audio Mastered

3 Reasons to Get Your Audio Mastered

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

Many musicians recognize audio mastering as an important step to music production but don’t necessarily know why or understand what goes into it. It’s the final step in music production and it’s not even that costly depending on whom you go with and also depending on whom you go with, you can significantly improve the quality of your music.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves; in this article I’m going to cover 3 reasons to get your audio mastered.

Audio Quality – I just alluded to this in opening, but getting your audio mastered significantly improves its quality even to the average listener. Once the song is rendered to a final mix/a single track, it is sent to the audio mastering technician who then applies additional effects and plugins to the track as a whole.

Typical effects include reverb to give it more atmosphere, compression to give it more unity and cohesiveness, and equalization to highlight or downplay parts of the mix. All of these are in an effort to put together a better sounding final product and can be used to achieve a number of different sounds and styles.

These edits and changes to the audio are also helpful because they give your music a second experienced ear and an unbiased one at that to decide what is missing or lacking in your current mix. The bottom line is that in the hands of an experienced mastering engineer, analog or digital effects will seriously improve the quality of your sound and are the number one reason for why you should get your audio mastered.

Data – The audio mastering engineer is also in charge of writing any data to an album or music file. This includes the name of the artist and track, ISRC codes, and anything else you want included.

Creating an Album – Finally, the audio mastering engineer is in charge of creating the final album file itself which includes a sense of cohesiveness to the entire album in terms of setting the levels and creating the transitions between the songs.

Each song should be at parity with the next in terms of levels but the engineer will also generally ensure that the level of the album as a whole is comparable to levels of other popular records of the day so that when someone listens to your song and a song from another artist back to back on their music player, they don’t have to adjust the volume.

When all is said and done, the album file that the engineer creates with your tracks needs to be able to be flawless and exactly how the artist wants it so that it can be distributed as digital files right then and there or more importantly if a CD needs to be replicated as this can be a costly mistake if it’s not perfect going in.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
what does audio mastering do

What Does Audio Mastering Do?

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

One of most common questions associated with music production is what exactly does audio mastering even do? This is for some people that enigmatic and sometimes nebulous final stage of music production which many people realize is important but maybe don’t know why. Let’s talk about what does audio mastering do so that you have a much better idea of what goes into it and how it improves your recordings.what does audio mastering do

The purpose of audio mastering is three fold. First and most importantly audio mastering improves the quality of the audio itself. Even after a song has been recorded and given a final mix, there are still changes and improvements which can be made, even if that song was recorded in the highest tech studio in the world for the largest budget in the history of music production.

A person who ideally had nothing to do with the recording or mixing processes referred to as the mastering engineer takes that final rendered down Wave (or similar format) file and uploads it to their computer where they can add different effects. I say ideally that they had nothing to do with the earlier stages of the audio production is because it helps to have a fresh and unique ear hearing a song for the first time to listen objectively and decide where it’s lacking and what it needs.

The most common effects used in audio mastering are compression, reverb, and especially equalization. These effects give the file more atmosphere, unity throughout, and can smooth out abrasive ranges in the mix. The overall purpose is to enhance the recording without sacrificing dynamics of that track.

A capable audio mastering engineer knows how to artfully apply these effects when they are needed and just as importantly how to not overdo anything or use effects needlessly.

In addition to simply improving the quality of individual tracks, the audio mastering engineer can also be in charge of creating the file for the complete album itself, particularly if the artist needs a physical copy of that record. This isn’t as common as it once was as digital formats and versions of music are now the sole focus for a lot of artists as well as their fans.

Still, the engineer creates a unified album file where all of the songs are of comparable volume and the individual transitions between tracks are at the artist’s wishes. The overall goal when creating an album out of a collection of songs is to get that final one file set to be sent off to the CD replication plant so it can be copied over and over without issue.

In summation, while audio mastering is certainly not a necessity before you put out your music, the point is is that it will add a great deal to your music and give it an overall more professional sound even if you recorded it in a decidedly lo-fi or unprofessional environment.

It’s also very affordable depending on whom you go with, plus most respectable audio mastering engineers offer one free test master of one of your songs so that you can hear the difference firsthand without any commitment.

Music Guy Mastering offers free test masters so that you can experience firsthand how much better your music could be sounding in the capable hands of the Music Guy himself, Paul Ventura, so click on the “free test master” tab above to upload your song immediately and enjoy the difference with turnaround times of under 24 hours.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
audio mastering

Why Audio Mastering is Necessary

Posted In Audio Mastering | No comments

After a song is written, recorded, and mixed, the final step in the production process is referred to as audio mastering. Many everyday people as well as artists themselves are unfamiliar with what goes into audio mastering or even why it is important, and while it’s not an absolute necessity before you release your music, it can seriously improve your recordings in a number of ways.

First, audio mastering significantly improves the quality of the sound of your audio itself. The mastering engineer makes use of digital and analog effects such as reverberation, compression, and equalization. These effects give your music more depth, atmosphere, and can even smooth out and correct imperfections in the audio itself.audio mastering

This is the most important aspect of audio mastering in terms of why you need to get someone with a good ear who knows what they are doing and how to artfully apply these effects to improve the quality of your sound. Many mastering “engineers” will just compress your recordings to raise the overall levels of it as this is generally one effect of mastering. Needless to say, you do not want someone like that handling your songs as after you’ve put as much time and effort into your music you should ask for anyone else who works on it to do the same.

It is also nice because sending your music to an audio mastering engineer offers a fresh and unbiased ear a chance to listen to your music and decide what needs improvement when it does come to the audio quality itself.

In addition to simply improving the quality of your recordings, the audio mastering engineer is also in charge of prepping your album as a whole for replication. This is not as important for smaller artists these days as less and less people are purchasing CDs and nowadays many artists are forgoing the idea of even making a CD and are just getting their songs mastered for online release only.

Still, if you are planning on releasing an album complete with transitions, a table of contents, etc., the mastering engineer is in charge of putting the album file together so that it plays exactly how you want it and is ready to be sent off to the CD replication plant for copies whether that’s in a physical CDR format or in a digital DDP file format, depending on whichever CD replication service you are choosing, meaning it is generally the artist’s call.

The best engineers all offer free test masters so that the artist can experience the improvement in their music without having to spend any money ahead of time to decide if that engineer is the right fit for them.

Music Guy Mastering offers all potential clients a free test master so that they can experience firsthand how much better their music can be sounding after being in the capable hands of the Music Guy himself, Paul Ventura. Click on the link for free test master above to get yours today.

Read Full Article...
0 comments
Copyright © 2014 Music Guy Mastering Powered by OptimizePress