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Mastering

The least understood part of the recording chain is the mastering process. It is certainly something that's easier to show than it is to describe. The Music Player in the menu has a pre- mastered sample next to a post-mastered sample so that you can hear the difference. Just choose Mastering Samples.

The mastering process is like sanding and varnishing a carpentry project. Without it, the final project sounds rough. We get asked every week to define "mastering." There are many definitions... this is the SCS take on it:

"Mastering: The art of finishing a recording by using the highest quality absolute dynamics and frequency control."

In regular terms this means the final leveling of volume and tonal problems throughout a recording, by way of High Quality Compression/Limiting, EQ', and/or noise removal.

When do you do mastering?

Mastering is the VERY LAST processing to occur before reproduction/distribution. Whether it be a single song or piece, demo, EP, or full length album.

Every recording has different needs. Some need heavy dynamics (volume) adjustment from song to song to level it out. Some have dynamics needs throughout a song. Some have frequency problems. This can come in many forms... too much or too little bass/treble or mid-range type issues. Some have an instrument that is too low or high in the mix and needs adjustment in a spot or two. If an instrument is too loud or too quiet throughout an entire song or verse, it is best to go back to the mixing stage to fix it.

Some tracks have noise (hiss, hum, clicks, pops) that needs to be removed through digital analyzation.

Mastering takes the result of the mixdown process for each of your songs and might do the following to it:

1. Normalize the volume: Mastering will set the final volume of all of the songs so that they are at the same level. If this is not done, there could be drastic changes in volume between tracks. Most Pop, Rock, Rap, Hip-hop, and Country CDs are mastered to boost the volume of tracks.
2. High quality EQ: The mastering process performs overall EQ on the finished tracks. During mixdown, you probably performed EQ on each track separately and you may have done some EQ to the master track. SCS has sophisticated EQ units, both digital and analog. Using these can make the final product sound much "clearer."
3. Set the order of the final CD: While working on each track, we will order the tracks on the final disc, and will also set fades in between songs (if needed).
4. Other effects: There are a host of other effects that a mastering session will do to a recording. One example is a process that smoothes out the rough edges of a digital recording by putting the output through an actual analog device based on vacuum tubes. Adding "crowd noise" to live albums is done in the mastering session, as this is sometimes a question of bridging between tracks that may not have been played next to each other live.

Mastering is charged on an hourly basis, most times at $100 or more an hour... so, SCS offers a great deal of options for mastering at a far reduced rate! We can provide any fixes to your finished product that the Mastering process will allow. In order to save time, you will want to be prepared with everything that you need.

How do I prepare?

We strongly suggest the following:

1. Make sure that the mixdown is really done: Listen to your mixdown over and over again at different sessions and in different environments. Play it for different people, especially other musicians, for comments. A mastering session usually cannot fix an instrument that is mixed too loudly or other items that can only be done in mixdown. Although mastering does have a surprising bag of tricks at times, do not depend on it to fix any mistakes such as a vocal set too low.
2. Bring a document with the track order.
3. Do not clip the before and after sounds on a track. We like the before and after junk on a track, because that gives us something to analyze before the track starts. We will clip the tracks to the exact length and get rid of the junk.
4. Other than these suggestions, enjoy the process. Mastering is actually a lot of fun!