Tag Archive

Characteristics of Musical Keys: Composers through history have associated various moods and colours with each of the 24 major and minor keys in Western music. From the link “This document contains a selection of information from the Internet about the emotion or mood associated with musical keys. It is not complete nor does it include […]

Tags: mastering, promotion

The Top Ten Tips for Sonic Excellence features an interview with mastering engineer Art Sayecki. Art offers advice, from a professional’s perspective, for indie artists looking to improve their own mixing and engineering skills: Keep your mixes balanced and not too bright or too bassy. Shoot for soft highs and tight basses. Don’t try to […]

Tags: mastering, professional-engineers

You could spend $1000 having Bob Katz master your CD, or you could save a few bucks, like Ry Cooder did, and simply entrust the job to iTunes: Then Mr. Cooder noticed something else: When he burned a copy of the album using Apple’s iTunes software, it sounded fine. He didn’t know why until one […]

Tags: mastering

While it’s sometimes considered bad practice, there’s no reason you can’t serve as your own mastering engineer. This article from Music Tech Magazine covers (in flashy detail) everything you need to know about mastering your own material: One of the reasons people take their music to professional mastering engineers is that they bring a ‘fresh […]

Tags: mastering

The definitive takes on the loudness war are probably The Death of Dynamic Range, and Rip Rowan’s Over the limit. Most articles on the subject, though, are addressed to engineers, by other engineers and producers fed up with the hammering their mixes receive at the hands of overzealous mastering engineers. For the average music consumer, […]

Tags: loudnesswars, mastering, production

What happens to your recording when it’s played on the radio? Add this to the list of reasons to avoid crushing the dynamics out of your mixes: Hypercompressed material does not sound louder on the air. It sounds more distorted, making the radio sound broken in extreme cases. It sounds small, busy, and flat. It […]

Tags: mastering, radio

Some of the mastering engineers on homerecording.com discuss their approaches to mastering: One reason to use EQ post compression is so that you don’t have to keep re-adjusting the threshold of the compressor when making EQ changes. This insightful thread on ProSound addresses the consequences of mixing and mastering in the same room: Bob Ludwig […]

Tags: mastering

John Scrip wrote a great article earlier in the year describing how to avoid online mastering scams. If you listen to a “before” sample that’s completely monaural and muddy and then the “after” sample has a wonderful stereo spread with clearly panned instruments and voices and sparkly highs, you’re listening to a fake. That’s not […]

Tags: mastering

On the Songfight discussion forum, I posted a before & after mastering comparison for some tracks on Waking Up In August the difference in the mastered tracks is most obvious in the extreme low and high frequencies. Listen to the bass guitar in the High Enough extro, and the string noises at the start of […]

Tags: before&after, mastering, songfight

An hr.com user gives a detailed description of his vocal “sweetening” technique, complete with examples: So, what is this “effect”? Simply, it is a stereo effect that pitch shifts one channel up 12 cents, and pitch shifts the other other channel down 12 cents, then uses a delay of about 25ms. The effect, again, is […]

Tags: mastering, mixing, vocals

While he’s got a vested interest in assuring you that mastering at home is a good idea, Dave Moulton’s Tips ‘n’ Tricks for Mastering article is still a great resource for those learning the craft. I’ve taken you through this brief review because I believe it is essential to get and keep in your head […]

Tags: mastering