Professional Analog Mastering.
Professional Analog Mastering.
226K+ subscribers
When mastering, it’s not enough to know how to carefully operate specific tools, like compressors, EQs, and so on. You can certainly get by on that, but to truly encapsulate what it means to be a mastering engineer, we need 3 additional, difficult to obtain skills.
First is a form of critical listening specific to mastering.
Second, is deep historical knowledge of musical timbres for at least a few genres - meaning you know how and why albums of a specific genre and over the past few decades sound the way they do.
Lastly is the ability to imagine a sound before it exists - in other words, you need to know what you want to make a mix into before you begin shaping it, or at the very least, have a good idea. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds.
Critical Listening when mastering can be broken down into 5 categories.
Dynamics, or ratio and relationship between quiet and loud passages.Loudness, as it relates to the overall track.Timbre, or the overall track’s tonal characteristic.Width, or the ratio of the perceived centered and distinctly left/right signalDepth, or the ratio of perceived background to foreground signal
Too dynamic and quiet details will be difficult to hear on most consumer playback systems. Too compressed and the listening experience will quickly become fatiguing.
The track’s overall loudness is inherently connected to dynamics. For example, if I have identical mixes with identical peak values, except one is less dynamic than the other, the less dynamic track will be louder.
When it comes to mastering, compressors, but more often maximizers, limiters, and clippers affect these 2 categories.
Watch the video to learn more >
Timbre refers to the overall frequency response, the ADSR but mainly the attack and decay of transients, and the harmonic and disharmonious distortion.
Compressors, saturators, equalizers, and exciters play the biggest role in this category.
Watch the video to learn more >
Width is affected by altering the ratio of the left and right channels identical signals to differential signals. In other words, identical signals will sound centered, differing signals will create the perception of width.
In mastering, this is typically affected with mid-side processors, like M/S EQ, M/S compression, and M/S saturation. Stereo Imagers also introduce M/S routing as well as include some psychoacoustic effects to create width.
Too wide and you’ll loose mono compatibility, as well as create an unfocused sound.
Too centered and the master can feel closed in and lacking a natural sense of space.
Watch the video to learn more >
Depth is arguably the most complex category - on the surface it’s the relationship between audible foreground and background signals, or dry and wet signals.
But its perception is closely tied to dynamics, loudness, stereo imaging, equalization, and just about any form of processing.
The quickest way to increase depth is by using a maximizer subtly. It’ll increase the level of quieter ambient details enough to bring them above the threshold of being masked. Once they’re audible the listener has a reference for the background in relation to the foreground.
Subtle amplification to the side image in the mid-frequency range can also increase a sense of depth.
Watch the video to learn more >
While listening to the mix, and considering what processing to add, the genre needs to be heavily considered.
For example, say I’m working on EDM and the kick, snare, and pluck of the synths are all intentionally aggressive.
Would using tape emulation make sense?
Probably not - the subtle wave shaping and attenuation to high frequencies would counteract the intentional aggressive elements.
Instead, a clipper would be the better choice for saturation since it imparts distortion to each transient, retaining the intended aggression.
Watch the video to learn more >
Or, say I’m mastering Jazz - would tape emulation make more sense in this situation?
Absolutely - it would make a great alternative to limiting, as the peaks as gradually attenuated, and shaped in a manner indicative of the era in which the genre was at its peak. I could even tune the emulation to the settings that best emulate the machine that would be used when this particular style of jazz was most popular.
Meanwhile, a clipper would be a horrible decision - I don’t want to impart aggressive distortion to transients, nor do I need this track to reach a loudness that would necessitate clipping.
Watch the video to learn more >
Now, these are 2 obvious examples, but you get the idea. If you want to create a good master you need to first understand the genre, the equipment used to create it, and how all that ties together to create a listening experience that upholds what people want when they play the song.
And this brings me to the last skill.
This is a combination of understanding the 5 categories of critical listening, and knowing the genre well.
As you listen to the track, you should already be imagining how Dynamic you want it to be, how loud overall, the timbre or how you want the transients, the THD, and the overall balance of the frequency response, then the width and depth.
Meanwhile you need to check if that works well with the genre - for example, I’m imagining a wide stereo image, but I know this EDM track will be played in clubs with multi-speaker mono playback systems, etc.
Or I want this pop song to be bright and aggressive but I know it’ll be played over earbuds so I need to be careful not to make it too harsh for listeners.
So, before you begin creating your chain, which usually consists of corrective eq, saturation, stereo imaging, maximization, clipping, and limiting, you need to have an in-depth understanding of the 5 critical listening categories, and the genre you’re working on, so that you know the sound you’re going for.