Category: Pre-Mastering

How to Mix Your Music Using Psychoacoustics

  Quick Answer: To mix with psychoacoustics, first consider the many unique ways with which the ear and brain receive and interpret sound.  Some things that can be utilized are the ‘Fletcher-Munson Curve’ when using equalization, the ‘Haas Effect’ when implementing spacial design, and the ‘Phantom Fundamental Effect’ when recreating low end frequencies. Psychoacoustics in […]

What is Mastering for Cassette

  Quick Answer: Mastering for Cassette tape is the process of creating a distribution-ready sequence of songs, that can be recorded onto the cassette medium.  The process of mastering for cassette depends heavily on the tape type that will be used, as it affects distortion, frequency response, and the sequencing of tracks. Mastering for Cassette […]

What is Mastering for Vinyl?

  Mastering for Vinyl Quick Answer: Mastering for vinyl is the process of creating a separate master that can be cut into a vinyl record without added unwanted distortion.  It consists of a mono stereo image up to 150Hz, a tamed high end, and if needed, a track listing that is consistent with the frequency […]

How to Set the Q of an Equalizer to an Octave

  An EQ’s Q is often chosen somewhat arbitrarily.  We pick it because it looks good, or seems to fit with the type of curve we’re trying to create.  Sometime’s we choose one because we need to make decisions quickly, given the session time frame. We often fail to think about what may be the […]

How to Match Your Mix’s EQ to Your Favorite Mix

  New software is constantly changing how we make music, and think about producing audio.  One of the most innovative technologies to emerge recently in the audio world is eq matching. EQ matching plugins read, analyze and match the frequency response of your audio, with that of another audio source.  Simply upload your song, and […]

How to Know Everything About Your Plugin

  If you’ve ever been made curious or confused by a plugin, you’re not alone. At one point or another, we’ve all looked at a plugin and not known what the settings or functions meant, or what they did. Although some functions are the same from plugin to plugin (i.e. ratios on compressors, or bands […]

What File Type Should I Send For Music Mastering?

  To be completely honest, I can’t always tell the difference between a WAV. file and a high quality MP3.  On the right monitoring system it isn’t too challenging, but when listening in the car or casually with some headphones, the differences aren’t always obvious. So why would it matter what file type you sent […]

How to Thicken Your Lead Vocal

  You have a great mix – it’s balanced and you’ve finally gotten the instrumentation to sound loud and full.  Only problem, when you listen to the chorus, your vocal is getting lost. Turns out your instrumentation can sound too full for it’s own good.  The moment your song becomes too big for your lead […]

How to Compress Your Vocal or Instrument Cleanly

  So you have an instrument of vocal that needs compression.  This is a situation you’re most likely familiar with.  The only difference is that this time, you don’t want to change the sound of your signal, you only want to attenuate the peaks. If you pick a model of an LA-2A, an 1176, or […]

How Loud Should My Mix Be?

  How loud a mix should be is definitely a debated topic.  Searching for the answer leads to multiple answers, each using different tools for measurement. But perhaps, to best answer to this question, it helps to think from the perspective of a mastering engineer. Mastering has always been a way for records to compete […]