What is mastering and why do we need it?

Mastering is something that has always been regarded as a ‘dark art’. Engineers and producers spend weeks, months or years perfecting the sound of their tracks, listening to every fine detail and making sure it’s right. Then along comes the mastering engineer and somehow makes it better. This is because its very rare that a mix needs no treatment in order to improve its overall sound and impact. Although there are a lot of hi-end plugins available to the producers for improving the overall sound as well, it’s always a good idea to have a fresh pair of ears listening to your final mix. The mastering engineer will focus on the overall sound with a totally new approach compared to the mix engineer, who has spent a long time concentrating on the individual instruments in the mix. A good mastering engineer possesses a combination of talents. He obviously has good hearing, as well as a strong sense of musicality. He listens to a song and immediately has an idea of how it could sound better, then he must be able to make those changes and deliver an improved sound to the customer. Furthermore, on the technical side, an analog mastering studio will use highly specialized pieces of equipment to work on the overall dynamic and the equalization of the sound.

What are the elements of the mastering process?

Every track is treated individually and differently, depending on the mix. Usually it’s a combination of things which go into the mastering process, using Equalization (EQ), compression and limiting. For example, if a rock track sounds like it needs to have more life, the mastering can make all the instruments really clear and tight by using compression and limiting to bring all the instruments to life. Another important element of the process is to make sure that the track is at a good commercial level. For dance/hip hop/R & B, this is particularly important because these tracks will often be in a DJ mix/compilation with other mastered tracks, and all tracks must be at a similar level. However, some tracks need to be treated very gently, especially if there is a lot of dynamic range – pushing the track too hard will create distortion. This applies more to classical, folk, jazz and other softer music. On the subject of level, the mastering engineer will also make sure that all tracks on an album or single will be consistent – so there is not one track that has too much bass, or one track that will be too quiet. The idea is to take several tracks and make them into one complete piece of work, with a beautiful sound!

Whats exactly is this controversy thats been doing the rounds about albums being overloud and extra maximized that has been doing the rounds in the international music industry?

Many artists, especially rock bands, want the songs to be LOUD(note the stress), and are using compression, limiting and other processing on the final mix before sending it to mastering. Generally it’s not ideal to do this. The mastering engineer should be given a mix with some dynamic range and headroom, so he can decide which pieces of equipment to use on the mix. Loudness is becoming a problem because many producers are making recordings too loud, with distortion and no dynamics remaining in the song, resulting in a bad sound quality after mastering. And sometimes, the mastering studio is to blame for this. So volume should only be part of the end result, and not the most important thing. It’s always a good idea to communicate with the mastering engineer before sending the mixes for mastering. Even though he will have a lot of experience and will already have an idea of how he wants your tracks to sound, it can save time and money if you give him an idea of your desired sound. If you want to read more about the ‘loudness wars’ click here

Are there any essential basic gear/software/plug-ins that are a must-have for mastering?

Since we only use analogue outboard equipment and not plugins, we’re not best qualified to recommend certain software. However, the same will roughly apply to software as it does to hardware. You will need minimum 1 EQ, 1 compressor and 1 limiter to have a basic mastering setup. We have 4 EQs, 3 compressors and 2 limiters, but we don’t use them all at once! You will also need a digital audio workstation such as Pro Tools or other programs to record your mastered tracks into, if you are going the hardware route, as well as a D to A convertor and A to D convertor. Otherwise you can do everything in the box using your plugins.

What is your current preffered basic setup and process chain for mastering a track?

We load audio files into Pro Tools for playback (we can also play from CDs, analogue tape and DAT tape). From Pro Tools it is converted via Prism ADA8 convertor, into the analogue domain, where we have a selection of outboard gear. We regularly change this around, sometimes we like to have the EQ before the compressor in the chain, sometimes the other way round. After these it is converted using another Prism back to digital, where it goes through a digital limiter (if we want to use it) and finally it records into our mastering workstation, Sonic Studio HD.

What and what not should one be expecting from a mastered product and what should be the ideal guidelines to a mastering engineer?

You should expect the best out of your mix. The better the mix, the better the mastered product. It’s important to remember that the mastering engineer is just dealing with a stereo mix, and not the individual elements of the track. With this is mind, make sure the mix sounds as good as you can make it, before you send it for mastering – don’t expect the mastering engineer to be able to make drastic changes. It’s important to communicate with the studio what sort of sound you are looking for – loud or dynamic, compressed or not compressed, bright or not bright and so on.

Being a mastering engineer and having the final say on many top international releases, what do you sonically expect from a good release in today’s scenario? with e.g of some good releases according to you?

As previously mentioned, there is a lot of pressure on the mastering studio to make records really loud. And almost always we have to do what the client wants – only sometimes we can convince them that loudness is not the most important thing. The projects we most enjoy are the ones where a lot of care has been taken to let the music speak for itself. Lots of dynamics, a nice balance and good quality of musicianship. For example, we do a lot of mastering of reggae music for a couple of labels called Pressure Sounds in the UK and Dub Store in Japan. These guys are putting out restored rare releases on vinyl, and we will bring the best out of the music without destroying the fantastic dynamics. They are very lo-fi but they sound great! In this day and age it is very refreshing when someone comes to us and says “we don’t care how loud it is, just make it sound good”!

Any ’sound’ advice to young indipendent artistes/bands and also engineers stepping into studios to cut records to get the best out of their work?

If you get the recording right in the first place, every step from then will be much easier. Practice and practice before you go into the studio, so that when you are in there, you will be tight and nothing needs to be fixed at a later date. Listen to each other and take an interest in the production and mixing – if you are all part of the decision making process then everyone is happy all the way through from the first day of recording to the final day when the album has been mastered.

Alex Worsworth is one of the mastering engineers at eMasters.co.uk which is the online branch of The Soundmasters – one of the UK’s top mastering studios. The engineers are regularly mastering for a combination of independent artists and producers, as well as major label artists and worldwide stars, across a wide range of musical styles. Chief engineer Kevin Metcalfe has been mastering for over 35 years, and has worked with such artists as David Bowie, Queen, The Who, The Prodigy and many more. Recent projects for Indian artists include Mohit Chauhan, Mrigya, producer Vipin Mishra and Urban Grooves Project(EMI India)

For more information contact Alex on info@emasters.co.uk

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