After the final mix, mastering is the last stage in producing the completed product. Quite often projects are recorded over long periods of time, under different conditions and various technicians resulting in inconsistency of the tracks. Mastering is the fine-tuning process that produces a professional, balanced sound in the disc.
Mastering involves a process of fine tuning technical and sometimes artistic processes that is applied to a final studio mix to produce a professional balanced sound. Whether your audio is planned for CD replication or publication to the Internet, it must be mastered to take full advantage of the medium in which it is to be released. Mastering is the last step and, therefore, your last chance to correct any deficiencies or accesses in your program material. Projects that contain material from various sessions, overdubs, musicians, engineers or producers, sometimes can lead to a lack of perceived consistency of your project, which mastering can fuse into a cohesive sounding package.
Mastering is meant to correct audio deficiencies in regards to:
- Audio fidelity
- Fade ins and fade outs
- Noise reduction
- Relative volume level from track to track
- Tonal balance
- Sequencing order of final master
- Stereo imaging
- Overall consistency of the program material
The following are some of the main concerns of the mastering engineer that must be dealt with during the mastering process:
- Compression
- Noise reduction
- Equalization (EQ)
- Frequency analysis
- De-essing
- Ambience Enhancement
- Expansion
- Stereo spectral enhancement
These are just some of the tools and techniques that the mastering can provide to help your project achieve the necessary audio fidelity heard on national commercial recordings.
At Digital Force you’ll have one-on-one access to a professional audio engineer, who will master the disc to your satisfaction.
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