Recording - November 2014 - 39

Yes, Master
Let's suppose your mixes are pretty
much how you'd like them. You've been
playing them for friends, checking them
out on a variety of systems, and everything sounds pretty good to you. At this
stage, it's common to feel that the album
might not be 'flowing' exactly right.
Although all of the tracks sound good on
their own, the transitions from one song to
the next may be clumsy or even disruptive
due to mismatched volume levels.
Perhaps some of the mixes are 'darker'
than others. Maybe you just need the
whole thing to be louder. Time to see a
mastering engineer!
With mastering files, as with mixes, I like
working with higher resolutions and bit
rates, prefering 24-bit/96 kHz versions of
the stereo mixes. I want them to be uncompressed at the output bus, with levels that
never exceed -2.5 dB Full Scale. This provides great fidelity, optimal headroom,
and manageable file sizes. I stay in the
24/96 realm until rendering the final master, where the audio is dithered down to
the final 16-bit/44.1 kHz version.

handled from there as well, or a dithering
plug-in can be added at the very end of the
chain. All of these tools were first utilized
and are still being used in their hardware
form as well, with wonderful-sounding
results. Let your ears, budget, and experience be your guide in choosing the best
path for your project.
EQ, compression and limiting settings
are applied much more subtly in the mastering phase, yet the results can often be
startling. Things can seem to sound deeper, wider and just plain better in an
almost magical way. The mixes sound
more unified and cohesive, vocals and
other instruments become more focused,
and an overall 'personality' to the project
begins to emerge.
I tend to focus on the vocal when considering the relative volumes between two
songs. I feel that if the volume level of the
vocal feels consistent, you keep the listener engaged by not "breaking the spell"
when moving from one song to another.
The spaces between songs, fadeouts, and
crossfades all contribute to the listener's
mood as well.

Your audio decisions are only as good as the information
your ears are receiving from your studio's monitors.
It's best to provide your mastering engineer with a data disc or portable drive
containing files on that are clearly named
(e.g. 01_always_never_gone.wav) and if
you are providing multiple versions, a
small reference 'tag' in the filename, like
"01_always_never_gone_vocal_up.wav"
A song order (signified by those first two
numbers in the previous example) can be
the biggest help in getting started, as
you'll generally want the songs mastered
in the same sequence they'll be heard.
Ideally, the songs will eventually coalesce
into a story, a listening experience.
I prefer mastering "in the box", using a
variety of tools. A typical signal chain
would start with a 'Pultec'-style equalizer,
followed by a (usually vintage-styled)
compressor, with never more than 3 dB of
compression at a ratio around 1.5:1. The
stereo field can be further widened or collapsed slightly by employing a stereo
imaging plug-in. This gives additional
control over the levels of centered elements, like bass and lead vocals.
I follow all of that with a multiband limiter, trying to use less than 2 dB of limiting
at a 10:1 ratio, using a makeup gain
stage to bring those levels back up.
Depending on the style of music, I may
add a final "volume maximizing" stage
like the Waves L3 UltraMaximizer.
Dithering from 24 bits down to 16 can be

Once the final master is complete, the
client and I will listen through the whole
thing one last time, just to experience it in
its entirety and check for any last-minute
errors or glitches. They may "hit me
back" a few days later with a couple of
small changes that I can usually handle at
no additional cost. Often when I am mastering without the client there, I will listen
through my "final" master over a couple
of days, making notes and small fixes
before I turn it in. If the artist was completely dissatisfied with the job and wanted a total 'do-over', that would require
further negotiation.
Know when to ask for help
Mixing and mastering are essential
pieces of the production process, but we
are not always the right person for the
job. Still, we can help ensure the success
of our teammates by providing them with
the right elements, clearly communicating
our strategies, and trusting the engineer.
After all, we called for a professional!
Sven-Erik Seaholm (seaholm@recording
mag.com) is an award-winning independent record producer, singer and songwriter, and uses his studio, Kitsch & Sync
Production in San Diego, to mix and master for outside clients as well. Check out
his website at www.kaspro.com.
RECORDING November 2014

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Recording - November 2014

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