EQ Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 35)

The digital-audio revolution has changed that. Digital can be a forgiving medium with plenty of dynamic range. Quality audio plugins and processors have become ever more affordable. For musicians who want to master, gear is not the issue. But ears still are. A veteran mastering engineer will know how to bring out the best in a piece of music. Maybe you have good ears, which means you can probably do good mastering. But exceptional mastering requires exceptional ears—something no plug-in can provide. Mastering requires not just learning about how to use technology, but also the ability to hear the gestalt of a piece of music— not just individual instruments. Acoustic Education page (www.acousticalsolutions.com/education/ index.asp). It even includes info on hearing and how the ear works. The MBI site has a Room Acoustics Calculator, and other resources, at www.mbiproducts.com/room. RPG Diffusor Systems’ library page (www.rpginc.com/news/library.htm) is a little more advanced than the other references, but definitely worth a look. The UCSC Electronic Music Studios, has a useful article on acoustics basics at http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech background/TE-14/ teces 14.html. Also from UCSC, http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/ tech background/TE-02/teces 02.html concentrates on acoustics and music. FLOW One of the most important aspects of mastering is determining an album’s flow. It’s one thing to master a track—it’s another to master a complete album, and make it a cohesive listening experience. Here are some tips. ■ Make a rough CD with all cuts from the album, and listen to it on random shuffle. Sometimes hearing a certain order of songs will sound right just because you’re used to it. Listening randomly gives a better understanding of each piece on its own. ■ Check the key for each song. All things being equal, I try to arrange the song order so that the keys ascend, and avoid having two songs in a row with the same key. Just as individual songs use modulation to change the vibe, you can do the same thing for an album. Of course, key shouldn’t be your only criterion for choosing order, but it’s important. ■ Determine the tempo for each song. Do you want the album to start off slowly, and build? Hit the listener hard, and then go through variations? Choosing a proper tempo flow can help. An obvious example: For a dance music CD, you can manipulate how your audience reacts by building ever-increasing tempos, then pulling back if you want to chill things a bit. ■ Consider song pairs. Some songs dovetail naturally into each other, so consider these as individual entities to be arranged with other songs and song pairs. ■ Lead off with your strongest material. Many people will listen to only the first 15 seconds of your album, then decide whether to continue FIRST, THE ACOUSTICS You can’t mix or master well in a room with bad acoustics, but even minimal acoustical treatment can help. Rather than re-hash acoustic principles (which we already covered in the June ’07 issue of EQ), here are some links with useful information. The Auralex site is a great place to start. There’s a wealth of information, audio examples, and links at www.acoustics101.com and www.auralexuniversity.com. The RealTraps site at www.realtraps.com has articles, calculators, a downloadable test tone CD, and more. Click on the “Acoustics Info” tab. The Primacoustic site has a basic primer on acoustics (www. primacoustic.com/primer.htm) that’s good for novices. You’ll find useful background on acoustics at Acoustical Solutions’ ANALOG MASTERING, AND WHY IT LOVES DSD TASCAM’s DV-RA1000 Digital mastering is the most accessible and affordable mastering option, but there’s much to be said for a sweet analog mastering chain, with perhaps some tube EQs and classic compressors. Analog processing imparts its own sound quality, and some engineers even master to tape, because they like the effect tape imparts to the sound. The big problem with analog mastering is what to save it to, because converting it to digital defeats some of the reasons for keeping things analog in the first place. However, I’ve been very impressed with the Korg MR-series mastering recorders and TASCAM’s DV-RA1000. Both record using DSD (Direct Stream Digital, which employs 1bit technology).To my ears, DSD has the accuracy of digital without the brittleness, and the warmth of analog without the imperfections. Granted, there’s no widespread delivery system for DSD, but even if you convert the recording to 16/44.1kHz, it sounds better than recording to 16/44.1kHz in the first place. Korg MR-series mastering recorders www.eqmag.com JANUARY 2008 EQ 35 http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/education/index.asp http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/education/index.asp http://www.mbiproducts.com/room http://www.rpginc.com/news/library.htm http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/TE-14/teces_14.html http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/TE-02/teces_02.html http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/TE-14/teces_14.html http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/TE-02/teces_02.html http://www.acoustics101.com http://www.auralexuniversity.com http://www.realtraps.com http://www.primacoustic.com/primer.htm http://www.primacoustic.com/primer.htm http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - January 2008

EQ Magazine - January 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Robbers On High Street Rafter RTX Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Toolbox Rahim Dimmu Borgir Wu-Tang Clan Special Feature! Mastering for Musicians Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drumheads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 7 IK Multimedia Virtual Instruments Yamaha MSP7 Shure KSM137/SL K+H O 300 & O 800 Sonica Livetracker Apple Logic Studio Novation XioSynth 25, Audio-Technica ATH-M50, Samson G-Track

EQ Magazine - January 2008

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