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project studios in frequency response, stereo imaging, reverb time, and isolation from unwanted noise. This makes mixing in pro rooms far easier, as mixers can better hear low-level issues, and can trust their decisions to translate to the outside world. Anyone who has ever mixed at home knows the story: the mix sounds great while being worked on, but the bass is too loud or soft when the mix is played back on a car stereo or other system. This is because bass response in most non-acoustically designed rooms is atrocious. It’s nearly impossible to judge low-end level in rooms in the typical home studio. Mastering As the final step in record production, mastering provides several crucial services. First is the sonic coalescing of individual songs into a holistic album. This is necessary because, while the mixes may sound great on their own, they might not perfectly match one another in level or tonality. Using eq, compression, and level tweaking, the mastering engineer adjusts each song to better suit the whole. The second role of mastering is the sequencing of a master disc. The songs are placed in album order and transitions are carefully adjusted between songs. The mastering engineer also creates the final master to be sent to the CD plant, vinyl-pressing plant, or to be uploaded to iTunes or other download site. The final master can take several forms, with the most common being a digital audio file or error-checked CD-R. In the new reality of budget in-the-box mixing, mastering is sometimes skipped entirely, or performed as an afterthought by the mix engineer. While this may save money, it overlooks the greatest advantages of professional mastering. Mastering engineers are specialized in what they do, usually have amazing ears, listen to tons of music, and can provide a crucial double-check of a mix engineer’s work. Also important, mastering typically occurs in an acoustically designed critical listening environment. It’s amazing what kinds of problems can be revealed and then fixed in a whisper-quiet, great-sounding mastering room. Lastly, most successful mastering engineers employ über-expensive and phenomenal sounding audio equipment. While your DAW may provide plug-ins designed for mastering, they cannot compete with the sound of a ten thousand dollar analog equalizer. Just running a mix through gear of this quality can make a mix sound better.

Mixing Once a song has been tracked, overdubbed upon, and edited to perfection, mixing commences. Mixing is the process of combining individual elements of a multitrack recording into a single stereo mix. Traditionally considered a discrete step in the production process, mixing often involves a new engineer and/or studio. These specialized engineers, called “mixers”, can bring both new perspective and sonic expertise to a project. Not all records involve a separate mixing stage, though. One advantage to DAW-based production is that the mix can evolve over time. Many producers can now mix as they go, and little time is required in the end to create the finished product. As both a technical and creative act, mixing can be approached in many ways. Some engineers are speedy and instinctive, and others are slow and methodical. Sonic

It was in the 1990s, with the move to workstation-based production, that editing grew into its modern role. It is rare to see an album recorded today without some post-recording fixes.
manipulation is the norm, including judicious use of equalization, compression, and volume automation to control mix elements and bring out what is important. Effects such as reverb and delay are also commonplace, helping set the aesthetic the artist, producer, and mixer desire. As with every other stage in the recording process, mixing has changed dramatically in the face of inexpensive digital technology. Not long ago, mixing required use of a professional studio, as a large console and piles of expensive outboard gear were necessary to achieve a great-sounding product. This has largely changed, due to the introduction of powerful personal computers and high quality plug-ins. It is now possible to mix entirely in a computer, or “in the box” as it is commonly called. Traditionalists balk at this idea, praising the merits of vintage analog gear. Both approaches can achieve great results, providing the engineer knows what he or she is doing. Perhaps the greatest issues related to mixing in less-than-pro studios are limitations in acoustic design and treatment. Professional facilities, especially those designed from the ground up, typically surpass home and
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Replication, duplication, and internet distribution Following the creation of the master disc, a music project can take several directions. Those wanting to release a high-quality compact disc will send the master to a CD plant for replication. Replication is the process in which CDs are created in a physical stamping process. The alternative method of CD creation is duplication, and this is the same as burning a CD-R on a consumer computer or standalone recorder. While duplication is cheap and easy, burnt CD-Rs tend to be both more fragile and more prone to data errors than replicated discs. Thus duplication is usually only used for short run projects of minimal number or by those self-burning on a budget. Once physical discs are created, distribution for sale can occur in variety of ways, depending on the budget and size of the label or other entity behind the project. Distribution is outside the scope of this article, and will be left for another day. Wrapping up this overview of modern record production, it should be mentioned how much distribution, just like every other aspect of the recording process, has changed in the face of inexpensive digital technology. In today’s record business nearly all projects, regardless of budget and/or label affiliation, end up for sale by Internet retailers such as iTunes and Amazon. Preparation for iTunes is easy and anyone can do it with minimal effort. This said, most independent artists employ an aggregator to do the work for them. Aggregators are companies that specialize in placing independent music on a variety of web sites simultaneously. Aggregators serve a critical role in the modern record business by enabling international distribution to independent artists. While the Internet, home recording, and changes in music styles may have killed the video star, now anyone can make, record, and distribute their own music. Eric Ferguson (ferguson@recordingmag.com) spent a dozen years as a freelance audio engineer in Los Angeles, and is now on the faculty of the New England School of Communications (NESCOM) in Bangor, ME.

Recording - July 2012

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