Practical Mastering

Introduction
Setting the scene on a practical level.
Why engage in mastering?
What can users expect to achieve from using their own equipment.
What is mastering?
Why self-master?
History of Mastering:
The early days
Original Media - The need for dynamic containment
Cutting
pre-mastering
creative mastering
the CD age
Through the 90's to 00's - Louder....louder....louder > > >
The future holds...

Mastering Tools
Professional Mastering v. Project Studio Mastering
Professional Studio: (as scene setter)
DAW
A/D D/A
Monitoring
Desk|
Single Processing|
Project Studio Mastering: (this should be about how to improve your studio to some extent, as well as the equipment you need to master effectively)
DAW
Digital processing (plug-ins)
Analogue processing
Monitoring
Acoustic treatment

Mastering
(Step-by-step guide to the key processes in mastering - from which the authors will explore in more detail in the rest of section 2. It's important the reader understands the whole picture first, before we deal with the specifics.)
Source material & File Formats
Source Material
quality of
dynamic range
spread of frequencies and energy
mastered already?
Source material musically
Making an assessment
per track
per album
File Formats
types
bit depth
sample frequencies
Pre-mastering processing
Editing and Compilation
Codes and specifications

DAW and Plug-in Comparison
(A DAW comparison - looking at the methods involved in using range of standard DAWs for mastering. Applies chapter 2 in context of main apps. This sets the scene for the application in the following chapters).
Logic/Waveburner
Cubase
Pro Tools
Reason
Ableton

Redefining Timbre
Equalisation
Multiband Compression
Exciters
Distortion & Other Effects

Controlling Dynamics
Single band
Multiband
other techniques

Creating & Managing Loudness
techniques to improve loudness
Techniques such as parallel compression, productions strategies, limiting, Inflation and Enhancement, role of frequency in loudness, auditory perception of loudness, and so on.

Editing
Track editing
Fades, crossfades and cuts.
Programme editing
timings, gap lengths etc.

Making a Product
Creating a master
Using Codes
ISRC, UPC/EAN, PQ sheets and how to register these with PPL and so on
Track names
discussion about CD TEXT and pros and cons.
Formats
CD-A
DDPi
Delivery
FTP versus DVD
Others

Knowledgebase - Listening is Key
All you need is Listening
How we listen
audio theory placed in context with listening.
the ear
the brain
the auditory system
Decibels and Hertz!
Monitoring systems and Setups

How to listen
Introduction
Macro (holistic) versus micro listening
Listening - Music versus Sound
discussion about switching between the musical engagement and simply the higher altitude listening of just the sound,
frequencies, timbres and their relationship to each other.
Listening Analysis
Listening Exercises/Examples