This is where the confusion begins. Since both the
production and release are digital, requiring far less
adjustments in sound to fit another medium, it has led to
some young engineers and musicians claiming Mastering to
be the holy grail of creative processes in music production
and a promise of miraculous improvement in sound. The
truth is, if the performance, recording and mix were not up
to the mark, no amount of Mastering ingenuity can save
the sound or bring it to magical new heights. If indeed the
performance and engineering were of quality, Mastering
should mostly be a technical process of bringing down a
high resolution digital product to a low resolution one that
can be played back on consumer systems. The reduction
of resolution is not a creative process, but a technical one,
Fig. (Gradient banding on the due to reduction in
resolution)
Similarly in the audio industry, studios record at
resolutions as high as 96kHz 24Bit, but the final release will
be at 44.1kHz 16Bit. Reduction in sampling rate can cause
some frequencies to appear blocky and reduction in bit rate
causes a loss of dynamic range. To mask these artefacts
caused by downsampling, dithering is applied during the
Mastering process.
Applying equalization and compression to a Master buss
is common but its use should mainly be to counteract the
negative effects of the Mastering Limiter. Using these tools
which thanks to today’s advanced coding and technologies,
is an automated process.
Let’s take digital images for example. A professionally
shot photograph will have an extremely high resolution of
around 300 dpi. But when this image is sent in for print to a
magazine or a newspaper, the resolution has to be reduced
to 150 dpi or even less. This drastic reduction of resolution
causes gradient banding and colour loss as now there are
lesser pixels available for each colour. The image also has
to be converted from RGB mode to CMYK as printers use
CMYK cartridges. The image needs to be prepared for a
change in medium, that is from digital screen to paper.
Processes like ‘dithering’ and ‘de-saturation’ help mask the
visual distortions caused by digital downsizing and make the
image print ready for the consumer market.
to compensate for a muddy mix or wanting performances
will more often than not yield a product that will clearly
sound manipulated and unnatural. If you’re unhappy with
the mix, get the mix engineer to solve it, not the mastering
engineer.
Having said that, Mastering can have creative possibilites
and add that little extra ‘oomph’. After all, a different pair
of experienced ears will always help, but an artist should
never undermine the importance of performance and
good engineering practices in the hopes that a benevolent
Mastering engineer will make everything alright.
--Mukul Jain (Chief Engineer, Proprietor at Ferris Wheel Studios)
The
Score Magazine
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