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Mastering Audio

Mastering Audio. What is Mastering?. “Making the master” - the definitive version from which all other copies will be made. The last step before duplication and distribution. End Goals of Mastering. Creating a cohesive unit out of many tracks (album mastering) Order of tracks

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Mastering Audio

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  1. Mastering Audio

  2. What is Mastering? • “Making the master” - the definitive version from which all other copies will be made. • The last step before duplication and distribution

  3. End Goals of Mastering • Creating a cohesive unit out of many tracks (album mastering) • Order of tracks • Spacing and transition between tracks • Consistent loudness across tracks • Consistent sonics between tracks • Sonic Maximization • Making it as sound as loud and as good as possible for the given delivery medium • Meeting delivery specifications

  4. Reasons to NOT master your own material • Fresh set of experienced ears • Mastering engineer knows his monitors and environment • Mastering rooms are calibrated • Mastering engineer is familiar with other material from same genre • Mastering engineer offers an unbiased perspective • You should not master in the same room where the project was mixed

  5. Tools of the trade • Equalizers • Compressors • Brickwall Limiters • Dither • Multiband compressors • M/S processors • MONITORING SYSTEM • ROOM

  6. Loudness • LKFS/LUFS – an RMS measurement over set periods of time • Momentary – instantaneous – simliar to VU meter • short-term – longer period of time than momentary • Integral – long term – over the course of an entire song, album, or program • In the future, most platforms will find this level and force the program to match a set level to make loudness consistent from one song to the next • LRA – Loudness Range measured in LU (equivalent of dB • Distance from softest to loudest LKFS, with top 5% and lowest 10% excluded

  7. Metering At the very least, you will need meters capable of showing LKFS and LRA readings. True Peak readings (to avoid inter-sample peaks) would also be advisable

  8. Brickwall Limiters • Set ceiling for maximum peak level, bring threshold down to boost level • Very useful tools, but easily abused • Can only exist in the digital realm • If including dither, should be very last thing in the chain

  9. Know your medium Mastering for one medium does not necessarily work for others; know the end goals and delivery requirements for each format • CD • High-Resolution • Lossy compression • Streaming • Itunes • YouTube • HD Television • Soundcloud

  10. Mastering for CD • Peak at -1.0 dBFS • Track indexes • ISRC codes • Table of contents • CD Text – titles, etc. • Unicode or ASCII? • DDP files

  11. Mastering for Lossy Algorithms • Don't deal with highs very well • Don't deal with hyper-compression very well • Feed highest quality possible for conversion • Use VBR encoding when possible • Higher kbps = less compression = better sound

  12. Broadcast/HDTV • Loudness measurements: • ATSC A/85 and EBU R128 • ITU BS.1770 • RMS can be used, but one must make sure it is correctly calibrated (sine wave at full-scale) • Dolby AC3 and Dialnorm • It’s the law!

  13. Dither • Used when going from higher bit-depth to lower one • Flat or noise-shaped • POW-r consortium • Make sure it's only applied once • Check your DAW's settings!

  14. Equalization • A little bit goes a long way • Small boosts or cuts in more places rather than large changes at a few frequencies • Different types of EQ • Analog or digital • Passive vs. active designs • Phase-linear designs • Can only be digital

  15. Compression • Attack and Release settings are key • Small ratios with lower thresholds • Aiming for only a few dB of reduction

  16. Prepping for mastering • Bring Highest Res you can • Don't over-compress or EQ your mix • Leave headroom • Have alternate mixes available • Vocals up or down; bass up or down; etc. • Stems are good too

  17. Mastered for iTunes (MFiT): • 24-bit LPCM; -1 dB TPP; ~16 LUFS Spec’s for spotify: • aim for -14 LUFS (integrated), -1 dB TPP • if louder than -14 LUFS, -2 dB TPP You need for YouTube: • -13 LUFS (?)

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