No longer a ‘dark art’ performed by hermits in lab coats, the final stage of mastering is an essential topic that every computer musician should understand.
If you know what’s required to optimise the sonic quality of your music from the start, you’ll adapt your music-making strategies to suit. And if you want to master music yourself, you’ll be aware of the dos and don’t that the job demands, and avoid common mistakes such as two-bus ‘overcooking’ or mindless processing just for the sake of it.
That’s why, in this month’s cover feature and videos, we’ll reveal the must-know concepts, tools and techniques that help make a good mix great. Topics we’ll cover include…
The mastering mindset revealed
Using a dedicated DAW for mastering
Linear phase vs minimum phase EQ
Practical EQ techniques when mastering
M/S equalisation
The magic of two-bus compression
Saturation at the mastering stage
Multiband compression and dynamic EQ
Pro metering – VU, RMS, PPM, LUFS, BS.1770 and more
Roundup of the best metering plugins
Brickwall limiting and clipping
Mastering for CD, iTunes, Spotify, vinyl and YouTube
Dithering deconstructed
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