What is Mastering?
Mastering is Dark Magic. Mastering is the term most commonly used to refer to the process of taking an audio mix and preparing it for distribution. There are several considerations in this process: unifying the sound of a record, maintaining consistency across an album, and preparing for distribution. This is the last creative step in the production process. Mastering your project at The TreeCave is the difference between having a few good sounding tracks and making your tracks sound like 'a record'.
Mastering is Dark Magic. Mastering is the term most commonly used to refer to the process of taking an audio mix and preparing it for distribution. There are several considerations in this process: unifying the sound of a record, maintaining consistency across an album, and preparing for distribution. This is the last creative step in the production process. Mastering your project at The TreeCave is the difference between having a few good sounding tracks and making your tracks sound like 'a record'.
Before and After Music Samples
2020
Artist: Hopper
Song: Lonely On A Building Side |
2022
Artist: Gill Moss
Song: Breakdown Lane |
2019
Artist: Marios Nicolaides Trio
Song: Pray |
2019
Artist: XR-TABS
Song: She Lives In Self Central |
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Why Not Master My Own Mixes?
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To effectively navigate this realm you'll need a practitioner of the Dark Arts... Mastering music requires a different listening technique than mixing. Mixing focuses on the exact balances and tone of individual multi track recordings. The mastering engineer approaches the project BOTH objectively AND holistically making tweaks which enhance the entire track or overall project using both analog and digital tools.
What About Online Services?
"CD Makers Cloud Camp-Dar charges $10 a song to master, why should I pay more to work with a Mastering Engineer?" Imagine this...you just spent a year of your life building a house and now that it's time do the finishing work (trim, paint, treatments, and furniture) you go to a 'big box store' and pick a page out of their catalogue. It may look photogenic, but would it be comfortable?
There is no silver bullet, no magic plugin, no standard piece of equipment or algorithm that will work in all situations on every project. The ability of the mastering engineer to determine what is needed, and then pick the best combination of tools is more important than the tool or service that is used....
"CD Makers Cloud Camp-Dar charges $10 a song to master, why should I pay more to work with a Mastering Engineer?" Imagine this...you just spent a year of your life building a house and now that it's time do the finishing work (trim, paint, treatments, and furniture) you go to a 'big box store' and pick a page out of their catalogue. It may look photogenic, but would it be comfortable?
There is no silver bullet, no magic plugin, no standard piece of equipment or algorithm that will work in all situations on every project. The ability of the mastering engineer to determine what is needed, and then pick the best combination of tools is more important than the tool or service that is used....