3632 replies to this topic

[patsyinclined]

I keep meaning to listen to some ORL at home (tunes pop into my head when I'm out walking) but here's me listening to Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift while I work.

hmmm I've been meaning to listen to Dua Lipa but usually end up listening to ORL instead.

[vacuumo]

til now i've never heard the difference between any masters or remasters. my impression of 'mastering' has been that it could just be subtle audiophile stuff that may or may not make a difference to anyone who isn't a musical wine taster.

 

i don't really care about metallica, but there's a clearly audible (to me) night/day difference between their badly and not-badly mastered stuff: 

 

(side note: what a bizarre song.)

 

that's neat. still, it only shows the difference between a bad job and a not bad job. i have no idea what the difference between a good master and a great master might sound like, so if anyone knows, then please point me the way.

 

til then, i remain apathetic of mastering and anticipate that there are only awful masters, that sound like blown out garbage, and adequate masters, that are basically true to what the thing sounded like before it was 'mastered'.

 

to come at it from another angle, i'm curious to know if mixing mastering is purely mechanical or if it entails any creativity. if it does entail creativity, then how?

 

edit: mastering, not mixing

[auxfnx]

til now i've never heard the difference between any masters or remasters. my impression of 'mastering' has been that it could just be subtle audiophile stuff that may or may not make a difference to anyone who isn't a musical wine taster.

 

i don't really care about metallica, but there's a clearly audible (to me) night/day difference between their badly and not-badly mastered stuff: 

 

(side note: what a bizarre song.)

 

that's neat. still, it only shows the difference between a bad job and a not bad job. i have no idea what the difference between a good master and a great master might sound like, so if anyone knows, then please point me the way.

 

til then, i remain apathetic of mastering and anticipate that there are only awful masters, that sound like blown out garbage, and adequate masters, that are basically true to what the thing sounded like before it was 'mastered'.

 

to come at it from another angle, i'm curious to know if mixing is purely mechanical or if it entails any creativity. if it does entail creativity, then how?

mixing entails deciding on the levels of each instrument, the tone each instrument has, what effects and processing they have, how prominent a role it plays in the piece etc, so it is a very creative process. mastering is taking a set of finished mixes, making them feel like they belong together on the same record and doing anything else that can be done to make it sound fuller / more powerful / crisper / correcting whatever the finished mix lacks or enhancing whatever it can have enhanced, along with preparing the album for analogue formats (for example, vinyl has certain standards with regards to what will sound good or bad when cut into the plastic and then reproduced by a needle) or preparing it for streaming or radio so it sounds good alongside other professionally  mixed and mastered music.

[Andrewf]

Mixing and editing is a very creative process and its got a huge role. Just compare original prog albums and remixes done by Steven Wilson. His mixes sound like stuff was recorded 5 years ago, not 50

[vacuumo]

sorry, i goofed. that post was supposed to be all about mastering: i meant to say "i'm curious to know if mastering is purely mechanical". 

 

auxfnx, thank you. this isn't your job, but i think i would need more different descriptions/examples of each of those things to understand them, as i still don't feel like i understand:

• "making them feel like they belong together on the same record"

• "doing anything else that can be done to make it sound fuller / more powerful / crisper / correcting whatever the finished mix lacks or enhancing whatever it can have enhanced"

• special considerations for vinyl mastering

• special considerations for digital mastering

[broccoli bro]

Historically mastering meant creating the „master“ from which all the copies (vinyl, CD, tapes) are produced by duplication. The master was usually a mono or stereo tape (today it’s a digital file) and its source, the final mix (last creative process) was a multi-track tape.

Mastering doesn‘t change the „sound“, but the „power“ of a recording. Mastering engineers apply subtle EQ, compression to the track as a whole and turn the master volume up with skill and finesse. The goal is to optimize the sound translation of the final mix on all playback systems. It‘s like scaling up a picture without making changes to the colors or aspect ratio. It‘s the same picture, just bigger. Seek out unmastered versions of professionally released music you know. It will basically be the same track, but will feel less professional and less powerful.

[Mataxia]

Yeah mastering basically consists of normalization (adjusting song volumes in relation to each other), EQ, and compression (so the overall volume can be raised without clipping). Because EQ is also a part of mastering, it can still be somewhat of a creative process, and technically mastering CAN make the music sound very different. But usually you want to get the music to sound as close to your vision as possible during the mixing stage, and then the mastering process shouldn’t change much.

[kev821]

Master! Master!

[issordni]

Master! Master!

 

Yes, babygirl?

 

[Andrewf]

Yeah mastering basically consists of normalization (adjusting song volumes in relation to each other), EQ, and compression (so the overall volume can be raised without clipping). Because EQ is also a part of mastering, it can still be somewhat of a creative process, and technically mastering CAN make the music sound very different. But usually you want to get the music to sound as close to your vision as possible during the mixing stage, and then the mastering process shouldn’t change much.

Fanmade remasters done with aranas sound better than the original album

[brucef]

 

Yeah mastering basically consists of normalization (adjusting song volumes in relation to each other), EQ, and compression (so the overall volume can be raised without clipping). Because EQ is also a part of mastering, it can still be somewhat of a creative process, and technically mastering CAN make the music sound very different. But usually you want to get the music to sound as close to your vision as possible during the mixing stage, and then the mastering process shouldn’t change much.

Fanmade remasters done with aranas sound better than the original album

 

No puedo estar mas de acuerdo con esto

[vacuumo]

thanks, broc and mataxia.

[kev821]

Master! Master!

Yes, babygirl?

https://images.app.g...1XuWZtBHifZr4P7