Audio Mastering

Audio Mastering is an extremely popular and scientific means of transferring and preparing recorded audio from the source to the data storage device, referred as the master. The process is mainly applied in the post production stages and involves high end sound processing techniques. The Audio Mastering process has experienced a series of transformations which started from the 1950s until the advent of digital recording in the late 1970s. During this stage the studio recording was completed in multi-track tapes and the final mix of the source was dubbed and prepared to the master tape in single or mono track form. Before cutting the master disc, the tape underwent electronic treatments which were performed by specialized mastering engineers. As days passed this technique became more popular and during the pop music boom Audio Mastering became a sought after profession.

During the 1990s the digital technology came into prominence and largely superseded the different electro- mechanical processes that were practiced before. DAW or Digital Audio Workstation became the new popular technique. The main purpose of DAW is to manipulate the recorded audio via the GUI or Graphical User Interface. It combines various high quality audio hardware and multi track software for Analog-to-Digital conversions or vice versa.

In comparison to an ordinary recording studio, an audio Mastering Studio is quite different i.e. it is equipped with more modern amenities. An audio Mastering Studio consists of various equipments like large consoles and monitoring devices that are required by the mastering engineers for various purposes.

The main processes by which the source is processed include equalization, compression, limiting and noise reduction. After getting rendered to a CD or DVD format, the source material undergoes track sequencing in the Mastering Studio. In the next level of mastering, tasks such as editing, noise reduction, fading in and out, leveling, signal restoration and pre-gapping are performed.

Besides the above processes, the Audio Mastering engineers also perform another important task i.e. the creation of a PMCD or Pre-Mastered Compact Disc. This is one of the important step that is followed in Music Mastering. Here the cohesive material gets transferred to a master disc for mass replication. In general, Music Mastering techniques vary according to the needs. The main steps that are generally followed for Music Mastering are listed below.

•    First the audio tracks are transferred into the DAW format
•    The tracks are then sequenced
•    The audio is then sweetened / processed with analog and digital audio mastering gear and / or dedicated mastering software for maximizing the sound quality
•    Then the audio is transferred to the final master format

With the changing times audio mastering via internet, the so-called online mastering, has become extremely popular. This service is a new, simple and hassle free way to work with the mastering facility of your choice. To get a musical production mastered a customer just visits the website of an online audio mastering studio and creates an account on one of the companies’ servers. The user later uploads his audio projects directly into the mastering studio. The online mastering studio then masters the music professionally. Payment is done online and the final delivery of the masters is through download. It is as simple as that!

Online-Mastering.com, the web based mastering studio, was one of the first professional mastering facilites that entirely focussed on delivering high-end audio mastering services online. More Information visit- http://www.online-mastering.com