I would (and did) start off with texts on general mastering, as they go
a long way towards explaining what mastering is and isn't. A "reference"
room and monitor speakers are usually considered essential. I once sat
in a million-dollar mastering room in Montreal, the kind of thing which
was triple-insulated, suspended from the frame of the building, sound
baffles everywhere, all the computers locked in soundproof boxes, looked
like the starship enterprise, so quiet you could hear a pin drop...and
saw that their main mastering tool was actually an elegantly simple
little 3-band compressor (that probably cost as much as a house!!!).
Most people can't reproduce or even access places like this, but it did
make me think about the environment one masters in, the environment one
masters _for_, as well as the environment(al sounds) one masters.
_Mixing_ is about getting it to sound the way you want it to in your
studio. Mastering is mostly about making it sound as good as possible
under most circumstances outside your studio. Think about how it will
sound everywhere from the million-dollar-room to the living room hifi,
the boombox in the garage and the car stereo...and yes perhaps even the
IPod's headphones. Only one listener in a thousand (at best) is an
audiophile, and once those recordings go out your door, you can't tell
people how to play them...up to and including compressing them to MP3
and listening to them on the bus on the way to work.
Some nature recordists abhor compression. I use it quite often (in small
quantities) to highlight the specific sound events which I want people
to hear in the mix. In other words, to bring the subject out from it's
acoustic background a bit. Others will tell you it's unnatural, because
it upsets the "natural" sound balance they recorded. The choice is
yours, but I know that my recordings can stand up to a number of
questionable situations (cheap headphones, crappy club PA, MP3
compression, etc) and still sound OK. Keep in mind I take a bit of
artistic freedom with my recordings, and often use them as the basis for
sound artworks and live improvisations. If you are mastering "straight"
nature recordings, or emphasizing the entire acoustic environment or one
particular aspect of it, you might opt for a more neutral approach.
Ruminations aside, Bob Katz's "Mastering Audio" book is considered the
textbook for those starting to get into mastering. Easily found on Amazon..=
.
best,
d.
Andy Wilson wrote:
> i'd like to think about how to properly master location recordings for
> release on, eg., CD. Afaik, I have some good software to help with this
> (WaveLab Studio). However, as for the art, as opposed to the technology,=
> of the mastering process, I have very little to go on, as most texts on
> the subject are about how to master recorded music rather than natural
> sounds, wildlife, etc.
>
> can anyone point me at a good text or give me any useful pointers?
--
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 200:
"How would you explain this to your parents?"
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