What is audio mastering? Basically, audio mastering is the last stage of song production where the quality of the audio enhances. Moreover, song mastering is the final touch up of the audio to make it ready to deliver in the work.
Whereas, song mixing is the best way to optimize and merging recording and editing recordings into a resultant mono, stereo, or surround sound result in sound recording and reproduction.
Are you a song producer and exploring the tabs to know about audio mastering? If surely, then by any chance you entered the right tab. This could be considered as your destination platform.
In the coming segments, you will get to know various things about song mastering. After that, this post will deliver an informative conclusion too.
Here we go!!
Steps For Audio Mastering
As it is the final stage of song mastering, it needs to be done properly, if you want to launch a pleasant audio. You can do your audio mastering appropriately just by following the below-mentioned steps.
Here they are!!
Find a silent place
To start the mastering process, firstly you need a quiet place for it. Since mastering is a complex procedure, it requires complete silence. In this process, you need to listen to each and every beat of the song. And you can not master it in a noisy place.
Complete mixing first
If you want to start the mastering process, you need to finish song mixing first, only then you are able to start audio mastering. If you believe that you can do mixing and mastering at the same time, then you are totally wrong. Mixing always comes before mastering, and audio mastering is the final step. You should walk step by step, do not try to skip any step, it can affect your audio.
Examine the Levels
Before you export your mix, check properly that there should be no clipping issues. When you’re mixing, digital distortion can be subtle, but when you’re mastering, all the small flaws in your mix become quite apparent.
Your Stereo Record Should Tumble Down
The next step is straightforward. Simply save your stereo track as a separate file. Keep one thing in mind that you should not change any setting when you are exporting the file. You should always keep the setting the same as it was during the time of audio mastering.
Take rest/break
When you are listening to the same stuff on loop, your ear gets tired. And you can make all the mistakes with the tired ears. So, you need to take a break of at least a day from it. There must be a good gap in between song mixing and audio mastering.
Because it is generally seen that, when you are tired, you get irritated, and you do not wish to work anymore. And it happens with the ears too. So, before exporting the track, take your break. And after your break, you can recheck your audio.
Import Your References into a New Project
Create a new project in which you can import your mix. Then, on a track beneath it, import your references. I’m going to jump on my soapbox and preach for a moment. One of the most important aspects of a great mix and master is the use of reference tracks.
You’ll need something to analyze your work against while you’re operating. Otherwise, you risk creating mix moves that sound fantastic in separation but fall flat when analyzed to other mixes in the serious reality.
Examine for the first time
It’s been some few days since you listened to your mix, if you gave yourself sufficient time. You’re approaching it with new ears. You should be the most honest with yourself at this point. On the first listen, you’ll pick up on 80% of the issues.
After you are ready to listen to your audio for the first time, the main thing that you should do is analyzing. You should not only enjoy your audio, but also make the notes of it, to analyze it properly.
Proper Analyzing
When you are done with creating the notes, then your next step is to analyze all the written stuff properly. After analyzing, you can think about the solutions of mistakes that you found in your analyzing. After that, you can donate your time to correct the stuff and make it ready to launch in the world.
Final Checking
Final check up is necessary in every field, so, you should listen to your mastered audio for minimum twice. It will help you in finding the pending mistakes, if there are any. Then you can correct them and move further to the last step, which is launching the song in the market.
Why Is Audio Mastering Vital?
There are a lot of factors which can influence you to go with audio mastering, but only a few major ones are described below.
Here they are!!
It raises broadcast sound volume unit
There’s still a misconception that mastering music is just about making a track as loud as possible. People assume that this is what is required in order for their music to compete with the competition.
This is no longer the case, thanks to the popularity of streaming sound, and the “loudness wars” are coming to an end. Streaming platforms now ask music to meet a certain classical based on a dynamic assessment tool known as LUFS.
Better experience for listeners
Audio mastering makes the audio much better as it was earlier. So, when people listen to a mastered song, they enjoy listening to it. Furthermore, if you’ve recorded an album at home, it’s likely that you’ve done it over a longer duration. You most likely didn’t track or mix all of your songs in the same way.
A Competitive Edge
Many indie musicians may not have the financial means to record their album in a high-end studio or have it professionally mixed. Instead, they end up completing the majority of the work on their own.
Nowadays, this is a fairly conventional technique to music production. As a result, going the extra mile and hiring a mastering engineer to put the final touch on a mix can really help you stand out from the crowd.
It’s a lot less expensive than traveling to a studio or hiring anyone to mix your song. The consequences, though, can have a significant effect on a rather indie-sounding music.
Online Mixing Mastering
You know what? You can do audio mastering and mixing online too. Although there are a plethora of platforms for online mixing mastering, Dash Mastering could be considered as one of the best studios. Since they provide services in both modes, online and offline. Moreover, they are showering their peak quality service with the experience of over 20 years.
Summer Up
In the end, if you want to do audio mastering by yourself, then there are a lot of applications, you can explore them to do so. However, if you don’t have any knowledge of mastering, then you should visit the music studios like Dash mastering.
Since they can enhance the quality of your audio and give it a sparkled final touch. There are two ways to get it done, either you can visit the studio, or ask them to do it and send it to you through the internet. You can go with any of the way.