The final stage in a project, mastering prepares your collection
of music for the best overall sound in its final medium . Not only
can you polish what is already there, but also in many cases you can correct problems
that can only be addressed with the kind of control good mastering provides. A project
that has been mastered simply sounds better. It adds cohesion to your project, pulling
together the overall impact of your collection of songs. Mastering is the definitive
watermark of a professional quality project - no matter what style of music.
If the best masters could be made by anyone who has a simple software
plug-in, or from an "all-in-one-mastering box" device, then that is what all the best-sounding
recordings would be using. In reality, there is good reason that competent mastering
engineers don't just all have the same magic black box. A variety of special EQ, dynamics,
and digital-conversion tools are used as necessary, and more importantly they must be
used correctly . "Chops" for mastering are not bought; they are earned from
years of recording experience and thousands of hours working with the right tools.
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