This week it all came together in one neat package – mastering. I can see why this job is generally left to professionals after I spent 4 hours yesterday manically tweaking compressors and EQ’s attempting to get every possible dB out of my mixdown. Obviously, mastering is a balancing act between totally squashing the dynamics out of the music and pumping up the volume and I think it’s important to keep in mind something that Luke told us in the context of mastering in MIDI studies, that is: the Genre Test. Some kinds of music need dynamic nuance far more than others; so dance music can probably suffer having the crap compressed out of it in the name of volume, where chamber music probably shouldn’t. I think also that one should keep in mind the final medium: what’s the point in maintaining a full dynamic range when the eventual playback medium won’t support it? Personally, I’m finding the mastering process frustrating and difficult but I presume that a degree of skill will come with practice. All of our assessment projects will have to undergo some form of mastering, I suppose.
References:
David Grice, Lecture, Sound Engineering Studio, 03/06/08
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