Welcome to Musical Cocktails' CD Mastering
This page will help you prepare for a mastering session and enable you to get the most out of the
session in the least amount of time. Mastering is the last creative process before your discs are
manufactured where the final sound and technical adjustments are made to the recording.
Mastering sets the final format and flow of a recording and generally includes adjustments to the relative
difference in volume and spacing of the tracks, the speed of fade outs, the overall dynamic and EQ of the
signal and setting the acoustical space of the music. All of these factors can have a dramatic influence
on how the final CD sounds and flows to the listener.
Mastering sessions typically last about 8 - 9 hours for a commercial release album depending upon the
number of tracks and mixes to be adjusted. Every project is different so give us as much information
before the session so we can best estimate the time required to accommodate you.
Preparing For Your Mastering Session (Handy Tips if you are making your recording in an
independant studio, by yourself or at a concert)
| Always make a safety copy | Preferably on different recording media or format | |
| Record some ambience | The room tone is essential with most classical, jazz and live recordings, instead of fading to digital silence we can fade to the room sound. This gives your recording a more natural feel. | |
| Record applause if the recording is live | This should be recorded with the same microphone set up as the music, so that the overall perspective and size of location sound matches up. | |
| Compress individual tracks rather than the entire mix. | If you have recorded in a small studio with limited numbers of compressors and effects processors, it is much better to use these to control individual tracks at mix-down rather than the overall mix. | |
| Try to get 4 versions of the final mix. | If your recording has vocals or other solo parts then this can be a life saver if for any reason your tape breaks or final mix won’t run). a) Complete final mix b) Backing track without lead vocal c) Backing track without any vocals d) Just vocals |
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| Documentation, YES, PLEASE DO IT | we love this stuff, especially if you won't be attending. Please include: | |
| a) Labels for All Discs / Tapes | Include which make and type of machine recorded on, any type of Noise Reduction or format specific settings etc. | |
| b) The name of pieces, tracks etc. | if there is more than one version please note which one is the final master. Include location times / points where possible | |
| c) Required Track Info | Please note for example: Mix #1 Vocal Up +2dB, Guitar Solo in bar 25 match vocal level etc. this information is most helpful and can save a huge amount of time |
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| d) Decide beforehand the order of the tracks | Where possible do a rough track order scheme and listen to it, so you have heard the pieces in the order they will be mastered in. (If you do this please send us a copy in advance, it can save us time) | |
| e) For recordings with different tempo pieces and different genres, estimate beforehand how big the gaps should be between tracks | Most recordings have some kind of uniformity, but this can be governed by the mood changes or number of movements to a given piece of music. i.e Classical pieces with 3 or 4 movements before the next programmatic piece | |
| Advise us in advance, which format(s) your recording is coming in on | This ensures that we have everything ready to run from the start of the session | |
| Supplying Digital Formats | Record at 24bit sample rate whenever possible | |
| If working in a Digital Audio Workstation save your mixes as 24bit high resolution files on to CD-R and not 16bit audio files,( you do not want to truncate the last 8bits of data ), alternatively buy an external SCSI or Firewire drive copy your files to this and send the drive (you will get it back when the project is finished) This way you are giving us the highest quality audio possible from your project. | ||
| File formats we can accept: |
Broadcast Wave files (.WAV), BWF, AIFF,SDII, Pyramix, Augan OMX | |
| Tape formats we can accept: |
DA88 series 16-24bit Masterlink and ADAT (by prior arrangement) |
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| Sample resolutions we can accept: |
44.1kHz all the way to 192kHz | |