From
Making Music to Making Masters Adapted from Disc Makers' Guide
to Making a Great Master.
The process of transforming
your musical ideas into a finished product that you can share with
others involves a series of steps leading from the original recording
sessions through to the delivery of your packaged CDs. Because the
choices you make at each step affect the quality of your final product,
familiarizing yourself with this process will help ensure the best
possible results for your project.
Recording involves capturing instrumental and vocal sounds (using
microphones or direct inputs), and storing them either on digital
or analog tape, or on a stand-alone or computer-based Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW). Some recordings are made direct to stereo, but
the vast majority are multi-tracked, meaning that the different instruments
are recorded and stored individually.
Digital Audio Workstations
A DAW is an integrated device for recording, mixing, editing, and
even mastering audio. A DAW may be an all-in-one studio workstation
device, or may be computer-based, using one or more software programs
and additional installed hardware. With each passing year, DAWs are
becoming an increasingly common home studio option or rehearsal room
fixture used to create live recordings on the fly.
All DAWs are actually built around a computer. In a studio workstation
the computer is built-in, along with a hard-disk recorder, mixer,
effects, and CD-burning tools. The tight integration of a studio workstation’s
components, and the fact that all of its hardware is optimized for
recording, means that a studio workstation can offer simplicity without
sacrificing power.
A computer-based DAW is a standard personal computer with an added
audio input/output interface, a hard disk for storing audio data,
and a recording/mixing/editing software package. Like most areas involving
computers, DAWs have become more powerful and affordable in the past
few years.
With a high-quality interface and analog-to-digital converters, DAWs
can record digital audio with the same fidelity as the best stand-alone
digital recorders. But a DAW is more than just a recorder.
Once your tracks are recorded, DAWs offer a single working environment
for all your subsequent production tasks, including mixing and master
assembly.
Mixing is the art of blending individually recorded sounds through
a console or on a DAW, controlling the level and pan (stereo speaker
placement) of each sound to create a final mix of your song. Mixes
may either be recorded to CD-R or stored on the hard drive of a DAW.
Depending on the features, DAWs allow you to:
• enhance individual tracks with reverb, EQ, compression and
digital signal processing using either built-in or third-party software
tools.
• edit tracks while looking at a display of the actual waveform
on screen, cutting and pasting individual pieces of music to create
the exact arrangement you want.
• mix the tracks into a final stereo version using a virtual
on-screen mixer that in some cases allows automation.
• pre-master your mixes, optimizing the final overall program
level of a group of songs, adjusting the relative (song-to-song) levels,
and enhancing the sound of the mixes with EQ, compression and/or other
built-in or third-party processing;
• create a playlist of the mixed masters that you want on your
album, including fade-ins, fade-outs and the duration of the spreads
(silence between tunes), and
• record that playlist to CD-R.
Master assembly
Master assembly means editing a collection of individual song mixes
into a complete master that flows in the desired order and with the
desired amount of space between songs. Due to the ease and control
offered by digital waveform editing, digitally recorded songs are
frequently compiled on a DAW, with the material then transferred in
assembled form to a recordable CD (CD-R) or a digital master tape.
Pre-mastering/mastering are the links between the production process
and the manufacturing facility where copies will be made. A post-production
house like Disc Makers’ SoundLab™ performs professional
mastering services to add the final touches to your recordings. During
pre-mastering and mastering, overall program level is set, as well
as song-to-song or relative levels. EQ, compression, and other digital
or analog processing may be used to optimize the material for playback
in the listening environment of the customers who buy the end product
(i.e. home stereo or car). Once optimized, the resulting program is
transferred to a Production Master for the plant to make the actual
copies.
A master is the result of months of hard work, many dollars spent,
and represents an irreplaceable artistic expression that cannot be
described in monetary terms. Certainly the care of this master deserves
as much consideration as was given the creation of the entire project.
Transporting and storing a master
It is absolutely critical that a safety copy be made of your master
before you ship or deliver it anywhere. CDs and tapes can easily be
damaged or lost during shipping and handling. A safety copy is a small
price to pay to preserve your irreplaceable performances. If you are
working on a DAW, you can also protect your work by backing up your
entire session for each song on a removable medium such as a data
CD or DVD, or on a backup hard drive.
When transporting or shipping a master CD, take care to pack it securely
in a box instead of a simple CD mailer. This can help ensure that
the CD isn’t cracked or otherwise damaged during shipping. Use
plenty of padding to make the CD’s journey as shock-free as
possible.
Precautions for storing CD-Rs are often marked on the packaging of
blank CD-R media. CD-Rs should never be left in direct sunlight or
for long periods of time in hot, humid locations (like inside a car
on a hot day).
Analog or digital tapes should be clearly marked and boxed whenever
they are not on or in a tape deck.
