[linux-audio-user] Mastering; Rezound, fir filter, digital clipping

Paul Winkler pw_lists at slinkp.com
Mon Jun 16 14:26:01 EDT 2003


On Mon, Jun 16, 2003 at 09:24:01AM -0700, Mark Knecht wrote:
> I think one point that is getting overlooked by a few folks here is that
> often the tracks on a commercial CD are not done on the same tools, or even
> in the same studio. They may not be done by the same tracking engineer, or
> the same mixing engineer. One may be done in London and another in LA, all
> using different people, with each track having it's own sound and
> characteristics.
> 
> A major task of the mastering engineer is to put all of this together into a
> final product that sounds consistent and works together. The mental tools,
> and ears, required to do that are potentially quite different than those
> used to get the tracks on disk...

Indeed. The last CD that my band recorded was done in 2 very different
studios:

A) 48-track DA-88 studio with tracking engineer Shari and mixing
engineer Dave.

B) 16-track 2" analog / 24-track ProTools hybrid studio with 
tracking & mixing engineers Mike & 

as you'd imagine, the resulting tracks were quite different.
The transitions between A and B on the released CD are quite smooth
and not at all obvious - you have to listen closely to the drum
compression to notice which is 2" and which is DA-88, that makes
it obvious to my ears.

I own a CD by one of my favorite bands that was done in a similar
way, and the mastering engineer was asleep at the switch IMHO.
The two studios are night and day and the transitions are jarring.

-- 

Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
Look! Up in the sky! It's  ULTI IDEAS!
(random hero from isometric.spaceninja.com)



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