16 Jun
2003
16 Jun
'03
4:25 p.m.
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)