I just watched this interview with Mastering Engineer Greg Calbi on the subject of the Loudness Wars. It turns to a bit of a rant but he makes a lot of sense. I think my own mastering skills just improved having watched this.
If you have the time, spend some time on YouTube and watch some more of the interviews with him.
.
.
Ian Shepherd (ProductionAdvice.co.uk) is organizing a Dynamic Range Day in protest of the Loudness Wars that have been going in recent years in the industry.
Join us in a day of protest against the CD “Loudness Wars” – more info below
More info here: Dynamic Range Day
Mastering is a dark and mysterious magic, becoming a Mastering Engineer involves a dedication to the dark arts and eating a goat’s head.
Actually, that’s not true, though sometimes it seems that way.
Mastering is the final step in the creation of an album before duplication. Mastering is all about the big picture, how the collection of songs works together as an album, and getting the album to sound good on most systems, from HI-FIs to iPods. Mixing is taking a bunch of tracks and making it sound great, Mastering is taking those great mixes and making them even better. It’s the final step of sonic correction and sonic enhancement.
