ABSTRACT

Audio Mastering: Separating the Science from Fiction is an ideal guide to tangible development as a mastering engineer. This book offers a comprehensive overview of mastering processes, teaching the reader to link critical listening skills with analysis to comprehend the processing required to improve the quality of their audio.

Whether involved in game audio, composing for film and television, producing rock or programming EDM, the aesthetics required to manipulate and assess audio for mastering are a highly valuable addition to any artist or engineer's skill set. Audio Mastering encourages readers to engage in personal analysis and, in doing so, contextualise their evaluations by linking to appropriate and available processing tools. Discussion of processing conventions and theory are included to help readers create an effective audio chain utilising the best properties from each process, as well as practical examples and additional online resources to support development of skilled processing control.

This is a thorough and practical textbook for audio engineers, artists, producers and students on music production, music technology and music performance courses, and for aspiring and developing mastering engineers.

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|4 pages

What is mastering... really?

chapter 2|13 pages

Enabling analysis

chapter 3|17 pages

The monitor path

chapter 4|13 pages

Looking to the mix

chapter 5|15 pages

Analysis

Constructive, comparative and corrective

chapter 6|13 pages

Mastering tools

chapter 7|18 pages

Equalisation and tonal balance

chapter 8|17 pages

Dynamic processors and tonal balance

chapter 9|12 pages

Contextual processing analysis

chapter 10|11 pages

The transfer path

chapter 11|15 pages

Practical approach to dynamic controls

chapter 12|22 pages

Practical approach to dynamic processing

chapter 13|14 pages

Practical approach to equalisation

chapter 14|15 pages

Navigating loudness

chapter 15|14 pages

Bring it all together

Engaging in mastering

chapter 16|18 pages

Restrictions of delivery formats

chapter 17|8 pages

What's next?