IMPACTFUL. CAPTIVATING. WARM. ENGAGING. LIVELY. POLISHED. MOVING. POWERFUL. MEMORABLE. SOOTHING. BRIGHT. FULL. RICH. EXCITING. MESMERIZING. UNIQUE. MUSICAL. NATURAL. BRILLIANT. SMOOTH. BOLD. TIMELESS. DYNAMIC. LOUD. PROUD.
[YOUR SONG]
MASTERING
ALL MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH PROFESSIONAL
MIXING VS MASTERING
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Mixing involves blending together all individual instruments, vocal tracks, and sound effects to achieve a sense of depth, width, and cohesion. A mix engineer uses a variety of audio processors like equalization, compression, reverbs, delays and many other effects on the individual elements within a song to achieve balance. Truly an art form all its own.
Mastering is focused on treating the song as a whole, not the individual elements within. It's ensuring that a song is played at the highest quality possible on all playback devices. Attentiveness and highly detailed listening paired with advanced processing techniques turn a great mix into an incredible listening experience through mastering.
Listen to the below examples to hear the differences between a mixed song and a mastered song.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
DAY TWO | CHURCH EDITION
Joshua Mayfield
Loud but no compression. That was Josh's main ask when he asked me to master his latest album. A difficult task, but not impossible. Luckily for me, he did a great job mixing the album, which definitely makes for easier mastering.
Another requirement for this project was seamless transitions between songs. Most of the 16 songs featured on this album flow directly from one to another without a break or fade. These precise song cuts were made toward the end of the mastering process. I've included three songs in the mastering sample provided, can you hear the song changes? Here's a hint, the third song fades out after a piano intro.
Josh and I have partnered on many projects now. Not only is he a talented drummer, he's also a great music producer. I highly recommend listening to this entire album and the rest of his catalog, featured appearances, and productions.
Here's the mastering chain I created for this album for those curious: starting with iZotope RX, I used clip gain to tame some of the loudest peaks. Also in RX, I performed adaptive phase rotation to center the waveforms before transferring to Pro Tools. Fabfilter Pro-Q 3 was added first to clean up some of the low rumbling on the sides. This was followed by two more EQs, the Dangerous Music BAX EQ to open up the top-end and a Manley Massive Passive for some low-mid control. I added width using the Ozone 10 Imager. Then for some saturation and thickness, I inserted the Ampex ATR-102 tape emulation by UAD. To achieve the desired loudness without compressing the mix, I used a Fabfilter Pro-L 2 limiter for the initial level boost. Next came Ozone for the Impact Module to get back some of the punch taken away by the limiter, a Dynamic EQ Module to control the mids, and the Maximizer Module for loudness and soft clipping. Lastly, another Pro-L 2 limiter to achieve final loudness and true peak limiting.
There is no other engineer I would trust more with my music or my brand. Sterling shows that he truly cares about your project by providing exceptional service that goes above and beyond. This guy lives and breathes audio. If you are looking for an engineer, STOP LOOKING and hit up Sterling Skye TODAY!!!
I Was Born To Love You: original song written by Ray LaMontagne
Co-Produced by One World Studios & Sterling Skye Sound
Recorded, Edited, Mixed & Mastered by Sterling Skye
Steve Kallenbach - Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Organ, Synth Strings
Sterling Skye - Acoustic Guitars
Alex Price - Bass, Lead Guitar
I WAS BORN TO LOVE YOU
Steve Kallenbach
Steve and I's unique rendition of Ray LaMontagne's I Was Born To Love You brings an energetic and uplifting spirit to this already incredible song.
The mastering process began during mixing. When I know that I'll be mastering my own mix I try to plan ahead. For this particular song, I mixed into a "glue" compressor and a limiter so I could hear and manage how the dynamics of the song would be affected before I got to mastering. I also performed some additional top-down mixing techniques that would be commonly found at the mastering stage such as broad EQ adjustments on the mix bus.
My mastering chain for this song started with some light mid/side compression with an Elysia Alpha Compressor. A Fabfilter Pro-Q 3 was used to reduce some of the mids before heading into the Oxford Inflator by Sonnox for some overall thickness. I used the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor for some color and level boost. Next was iZotope Ozone for some additional mid-frequency control with the Dynamic EQ Module. I also used the Maximizer Module in Ozone for a significant boost in loudness before hitting the last plugin, a Fabfilter Pro-L 2 for final levels and true peak limiting.
PEAK INTO THE PROCESS
- MASTERING AN ALBUM? -
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