How should I prepare for mastering to get the best results ? It’s one of the things we get asked most often, and it often seems like the answers are really straightforward. But then you record a 50-minute podcast answering the question and realise maybe it’s not quite as simple as it seems, once you get into the details...

(And even if you’re planning to master your own music, keep listening - almost all these points still apply !)

In this show we cover topics like:

* Seven deal-breaking mistakes that can halt the mastering process in it’s tracks - before it’s even started
* The best file format to use for exporting your mixes
* How to send files - is it safe to “zip" audio ?
* Dynamics for mastering
* What can (and can’t) be fixed in mastering 
* Ian’s "Mastering Maxim” for getting the best results when working with a mastering engineer

The Mastering Show #33 -  Before Mastering

This is the show where we cover all aspects of mastering. If you're interested in mastering, want to learn how to get better results mastering your own music, or even want to be a mastering engineer, this is the show you want to hear.

Music

You can't go a day without someone telling you how loud your music should be, these days.

"Everything has to be -8 LUFS"
"EDM has to be -6 LUFS or louder"
"-11 is the perfect balance"
"Just master everything to -14"

...but they can't all be right !

In fact, none of them are, and even more importantly, they may not even be talking about the same thing. And the differences are really important. So in this episode I try explain really clearly and concisely:

    The 3 different types of LUFS
    The difference between them
    Why it’s crucial to know which type you’re talking about
    Why mastering to integrated targets makes no sense
    When -14 LUFS isn’t loud enough – and why ?
    Why it’s not about ‘how loud’, it’s about how you make it loud
    Why integrated LUFS values are the result, not the goal of mastering


Full show notes on our website
https://themasteringshow.com/episode-92

The Mastering Show Podcast #92 - These are not the LUFS you are looking for

It’s virtually impossible that you haven’t heard music of some kind mixed by Alan Meyerson by this point - he’s one of the most prolific and successful film score mixers in the business.

And luckily for us, he’s also super-generous and open about the information he shares, including his perspectives on mixing and ‘mastering’ music for the movies. So in this episode we dig deep into all the details, including topics like:
* Is there really such a thing as ‘mastering’ for film ?
* What needs to be delivered, and what is the process ?
* How loud does it need to be - are there any standards ?
* When does Alan deliver mixes in Atmos, and why ?
* How he uses the centre channel and surround channels
* Why you might want to use saturation or pitch-shifting (!) in a movie score mix

Show notes

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-91

The Mastering Show # 91 - Mixing and mastering music for the movies with Alan Meyerson

Everyone is talking about inter-sample peaks and True Peak limiters - or in fact it’s more accurate to say they’re arguing about whether ISPs are audible or not, and whether True Peak limiters sound bad !

In this episode I’m joined by Alexey Lukin, iZotope’s “godfather of RX”, to talk in detail about exactly what ISPs are and why they’re so confusing - including:

 * How are inter-sample peaks measured, and why do you see different results with different meters ?
 * What are DSP overshoot peaks, and how are they different ?
 * What does over-sampling have to do with all this, and why is it important ?
 * Do True Peak limiters really sound bad, and how should we test them ?
 * Why will they NOT prevent lossy decoder clipping, sometimes ? And
 * What the hell are we supposed to do about all this ?!?

The Mastering Show #90 - Inter-sample peaks and True Peak limiting - the devilish details

If you’re not already listening to Matt Boudreau’s fantastic podcast Working Class Audio, you need to start now !

Matt is a highly respected mixing and mastering engineer who has recently moved into working in Dolby Atmos, where he’s already picked up some seriously impressive credits - oh, and also produces one of the top Audio podcasts around.

Which is why if I try to think of anyone better to learn the fundamentals of good audio for podcasting and journalism from… well, I can’t. And the great news is that Matt has put together a new “PodClass” course to help people with just that.

In this episode we talk about the course and what inspired it, but also plenty of other great stuff, including

    Making the move from pro musician to audio engineer
    Getting started in Atmos - workflow, dynamics and more
    Work-Life balance - is it better to be a lark, or a night-owl ?
    The secret advantages of running your own podcast...
    …and the crucial importance of great audio (And what it has to do with COVID lockdowns !)


Enjoy - and if you want to try Matt’s course, make sure to use the discount code TMS to get a 30% discount and help support The Mastering Show at the same time !

The Mastering Show #89 - Sonic Fundamentals for Podcasters with Matt Boudreau

DJs get a lot of flak, especially about loudness. There’s a deep-seated belief that “loud” masters are still a requirement for club music, and that DJs are somehow to blame. 

But is this fair ? The reality is much more complicated and interesting than the popular cliche that DJs will only play loud masters, and in this episode Ian dives deep into the issue with Joe Caithness, who works as both a DJ and a mastering engineer. Topics include:

    The reality of DJ-ing
    The problem with peaks
    Loudness ? Or consistency ?
    The power of Pioneer
    The shocking missed opportunity of loudness metadata
    The ‘sound’ of loudness

And much more !

Full shownotes on our site
https://themasteringshow.com/episode-88

The Mastering Show #33 - Before Mastering

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