The Mastering Show

Another chance for us to catch up with some of the questions you’ve been asking us. In this episode we talk about:

* Bass - where does it start, where does it begin ?

* How to use an analyser to assess EQ balance

* When NOT to use an analyser to balance EQ and

* What to do instead

* Adding saturation in mastering - should you do this, and if so, how ?

* The most difficult projects we’ve each worked on

* How to extend an abrupt fade-out

Full show notes and links

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-46

Mentioned in this episode:

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Many of you will already know Jonathan from iZotope's excellent educational videos on mastering - he's also an experienced producer and recording engineer, head engineer at M-Works mastering (www.m-works.com), a lecturer at Berklee and has written a book on mastering. In this interview we talk about many different aspects of his career, including:

* The delights (and perils) of analogue tape

* Re-mastering David Bowie

* Digital mastering tools - and the risk of over-using them

* Humans versus machines in mastering (again) and

* Getting the best of both worlds

Full show notes and links

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-45

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

LUFS… WTF ?!?

(And why aiming for -14 isn’t the right answer for online loudness)

We talk about loudness all the time on this show, but how do you actually measure it ? How big is a “loudness unit”, and why are there three different kinds ? What does LUFS stand for, anyway ? How do you loudness match two files using LUFS measurements, and what free software can you use to get started ?

In this show we answer all these questions and more - plus Ian explains the simple technique he uses to optimise loudness for all the online streaming platforms, and why it isn’t about aiming for -14 LUFS.

If you find the show helpful, please share it with your friends, and leave us a rating and review : http://www.themasteringshow.com/review

Full show notes http://themasteringshow.com/episode-44

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Something a bit different to celebrate the festive season this week - we invited a group of cool audio guests to join us on the show, and asked each of them to bring a “gift” to fill an imaginary "Christmas Stocking” for you. So, you get a pile of cool, interesting and funny little treats to keep you amused in the run-up to christmas - or, just to amuse you, if you don’t celebrate it !

There are SO many great bits & pieces in this show, there’s sure to be something for everyone, we hope.

If you enjoy it, please leave us a rating and review : http://www.themasteringshow.com/review

Our guests on the show are:

Lij Shaw - from the Recording Studio Rockstars podcast

Mike Hillier - audio engineer and writer for Music Tech magazine

Sigurdór Guðmundsson - mastering engineer & mixer from Skonrokk Studio

Chris Selim from mixdown.online

Ian Stewart - mastering engineer & mixer

Matt Boudreau from the Working Class Audio podcast

Full show notes and links to everything we mentioned at:

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-43-xmas

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Can robots really master our music ? Kenny Gioia set up poll on Facebook to see, asking people to choose between six different masters of the same song - three by humans (John Longley, an anonymous engineer from Sterling Sound and Steven Slate) and three by machines (LANDR, Aria and iZoTope Ozone).

The great thing is, the test was blind, and loudness matched - so no-one knew which master they were listening to, and loudness didn’t influence the way the masters sounded.

And the results of the poll were fascinating. In this show Kenny reveals which master was which, and we discuss the results - including:

* Why this is not a scientific test

* Ian’s blind comments on the masters, including his instincts about which was which

* Why the poll results are probably skewed

* When automated makes sense

* What the robots still can’t do - and maybe never will

Full show notes and links:

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-43

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Can robots really master our music ? Kenny Gioia set up poll on Facebook to see, asking people to choose between six different masters of the same song - three by humans (including Sterling Sound and Steven Slate) and three by machines (LANDR, Aria and iZoTope Ozone).

The great thing is, the test was blind, and loudness matched - so no-one knew which master they were listening to, and loudness didn’t influence the way the masters sounded.

And the results of the poll were fascinating. In this show Kenny reveals which master was which, and we discuss the results - including:

* Why this is not a scientific test

* Ian’s blind comments on the masters, including his instincts about which was which

* Why the poll results are probably skewed

* When automated makes sense

* What the robots still can’t do - and maybe never will

Full show notes and links:

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-43

This is huge. There’s a problem with loudness normalization, and TIDAL asked Eelco Grimm to find a solution for them. What he found in his research was unexpected and exciting.

Eelco has been involved with loudness measurement and the LUFS standard from the very beginning, and in this show we also talk a little about his story and how it involves:

* Technology versus emotion in music

* The origins of loudness research

* Eelco’s TIDAL research findings (which you should know about, even if you’re not interested in normalization !)

* His advice to TIDAL and

* How they reacted

* The future of normalization

STOP PRESS

Since recording the show we've heard that TIDAL have implemented all the changes we discuss in the show by default, in all new installs of their iOS and Android apps, with desktop to follow. For more information, click here:

http://productionadvice.co.uk/tidal-normalization-upgrade/

Full show notes and links at

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-41/

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

A Q&A episode with a twist - we recorded it live, with questions arriving all the time we were recording.

We’ve added them all to the list for future episodes - here are the ones we had time to tackle this time:

* How has mastering changed over Ian's career, and where is it going next ?

* Is there somewhere out there with reference tracks for mixing and mastering ?

* Are there any tips for avoiding the trap of "mastering with your eyes" ?

* Should you use compression when mastering classical music ? If so, when ?

* Why you shouldn’t make master everything at -14 LUFS for online streaming

* Is absolute polarity audible ? Does it matter ?

* Is “AI” mastering like iZoTope Ozone 8 any good ?

This episode is sponsored by the Home Mastering Masterclass. If you enjoy The Mastering Show, take a look !

http://homemastering.com

Full show notes and links at http://themasteringshow.com/episode-40

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Gain staging used to be a crucial consideration for analogue recording and mixing - but you’ll hear plenty of people saying it doesn’t really matter, in a modern digital audio workstation. And they have a (floating) point.

But you’ll also hear lots of other people, me included, saying it IS important to understand what gain staging is and how it works, even in a digital environment.

So who’s right ? In this show we dig into the details, and discuss:

* How much peak headroom should you leave before mastering ?

* What IS gain staging, anyway ?

* Why do people say it doesn’t matter in digital ? Or:

* What’s the point of floating point ?

* How does it work ?

* When digital gain staging does matter

Full show notes on the website:

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-39

Mentioned in this episode:

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

If something is technically wrong but inaudible, is that a problem ? When is it OK to break the rules ? What is “audibility”, anyway ?

Topics include:

* If everyone else is listening is listening on earbuds and phones, why shouldn’t we ?

* If music is art, it’s just a matter of taste - so how can anything be wrong ?

* Ear training - how do you learn to listen ?

* Are the answers to any of these questions different for mastering engineers ?

* Plus: The secret super-power of Stealth Tambourines

Full show notes and links

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-38

Mentioned in this episode:

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Leapwing

Find out more about Leapwing's plugins