The Mastering Show #98 - Stem mastering, Dynamics and Dolby Atmos at Abbey Road (with Oli Morgan)

We talk on this show about making a master sound great all the time - but what does that mean ? How can you tell the difference between a good or a great master, or whether you’re doing great work yourself, or not ? In this episode we discuss all these questions, plus: * Is it even possible to tell a good or a great master ? If not, why not ? * Is it about great sound, or great work ? * Why “great” doesn’t have to mean “perfect” * What about great re-masters ? * How to know if you’re doing great work * The only person who can really decide Full show notes and links on our website http://themasteringshow.com/episode-69Mentioned in this episode:Learn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resourcesLeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's plugins

28 Jan 202035min

I often get asked if it’s possible to restore dynamics to a heavily limited, clipped or compressed source, to achieve a more dynamic master. The answer is… it’s complicated ! So in this episode we do our best to answer the question. Topics include: Why you shouldn’t do this When you might have to do this When doing this is a bad idea How to do it (the simple way, the complicated way and the really messy way) How compression can sometimes add dynamics What these techniques can never do Full links and shownotes on our website: http://themasteringshow.com/episode-86Mentioned in this episode:LeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's pluginsLearn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

20 Des 201943min

People are talking about minus 14 LUFS loudness more and more these days, but why ? What does this number mean, where does it come from, and why should you care ? In this episode we answer all these questions and more, including: * Which streaming services are using -14 LUFS * Why Spotify aren’t using -14 LUFS, and why it matters * Why you shouldn’t use minus 14 LUFS as a target (or any number) but * Why it’s still important and useful to know about anyway * Will mastering to -14 LUFS make your music sound bad ?!? Full links and show notes on the website http://themasteringshow.com/episode-67Mentioned in this episode:Learn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resourcesLeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's plugins

15 Nov 201942min

Time for another Q&A episode ! As always you’ve been asking great questions, so in this episode we discuss: * Why Ian talks too much * How dynamic is too dynamic ? * Fade-outs - before or after compression ? * How has the loudness war changed production and arrangement styles ? * Mastering for gaming streams (like Twitch TV) * Mastering in different genres http://themasteringshow.com/episode-66Mentioned in this episode:LeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's pluginsLearn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

19 Sep 201937min

Can you make money from mastering ? And if so, how ? If you’re already charging people for your work, how can you be more effective and productive ? Our guest in this episode is Graham Cochrane from the Recording Revolution website, which has been so successful that he’s started helping other people use some of the same ideas and strategies to get them started making money in the audio business themselves. You don’t have to be an audio blogger or YouTuber to achieve this - in this episode we talk about strategies anyone can use: * How to get started charging money from mastering * How to decide how much to charge * What makes you different - why people really might choose you to master their music, even though you don’t have a million-dollar studio or a legendary credit list * Simple strategies to become more effective and efficient with almost everything you do in your business * Why telling some clients to use online mastering instead of you might actually be a good business strategy http://themasteringshow.com/episode-65Mentioned in this episode:LeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's pluginsLearn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

23 Aug 20191h 2min

There’s been lots of buzz and discussion about aliasing online recently, and lots of confusion, too. Is it a flaw in the whole idea of digital audio ? Does it explain why analogue modelling plugins can never sound exactly like the real thing ? Or is it just inaudible mathematical theorising ? In this episode we try to answer all these questions, plus Ian attempts to give an easy visual explanation of what aliasing is and how it relates to audio, with - er… questionable results. Along the way discuss: * What wagon wheels have to do with audio sampling * And vinyl turntables * And digital audio * How (and why) to avoid aliasing * Why high sample rates may help and * Why all this is important when using plugins Full Show Notes http://themasteringshow.com/episode-64Mentioned in this episode:Learn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resourcesLeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's plugins

22 Jul 201931min

Usually on the show we’re talking about mastering music for CD, download and streaming, but there’s another important final destination for the audio we work on - broadcast. And the difference with broadcast audio is - there are standards. Having said that, there often isn’t a dedicated mastering stage ! In this episode we dig into the whole fascinating topic with our guest Dallas Taylor from Defacto Sound, and host of the superb Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast. Dallas has a wealth of experience in sound design and mixing for broadcast on trailers and ads for shows like Game Of Thrones and games like Fallout, amongst many others. In a wide-ranging conversation we talk about: * Why sound design is like being a conductor * American versus British mixing style in drama * What are “emotional FX” ? * The loudness wars in broadcast * Dialnorm - what and why ? * How to make dragons talk http://themasteringshow.com/episode-63Mentioned in this episode:LeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's pluginsLearn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

25 Jun 20191h 25min

Everything gets streamed these days, and almost all streaming platforms use lossy data encoding: mp3, AAC, OGG etc (OMG!) And these lossy codecs do a pretty remarkable result of preserving the quality, considering they strip out anywhere between 60-90% of the original data. But it’s not perfect - far from it ! In this show we talk about: * How your audio can be damaged by lossy data encoding * Why this happens * How you can test for it yourself * Why it’s worth doing * How it can help you hear the artefacts for yourself * Whether we should optimise our audio to avoid them and (most importantly!) * The two simple steps you can take to minimise these problems and help your audio SURVIVE streaming Full show notes on our website http://themasteringshow.com/episode-62Mentioned in this episode:Learn to master !Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resourcesLeapwingFind out more about Leapwing's plugins

29 Mai 201947min