Remastering

Hi Keith,

Good question, as most of the public are buying re-mastered Cds, often having no idea what a re-master comprises.

Mastering is a process by which mixes (from DAT, CD, 1/2” or 1/4”, or more recently .wav or .aiff files, to name a few) directly from the recording studio, or even older, previously mastered recordings, are formatted for a new production master. Often a Sony Umatic tape, or now often a PQ encoded Gold CD master, that is used to produce copies in the CD manufacturing plant. The important PQ details are the track Ids and embedded information to be replicated on the final product. There may be multi media information such as .avi etc?

During the mastering process, an experienced mastering engineer will listen to and tweak the tonal quality of the sound. Possibly, use compression or multi-band compression (compressor for each of the bass-Mid-Hi frequencies). Also, other forms of processing, such as De-essing can be applied - the removal of overt sibilance from vocals. Sometimes noise reduction is applied to remove hiss or rumble, especially on older recordings. De-crackling is common, especially if the only remaining master is vinyl, or the removal of extraneous clicks that sometimes appear as a result of recording on digital systems. The most common form of processing is simple top and tail, and to boost the over-all level in order to match that of most commercially released material.

With the advent of digital technology, all the processing has become much more transparent, which if you’re looking to maintain the integrity of the original recording, often mastering engineers will appreciate that quality in equipment.

That’s not to say that colouration is also a good tool for the armoury. Mastering often uses old valve equipment, equalization, and indeed a combination of analogue and digital equipment to achieve the best results.

It really is a black art, and there are very few good mastering engineers around. One engineer that springs to mind is John Dent. He has mastered many recordings I have produced. John originally worked for Island Records at Islands own mastering facility. He later helped to set up the very successful Town House mastering studios, also based in London.

He has worked on many recordings, including pretty much all of the original Island catalogue; Sandy Denny, Fairport, Bob Marley etc. His CV reads like the Penguin Guide to popular music.

Now based in Taunton, his “Loud” mastering facility is still one of the best available in the world. His unique skills in cutting vinyl, allowed John to understand the many complex issues that surround sound and technology, skills that have largely been lost today.
I was lucky enough to work for John for short period when taking a “busman’s” from my normal studio duties. I respect John greatly as both a person, and engineer. In fact, he should be near the top of my fave list, for all reasons. John has described his work as “Picture framing for audio’. A pretty good analogy, especially as he is also a picture framer!

For anybody really keen on becoming a mastering engineer, try compiling an hour or more varied selection of party music, from various sources, Cassette, vinyl, CD, 1/4 “ or 1/2”tape,. Try making it sound good at break-neck volume on hi quality speakers systems. Aside from the technical skills and issues, one will begin to appreciate just what a good mastering engineer actually does.

Mark.