MASTERING IN THE BOX

Budget won't stretch to a trip to a mastering engineer? Or fancy some DIY? Get started here...

There was a time, before the total dominance of computer-based DAWs, when the vast majority of bedroom producers really had no idea what mastering was, or why you’d want to entertain it. We understood mixing, because faders are fairly self-explanatory, but not so with the aural depth of mastering. Before we look at how we can now handle this process ourselves, let’s take a moment to reflect on its legacy.

Mastering is the final process in the production chain; it’s where you take your finished mix and give it that final bit of spit and polish, before you send it up the wire to your chosen streaming service for public consumption. Make no mistake, a good master can breathe life into a mix, but how is this done?

It’s easiest to think of mastering in terms of its signal processing chain, wherein one process leads to the next. For example, you may choose to use equalisation to brighten your mix, or enhance the bottom end, while the next process may involve compressing your mix. There are other tricks we can use to add grit or sweetness.

In a pre-DAW age, tape would have been mastered through a series of analogue devices, such as EQ, compressors and limiters. The very sound of these units, including the tape machine itself, would add colour and enhancement to the final mix. The finished article would be the master, ready for pressing to record or CD.

In 1996, TC Electronics introduced the Finalizer; a 1U, rack-mounted product that could perform the entire mastering process in one box. It caught on; in fact, it completely changed the industry for home producers. It was therefore only a matter of time before the technology progressed to the DAW level.