Re: OT: mastering

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

Er...no. It's neither automated nor non-creative, unless you're 
referring to the process of simply running it through software which can 
be done with some basic results. Mastering in its true form is still a 
hands-on process where a skilled engineer listens to a recording on 
extremely accurate equipment, making adjustments to eq and levels, 
possibly adding compression, then does final assembly for duplication. 
It's almost guaranteed to enhance the final product to some degree, 
possibly a large degree. There are software and hardware products 
available for people to do this in the same studio/computer as tracking 
and mixing, but in any case, when the recording gets to the point where 
the individual tunes are being listened to as a whole group and things 
are happening to improve how those individual songs hang together as a 
complete recording, as the final step before duping, that's mastering.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com
 
> Nowadays, as mastering is a fully-automatized and non-creative process,
> people tend to refer to what was formerly known as pre-mastering as
> mastering.
>