Have you ever wondered why a track has to be mastered?
We produced a song, then brought in a recording engineer to mix both tracks, but master only one.
Instead of writing some boring technical article, we just wanted to let your ears do the work. Why don’t you take a listen?
- Unmastered
- Mastered
How about that, mastering does change a song!
Did you notice how much more prevalent some of the instruments are on the latter track, or how did that bass sound on the second track, compared to the first? This track was made in about 5-6 hours, but it was the mixing/mastering which made the difference.
The bad news is, no matter the quality of the track your working on, it will never sound good if you don’t master it.
The good news is, mastering doesn’t have to be an expensive process, and you can get a mastering plugin for a decent price.
Credits
We’d also like to shine the spotlight on this partnership between us and our friend/recording engineer Neal Anderson. Here’s a brief bio:
Neal Anderson is an Atlanta-area recording engineer and owner of “Piano Forte” Studios in Woodstock, GA. Neal, an electrical engineer by trade and a semi-professional vocalist began his foray into audio running for live sound for church services at a young age. Piano Forte began as a classical duo with classical pianist Joshua Anderson and his father Neal who now enjoys working on small recording projects with local artists including Catherine Thompson, Ian Thompson and several of his former vocal students. The newly christened “Piano Forte” Studios released their first commercial release Western Serenade with award-winning WMA artist Catherine Thompson earlier this year.