Quote:


Mac,
I think you miss my point. I actually wasn't real clear on what I mean. Of course if you take a single song from a project of a bunch of songs it will have been Mastered.My point is that you don't take say 12 songs Master one ,set it aside. Master #2 and set it aside.Master #3 and set it aside. Mastering is really taking a whole group of songs and making a cohesive sounding project.If you record just one song, take the stereo file and do some hokuss pokus to it I really don't call that Mastering. To me it's just finishing the mix of the one tune.Any good engineer can finish a single song to be release ready. It takes an Engineer that's also an "artist" to Master a group of 12 songs. Just my opinion.




In the pro world, it is done both ways.

If there is just one cut and no others, that one cut is still subjected to Mastering process.

A compilation or "album" is often Mastered such that there are no apparent abrupt changes in volume, amplitude (almost the same thing as Volume but not quite), EQ, etc. but a good a Mastering Engineer can bring out the exact same qualities when confronted with only the single. And should.

This is not a black art, it is a technology.


--Mac