MASTERING

MUSIC MASTERING FOR YOUR TRACKS

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Mastering since 2006 with analogue hi-end outboard and impeccable acoustics, we master and restore your song!

Internationally represented

Mastering in over 50 countries and well over 30.000 productions, as well as multiple chart positions.

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Our mastering engineers are personally available to advise you on all important mastering questions.

mastering (Audio mastering or e-mastering) is the last point in the processing chain after recording and mixing (Mixing) in the recording studio before the audio material or track is released, or the tracks go to the pressing plant for further processing.

Of course we also take on other projects and recordings Online mastering and guarantee the highest analog sound quality in the sound with top customer service and personal advice from our engineer.

WHAT IS MASTERING?

Mastering is primarily a refinement of the mix of a song in which the engineer tries to Mastering studio, the sound of the track as good as possible at all possible interception conditions (such as the radio, hi-fi system, smartphone, or streaming platforms). The track frequency response, Mono compatibility and dynamics taken into account. The goal in mastering should be that the track, tonally, follows the result Mixing of the title equals, as well as the observance of technical specifications for publishing music and recordings. It can also help to make the sound of different songs on an album homogeneous.

GOAL OF THE MASTERING?

The aim is to "upgrade" the track or the music recording with the help of dynamic processors, equalizers, filters or psychoacoustic devices so that it sounds "good" on as many playback sources as possible (e.g. stereo system, headphones, etc.). The sound and sound remains the same as possible. When mastering or in Audio mastering process the emphasis is on a tonally balanced Frequency image, good Mono compatibility and a balanced stereo image in the track. Depending on the need, the level can be adjusted, jitter removed or fades can be set.

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MASTERING FAQ FOR AUDIO MASTERING

  • Brainstorming,
  • Composing, Producing, Recording, Shooting
  • mixdown,
  • Master or mastering.

In XNUMX, when last step in the processing chain, special attention must be paid to the audio master in the studio. Mastering Engineer is a profession and by no means a hobby. In addition to understanding technical measuring instruments, spatial conditions must also be certain Meet specifications and standards to be able to master there professionally at all. Even the monitoring path has to be checked and adjusted to special DIN standards so that the engineer in the studio can use his technology to get the best sound for the audio recording of the music. As an engineer, you need a broad knowledge of acoustics, physics and a good technical understanding.

In the master process, the Mastering engineer usually a mix of the track is delivered as a stereo file, which is then transferred to his DAW (Digital audio workstation) pulls. Here he gets one first Overview of the sound, as well as the technical and musical condition of the song.

After the first assessment of the audio material, it will be technical error and unwanted frequencies (e.g. through the recording) freed in order to subsequently die Dynamic reduction, if necessary, to be carried out in order to arrive at a competitive loudness.

After the dynamics have been adjusted, the material is subjected to musical mastering, which ensures that subjective perceptions of individual elements or passages get their own sound character. This can be done with tube devices or other special hardware. "Saturation” is eg one of several stylistic devices around a musical mastering carried out.

  • Stereo mastering (Editing a Stereo mixes)
  • Stem mastering (Processing of sub-groups e.g. drums, vocals, guitars)
  • M / S Mastering (processing of In the middle- and Side signal separated from each other. This takes place in a so-called. M / S matrix instead of.)
  • Streaming mastering (Specially made for streaming services)
  • Vinyl mastering (Mastering with special specifications for vinyl production)
  • DDP mastering (Creation of a DDP image for delivery to the press shop)
  • Reference mastering (professional version adapted to the genre and frequency response of a reference track)
  • Emastered (This is what conventional online mastering is called)
  • AI mastering (mastering through artificial intelligence. Providers such as Landr, Emastered or similar use algorithms and presets)

Mastering is the last creative instance of the audio post-production before the song is distributed.

DIGITAL CONNECTION MASTERING

With increasing digitization and greater acceptance of streaming portals such as Spotify, ITunes, Amazon Music and co. they change too Requirements for audio material. Due to a wide variety of end devices and internet speeds, the streaming portals convert the audio into a wide variety of output formats. This is done to enable the listener to always have a smooth audio playback and good sound. Through this Conversion often changes the frequency response of a piece. In online mastering, these conversion-side changes to the audio quality of the song are reduced to a minimum.

MONO COMPATIBILITY IN MASTERING

Another aspect is the Mono compatibility, which is particularly critical when the listener is listening to the mix or master on a smartphone or other single-speaker playback device. If too little attention was paid to mono compatibility when mixing, half the song will be lost. Especially with drums or kick drums, insufficient mono compatibility can lead to high losses in audio quality and ruin the whole song. In our Würzburg mastering studio it is possible for us to switch various audio codecs, which are used for the conversion into different file formats, into our monitoring path in order to be able to make changes to the frequency image and the tonality to be determined and corrected if necessary.
The following applies to a good sound of your music:
The mixdown is primarily responsible for a balanced sound of your song. Thoughts like "we'll fix it in the mastering" or "the mastering engineer will fix it" are completely wrong starting points.

This is done with the help of analysis tools, metering and his hearing z. A broad knowledge is already required here in order to correctly assess the audio. The song is then processed with various processors such as compressor, EQ, deesser or other hardware or software. As a result, the sound material will have a frequency response that is as balanced as possible.

Also errors like digital clicks, unwanted ones sough or over-compression can be reduced or completely eliminated. The sound is then brought into the desired output format. Usually this is 16 bit wave with 44,1 kHz sample rate. This is common for CD production. A 24-bit wave is usually used when streaming music. We tell you how a master or emastered works in detail in our mastering blog.

After mixing, there are two types of mastering. For one thing technical mastering (Creation of the Glassmasters by the engineer, for CDs, matrix for vinyl records), on the other hand that musical- and the premastering (Track editing of the mixdowns and preparation for the techn. Mastering).

The acoustics in the mastering studio are of great importance as they directly affect the quality of the master files created by a mastering engineer. Good acoustics in the studio can help music sound and sound good when played back on different platforms and speaker systems. Poor studio acoustics can cause music to sound unnatural and certain frequencies to be over- or under-emphasized. It can also lead to the mastering engineer making mistakes when editing the audio files because they have to rely on an unreliable sound image. It is therefore important that the mastering studio has good acoustics to ensure that the mastering process is successful and that the end result meets quality standards.
“What are the best mastering plugins?” So we are often asked for recommendations in our Mastering Lessons asked.

So, are there the ultimate mastering plugins?

No! Each song is different in its frequency response, arrangement, harmonies played and its Mix. Different manufacturers build different types of plugins; whose sound often differs completely or in individual areas from other manufacturers.

Which plugins do you need for mastering?

Basically, it is advisable to use the following plugins in the studio: - Equalizer - Compressor - Limiter - Stereo Enhancer (optional) - Maximizer (optional) - Reverb (optional) You don't need more for a good and high-quality mastering on the plugin side. Much more weight is that Raumakustik and the monitoring situation in the studio, since the engineer has to make decisions here that should work independently of the room and the monitoring medium. It is advisable to focus less on different plugins at first, but instead on the individual properties of the plugins you are currently using. Here we recommend comparing different equalizers or compressors with the same settings in order to find the right plugin with the required timbre or neutrality for the respective track. This requires a broad knowledge of editing music. There are titles where one plugin works with one setting and with another title this proves to be unfavorable in use. So can the use of one tube compressor might be just the right plugin for an electronic title that lacks warmth, but proved counterproductive for a rock title that might just need a little more transparency and airiness.

OUR MASTERING CUSTOMERS

Connie Conrad
5/5
I've been working with Chris for years. In contrast to other mastering studios, his mastering is characterized by the fact that he feels the mood and the musical style of the tracks and does not focus on extreme drones in the loudness war. His sensitive mixing and mastering is rarely found on this planet!
Marco Matic
5/5

Top mixing and mastering studio! the boss Chris is super friendly and responded to all my special requests...great result. I can only recommend it to everyone...no matter what genre of music!

frank rest
5/5
Great job in a short amount of time. Fast response time in communication, immediate help with questions. Great audio mastering, super fair price. Gladly again for the next project. Everything smooth! Thank you Chris!

Online mastering refers to the mastering of pieces of music performed over the Internet. With online mastering, the pieces of music are usually edited by a professional mastering engineer who has the necessary knowledge and skills to optimize them.

The music pieces are submitted in digital form and edited by the mastering engineer.

Online mastering is a convenient way of mastering pieces of music since they don't have to be taken to a recording studio. However, it is important to choose a professional mastering engineer who has the necessary knowledge and skills to optimize the piece of music in the best possible way.

Basic work in online mastering

Become a master online final inconsistencies in the sound and dynamics of the music to give the track or album the finishing touch in sound. For example, clicks or noises that have crept in eliminated or reduced, frequency ranges adjusted and the level of a song balanced, masked instruments due to a poor mix made audible again. Depending on the quality of the delivered mix of the track changes in the stereo image performed. So the sound of the song becomes one balanced spatiality and more depth to help. For example, the unwanted resonance frequencies of a guitar in the song significantly reduced .

Tools in online mastering:

  • Equalizer: Optimizing the frequency spectrum and emphasizing/suppressing desired or undesired frequencies in order to ensure a balanced bandwidth in the sound or sound
  • Compressors: Attenuation of unwanted signals and reduction of excessive dynamics for an exciting and balanced sound experience
  • Limit: Dynamics accentuation and emphasizing weak signals in the audio, due to over-compressed tracks to create a varied dynamic curve
  • Expander: Broadening the stereo image to create a spaciousness that suits the atmosphere of the song
So said Thomann music store in your Audio Professional blog:
"Peak Studios - One of the top addresses in the republic!"
4th best online mastering studio 2018 in Europe

MusicToday.Eu tested Europe's Online Mastering Studios 2018. Peak Studios was able to secure 4th place.

In the master process, the Mastering engineer usually a mix of the track is delivered as a stereo file, which is then transferred to his DAW (Digital audio workstation) pulls. Here he gets one first Overview of the sound, as well as the technical and musical condition of the song.

After the first assessment of the audio material, this freed from technical errors and unwanted frequencies to follow the Dynamic reduction, if necessary, to be carried out in order to arrive at a competitive loudness.

After the dynamics have been adjusted, the material is subjected to musical processing, which ensures that subjective perceptions of individual elements or passages get their own sound character. This can be done with tube devices or other special hardware or software. "Saturation” is eg one of several stylistic devices around a musical mastering carried out.

Online mastering is NOT “instant music mastering” like Landr, Emasterd or other providers. These instant providers, who process and make the track available within a few minutes with the help of artificial intelligence and a software algorithm, have nothing to do with our service. At Peak Studios, each track is listened to as a wav in our studio and, if desired, processed with analog hardware and software.
The difference between online mastering and AI mastering lies in the way the mastering is done. With online mastering, the piece of music is edited by a professional mastering engineer, while with AI mastering, the mastering is done with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). For this purpose, the piece of music is submitted in digital form and analyzed by an AI system, which automatically makes the settings required for mastering. The AI ​​system uses a variety of algorithms and adaptive data to optimize the piece of music.
In contrast to analogue mastering, digital mastering is only processed “in the box” – i.e. on the computer. No external hardware devices are used here. A digital master is created with the help of plugins.
Digital mastering refers to the mastering of pieces of music in digital form. Digital mastering is often used to prepare pieces of music for release in digital formats such as MP3, WAV or AIFF. Digital mastering usually involves the same steps as analog mastering. This includes, for example, taking into account specific loudness standards that are used for digital music formats to normalize the volume of pieces of music.
No matter whether digital mastering or analogue. The premises and the tasks of the engineer remain the same to create a digital master. Only the resources change.
It is generally not recommended to mix and master at the same time, as both processes have different goals. Mixing involves processing the individual tracks of a piece of music in order to create a balanced and interesting soundscape. This includes, for example, adjusting the volume, panning and EQ of the individual tracks. Mastering, on the other hand, involves optimizing the sound and volume of the entire piece of music for release. Because mixing is a track-by-track approach, while mastering is a track-by-track approach, it's usually better to finish mixing first and then move on to mastering. This gives you the opportunity to thoroughly analyze the piece of music and make the necessary settings to optimize it as best as possible. However, it is important to follow common practices and recommendations to get the best possible result.
The Apple digital master is a special file format which is used exclusively for Apple services such as iTunes. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is a special format which enables Apple to deliver digital files to the listener in particularly good quality. To create an Apple digital master, Apple provides software that can be used to create a digital master for Apple. It is particularly worth mentioning that Apple digital master is a so-called Apple
Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC) which, as the name suggests, can be played back to the listener without any loss of quality – i.e. without any loss of quality in the coding.
CD mastering refers to the mastering of pieces of music that have been specifically optimized for release on CD. In CD mastering, the piece of music is edited to prepare it for publication on CD. CD mastering usually involves the same steps as mastering in a recording studio or online mastering, e.g. B. the optimization of the stereo image, the correction of frequency imbalances, the volume optimization and the application of limiting and compression. With CD mastering, however, special settings are made to make the piece of music sound optimal for publication on CD. This includes, for example, taking into account special loudness standards that are used for CDs in order to normalize the volume of the pieces of music. CD mastering also takes into account the use of special EQ settings and compression techniques suitable for CD release. CD mastering is important as it ensures that the piece of music is of high quality and ready for release on CD. It is usually performed by professional mastering engineers who have the necessary knowledge and skills to optimize the piece of music in the best possible way.

As a rule, the condensed stereo track becomes a track (mixdown or mix) of the Mastering Engineer edited. However, there are different ways to get to your desired destination. Another variant is that Stem mastering, in which the song is initially divided into several partial mixes (Subgroups) how individual instrument groups, vocal groups and rhythm groups are divided up and then edited in the mastering studio.

This gives the mastering engineer in the recording studio a detailed view of the structure of the song in the mix and better control over the relationship of the song's various components and parameters (vocals, main instruments, and rhythm). Another advantage of what is known as stem mastering is the ability to create an instrumental and a performance version of the track that can be released as an added bonus or used for live performances. The difference in quality can therefore have a very positive effect on the sound.

An eMastering (online mastering) in the Mastering Studio (emastered) is suitable for everyone who values ​​good sound quality. It doesn't matter whether your digitized records, already mastered songs or their audio files have errors or defects. It is important that projects not only sound good on stereo speaker systems, but also on mono devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Peak Studios is the right contact for all matters relating to sound engineering and audio masters.
Artists who do NOT want service providers such as Emastered, AI-Mastering or Landr to process the title using algorithms without any human emotions should also use professional online track mastering. The emotional massage that has long been tried to get right in the mix is ​​not taken into account in an automated mastering service. The algorithms analyze dynamics, frequency response and volume. Based on these values, they adjust the track accordingly. No matter what the track is about!

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