I had my big band CD recording mastered at Masterdisk in New York City yesterday. The engineer was Randy Merrill, whose bio and credits you can read by clicking on his name.
Mastering includes the following steps:
- attaining consistency from track to track through the use of compression & gain
- correcting minor deficiencies in the mix
- increasing the overall volume level of the CD
- putting the mixed songs in order, with the correct amount of space between each song
Although I provided input when I felt it was needed, the mastering process was probably the least collaborative stage in the recording process. Randy clearly knew what to listen for, and after watching him work through a couple of tunes, he earned my complete trust. It was valuable to have the evaluative perspective of "a fresh, unbiased set of ears". The record sounds vibrant and alive, and I am thrilled.
Now that all the technical aspects of the recording project are completed, I can switch my focus entirely to the business aspects of releasing and promoting the CD. Disc Makers has published a helpful resource, "Planning Your Album from Beginning to End" which I am studying and would highly recommend to anyone trying to navigate their way through the rapidly changing music industry.
Stay tuned.
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