Mastering the Music Production Process
Photo Credit: Landr.com
Ever wondered why your weekend warrior band sounds great live, but your ‘studio’ recordings sound lifeless, dull, or uneven? Even if you’re using a ProTools digital audio workstation (DAW) to record tracks one by one, the quality will never be on par with the professionally produced material heard on Spotify, iTunes, or even on good-old fashioned CDs or LPs. The reason? Those pro releases have undergone mastering, and your recordings probably have not.
Mastering is the process of polishing and preparing an audio mix so it can be played back across all types of systems and media formats. During mastering, tools such as equalization, compression, limiting, and enhancement are used to sweeten and optimize a song, album, or other compilation of tracks so that they will sound great, regardless of whether the material is played on an iPod with headphones, or across the PA at a professional basketball game.
Mastering the music
Music that has been recorded, but not mastered, generally sounds rough, uneven, or unfinished. The mastering process sets consistent levels, and is used to ensure that tiny errors, like pops, stray sounds, or other artifacts, are removed. This ensures that the music sounds clean, dynamic, and professional.
That’s why mastering has been considered a necessary, albeit expensive, part of the music production process. That’s especially true in today’s hyper-polished world of production, where even demos (used by songwriters to pitch their songs to performers) need to be mastered if they want to receive attention.
“For a songwriter, the demo is your calling card, and you want it to sound as radio friendly as possible,” says Bob Higgins, a songwriter and member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. “Mastering can be a big part of that.”
In the past, mastering was done by pro engineers with pro gear, but the cost to master even a single song could run into the four-figure range. While software plug-ins are another less-expensive option, they often come with a steep learning curve. While learning how to apply various audio engineering techniques such as compression, equalization, and reverb isn’t impossible, the mastering process takes the songwriter or musician away from his or her primary tasks: writing and recording music.
Streamlining the process
That’s where LANDR, a cloud-based audio post-production software platform, is making life easier for aspiring songwriters and pros alike. The company announced on November 23 the launch of its free desktop application, which incorporates greater integration with DAWs, as well as other features designed to streamline the mastering process.
The LANDR Desktop App features bulk file uploading; allowing entire folders to be uploaded and mastered in bulk, saving time and allowing the same parameters and mastering styles to be applied to each file. Furthermore, the app allows better integration with DAWs, permitting tracks to be bounced, or output, directly from a DAW into the app, so they can be automatically mastered by LANDR.
The tools included in the desktop app are particularly valuable for both professionals with a large workflow, as well as those who handle other music production tasks.
“Although the app has been especially designed for those with a high usage of LANDR, it can be used by anyone, from labels, to songwriters who create several songs a week and need to stand out with their demos, to beat or loop makers, or even engineers who want to use LANDR as a reference during their mixing process," says Franck Nasso, LANDR's head of sales and communications.
Cloud storage is also included with LANDR, which allows all mixes sent to the app to be saved on the secure server, rather than sitting on a local hard drive. The app also provides mastered versus unmastered track comparisons, and a flexible interface to allow for easy workflow between DAW and sharing online.
LANDR’s mastering system is built around an adaptive engine that ‘listens’ and reacts to music, using micro-genre detection to make subtle frame-by-frame adjustments selectively using tools like multi-band compression, EQ, stereo enhancement, limiting and aural excitation based on the unique properties of the song. Unlike plug-ins, LANDR only offers a few selected options to guide LANDR to produce the master, which is guided by the feedback from audio engineers, producers, label executives, and musicians, on what makes a great master.
Higgins, who has performed with Toby Keith, John Rich, Tanya Tucker, and Dion, among others, on the Fox News Channel’s Mike Huckabee Show, says that LANDR’s app and service might make sense for musicians cranking out a lot of material, but the ultimate criteria in whether or not to use the service will be based on results, not features.
“If I were cranking out a lot of songs and looking for a quick and inexpensive way to master songs, it could work, provided the quality of the mastering is up to snuff,” Higgins says. “That, I imagine, would be the bottom line.”
Keith Kirkpatrick is founder and principal of 4K Research & Consulting, LLC (www.4kresearch.com), a market research and consulting firm. By night, he’s the co-founder and lead guitarist for Creative Juice (www.creativejuiceband.com), a New York City