Make no mistake, mastering is quality control. Born out of transferring tape to lacquer, mastering to this day has the main goal of ensuring proper audio translation from studio to multiple playback systems. Some tools may have changed from past to present, the formats in which we listen to music continues to contract and expand, and many philosophies and approaches have blossomed over the years in regards to the craft, but the heart of mastering plants its feet firmly upon the foundation of quality control. The driving force behind any eq adjustment, compression application, and other sonic manipulation should always be done to achieve the best playback possible for the music at hand. It should not deviate from an artist’s vision, or the mix engineer’s assistance in that vision, but rather aid the artist in presenting their material so that it can be played back properly on any playback system without issue. The idea of proper playback is of course subjective when it ventures outside of the objective realm of clicks, pops, dropouts, and other concrete errors. This subjectivity is where artistry and creativity enters the mastering field.
The art of mastering is found through the balance of subjective judgements, essentially the application of a constantly refined taste, struck alongside the tenets of the scientific method. Placed in broader terms; facts, ideas, and concepts about music and music equipment the mastering engineer has learned combines with the mastering engineer’s preferences they have developed from introspective music listening within a properly controlled acoustic environment. The amalgamation of these preferences becomes taste and this taste informs the mastering engineer as to what proper playback is for the single/ep/album at hand. Taste also informs them as to when a sonic adjustment they have made has gone too far, sits just right, and when one is not necessary. The art of mastering aids the music creator in achieving the highest quality of their vision possible, it is the art of assisting creativity, not creating.
Creativity in mastering arrives by way of problem solving. It is finding the best way to stay out of the music creator, recording engineer, producer, and mix engineer’s way. If it is necessary for eq, compression, or any change for that matter, to take place, the mastering engineer must achieve this task in a way that does not leave a fingerprint. Any change must sound like it was there to begin with, as if the song was asking for the proper tool and approach to be placed upon it. To reach this goal a mastering engineer must instantaneously tap into their knowledge base, weigh options, and arrive at a decision in a matter of moments, before the opportunity is lost, the solution carried off by the limits of the human brain’s sonic memory (which is short). If no solution is available in the mind’s database, one must be sought out and applied, thus adding another tool to the toolbox.
In the age of information the labeling of mastering as a dark art has become a cliche’ and untrue phrase. If one checks the legitimacy of their sources, great swaths of information will be laid out before you about the subject. In today’s age there are a great many opinions about what modern mastering is, but it is undeniable that mastering’s main component is quality control. It is not a sexy fact, it is not a magical notion, but it is a hard truth. It is a truth I am extremely passionate about, a truth I am in love with and dedicated to. It is a truth that must not be lost in all the discussions that exist about this field in our present time. It is exciting for people to talk about gear, sonic manipulation, and the wonderful rooms we are fortunate enough to work out of, but those discussions are just the ornamentation that rest upon an archway. The keystone is found in the way the music is presented and as a mastering engineer I have been entrusted with the culmination of an artist’s creativity and work to make sure that when the play button is pressed the music captured has reached its full potential.