Years ago if you would tell me that we don’t need to master a song before release, I might say yes. But this is 2023 and like all the other technologies, the music industry has come a long way in these years. New music genres have come into the spotlight and old songs are gaining popularity in their re-mastered version.
But to release a new song, you must master it in a well-equipped studio. But if you are new to the music industry or just interested in the making of professional music, here you will read the importance and need for mastering a song. Read the full article to learn everything in detail.
History of Song Mastering:
Initially, Sound Mastering was not a thing. The sound engineers used to record the band with the help of a recorder and then cut it into a wax disc. This disc was used to replicate the song patterns in the other vinyl discs. But things changed when Amex introduced their Model 200 Magnetic Tape Recorder device in 1948. Now Sound Engineers needed a process to transfer the audio from the tape to the Vinyl discs. This process was lengthy, complicated, and needed expertise as these vinyl discs have more restrictive mediums. Now the engineers are required to compress & equalize the audio to transfer it to avoid mechanical issues such as skipping or tracking.
The industry then needed specialized engineers to do the transfer of audio as a single mistake would cause restart the complete process over again. These engineers were later called Audio Engineers. Then record companies used their specific equalization to improve the transfer but in 1954, the RIAA introduced a standard equalization curve that the entire industry adopted. The mastering engineers however still needed to apply extra corrective equalization to some of their sound optimizations. (Audio Mastering Basics)
In the 1950s there started a loudness war among the sound companies as they found it more appealing to the public. With the introduction of Compact Discs in 1982, the audio industry again went through a total transformation. Now it was the age of digital recording and transferring of sound. The signal-to-noise ratio gave an improvement in the sound dynamic range. The advancement in technology is still going on. Today mastering a song doesn’t include loudness only but several improvements.
Importance of Song Mastering:
Modern mastering doesn’t include only the loudness. It works on several aspects of a song. These are multiband compression, equalization, reducing noise, glitches, clicks, sequencing, frequency balancing, and many other such things.
Mastering is important to make your songs ready for different platforms like ‘Spotify’. Mastering engineers make sure to develop the sequences & spacing of the songs correctly for any album. This is to give the albums a natural, consistent flow and high order while playing.
Mastering a song doesn’t only include adding elements but also removing the elements. Any click or pops due to bad editing or surrounding noises degrades the quality of the song. Mastering removes any hiss, noise, and clicks from the product to make it ready for launch. Note that this mastering is needed in the early stages as these issues will later become noticeable when you will increase the loudness.
Other aspects of mastering are frequency balancing & dynamics enhancement. Engineers use EQ to adjust the frequency to make each element of the audio clearly audible and the whole product balanced. The process also enhances the dynamics with several transients & processors. They give a punchy touch to peak-limiting music and give a gentler sound to glue all the pieces. ( 8 Benefits of Professionally Mastering Your Music )
Conclusion:
Mastering technology has been developed through decades and it is still in the development phase. Only the future knows what this industry has to offer. However, the trends are showing an inclination towards normalization & automated mastering systems. Streaming services like YouTube & Spotify are now normalizing any sound. This is to maintain a simpler and natural touch of the song and to secure it from being a whack among modern listeners. These streaming services follow a new global standard of sound- LUFS. This is for benefitting the human ears, song production, and mastering.
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