x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Mastering Show

The Mastering Show Podcast

This is the show where we cover all aspects of mastering. If you"re interested in mastering, want to learn how to get better results mastering your own music, or even want to be a mastering engineer, this is the show you want to hear!

music music commentary

All Episodes

00:28:38

The Mastering Show #64 - Aliasing - is it digital...

The Mastering Show ·

2019/07/22

There’s been lots of buzz and discussion about aliasing online recently, and lots of confusion, too. Is it a flaw in the whole idea of digital audio ? Does it explain why analogue modelling plugins can never sound exactly like the real thing ? Or is it just inaudible mathematical theorising ? In this episode we try to answer all these questions, plus Ian attempts to give an easy visual explanation of what aliasing is and how it relates to audio, with - er… questionable results. Along the way

en

01:22:31

The Mastering Show #63 - Mastering (and mixing) for...

The Mastering Show ·

2019/06/24

Usually on the show we’re talking about mastering music for CD, download and streaming, but there’s another important final destination for the audio we work on - broadcast. And the difference with broadcast audio is - there are standards. Having said that, there often isn’t a dedicated mastering stage ! In this episode we dig into the whole fascinating topic with our guest Dallas Taylor from Defacto Sound, and host of the superb Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast. Dallas has a wealth of experience in

en

00:44:47

The Mastering Show #62 - How to master audio that...

The Mastering Show ·

2019/05/29

Everything gets streamed these days, and almost all streaming platforms use lossy data encoding: mp3, AAC, OGG etc (OMG!) And these lossy codecs do a pretty remarkable result of preserving the quality, considering they strip out anywhere between 60-90% of the original data. But it’s not perfect - far from it ! In this show we talk about: * How your audio can be damaged by lossy data encoding * Why this happens * How you can test for it yourself * Why it’s worth doing * How it can help you

en

00:41:51

The Mastering Show # 61 - Learn without listening

The Mastering Show ·

2019/05/03

You might argue that reading about audio is like dancing about architecture. Or something. But you’d be wrong! In these days of podcasts and YouTube it’s easy to forget how many great books there are about audio, and what a fantastic resource they are for getting inspiration, ideas and learning new topics and techniques. in this show we share some of our favourites, including: * The book that took Ian several years to read, how to access it's Secret Bonus Content, and why * A book that tells you

en

00:17:21

The Mastering Show #60 - The loudness technique you...

The Mastering Show ·

2019/03/21

This show is short & sweet - but essential listening if you’re interested in getting better results with online loudness - and balanced, musical dynamics for your masters. In this episode Ian describes: - How he increased playback loudness on Spotify by 3.3 dB for a song by reducing it’s overall loudness by 1.5 dB, and why it sounded better afterwards - What to do if your song gets turned down more than you expect online - Why you have to be careful with contrast on Spotify - How reducing

en

00:45:42

The Mastering Show #59 - More questions answered (Q&A 6)

The Mastering Show ·

2019/02/15

It’s been a while since we had a Q&A episode, so - here it is ! In this show we discuss: * Can a spectrum analyser make up for poor monitoring ? * Is allowing peak levels up to -0.1 wrong ? * Do speaker isolation pads work ? * Handling client payment issues * What to do when songs overlap (segued) * Do dynamic masters sound worse on a PA ? Full show notes on the website http://themasteringshow.com/episode-59/

en

00:53:59

The Mastering Show # 58 - Mud or magic ? Managing the...

The Mastering Show ·

2019/01/14

We’ve all heard it - “the music is in the mid-range”. But what does that mean, exactly ? And if it’s true, is there anything we can do about it in mastering ? We’ve talked about bass and high frequencies, but in this show we dive into the muddy, murky mess that is (often) the mid-range, and talk about how crucial it is for a great-sounding master. Including: * How the mids help us hear bass * Common problems with the mid-range, and what causes them * How to open up cluttered mids in

en

01:23:32

The Mastering Show #57 - With great power…

The Mastering Show ·

2018/12/07

…comes great responsibility. And mastering engineers need to accept that. If you take on the challenge of mastering someone’s music, you also accept a huge amount of responsibility for that music, and In this episode we tackle the question - what are the responsibilities of a mastering engineer - and even the ethics ? Including: * Should a mastering engineer have a “signature sound” ? * Why the “B” word is at the heart of mastering - in many different ways * Something you should probably never

en

00:47:27

The Mastering Show #56 - Mastering Crappy Mixes

The Mastering Show ·

2018/11/12

It’s a question we get all the time: what do you do when the mixes you receive are more… “challenged" than you might ideally like ? How much can you fix in mastering if you really need to, and how much should you do ? In this show we cover a range of strategies for dealing with some of the toughest challenges when you’re mastering tricky mixes, including: * What is a crappy mix ? * Should we even try to master one ? * When not to master a crappy mix - and what you can learn * Techniques for

en

01:05:55

The Mastering Show #55 - How Bright Is Too Bright?

The Mastering Show ·

2018/10/12

Everyone wants that glorious, sweet, silky-smooth top end in their masters - but how do you get it ? How do you stop things sounding harsh, tinny and brittle ? And even if the high frequencies do sound gorgeous, how hard should you push them ? In this show we’re talking about treble, and our topics include: * What is “Newton’s 3rd law” of EQ ? * How do room acoustics affect how you hear high frequencies ? * How can you “calibrate” your ears so you’re aiming for the right amount of top ? * How do

en

00:45:26

The Mastering Show #54 - When Normalization Goes Wrong

The Mastering Show ·

2018/09/22

As you know, we think normalization is a Good Thing. But many people disagree. And often that’s because it’s not perfect yet - not by a long shot. In this episode we explain some of the quirks, bugs and problems of normalization in action, and how they can cause unexpected results when you’re trying to optimise your music for listening online. Along the way we discuss: * Four really normal normalization mix-ups * How NOT to test normalisation on Spotify * Where to find YouTube’s actual

en

00:56:11

The Mastering Show #53 - Fear Of Bass

The Mastering Show ·

2018/07/04

We all want great low end - deep, fat, solid and punchy. But it can be one of the hardest things to get right - especially knowing how much of it is needed. Too much bass can sound boomy, flabby, muddy or dull. And as a result, it’s easy to be scared of bass. It’s easier to be cautious and avoid all those possible problems, right ? Well, maybe. Except if the low end isn’t working in your master, you risk the opposite problem - everything can sound weak, thin and harsh. In this week’s episode we

en

00:30:19

The Mastering Show #52 - DON'T aim for LUFS targets...

The Mastering Show ·

2018/06/08

All the online streaming services play music back at roughly -14 LUFS, so that’s the level we should aim for when we’re mastering, right ? Wrong. That may sound strange, given how much we’ve talked about online loudness over the years - but we’re serious. In this show we dive deeper into one of the points we discussed in the last show: why you shouldn't be aiming for specific integrated LUFS values when mastering you music for online streaming. But, why it is still useful to know how your music

en

00:34:41

The Mastering Show #51 - What IS the Loudness Penalty?

The Mastering Show ·

2018/05/26

"How loud will my music sound online ?" It’s the question everyone is asking these days, and the answer has always been “it depends”. Until now. In this episode Ian Kerr from MeterPlugs talks about the new tool he has been developing with Ian Shepherd to answer this question. It’s a website called Loudness Penalty, and it’s free ! Along the way we also discuss * Why -14 LUFS isn’t the right target for online loudness * Why Ian Kerr decided to make plugins that won’t change your audio - but will

en

00:43:32

The Mastering Show # 50 - Mastering on Headphones ?!

The Mastering Show ·

2018/05/10

You can’t master on headphones, right ? Well, let’s see… This year’s Dynamic Range Day Award-winner broke all the streaming records in it’s first week, debuted at Number 1 in the Billboard chart and... it was mastered on headphones. In this episode we talk to Glenn Schick, the engineer who mastered KOD by J Cole about his decision to become a “mobile” mastering engineer, including: * How (and why) he closed his analogue mastering studio to go mobile * Why he thinks it actually helps him to get

en

00:26:37

The Mastering Show #49 - Great Audio Podcasts

The Mastering Show ·

2018/04/18

As well as running our own show, we’re huge fans of other podcasts too, and in this show we take a little time to wander off-topic and recommend some of our favourite audio-related shows. We each choose four podcasts, and suggest great episodes of each to get started with. If you listen to all the episodes we recommend, you’ll get to hear hours of useful, interesting and amusing content, including things like: * A podcast with higher production standards than ours (gasp!) * Career advice from

en

00:45:54

The Mastering Show # 48 - How to become a mastering...

The Mastering Show ·

2018/03/29

Our guest in this episode is Katie Tavini, who shares the inspiring story of how she got into mastering. It’s something we’re asked all the time, and Katie is a great example of one way to start in the industry, in a time when internships and junior positions are becoming less and less accessible. She also talks about the great network of engineers she’s discovered through Red Bull’s Normal Not Novelty initiative. Other topics include: * Why Katie got into mastering * Do you need expensive gear to

en

00:43:05

The Mastering Show #47 - What’s the best DAW for...

The Mastering Show ·

2018/03/09

It’s a question we get asked regularly, and our answer may surprise you. To answer the question, we put together a “shopping list” for the ultimate DAW, and then discuss which of the applications is the best fit, and why. Topics include: * Which DAW sounds best ? * What does that mean ? * Do all digital EQs sound the same ? * What’s a DDP file ? * Pro mastering applications * Workflow versus features Full show notes and links on our website http://themasteringshow.com/episode-47/

en

00:38:39

The Mastering Show #46 - Answering questions again...

The Mastering Show ·

2018/02/23

Another chance for us to catch up with some of the questions you’ve been asking us. In this episode we talk about: * Bass - where does it start, where does it begin ? * How to use an analyser to assess EQ balance * When NOT to use an analyser to balance EQ and * What to do instead * Adding saturation in mastering - should you do this, and if so, how ? * The most difficult projects we’ve each worked on * How to extend an abrupt fade-out Full show notes and

en

00:47:25

The Mastering Show #45 - Jonathan Wyner

The Mastering Show ·

2018/02/09

Many of you will already know Jonathan from iZotope's excellent educational videos on mastering - he's also an experienced producer and recording engineer, head engineer at M-Works mastering (www.m-works.com), a lecturer at Berklee and has written a book on mastering. In this interview we talk about many different aspects of his career, including: * The delights (and perils) of analogue tape * Re-mastering David Bowie * Digital mastering tools - and the risk of over-using them * Humans versus

en

105 results

Similar Podcasts

Pasquale Maassen Soundcloud

Pasquale Maassen

Marian Klose

Marian Klose

sevenism

sevenism

Dean Delray"s LET THERE BE TALK

Cactus Radio Network

Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold