Ever thought how the quality of audio we listen is changed or what mixing or mastering is? Probably not, only an engineer involved in online music mixing and mastering industry is ought to have a precise knowledge while others who are not aware consider these one and same.
Let’s discuss audio mixing and mastering process & difference in detail:
What is Mixing?
In simple language; mixing is the adjusting and combining of 2 separate tracks together to form stereo audio file while mastering is polishing these songs in audio files to form a complete album.
When the recording of every track in a song accomplish then mixing engineer begins to label and organize these tracks in similar groups. Songs are then normalized to ensure same volume level and no peaks. Now the individual tracks are processed through an equalizer filter to eliminate unnecessary frequencies and acquire their frequency areas. This increases the audio clarity and every instrument can be distinguished, it’s interesting to know that online music mastering services provider use the same technique for track panning and get full, wide sounds. One can also use compression, reverb, delay, and other processors as addition to each track for getting desired tones of instruments as well. Manipulation of fades and effects through automation helps the engineer to control emotions of the song sonically. Some other online mixing & mastering service providers prefer switching between studio reference monitor and headphones to get a consistent sound for their mixing on various sources. Sometimes it takes hours & hours of tweaking knobs and faders, for a song to sounds the best as possibly can.
What is Mastering?
The mastering engineer receives a stereo track along with notations and references from mixing engineer and artists as well. It’s helpful for the engineer to understand the sound what they want to get without altering the mixing in areas that’s required to sound in particular way.
At last; some finishing touches are added through slight adjustments, primarily EQ, compression, limiting, and stereo enhancements to bring mastered songs in album on similar levels which keeps the flow throughout. Some spacing and fades are also added in the beginning and endings of songs which usually is 2-3 sec unless specified. The mastering engineers also sequence albums for putting songs in required order, label track names and encode tracks with ISRC. To understand better a mastering engineer has the task of providing high clarity as well as fidelity along with professional audio that's enjoyable for listeners on any source.
Conclusion
Maybe you can get audio mixing and mastering done without experts but it’s not a good strategy for sustaining competition in today’s music world. The process of mixing and mastering in online music production is crucial to prevent your music from any kind of hampering or obstacles to reach its maximum potential.
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Mohanlal Chander
June , 2022
This is the best explanation of the difference between song mixing and mastering. The language used here is very simple and easy to understand. It gives a deep knowledge about the process and use of both the techniques used in song composition.
Aayushi Chitranjan Chhabra
May , 2022
Most people do have confused about the song mixing and mastering. This blog explains the difference between the two in brief. It also explains how it is done.
Jai Prakash Suman
April , 2022
In my opinion, this is the best explanation for the difference between mixing and mastering. It clearly mentions the outcomes of both the techniques and their role in any music.