Charlotte Sometimes Blogs

There are many recording and mixing tricks used in the industry that make top notch recordings. Analog mastering is one of the best kept secrets of top producers now. As most everything is mixed in the digital realm, highend mixing engineers will do what’s called analog mastering. This is where the digital signal is changed back to an analog recording so it can be mastered through analog processors, though in many instances it is also recorded to an analog two-track system to acheive the fatness that analog tape gives to the recording. It also takes the brittleness away from digital recordings, and can round out the bottom end giving the low frequencies that rich analog sound.

Though Analog CD mastering often does cost a bit more than basic purely digital mastering, since it takes more time and there are other costs for the analog tape, but for important projects, it can be the last step in getting the best sound quality for the album. Since digital recordings sound harsh to a lot of people because no matter how loud the sound gets, digital always gives you flat reproduction. Analog tape, however, saturates as the volume increases in level, so heigh end peaks are smoothed over rather than clipped, which translates as a warm, rich sound as the harmonics are balanced out. It is a modified signal from the original which the human ear finds very pleasing. Also, an increased input signal will create a larger difference. As the highs saturate first, this means that as the signal becomes louder, the highs naturally soften up a bit, creating a less brittle, much better recording. This is the beauty of the Layback mastering process.

There are many mastering studios around the country that have the equipment to do analog mastering, however, you also need to have an engineer with the track record to get the best end product possible with the gear. I have sampled a few recording studios and one of incredible sounding is www.stevethomasmastering.com. He is a top analog CD mastering engineer, yet he also has done 1000s of albums as a mixing engineer as well. On top of that, his results is similar to some of the most expensive mastering houses in the United States. If you already have someone you are using that’s great. But, I would definitely to look him up.