Mixing & Mastering

Immersive Audio: Unveiling the Next Dimension of Music Production

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 06:01:27 GMT

Immersive Audio: Unveiling the Next Dimension of Music Production

Introduction

The realm of music production has always been a dynamic landscape, constantly evolving to embrace new technologies and techniques that push the boundaries of sonic expression. Immersive audio, with its ability to transport listeners into a multidimensional soundscape, represents the next frontier in music creation.

Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio stand as the frontrunners in this revolution, offering music producers a powerful toolkit to craft immersive audio experiences that redefine the way we consume music.

Delving into Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos, a groundbreaking technology pioneered by Dolby Laboratories, has captivated the entertainment industry, transforming the way movies, television shows, and now, music are experienced. Dolby Atmos transcends the limitations of traditional surround sound systems, introducing height channels that open up a vertical dimension, enveloping listeners in a seamless sphere of sound.

Music producers have embraced Dolby Atmos as a means to create truly immersive sonic landscapes. By carefully positioning individual sounds within the 3D space, producers can create a sense of presence, as if the instruments and vocals are physically surrounding the listener.

Exploring Sony 360 Reality Audio

Sony 360 Reality Audio, another innovative immersive audio format developed by Sony, takes the concept a step further, utilizing object-based audio technology. This approach allows producers to treat each sound as an individual object, precisely controlling its position, movement, and reverberation within the 3D space.

The result is a hyper-realistic audio experience, where listeners can discern the subtle nuances of each instrument and vocal, creating an unparalleled sense of immersion and intimacy.

The Impact on Music Production

The advent of immersive audio has had a profound impact on the music production process, opening up a realm of creative possibilities and challenging producers to rethink their approach to sound design and mixing.

With immersive audio, producers can now:

Create a sense of spatial realism: Position instruments and vocals with precision, creating a sense of depth and dimension.
Enhance emotional impact: Use spatial cues to evoke emotions and guide the listener's attention throughout the sonic journey.
Explore new creative possibilities: Experiment with unconventional sound placements and movements to create unique and immersive experiences.

The Future of Immersive Audio

As immersive audio technologies continue to mature, their impact on music production is only expected to grow. With advancements in object-based audio and real-time rendering, producers will have even greater control over the spatial positioning and movement of sound, creating increasingly realistic and immersive experiences for listeners.

Immersive audio represents a paradigm shift in music production, empowering producers to craft sonic experiences that transcend the limitations of traditional stereo sound. By leveraging the power of these technologies, producers can transport listeners to new realms of musical expression, creating truly unforgettable sonic journeys.

Producers, discover the secrets to crafting a golden mix with our simple blueprint formula. Download our FREE eBook .

AI-Powered Music Production: Revolutionizing the Creative Process

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:37:32 GMT

AI-Powered Music Production: Revolutionizing the Creative Process

Introduction

The music industry has always been a hub of innovation and creativity, constantly evolving to embrace new technologies and techniques. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest force to revolutionize the music production process, offering unprecedented possibilities for musicians and producers of all skill levels.

AI-powered music production tools are no longer just the realm of science fiction. They are now readily available and accessible, enabling anyone with a passion for music to create professional-quality sounds and compositions. This democratization of music creation is opening up new avenues for expression and empowering musicians to explore their creative potential.

Benefits of AI-Powered Music Production

AI-powered music production tools offer a multitude of benefits to musicians and producers, including:

Breaking Creative Barriers: AI can help overcome creative blocks and spark inspiration by providing new ideas, melodies, and harmonies.

Enhancing Musical Skills: AI tools can be used to learn music theory, practice techniques, and improve overall musicianship.

Accelerating Music Creation: AI can generate music elements quickly and efficiently, saving time and effort.

Expanding Musical Horizons: AI can introduce musicians to new genres, styles, and techniques, broadening their musical horizons.

Creating Personalized Sounds: AI can generate unique and personalized sounds tailored to individual tastes and preferences.

Leading AI Music Production Tools

Several AI-powered music production tools are gaining popularity among musicians and producers. Here are a few notable examples:

AIVA : AIVA is a powerful AI music composition tool that creates original music in various genres and styles.

Boomy : Boomy is an AI-powered music production platform that allows users to create and share their music on social media platforms.

MuseNet : MuseNet is an open-source AI music generation tool developed by Google AI.

Soundful : Soundful is an AI-powered music creation platform that allows users to create royalty-free music for videos and other projects.

These tools represent just a fraction of the rapidly growing landscape of AI-powered music production software. With new innovations emerging constantly, the possibilities for AI-assisted music creation are truly limitless.

The Future of AI-Powered Music Production

As AI technology continues to evolve, the role of AI in music production is only expected to grow. AI is poised to become an indispensable tool for musicians and producers, providing them with even more sophisticated and intuitive ways to create and manipulate music.

The future of AI-powered music production holds immense promise, with the potential to revolutionize the way music is created, consumed, and experienced. AI has the power to democratize music creation, empowering individuals of all skill levels to express themselves musically. It also has the potential to push the boundaries of musical creativity, leading to the development of new genres, styles, and soundscapes.

As AI continues to transform the music industry, we can expect to see even more innovative and groundbreaking AI-powered music production tools emerge. These tools will undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping the future of music and expanding the creative possibilities for musicians and producers worldwide.

Producers, discover the secrets to crafting a golden mix with our simple blueprint formula. Download our FREE eBook .

MEZHAH, completes her second single release entitled 'The Ministry'

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:13:04 GMT

Produced, mixed and mastered by Pappa E

We've just completed the latest single release entitled 'THE MINISTRY' by MEZHAH.

Written, produced, mixed & mastered by yours truly Pappa E aka Eu Jin Chan. The song is now featured on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, iTunes and Amazon music.

For more information, please visit: www.mezhah.com
Listen to MEZHAH on Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1171682416
Listen to MEZHAH on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ROclsqwmcoveUPHwvMjWB

Mixing And Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:57:19 GMT

Why Mixing And Mastering?

You’ve taken all the steps to ensure your CD presentation package look professional, attractive and irresistible enough for an A&R person to give your music a listen. In most cases, you only have one shot at this. Is there anything else that you might be overlooking? What about the sonic quality of your music or CD? Even if the songs were well written, arranged and recorded, it may not sound its best if they were not professionally mixed and mastered. Again, pros will always judge your professionalism before they take you seriously. If your package feels great, SO SHOULD YOUR SOUND!

Is there a piercing hi-hat in the mix that would make your hair on end? Some background noises such as hiss or hum making your recording sound cheap or amateur? Is the kick drum too heavy on the speakers causing your song to sound muffled? Do your vocals sound buried? Are there sonic inconsistencies from song to song in your demo? These are few of the many common problems found in most demos.

It is so vital to showcase your songs/music recordings in its best possible light. If you look professional, you should sound like it. This brings me to introduce you to the urgency of getting your music recordings professionally mixed and mastered.

What is Mastering?

Mastering is the final touch after the recording and mixing process. This is a very technical stage that will bring your recordings up to par with the commercial industry-standard sound. The process of mastering will ensure your music to sound its ultimate excellence in all mediums, including all music systems ranging from bigger systems to smaller stereo systems/speakers. It will make your finished recordings sounds as loud and sonically balanced as the major-label released CDs you purchase from the store. The technical aspect is very detailed and I will not want to bore the average reader. Perhaps I will save this for another future article to come for those of you who are interested. A good mastering engineer is equipped with mainly experience, ears and the ability to effectively solve problems with the available tools at his disposal. His experience and critical attention to the finest details is absolute paramount.

Here’s the low-down. Can any music recording achieve great mastering results? The answer is no. There are no short cuts to great mastering results. It will significantly depend on the quality of your mix. A lot of people expect miracles in mastering from a poorly mixed recording.

A good mixing job is really the ultimate key that will lead your music recordings to exceptionally great mastering results. In other words, great professional mixes equal better mastering results. Consider it a sound investment to hire an experienced professional to mix your music as it will save you a lot of headaches and problems when it comes to the mastering phase. Get it right the first time. Take my advice for it and you can thank me later.

CASE STUDY

This is only one of the many examples of a poor mix. A mastering engineer may encounter a problematic mix where the rock guitar is drowning the lead vocal. This is commonly caused by the input signal of the rock guitar relatively stronger or louder than the vocals. Perhaps the EQ of the guitar contained too much mid-low frequency.

When the mastering engineer attempts to raise the dominance of the vocal, it will also raise the dominance of the rock guitar. So this is a dead end solution for the mastering engineer. The vocal remains buried. The only way to fix this problem effectively is to return to the mix and make the following adjustments such as lowering the volume of the guitar coupled with proper EQ and panning it slightly. This will yield the guitar more separation from the vocals. After doing this, the mastering engineer will have an easier task raising the highlight of the vocals thus allowing the average listener to grasp or hear the lyrics more clearly.

The Mixing Process

The mixing process is the most critical phase that will lead to a good finished mastered product. There are a lot more things to pay attention to in the mixing process simply because there are very many instruments to manage ranging from 16-24 tracks or more. A good mixing engineer will monitor every signal in his path and ensure that each instrument is carefully attended to and fine tuned. A good mix can only be delivered by someone with great experience and a good ear. Equipment is important but only a fraction to the solution.

I’m aware of many studio business owners who have the ability to record their clients but cannot perform a good mix. This is good for us because it leads them to sending us all their projects for mixing and mastering.

When you hire a good mixing engineer, you are mostly paying for his ears and experience to knock you out a great mix. Without this, even with all the tools at his disposal, he or she can not deliver a good quality mix. The tools and equipment do help but they are secondary in my opinion. One of the most important aspects of mixing is the equalizing and separation of all instruments or audio tracks. You have to own ears for this. This is not teachable but only comes through experience.

An experienced mixing engineer has the magic ability to make your mix sound broader. Imagine what a good mastering job can do to a great mix. Again, great professional mix equals greater mastering results!

The wonders of the internet have changed the world allowing us to share digital files regardless of geographic location. We recently mixed and mastered a band from Mexico called NIVEL3. This was done entirely online through broadband or high-speed internet. They uploaded or sent their entire mix project in the OMF format (300 to 400 megabytes per song). Our uploading interface was designed to effectively deliver or transfer large files.

The OMF format can be created or exported from newer Digital Audio Workstations including Pro Tools. The OMF file rendered all their audio tracks (Wave or AIFF) of their song including its detailed clip positioning and tempo info. For clients who cannot export to OMF, there is usually another option. They may upload a zip file containing individual audio tracks. If they use this method, all audio tracks must begin at the very first measure of the song.

As for the band NIVEL3, we performed mixing and mastering on their song and uploaded a sample for them to download. They either approved or requested a few adjustments. If there were adjustments made, we re-delivered another reference for their second or final approval. The entire album went on to be completely mixed and mastered. We are proud to say that NIVEL3 is now being sought by Universal Records of Mexico with a pending record deal.

Read our published article on OnlineRock.com
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CD Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:39:23 GMT

Does CD Mastering Still Exists?

With the birth of the compact discs more than 2 decades ago, it has transformed the way we consume music and audio. Although there is speculation that the CD (Compact Disc) maybe on its way out with the arrival of new alternatives, such as the digital downloads and the Ipod, the compact disc (CD) revolutionized the way we have consumed music and sound since the vinyl / tape age.

As we are constantly evolving with new innovative digital distribution platforms such as Spotify, Itunes, Soundcloud, Pandora, the compact discs (CDs) have come under threat to near extinction with the demise of Tower Records together with many mom & pop music stores.

In 1979, Phillips had developed the laserdisc technology while Sony had pioneered in digital recording research. Both companies came to terms in an agreement to form a single industry standard digital audio technology. In 1980, both companies announced the CD-DA standard otherwise known as the Red Book standard (because the cover of the published document was red). Once this was established, Phillips and Sony raced to develop the first CD audio drive. Sony eventually won the race by 1 month to market.

The red-book specifications describe:

Maximum time of recordings in a compact disc including pauses should not exceed 74 minutes.
Minimum or shortest time for a track is 4 minutes.
Maximum number of tracks or ID cannot exceed 99.
Maximum number of index points is 99 with no maximum time limit.5
International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) should be included.

The Red-Book also specifies the format of digital audio encoding which is 2-channel signed 16 bit-PCM sampled at 44.100 kHz sample rate. On the contrary, some major labels and publishers chose to violate and deviate away from the Red Book standard so as to implement copy prevention systems such as Copy Control.

In the CD duplication or replication world, there is entirely a different definition to the term, ‘CD Master’. For CD replicators, mastering is the process of creating a glass master disc that will be used to make stampers. These stampers are then used to press CDs. Almost every CD duplication plant produce their own glass master for quality control purposes. The glass master is a mirror image of the CD-R master disc produced by the audio mastering facility.

Preparation For Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:32:10 GMT

How To Prepare Your Music For Mastering?

Once you are done with the mixing phase and satisfied with the way they have been mixed, it’s time to send it off to the mastering specialist. Before sending off your mixes in CD-R format or through a web upload, below is a list of things you should pay attention to so as to not give your assigned mastering engineer a headache.

Do not normalize your mixes.
Do not add compression to your stereo mixes.
Do not add limiting to your stereo mixes.
Do not attempt to make your mixes louder than they are. Leave this to the mastering engineer.
Do not attempt to master your own recordings before sending them off to a mastering engineer.
Make sure there is no clipping in any of your audio tracks within your song mix.
Make sure there is no clipping on the master volume for all your mixes.
Make sure it has been mixed well – a poorly mixed recording will not translate to good mastering results. Read about mixing and mastering.
Provide your mastering engineer a song-order listing if you are requesting for a Red Book CD Master.

Stem Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:31:08 GMT

What Is Stem Mastering?

If your mixes are compromised or not mixed well, stem mastering maybe a better solution to the conventional mastering process. Although stem mastering is not offered by many mastering engineers, this service is relatively new and can be slightly more costly.

Relative to the conventional mastering process, your mastering engineer will normally request you to provide him a stereo mix of your song(s). However, if you are going ahead with stem mastering for one of your songs, then you will need to provide your mix in separate groups such as drums, bass/synth guitar, vocals, guitars or keyboards. Stem mastering can require up to 4-5 groups of the above mentioned groups depending on the scale of problems identified by your mastering engineer.

Stem mastering corrects relationship errors between instruments and vocals which includes volume and panning relationships.

For example, if the mastering engineer feels that the lead vocal are too buried in the mix, he may have the option of boosting the levels of the vocals. On another problematic scenario, the mastering engineer may have the need to alter the relationship between the kick and the bass guitar/synth bass. Perhaps there is current problem in the mix where the bass guitar is too prominent and the kick is too faint. As a result, there is a need for the mastering engineer to fix this relationship. In another problematic scenario, the guitars or keyboards are panned too centered thus narrowing the width of the mix. Through stem mastering, the mastering engineer has the ability to fix this problem via adjusting the pan on the guitars/keyboards. Through stem mastering, the mastering engineer gets to dip is feet just a little in the mixing domain.

There are limitations to what stem mastering can achieve relative to having your song professionally mixed thus addressing many potential problems that will be encountered by the mastering engineer. It is advisable to take your mixes to a professional mixer so as to avoid any potential errors down the road.

Below is a list of what Stem Mastering cannot fix:

EQ error for instrument(s) or vocal(s) – Though is an optional fix on the discretion of the mastering engineer.
Over-application of effects on a particular instrument – Cannot be reversed
Over-compression – Cannot be reversed

Below is a list of what Stem Mastering can fix:

Volume relationship errors within instrument groups.
Pan relationship errors within instrument groups.

While some mastering engineers offer stem mastering, other few mastering engineers offer consultation and advice to your mixes. This applies to a select few mastering engineers who understand the integrity of mixing and simply care about their client’s project thus making an additional effort to collaborate with you in order to achieve better mastering results. With good communication, a mastering engineer can translate vital moves where you can personally make adjustments to your own mixes so as to enhance favorable mastering results to your song(s).

But above it all, having your song mixed professionally is a far better superior solution to stem mastering as more than half battle would have been won. With stem mastering, it can only fix up to 25% of the problems relative to what a great mixing job can achieve.

16 Bit Vs 24 Bit Recording?

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:22:14 GMT

What is the difference between 16 bit & 24 bit recording?

With the proliferation of affordable DAWs (Digital Audio Worstations / Recording Software), high resolution recording have never been more affordable.

If you are recording a new project for the first time, it is important to know that you should always record at the highest resolution possible. Most DAWs will allow you to record in either 16 bit or 24 bit. If you are concerned about quality, polish and clarity yield in your recordings, you should choose 24 bit. However, there is a trade off.

24 bit recording will take up more data space in your hard drive. In technical terms, bit depth refers to the number of bits you can capture audio energy. For example, in 16 bit audio, there is about 65,536 levels of audio. In 24 bit audio, we have about 16,777,216 levels of audio.

However, depending on how much data you can store on your hard-drives, not everyone may have the luxury of recording at the highest bit depth due to limited storage space.

If you choose to record in 16 bit in a home studio environment given the limitations of disc drive space, doing this is not a detriment to your recordings as your mastering engineer may have alternative options of adding a dithering polish to your 16 bit recording. Technically, it will be a difference of 8 bit in resolution but almost un-noticeable to the faint human ear. With all that being said, there are more possible benefits to record at 24 bit if at all possible.

Sampling Rate

The standard sampling rate for the compact disc is 44.1 khz. Sampling rate is the number of times the audio is measured or sampled in a second. In the case of the compact disc with a standard of 44.1 khz, the audio comprise of 44100 slices every second which translates to around 65,536 levels of audio. In the case of 96 khz recording, it translates to 96,000 slices with close to 17 million levels per slice.

If you have the luxury of recording at 96 khz which will take up more disc space, by all means do so. You will also need a lot more processing power and a faster drive to do this if you are mixing and editing these files since it will work your computer harder in performing the intense math calculations on these very large files.

Most major recording artists take advantage of either or a combination of 96 khz and 192 khz recording. Bear in mind that although 96 khz is almost available to a lot of DAWs, the rare option of 192 khz recording will depend if you have the hardware and storage space to support it. One may not be prepared by the additional disk space needed to support recording this project including playback performance.

192 khz recording although a rare luxury is well preferred for recording acoustic instruments as it captures the tails of instruments such as the piano and guitar with exceptional detail. It is also possible to combine the audio files recorded at 192 khz together with the ones recorded at 96 khz. However, for many recording professionals, 96 khz recording have delivered well.

In technical view:

· 24 bit / 96 khz recording will yield an audio resolution of 250 times more than 16 bit / 44.1 khz.

· 24bit / 96 khz recording will consume around 3.25 more space than a 16 bit / 44.1 khz recording.

In the real world, a 24 bit / 96 khz recording does not mean it will sound 250 times better. Some may not even notice the difference. Different people have different ways of hearing which result in different sets of preferences. This gives rise to a lot of debate.

At higher sampling rates, you will need a faster drive in order to communicate with the host computer. 7200 rpm drives coupled with a firewire 400 or 800 is highly recommended. Speed is absolutely necessary if you are doing a lot of editing and mixing in 96 khz because the processing power will be needed for more intense math calculations.

To give you a rough idea, in the professional world of recording major label artists, recording 1 song in 96 khz which includes a whole bunch of takes, can amount to a whopping 40 GB alone. This does not include backing up files.

Choosing A Mastering Studio

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 07:03:33 GMT

How To Choose A Mastering Engineer?

With the proliferation of free software and illegal plug-ins came the birth of fly-by-night inexperienced want-to-be mastering studios or mastering engineers. Some will master your songs for a ridiculously low fee. One should throw caution when measuring price, credibility and experience.

Before choosing a mastering studio or engineer to work on your precious recordings, it is important to determine 3 important factors as listed below:

Reputation, experience and credits

The first determining factor will be the mastering studio engineer’s reputation and experience. You may come across a mastering studio or engineer who has performed mastering on an independent or well known band/artist or perhaps even a record label that you were fond of. This notion adds credibility to his mastering services.

Listen to mastering samples online

We stress that you listen to some of their mastering work online. Almost all mastering studios or engineers marketing their services online should show-off their prized work with previous clients. Especially with mastering studios or engineers with no track record , talk is cheap. Let’s hear the results. If you are coming from a rock project, let’s hear if his mastering work for rock music sits in well with you. Alternatively, if you are coming from a hip-hop project, let’s hear if it translates well.

Courtesy Mastering Sample

Some mastering services will compete for your business by providing you a free courtesy mastering sample ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute for one of your songs. Doing this will enable you to test out the mastering sample on various listening mediums such as your favorite home stereo and car stereo. You may listen and compare it to your favorite popular artist within the same genre. Once you approve the mastering sample, you may then proceed with mastering your entire project or album.

This is a valuable option since the mastering studio or engineer can early identify any potential problems in your mixes.

Some mastering studios or engineers provide an added benefit providing you free consultation to your mixes. These are exceptionally rare mastering studio professionals who care about your project and providing you good results. Some are trained to consult you on your mixes thus giving you tips or suggestions to help improve your mixes prior or during the mastering process. Mastering studios or engineers who offer this added service are valuable professionals to work with on your precious recordings.

Audio Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 06:11:11 GMT

What Is Audio Mastering?

Audio Mastering is the final polishing step after the mixing process. The stages of mixing and mastering both fall into the category of audio post-production. Audio Mastering from a traditional sense is the process of transferring a collection of mixes into a data-storage that will eventually be used for replication and duplication of vinyl (older days) and compact discs. Today, most audio masters are stored in the digital format.

Although analog masters still exist, the traditional method of storing is gradually going out of fashion and the industry has shifted progressively more to storing in digital form. However, for the exception of few mastering engineers who perform analog mastering, this may still be their preferred choice for storage.

The art of audio mastering should be performed by audio mastering engineers with years of experience and specialty in their craft. It is not recommendable to have your mixing engineer or tracking engineer audio master your recordings even if he is best at what he does. The domain of audio mastering should be left to audio mastering specialists as this is entirely a different skill set.

With the evolution of new technology and modern speakers coupled with the digital age, audio mastering has taken a newer approach over the decades and is merely a process of storing. Over the past 2 decades, modern technological speakers have allowed music recordings to embrace a much wider spectrum of frequency. This has changed the way end-users consume music and the way we listen to music everyday. Simultaneous to this change, audio mastering engineers revolutionized new approaches to audio mastering so as to adapt to the newer trends of modern speakers and the way the world consummate or listen to music and sound.

The goal of audio mastering is to take your finished mixes so that they sonically translate well into various mediums from small to medium and large speakers. Audio Mastering is not a role for the D.I.Y (do-it-yourself) who lack the years of hard lessons and experience audio mastering engineers have endured.

The History Of Mastering

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 06:11:11 GMT

The process of mastering has evolved since the 1940s. In the early days much of the process of recording and mastering were done through mechanical processes. Musicians played into an acoustic horn and a master recording was created from energy transferred from the acoustic horn to a mastering lathe. The energy transferred from the horn drove the cutting edge and engraved a groove onto the surface of a rotating disc which was either made from a soft metal alloy or wax. This gave rise to the revolution of vinyl wax records. The term waxing referred to the process of cutting a record.

With the introduction of the microphone and electronic amplification in the 1920s, the process of mastering transformed to electro-mechanical. Mastering lathes were still used to cut into master discs but driven by electricity.

With the emergence of the tape recording technology, master recordings were cut direct to disc. This similar concept has evolved to digital hard-disc recording and is now embraced by 21st century musicians all over the world.

Although magnetic tape was one of the first advances in the recording industry, there were considerable limitations to the electro mechanical mastering process. The 78 rpm disc, 7 inch 45 rpm and including 33 1/3 rpm posed limited constraints in audio quality, dynamic range and running time if we compared it to the compact disc or CD.

Running times were limited by the diameter of the discs and the density of the engraved grooves on the surface without running into each other. Dynamic range was limited. If the audio signal originating from the master tape was too high, it could cause the cutting head to jump off the surface of the disc in the midst of the cutting process.

Until the late 1970s, many recordings were mixed to a master tape in mono or stereo. Prior to the cutting process, the master tape was further electronically treated by a mastering engineer. With the popularity of pop recordings, it was found that master recordings could be optimized through detailed adjustments to the balance and equalization before cutting to a master disc.

This brought birth to a new and highly demanded role called the mastering engineer. Record companies eventually realized that a good mastering engineer was the utmost equation into a successful hit record. As a result, from the 1950s to the 1980s, the best mastering engineers were highly sought for their skills and experience.

The evolution of mastering continues into the 1990s when the cutting process was replaced by a laser technology. With the coming of the digital age, the electro mechanical process was replaced by laser employed by most DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). It later became popular in many mastering facilities as it also supported graphical user interface (GUI). Today, it is still common for many mastering facilities to use a combination of both digital and analog media and processing.