Wednesday, October 16, 2013

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 142 The Master

Today I sat and listened to "Portraits of White".  The Christmas/Winter CD soon to be released to the world.

Yesterday I received the CD master in the mail from Airshow, Inc., the company mastering the CD.   This is the final process that the music goes through before we send it off to be manufactured, once I approve it of course, along with my producer.

Mastering is an art all in itself and though I don't understand all that happens in this process, I know that it makes a difference.  It's like adding the frosting, sprinkles and candles to the cake.

Here is wikipedia's definition:

Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). Recently digital masters have become usual although analog masters, such as audio tapes, are still being used by the manufacturing industry, notably by a few engineers who have chosen to specialize in analog mastering.

Mastering requires critical listening, however, software tools exist to facilitate the process. Results still depend upon the accuracy of speaker monitors and the listening environment. Mastering engineers may also need to apply corrective equalization and dynamic enhancement in order to optimise sound translation on all playback systems. It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as a safety copy, in case the master is lost, damaged or stolen.

We are in correspondence about final details.

Right now, there are so many colors abounding in the trees as I drive around from here to there.  But soon, maybe even by the time the CD is ready, it will be just the right time of year for some portraits of white.

My elephant diet will be over.  Oh yes, there will always be more big dreams to work out (the Christmas show of 2014 for instance) but I am contemplating a new blog title to bring in the next dream.  For now, the Christmas/Winter CD elephant is almost non-existent.