About Rob Evans Expertise Questions on all aspects of Computers and Music production. Setting up and using a computer based recording studio. Sound editiing. Creating Music CD`s and DVD`s. Software for recording and mastering and all of the pitfalls that you will come across.
Experience 31 Years of playing guitar, bass & keyboard and as a vocalist, in many bands. I have a huge amount of knowledge on all aspects of music and music production. 15 years in IT has given me the necessary skills to apply the power of computers to music.
Publications Local Papers; Evening Mail, Sutton Coldfield Observer
Education/Credentials Graduate of London's Guitar Institute
Graduate of London's Musicians Institute
Studied all grades of music, classical and contemporary
HP Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE)
Accredited Platform Specialist (APS) Proliant BL30e Blade Servers , Rapid Deployment and Integration
Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) ? NT4 Server in the Enterprise
Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) ? Metaframe XP 1.0
Compaq Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE)
Accredited Compaq Technician (ACT) ? Proliant Server, NT Performance
and Integration, Systems Management
Wyse Terminals Winterm Sales Certification, General Information Certification
HP Sales Star Associate (HPSSA)
Toshiba Laptop and Desktop Accredited Technician (TPCMP-A/ii)
Question I have just finished my first c.d. It has a pretty good mix to it but it could be better. I want to know what is mastering and would it help that any. Is "mastering" just a more elaborate final mix? Or is it something else. I am trying to make sure i have the same sound quality as everyone else! I am ready today if u have any recommendations!
Answer Mastering is the technique of enhancing the final mix, prior to pressing on CD etc. This usually involves applying various EQ's to the mix to enhance the tonal qualities of the track. Applying any noise gates to eliminate background hiss. Then use of a compressor limiter. The compressor side, equalises the sound out by raising the volume of the quiet parts of the song and lowering the volume of overly lound sounds. You can set a minimum and max volume range and the song is squashed into that range. The limiter allows you to raise the volume level of the track but not allow it to go into distortion. This is important when trying to create that radio 1 style punch. The software I use for mastering is called T-Racks
and it is very good http://www.t-racks.com/Main.html?prod_TR_24
Another good bit of kit you can use is called the Sonic Maximizer by BBE. This alters the timing of the frequencies by milliseconds, so each frequency arrives at the speaker at a different time. Sounds odd I know, but it gives a much improved clarity to the mix.
Hope this helps.
Rob
