Peter’s Musings

Recording engineers have many mixing techniques to make the best commercial records. Analog mastering is one of the best secrets of the best mastering engineers now. Since most everything is mixed in the digital realm, top producers will do something called layback mastering. The digital version is changed into an analog signal so it can be mastered through original analog processors, though many times it is also recorded to an analog two-track system to get the fatness that original analog tape gives to the sound. It also takes the edge away from digital recordings, and can even out the bottom end giving the bottom frequencies that rich analog sound.

Though Analog CD mastering will often cost a little more than basic purely digital mastering, as it takes additional time and there are additional costs for the analog tape, but for serious projects, it can be the final step in accomplishing the best sound quality for the project. The reason for this is digital recordings can feel more brittle to many people because regardless of how loud the signal gets, digital gives you accurate yet flat reproduction. Analog tape, however, softens as the DB increases in level, so heigh end peaks are smoothed over rather than clipped, which turns into a warm, nice sound as the harmonic series is excited. To the listener, this sound is much more nice to listen to. Also, a hotter input signal will create a bigger effect. As the highs saturate first, this transilates that as the signal increases, the highs naturally smooth out a bit, creating a less harsh, more pleasing sound. This is the beauty of layback mastering.

There are many mastering studios around the United States that have the equipment to do analog mastering, however, it also requires you have an engineer with the proven experience to get the best end product possible with the tape machines. I have tested out a few mastering studios and one of top industry is www.stevethomasmastering.com. He is a top analog mastering engineer, yet he also has done 1000s of albums as a mixing engineer as well. Not only that, his quality is similar to some of the most expensive mastering studios in the country. If you already have someone you are using there’s nothing wrong with that. But, I would really encourage you to check him out.