Everything was huge the back in the 80’s:  huge drums, huge guitar solos, huge hair, and so…huge reverb.  I suppose the mix had to make room for the band’s big hair.  But, alas, gone are the days of expansive, cavernous ‘verb in favor of a more natural room sound, focusing more on early reflections rather than long decay times.  Today’s trend is to make the listener sense as though the band is right in his or her face.  But some novice engineers, as well as some of us more experienced ones, can unknowingly fall into the trap of adding too much reverb, simply because they don’t hear it yet.

Although mixing engineers resist the urge to crank the ‘verb in the mix stage, the dreaded Phantom Reverb rears its head during the mastering process.  Mastering engineers use compression and limiting to increase the perceived volume of a recording.  If you think of the dynamics of a song as a mountain range, limiting and compression “cut off” (or at least “push down”) the mountain peaks (loud moments) so that they are close to, or even level with, the valleys (quiet moments).  Then everything is then pushed up together as high as it will go.  In essence, this process makes the quiet moments of the song perceivably louder, and with it, the reverb.  In the mix process, the reverb was very subtly sitting in the mix, where it was psychoacoustically “felt” more so than actually heard.  Whereas now, in the mastering process, the reverb has swollen to where it is much more noticeable on a conscious level.  While this might not always be a big deal, sometimes it can adversely affect an otherwise good mix by making it sound dated.

The key to keeping the Phantom Reverb in check is to force yourself to mix in less reverb than you think you need, knowing that it will appear louder once the track is mastered.  Another trick that I use is to increase the output volume on my reverb unit, nudge up the effects return on the console, or increase the volume on the bus I’m using for reverb in my DAW somewhere between 3-5db.  Then, when it’s time to print the mix, I’ll pull it back down.  Just don’t forget to pull it back down!

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© 2008 Butler Productions

During the 1990s the digital technology came into prominence and largely superseded the different electro- mechanical processes that were practiced before. DAW or Digital Audio Workstation became the new popular technique. The main purpose of DAW is to manipulate the recorded audio via the GUI or Graphical User Interface. It combines various high quality audio hardware and multi track software for Analog-to-Digital conversions or vice versa.

In comparison to an ordinary recording studio, an audio Mastering Studio is quite different i.e. it is equipped with more modern amenities. An audio Mastering Studio consists of various equipments like large consoles and monitoring devices that are required by the mastering engineers for various purposes.

The main processes by which the source is processed include equalization, compression, limiting and noise reduction. After getting rendered to a CD or DVD format, the source material undergoes track sequencing in the Mastering Studio. In the next level of mastering, tasks such as editing, noise reduction, fading in and out, leveling, signal restoration and pre-gapping are performed.

Besides the above processes, the Audio Mastering engineers also perform another important task i.e. the creation of a PMCD or Pre-Mastered Compact Disc. This is one of the important step that is followed in Music Mastering. Here the cohesive material gets transferred to a master disc for mass replication. In general, Music Mastering techniques vary according to the needs. The main steps that are generally followed for Music Mastering are listed below.

•    First the audio tracks are transferred into the DAW format
•    The tracks are then sequenced
•    The audio is then sweetened / processed with analog and digital audio mastering gear and / or dedicated mastering software for maximizing the sound quality
•    Then the audio is transferred to the final master format

With the changing times audio mastering via internet, the so-called online mastering, has become extremely popular. This service is a new, simple and hassle free way to work with the mastering facility of your choice. To get a musical production mastered a customer just visits the website of an online audio mastering studio and creates an account on one of the companies’ servers. The user later uploads his audio projects directly into the mastering studio. The online mastering studio then masters the music professionally. Payment is done online and the final delivery of the masters is through download. It is as simple as that!

Online-Mastering.com, the web based mastering studio, was one of the first professional mastering facilites that entirely focussed on delivering high-end audio mastering services online. More Information visit- http://www.online-mastering.com

Mixers are available in wide variety of designs and sizes from massive studio consoles to little portable units. Mixers are generally described through the total number of channels they sport. For instance, a 12-channel mixer includes 12 input channels. That is you can put in 12 individual input sources. You may also notice a specification like “24×4x2” that signifies 24 input channels, four subgroups and 2 output channels.

The mixers accessible are perfect for project as well as home studios or also on stage and in the recording studios. Many of the mixers present incredibly low-noise along with separate mic pre THD and are proficient enough to handle sound inputs varying from whisper to scream or even can easily handle hot line level signals devoid of any extra coloration. Some mixers provides a control room or phones source matrix, tape outputs, Master aux section along with EFX, a high volume headphone amplifier as well as balanced TRS and XLR outputs.

The most amazing aspect of audio mixers is that instead of unsealed, cheap potentiometers, many of audio mixers include co-molded pots that provide substantial impact relief and strain. A majority of the audio mixers available are the perfect pick for any type of situation that needs superior audio mixing, particularly where budget or/and space constraints are a problem. The audio mixers are beneficial for all kinds of recording purposes, including mixing the line output of more than one instrument amps in one mixer channel.

What makes the audio mixers an essential part of the audio recording equipment are its various exclusive features that almost each mixer possess. Ultra low noise mixer along with highest headroom, 4 precision engineered XDR premium studio grade mic preamps, 14 line input, constant loudness pan pots, 3 band active EQ of 2.5 kHz, 80 kHz and 12 kHz, phantom power for the premium condenser mics and in built power supply are few of the features of audio mixers.

Few audio mixers also sports planet earth switching power supply for the global use, separate 48v phantom power-switches at all mic inputs and 60 mm logarithmic tape faders for linear, smooth fades.