Arts >> Music >> Music Basics

Procedures for Mastering Music

Songs you hear on professionally recorded albums and the radio have gone through a rigorous mastering process. If you've recorded music and you want it on CD or a music website, you'll probably want a similar finishing touch on the tracks. Mastering music will bring out a broader range of dynamics and uniform volume to the track. Fortunately, you can master music on your home computer with free software.

  1. Download Software

    • Go to the address www.audacity.sourceforge.net and download Audacity according to your operating system. Audacity is a free, complete multi-track desktop recording studio with the capability to master finished tracks. (Other downloadable applications for mastering music besides Audacity include Wavosaur, WaveMax and CyberPower, though they're not all free.)

      Open Audacity and go to "File -> Open." This will give you a file browser of your system. Audacity can handle any type of music file, like MP3, WAV, OGG, MP4 and WMA. Locate a music track you want to master and select "Open." Once loaded, you'll see the entire track in a wave form.

    Editing and Effects

    • Click on the track's wave form and press "Ctrl + A" to select the entire track for editing. Go to "Effect -> Compressor." This will open a filter that will compress the entire track to be played at higher volumes without becoming distorted. It will also allow the track to be clearer at a lower volume. Check the box "Compress Based on Peaks" and hit the preview button to see how it will sound. If you like it, press "OK." Otherwise you can drag the blue line around the box and try out different sound settings.

      Go to "Effect -> Bass boost." This setting will allow you to boost the lower frequencies. Drag the fader left or right to adjust to the sound you'd like.

      Go to "Effect -> Equalization" and click on "Graphic EQ." This will give you a number of sliding frequency knobs, from low to high, which you can adjust. Concentrate on raising the middle frequencies and adjusting the highs to blend with them. You can also eliminate frequencies entirely by bringing the knobs all the way down if they're harming the sound of the music.

      One final thing to do when mastering is to "normalize" the track. This will allow the track only to peak at the maximum volume you set. Go to "Effect -> Normalize" and press "OK." This will normalize the track to the default 0.0 decibels, but if it's too quiet you can go back and make the number higher.

    Saving the Mastered Track

    • After applying all the changes, listen to the track. If it sounds good, go to "File -> Export." Name the track and click "OK." On the next screen, choose the type of file you want it to be. For a mastered file it's best to save it as WAV, because there is no loss or compression in the file. It will be on CD exactly how it sounded when you mastered it.

+:
+:

Music Basics

Related Categories