Black Art Mastered, August 21, 2003

Very rarely do I find a book which stimulates my interest throughout its every page, and even more to the point, very rarely do I find a "technical" book which yields the same result. Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science, delivers.

Bob Katz has come to be known as "The Guru" regarding mastering audio. Bob has steadily carved a niche for himself in both his dual profession of mastering and writing. This book was inevitable in many ways as "keeping a lid" on one's knowledge of this calibre is almost impossible. Bob Katz comes across as a genuinely "open" guy, and naturally his generosity and openness is evident in his writing style.

So often technical writers simply miss half their audience, or rather leave them cold and baffle them with unnecessary technicalities or bore them with verbose banalities. Even worse, writers in the audio industry can often leave little room for the reader to reflect and establish their own opinions on the text. Bob Katz is one of the few writers who are able to take a complex subject, riddled with difficult concepts and present those concepts for the layman to absorb, in a non-arrogant and cheerful manner.

Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science is a paperback book of 319 pages that teaches the reader all there is to know and explore regarding mastering audio.

Mastering audio is often considered a "black-art", and a visit to any number of online audio forums will indicate that it can also be considered a highly subjective Science/Art. Bob Katz reinforces that in his text and assumes the reader has a genuine interest in the subject and will therefore experiment and train herself to hear the ideas Bob has spent a lifetime nurturing. Bob has composed catch phrases that should become mantras for "newbies" such as: "Make passive ear training a lifelong activity" and "A monitor which makes everything sound beautiful must not be accurate". Phrases such as these are "gems" for any newcomer and can open a whole new approach to the subject.

The text is presented in a friendly and playful manner with two columns per page interlaced with a fair amount of diagrams that really do paint a thousand words. Never will the reader find the book hard going or too tough, providing they are reading to learn. The book is not written to be a "10 quick tips for mastering your audio"; Bob Katz is way beyond that. What you will find is a textbook that will teach you and guide you through a complex area. This book is sure to become the "Industry Bible" on mastering audio. Highly recommended.

Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science
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Recording Studio Suntans

Couldn't agree more.
We do a ot of mastering, and are now heading into multichannel land. This book is invaluable to everyone who is serious about the subject, and not just for Mastering Engineers. When Bob talks about mastering audio, he also means getting a mastery of the entire subject.

There are some good points made too. The one that is most important to me in the current climate is the warning about overcompression. I will be posting on this subject in a new post.

Well worth the money, and a must have.
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www.opusproductions.com
Multichannel Audio Specialists

Hey Wilkes good to see you on board.

I'm agreeing with you on that over compression concept.

It's amusing how often we go full circle from "newbies" wanting our track as hot as poss, to then "seasoned" and looking for more dynamics and openess.

Perhaps that proverb "the more I know the less I understand" is fitting.
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Recording Studio Suntans

Btw, there's a great Bobs site dedicated to mastering - http://www.digido.com/. Check it out - there are many interesting articles
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Russian Academy of Music, Moscow

Greetings Ilya.
How is it in Moscow at the moment?

I am well familiar with Bob's site - it is a regular visit for me, as the info there to my mind is utterly invaluable.
I also bought the book - it's where I learned about the K-System, and it has made a large difference to my masters.
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www.opusproductions.com
Multichannel Audio Specialists

For me it's just fine here, in Moscow
I'm absolutely sure that Bob's book is the most informative and really the best (i mean the mastering scene)
REALLY IMPRESSED!
And of course, guys, I'm sure you know 'bout his site, but some people browsing this forum may not. Just thought it'd be VERY usefull for them!
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Russian Academy of Music, Moscow

good thinking ilya, now, I know about the site.

sharing is caring =o)
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shure sm57 (I love you!)

There are also another couple of sites that all Mastering Engineers really should be familiar with too.
http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm
http://www.loudnessrace.net

Both these go into some detail about one of the things that Bob youches on - overly hot CD levels in modern mastering.

I urge everyone to at least familiarize themselves with these sites, & digest as much of the content as possible. It really is very important.

Also, with Multichannel mixes becoming more & more common, I fervently hope that the same mistakes are not made.
Unfortunately the minute that Waves end up doing a multichannel L1/L2, the fight is going to be on.
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www.opusproductions.com
Multichannel Audio Specialists

Agreed, Bob's a great guy who spends a good deal of time educating people on the 'Net. The book is a must have for anyone considering a career in audio engineering.
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Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
http://www.masteringhouse.com
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

High guys, im new here, how are we all,
love the site.

I thoguht it might be worth mentioning that Bob is bringing out the 2nd edition of Mastering Audio soon, so that might be one to look out for.

Cheers.

I just want to say hi to the forum
Chris Stilmant from AudiopleXus mastering
I hope this beginning of a beautiful frienchip

www.audioplexus.co.uk
www.audioplexus.com

audiopl wrote:

I just want to say hi to the forum Chris Stilmant from AudiopleXus mastering I hope this beginning of a beautiful frienchip www.audioplexus.co.uk www.audioplexus.com

Hey Chris!

Welcome aboard.
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Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
http://www.masteringhouse.com
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

Compression can be a tricky effect to get used to if you are just begining audio production, but below are a few tips to get you started. Threshold is in dB and sets the gain at which the wave has to go above before the compressor starts compressing.

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hennry

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ooo 2nd edition of mastering audio, 50% new material too, i like it!

This has to be a must buy!
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www.EarwaxAudio.com