Welcome to the live mastering session. This chapter is made up almost entirely of videos. You are about to witness a track being mastered from start to finish using the techniques covered in the ‘Audio Mastering Blueprint’. The track being mastered is called ‘Breathe’ from the album ‘On Parade’ and is courtesy of the band ‘Unconscious Jungle’. In fact, Unconscious Jungle have generously donated the entire album for free download in its ‘unmastered’ form just for you practice your mastering skills on. To access it, simply go to the practice music downloads page at MasteringTuition.com.

The full album in its finished (mastered) state is available to purchase here:

http://unconsciousjungle.bandcamp.com

Unconscious Jungle are a Manchester based 5 piece with a sound combining elements of folk, psychedelia, 20th century dance themes and choral harmonies. It is a fantastic album which I highly recommend.

It’s worth mentioning that the final mastering carried out on this whole album uses techniques that are somewhat more advanced than what is included in the Audio Mastering Blueprint (such techniques are discussed in Part 2). For this reason, on the finished album, the track ‘Breathe’ may sound slightly different to the master we produce at the end of this live mastering session.

Please note, I haven’t sped up the mastering process in anyway by snipping bits out. These videos capture the actual mastering process from start to finish. The entire length is about an hour.

The order of the live mastering session is as follows, please read through before watching the first video:

• Section 1: Listen – A very important part of the mastering process. At TGM Audio, we make notes during the first few of listens to a track. (3m 50s)
• Section 2: EQ – Using the technique demonstrated earlier in the book, some problem frequencies are uncovered and dealt with. (17m 32s)
• Section 3: Multi-Band Compression – Here you will see how multi-band compression can be used to process both dynamics and tone. (17m 17s)
• Section 4: Single-Band Compression – Having tightened up the mix, single-band compression is used as gelling agent, bringing the mix to whole. (13m 8s)
• Section 5: Limiting – The final part to this live session. Limiting is the final seal, giving more RMS, lifting the track up to a commercial volume. (11m 28s)

Total length: 62m 35s

Next page… Section 1 – Listen