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saw forum 文章 - 黑膠 母帶 (有興趣作母帶處理的必讀)
這篇文章資料極豐富, 有興趣作母帶處理的必讀, 了解這個工業的文化。
To be a little nitpicky, what you're doing is actually called PREmastering, the engineer that does the actual tranfer to the lathe to cut the lacquer or DMM master is the one that will be doing the mastering.
Anyway - here's my suggestions (accumulated from a few years as a production manager for a vinyl pressing plant, months of study with Jim Shelton, followed by 2 years cutting vinyl masters at Europadisk - unfortunately I don't have a lathe currently):
Here's my suggestions:
* as far as peak levels - remember that digital dBFs does not equal analog dBVU!! The cutting engineer will still need to set the levels that are actually sent to the lathe. In general having your digital masters peak somewhere around -6dBFs is fine as it gives a little headroom and it's possible the cutting engineer won't have to attenuate it as much as if you have it maxed out - but in general as long there are no overs or clipping you can set your digital levels where ever you want them as the cutting engineer will set the levels to the lathe regardless and should be able to easily deal with it.
* as far as average level - simply set this by ear to the place where things sound full with satisfying dynamics and punch, and consistent across the side. The cutting engineer can always apply more limiting or compression if needed - but they can't remove it. If you simply have to have a number to work from: -14dB to -12dB RMS is generally a decent place to be. The smashed levels we see on CD's simply don't work as well on vinyl.
* center the bass frequencies - if you have things like two different simultaneous bass lines panned left & right or stereo chorusing or flanging effects on the bass it will make it extremely difficult to have your record cut with a hot level because if bass freq's aren't phase coherent the groove will actually become narrower in these parts leading to the potential for a skip.
* tame sibilance - it's a really good idea to run a de-esser on any vocal tracks that have a lot of sibilance. esses and t's can produce a burst of high frequencies which will just distort when played back on vinyl. The solution the cutting engineer can do to make sure this doesn't happen is to just put the whole mix through a de-esser - but it's a lot more transparent if you can take care of this during the mix instead.
* avoid excessive high end!! - ultra high frequencies above 15kHz tend to just cause distortion if there is a lot of them and if there are way too much of them will actually smoke the cutting head! Avoid boosting any of the highs above somewhere around 10kHz on your mix. If you are looking to add "presence" or brightness focus your boosts in the upper mid areas somwhere around 2-6kHz.
* don't clip your wave forms!!!! - clipped wave forms with squared tops will often break up really really quick when transferred to vinyl master at a hot level. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to clip your wav forms on a pre-master destined for vinyl. While it's a popular way to achieve extreme average levels for a CD master it will actually make the cutting engineer cut your record quieter than if you're wav forms have nice natural rounded tops. I've seen lots of people introduce clicks and pops into their master because they clipped their audio way too excessively and didn't notice it because of their crappy monitoring - so I think it's best to completely avoid this problem and make -0.3dbFs your very maximum output ceiling.
* go light with the limiter! - while a little peak limiting to tame the big transients can actually be a really helpful for keeping even levels the current squash settings used on a lot of digital masters will actually make things distort more quickly because in overly limited material instead of the peaks on the vinyl master being nice round bottom transients all the upper mids are forced to the top too . Remember dBfs does not translate into dBvu!!! - the levels that go to your vinyl master are actually set by the cutting engineer - so if you're questioning how much limiting or compression to use communicate with the cutting engineer and let them apply what they see fit to do.
* keep it "clean" - any distortion in the digital realm tends to become more noticeable when transferred to vinyl
* sequence thoughtfully - the inner grooves will always be more susceptible to distortion dye to increased tracing errors than the outer ones - so it's always a best idea to keep the cuts you want to be the hottest for the 1st or 2nd tracks and have the last track on the side be an instrumental or acapella or quieter passage.
* keep the side lengths realistic. For max level (around +6dbVu) on a 12" "competitive" dance single keep the side length to around 12 minutes max for 33-1/3 and 9 minutes max for 45rpm.
For LP sides I'd say make 25 minutes a side your very maximum unless you want to possibly encounter problems with scuffing and low signal to noise ratio when the records are pressed. With long sides remember that the cutting engineer must make a compromise between bass response and level in order to fit more grooves onto the side - so if you want a really long LP side remember that you'll probably have to sacrifice some of the low end.
* make sure the heads and tails on the tracks in your premaster are clean and have good fades, and unless you want sound in your "spirals" (the wider grooves that are placed between tracks so that dj's can see where the next track is) leave at least 2 seconds between each track. It's also best to leave at least 10 seconds between tracks at the side break or provide the pre-master for each side on seperate discs or reels.
* communicate any requests or questions with the cutting engineer! This I've found is often the key to having you end up really happy. I also recommend getting an acetate or DMM reference disc made prior to having your masters cut so that you can be sure that you are happy with how your master sounds before incurring the expenses for plating and test pressing.
* provide good documentation - make sure you include a track list including track number and side and length of tracks and sides. If you're providing a data disc make sure that the names of your files on the disc match the names you have listed on your track sheet (or just name them something like A1.wav, A2.wav, B1.wav etc.).
Best regards,
Steve Berson
To be a little nitpicky, what you're doing is actually called PREmastering, the engineer that does the actual tranfer to the lathe to cut the lacquer or DMM master is the one that will be doing the mastering.
Anyway - here's my suggestions (accumulated from a few years as a production manager for a vinyl pressing plant, months of study with Jim Shelton, followed by 2 years cutting vinyl masters at Europadisk - unfortunately I don't have a lathe currently):
Here's my suggestions:
* as far as peak levels - remember that digital dBFs does not equal analog dBVU!! The cutting engineer will still need to set the levels that are actually sent to the lathe. In general having your digital masters peak somewhere around -6dBFs is fine as it gives a little headroom and it's possible the cutting engineer won't have to attenuate it as much as if you have it maxed out - but in general as long there are no overs or clipping you can set your digital levels where ever you want them as the cutting engineer will set the levels to the lathe regardless and should be able to easily deal with it.
* as far as average level - simply set this by ear to the place where things sound full with satisfying dynamics and punch, and consistent across the side. The cutting engineer can always apply more limiting or compression if needed - but they can't remove it. If you simply have to have a number to work from: -14dB to -12dB RMS is generally a decent place to be. The smashed levels we see on CD's simply don't work as well on vinyl.
* center the bass frequencies - if you have things like two different simultaneous bass lines panned left & right or stereo chorusing or flanging effects on the bass it will make it extremely difficult to have your record cut with a hot level because if bass freq's aren't phase coherent the groove will actually become narrower in these parts leading to the potential for a skip.
* tame sibilance - it's a really good idea to run a de-esser on any vocal tracks that have a lot of sibilance. esses and t's can produce a burst of high frequencies which will just distort when played back on vinyl. The solution the cutting engineer can do to make sure this doesn't happen is to just put the whole mix through a de-esser - but it's a lot more transparent if you can take care of this during the mix instead.
* avoid excessive high end!! - ultra high frequencies above 15kHz tend to just cause distortion if there is a lot of them and if there are way too much of them will actually smoke the cutting head! Avoid boosting any of the highs above somewhere around 10kHz on your mix. If you are looking to add "presence" or brightness focus your boosts in the upper mid areas somwhere around 2-6kHz.
* don't clip your wave forms!!!! - clipped wave forms with squared tops will often break up really really quick when transferred to vinyl master at a hot level. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to clip your wav forms on a pre-master destined for vinyl. While it's a popular way to achieve extreme average levels for a CD master it will actually make the cutting engineer cut your record quieter than if you're wav forms have nice natural rounded tops. I've seen lots of people introduce clicks and pops into their master because they clipped their audio way too excessively and didn't notice it because of their crappy monitoring - so I think it's best to completely avoid this problem and make -0.3dbFs your very maximum output ceiling.
* go light with the limiter! - while a little peak limiting to tame the big transients can actually be a really helpful for keeping even levels the current squash settings used on a lot of digital masters will actually make things distort more quickly because in overly limited material instead of the peaks on the vinyl master being nice round bottom transients all the upper mids are forced to the top too . Remember dBfs does not translate into dBvu!!! - the levels that go to your vinyl master are actually set by the cutting engineer - so if you're questioning how much limiting or compression to use communicate with the cutting engineer and let them apply what they see fit to do.
* keep it "clean" - any distortion in the digital realm tends to become more noticeable when transferred to vinyl
* sequence thoughtfully - the inner grooves will always be more susceptible to distortion dye to increased tracing errors than the outer ones - so it's always a best idea to keep the cuts you want to be the hottest for the 1st or 2nd tracks and have the last track on the side be an instrumental or acapella or quieter passage.
* keep the side lengths realistic. For max level (around +6dbVu) on a 12" "competitive" dance single keep the side length to around 12 minutes max for 33-1/3 and 9 minutes max for 45rpm.
For LP sides I'd say make 25 minutes a side your very maximum unless you want to possibly encounter problems with scuffing and low signal to noise ratio when the records are pressed. With long sides remember that the cutting engineer must make a compromise between bass response and level in order to fit more grooves onto the side - so if you want a really long LP side remember that you'll probably have to sacrifice some of the low end.
* make sure the heads and tails on the tracks in your premaster are clean and have good fades, and unless you want sound in your "spirals" (the wider grooves that are placed between tracks so that dj's can see where the next track is) leave at least 2 seconds between each track. It's also best to leave at least 10 seconds between tracks at the side break or provide the pre-master for each side on seperate discs or reels.
* communicate any requests or questions with the cutting engineer! This I've found is often the key to having you end up really happy. I also recommend getting an acetate or DMM reference disc made prior to having your masters cut so that you can be sure that you are happy with how your master sounds before incurring the expenses for plating and test pressing.
* provide good documentation - make sure you include a track list including track number and side and length of tracks and sides. If you're providing a data disc make sure that the names of your files on the disc match the names you have listed on your track sheet (or just name them something like A1.wav, A2.wav, B1.wav etc.).
Best regards,
Steve Berson
, 慚愧, 小弟讀書不多........
小弟也來助一個慶.........An Introduction To Mastering
by Stephen J. Baldassarre (Silent Bob)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a mastering engineer, many people have asked me about the importance of mastering. However, in order to thoroughly describe the importance of mastering, I must first describe some of the equipment and processes available to a typical mastering engineer.
The equipment used by mastering engineers is very specialized and precise. Most people have dynamic compressors in their studios but the compressors used in mastering are a bit more complicated. For instance, I use compression that can control high and low frequencies independently. It can catch peaks in the audio signal instantly or before the peaks even occur. This compression uses joint stereo operation which means that if a peak occurs on one channel of the stereo mix, both channels (right and left audio channels) with be attenuated equally. This is important because if only one channel is attenuated, there will be a sudden loss in one channel's volume which will interfere with the soundscape. Joint stereo operation also prevents stereo separation from deteriorating as compression is increased.
Most people are also very familiar with equalizers or EQ. The EQ used in mastering can affect both right and left channels independently or identically. This is useful if the right and left channels have significantly different frequency content or if there is an error in one channel and not the other (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). Also, I can use EQ from a ten-band analogue EQ all the way to 2,400 band digital FFT filters. FFT means Fast Fourier Transform, which is a method of processing a digital signal using discrete amounts of delay to control independent bands of frequencies Why so many bands? Precision, that's why. I've mastered songs with high pitched ringing going on throughout caused by substandard equipment or from having a computer too close to the recording gear. Normal EQ could eliminate such sounds but would cause severe interference with the rest of the program material making it sound unnatural. The digital EQ is so precise that it can eliminate the ringing without any audible effect on the program material. It can also be used for split seconds to reduce bum notes or add a little accent to certain instruments without affecting the surrounding material. This is very useful for increasing clarity and overall impact of the sound.
Nonlinear editing tools such as a software controlled hard drive system are also important for removing sections of sound for the purpose of making different versions of songs for radio or album cuts, CD singles etc. Fixing bad "punch-in" glitches, and cleaning up fades are also advantages of nonlinear editing tools. The same tools are used to put the songs or other material in the correct order and set the correct timing between tracks on CDs. Dynamics can also be added with great precision to program material using a nonlinear editing system to increase the impact of the sound. One other real advantage of a nonlinear system is the ability to reduce transients (occasional sudden volume peaks), which prevent the overall volume of the material from being increased. After stray transients have been removed, the signal can usually be boosted 3-9dB louder than before.
Noise reduction is also a very handy tool in mastering. The same FFT filter used for EQ can also be used to remove AC hum, tape hiss (to a limited extent) or other unwanted noises such as clicks and pops. If there is noise in a particular track like AC hum, a segment of the track containing only noise can be sampled in the FFT as a profile for noise reduction. This profile is applied over the entire selection and (hopefully) attenuates the noise. This is incredibly useful for restoring older recordings, but many new projects I've worked on have also benefited from this process.
Mastering engineers also have the ability to widen the stereo field of recordings, even if they were originally recorded in mono. Granted, if you send a mono recording to a mastering house, they cannot, for instance, pan the guitar to the right and the keyboard to the left, but they can add stereo space that was not there originally. If the recording is done in stereo but just does not have the aural space it needs, then the stereo field can be accented, creating an improved soundscape. There are several methods of doing this that can only be done in the digital domain, but some methods are done using specialized analogue processors.
One of the last mastering tricks I should mention is time stretching. A song's tempo can be increased or decreased without affecting the pitch of the song. This is important for making radio edits of songs, as radio programmers have a tendency to speed up songs in order to fit more commercials into the day. The tempo of the song can be decreased so when the radio station speeds it up, it will have the tempo it was originally intended to have. There isn't a large demand for this process, but some people wanting to make their tunes more danceable or to cheat the radio stations like to have this option.
So when people ask me what the importance of mastering is, I could sum it up into just a few short statements. Mastering increases the impact and clarity of the material. It is the final polishing an album as a whole receives before it is released to the public. Final touches on fades, song order and volume are all made here as well as some correctional touch-ups.
Who should have their stuff mastered? Anybody looking for a more professional sound in their work should have their material mastered. Mastering is a key process in bringing recordings up to commercial standards. Home-recorded demos all the way to industrial studio recordings can benefit from mastering, which is why I stress the importance of it so much. Industrial studios have their material mastered religiously to gain that extra edge. Many audiophiles have their material mastered to compete with the industrial studios, and musicians with homemade demos may have it done just to increase the impact of their sound for promotional use. So mastering can serve anybody who is looking for a more professional sound in their music. For audiophiles, it is a great help for achieving the perfect sound. For industrial studios, it is a step all to important to skip.
(c) 2000, Stephen J. Baldassarre
工作忙啊，况且每次出现家中也会有点事，
但又可能因为家中有点事，小弟才出现
………….嘻，看不见我是好事。
小弟尝试重新猜想那句说话
The equipment used by mastering engineers is very specialized and precise
可能这位 Stephen 兄是从工程师的角度去形容的。
假设专业器材和民用器材相比，专业的大多也比较(specialized)独特和(precise)精准，
要求也比较高。
但 Mastering Engineer需要的是简单及直接的器材，这在众多专业器材的领域中反而变得独特(specialized)-精准(precise)也对 Mastering存在一定的重要性。
但.....如果我猜想得不对，这位 Stephen 兄确实很不济。
反之，如果他是真的是用这角度去形容的，这文章便变得非常有价值。
情况.....还有点像 V6.
但又可能因为家中有点事，小弟才出现
………….嘻，看不见我是好事。
小弟尝试重新猜想那句说话
The equipment used by mastering engineers is very specialized and precise
可能这位 Stephen 兄是从工程师的角度去形容的。
假设专业器材和民用器材相比，专业的大多也比较(specialized)独特和(precise)精准，
要求也比较高。
但 Mastering Engineer需要的是简单及直接的器材，这在众多专业器材的领域中反而变得独特(specialized)-精准(precise)也对 Mastering存在一定的重要性。
但.....如果我猜想得不对，这位 Stephen 兄确实很不济。
反之，如果他是真的是用这角度去形容的，这文章便变得非常有价值。
情况.....还有点像 V6.