In the analogue era, mastering engineers were responsible for the final steps in preparing recorded music for distribution. They transferred final mixes from analogue tape to master tape, adjusted the frequency balance and dynamics, controlled noise, set the final playback levels, and ensured overall quality before transferring them onto formats like vinyl records or cassette tapes. Their expertise was crucial in refining the sound and ensuring that it translated well across different playback systems. In a way, this is what they still do – ensure that the final mix sounds good on different playback systems. Mastering engineer nowadays needs to ensure the track isn’t going to be compressed by streaming platforms and won’t be too quiet compared to other music on the market. On top of controlling the distribution quality, mastering engineers overlook the whole album and make sure all the tracks on it sound like they belong to the same record.
The adjustments made during mastering are always very gentle and can’t make too much of a difference to the finished mixes. Oftentimes, the only job to get done after mixing would be just gain level checking, ensuring that the tracks are at -14 LUFS with their true peak at -1 dBTP. That is why a lot of mixing engineers, especially those working with musicians with low budgets or self-producing, have started mastering in the process of mixing. That is one of the challenges mastering engineers are facing right now and will be in the future.
Much more of a threat could be artificial intelligence. As AI technologies become more advanced, there’s a concern that they could replace or devalue the expertise and creativity that mastering engineers bring to the process. Buying a program which can analyse audio data and make decisions about EQ, compression, and other processing parameters without human intervention is cheaper than hiring a person who would spend hours working on your record. This could lead to a reduction in demand for human mastering engineers, as AI systems become more capable of delivering high-quality results at a lower cost and faster turnaround time.
Knowing about the future of mastering is helpful when considering future careers and brings more ethical thinking into using AI to complete a job which once belonged to people.
Anderson, Nate. “AI Can Now Master Your Music—and It Does Shockingly Well.” Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2024, arstechnica.com/ai/2024/02/mastering-music-is-hard-can-one-click-ai-make-it-easy/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
iZotope. “Mixing vs. Mastering: What’s the Difference?” Www.youtube.com, 21 June 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGfHR8MRiBI. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
Kagan, Adam . “Mastering Music: 72 Years of History – Sonarworks Blog.” Sonarworks Blogs, 2 Nov. 2022, www.sonarworks.com/blog/learn/the-history-of-mastering. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.