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What type of music mastering process is best? If I am not mistaken, it was in the early 70's that the analog recording industry broke ground with multi-track recorders, recording mixers and outboard gear that offered the cleanest and best sound transparency unlike the analog equipment from the 60's which made tracking and mixing, a very limiting task. Back in the 60's there were not too many channels, not too many tracks and producing records was a difficult task. So, the whole point of the technical innovations in analog recording was more flexibility and a more transparent sound, right?
 Well, I am not going to discuss the history of analog recordings here. Another time. However, I will say this -- a few engineers from that time and era have told me that they didn't really like analog that much because of its noise, lack of flexibility and time consumption inherent to the format. Did I say noise? Yes, I did. That "warmth", many recording buffs and audio engineers describe, is nothing more than phase shift distortion and circuitry oscillation noise. If you add the fact that there is no 'hard shell cut off' on both ends (Hi and low frequencies), you are going to perceive analog as a better sounding format than digital. When someone says: "I hear a clear difference between analog and digital recordings", it's most likely about what they don't hear (Digital quantization) than what they do. It's really a matter of perception. But nowadays, it should be a matter of practicality. The fact is -- these degrees of un-quantized and rather phase distorted, colored and noisy sound that we call analog warmth, only lives in the studio that created it. So, the moment that you transfer it to CD, it's gone. At least, most of the sub harmonic information and distinct overtones are. Maybe, if it never left the studio, went straight to vinyl and you used a hi-end stereo with a $10,000 stylus to play back, you would enjoy this great technological sound breakthrough of the 70's & 80's, known as the "warm analog sound". Tell that to today's youth who are downloading mp3s (A lossy sound format) like crazy at $0.99 per song! Today, just like 20 years ago, you won't find an analog studio engineer telling people: "Analog recording sucks", especially if he owns an analog recording studio. Also, since manufacturers of analog gear to survive need to make engineers, studio owners and producers, continue to buy the equipment, it's doubtful that they will give up a billion dollar industry now more than ever. Other companies that were traditionally "all digital", have now joined the analog bandwagon and now offer software intended to emulate that sound. This isn't so much because they agree that analog sound is better, but because there is more marketing venues available to them. Don't forget, digital software-hardware manufacturers have proven with scientific data that digital recording, not only sounds good today, it has surpassed analog's headroom and signal-to-noise floor ratio specifications View of Ted Jensen's mastering room So, why is this relevant to music mastering? My concept of music mastering is: "The skillful art of aligning frequencies in order to obtain a maximum delivery potential". Actually, this is my short definition. My point is, whether digital or analog audio cd mastering, it doesn't matter. It won't make any difference if the correct frequency alignment and harmonic balance is not there in the first place. But, what about the analog components of analog gear that increases and enhances the sub harmonic structures on the bass frequencies and lack of high frequency noise at low signal amplitudes, yadi yada? It doesn't matter. An inexperienced mastering engineer, even with expensive tools, can still render a poor sounding master. We have great digital and analog tools to do mastering, but at the end of the day, knowing how to expertly use these mastering tools is the key to great sound. One more thing, not even the most expensive tools, will turn a bad mix into great sounding master. This means that a mix to be mastered, has to sound good on its present state for great quality results. Thanks for reading! Do you disagree? If you need more information, go to our general discussion forum to sign up and to post questions or create a new topic. Best,
Edward Vinatea
Mastering Engineer
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