From the course: Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools

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Understanding mastering

Understanding mastering

What is mastering? Some define the mastering process as the final stage of audio processing, while other definitions would suggest a wider scope, including final audio polishing as well as track sequencing, master disk creation and file format transcoding. Basically, everything after the mix up to the point before duplication and distribution. So, the first step usually related to mastering is a final polishing of the audio. Most mix engineers associate mastering as the final stage in signal processing. So if mixing is the paint job, mastering would be the clear coat or the lacquer that seals the deal. So what generally happens is a two- track or a multi-channel version of the mix is processed with final dynamics EQ and other processing to create a polished finished sounding mix. So the master engineers are generally going to make sure that mix is compatible on all sound systems, both hi-fi systems and lower-fi systems, and then they're going to tie up any loose ends from the mixing…

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