FUTURE PROOF SOUND

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Mastering music properly and future-proof is what we offer to our conaisseur customers that can understand what we are talking about. Contemporary thinking & hearing compromises end results, especially the outcome of the mastered product on various types of media. Like cassette tape (shy on top end), Streaming (Rules in max loudness levels, LUFS and max peak values) etc...

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LOUD! LOUDER! LOUDIER AND THE LOUDEST? THAT'S BETTER RIGHT?

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Well....... NO!

 

Very often bands and producers are looking for "loud and powerfull mastering" which often is a bit contradictory to each other...

 

WHY?   

 

A louder master will have to compromise dynamics to be able to be put on any medium without clipping. Clipping is one of the artifacts that will make a production sound "harsh" and "unpleasant". But also the general level gain can be a problem for a song.

Level often is one of the most important elements within an arrangement. Take the example of Bohemian Rhapsody, a song that can only work when there are significant level differences. If you squash that with a multiband compressor, the song dies.

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But overcompressed sound causes more problems. The enjoyability nearly always suffers, and the song might become annoying.

That is because our ears are not designed to handle and decode clipped and compressed signals, our ears tend to react to this by raising the eardrum tension, which eventually makes you feel tired listening, and you will hear less low and top end frequencies.

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Another big, i mean BIG problem is the generation of ultrasonics by clipping or bad compression, sometimes even through the use of cheap converters. Because they are ultrasonics, people not necessarily hear them, but DO get ANNOYED by them.

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Realworld Mastering is the first mastering facility to really look for this problem and trace it to its root and remove it. That process can be done in stereo mix masters but even better in mixing the track properly at Mixroom.one. It makes your sound enjoyable!

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This ultrasonic problem is one of the reasons why many radio stations are losing their listeners after a few hours or even forever!

Radiostations tend to have their processing whack the life out of nearly everything, to hide the fact that DJ's can not level a program properly... But that is a totally different subject... I mention this, because it is the proof that this issue should be adressed!

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Mastering a record will have to be a clipping and distortion free enterprise, dispite the fact that clipping was used in some form by for instance guitar amps and some limiter types on individual tracks, only when balanced within a mix it can be a desired effect.

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We strive for the very best in sound, today, tomorrow but also yesterday... Yes. Because yesterday's records were made by craftsmen with extraordinary skills and hearing, not often found today.

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It is no secret that a lot of the best mixing engineers and mastering engineers are becoming the senior citizen generation...

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We want to make, mix and master music that is solid, big, wide and dimensionally deep. And no compromise should be made!

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Cheers!

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Karel Post

Founder of Realworld Mastering and Mixroom.one studio.

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