Mastering

The element that brings the music production to radio readiness is the process of mastering. Once all the mixing is finished and put on DAT tape (a high resolution digital audio tape) it is then either brought back into the system, or brought to a seperate mastering studio for the final steps of preparation for mass production.

At the mastering session, the first order of business is evaluating the tones and making adjustments to get the mix sounding as good as possible. Once those decisions have been made, the whole cd is assembled to ensure that the spaces between the songs are good and finally, the master CD is made. The master CD is the cd you will send to the mass production house. You never touch this cd, or even open the case to look at it. It is used to make a glass master cd, which in turn stamps out your cd project at the mass production house.

These steps are absolutely necescary if you want to have the best sounding release possible. There is generally a big difference between the mixed product and the mastered product.

Airshow Mastering

I have been using Airshow Mastering to provide this service to my clients. Here I can guarantee that your CD project will be treated as carefully and as professionally as possible. They use the best equipment and have the best ears in the area. Charlie Pilzer is a master of mastering.

While some studios purport to be "Mastering Studios" Airshow is definately that. Software mastering is not an option here and don't ever be fooled into thinking you will get a superior product from it. I'll give you some examples.......

One of the most popular mastering software plugins is the Waves L2 mastering plugin. It has an associated Hardware model, and there is a specific difference between the software and hardware. For starters, the Hardware L2 calculates limiting 10 times over it's L2 software counterpart. The end result is that the hardware version sounds better. The overall sound is warmer and more full. This goes true for just about every thing you can do to a release at the mastering stage.

Airshow Mastering uses several hardware mastering tools to get the tones correct. They use the HDCD process (Hi Definition CD) for bit depth conversion, Manley Compressors, The Waves L2 for limiting, Weiss Compression and EQ and lots of other options. And if that is not enough to put them on the map, Charlie's job is to do this. Imagine mastering a different album every day. You're going to be good at it. Couple that with his excessive levels of talent and you've got a lethal combination of knowledge, experience, and talent that will make any CD stand levels above the rest.