Elysian Masters CD Mastering DC

 

The studios of Elysian Masters are available in Los Angeles and Barcelona to provide music artists with a variety of services including audio CD mastering, audio restoration, audiophile vinyl transfers, analog master transfers and more related services. The story of the company began twenty-five years ago and now continues with Elysian Masters through its founders Dave Cooley and Kelly Hibbert. With more than forty-five years of experience between them they are experts at mastering music and have a history of doing so with major and independent labels. They have provided record and CD mastering services for clients from all around the world. In addition to having a great deal of experience in restoration of classic albums and present independent releases, they are also true "masters" at CD mastering. The mastering process allows them to edit minor flaws that occur during mixing and to apply noise reduction to eliminate the hum and hiss.

 

A master engineer will provide dynamic expansion or compression, adjust volumes, and equalize audio between tracks to get the best sound from your music. They will add tape saturation or emulation, peak limit tracks, and dither the tracks and get them ready for the CD format. In addition to CD mastering, they can also provide you with the mixing of your material for an additional cost if needed. To help prepare your music for the CD mastering process, you should leave some headroom in your mixes. Lack of headroom is one of the biggest problems encountered in today's world of digital limiters. When the mix is already heavily limited, there is a lot less that can be accomplished in the CD mastering process to correct any problems that may be present. Create a finished mix with at least 3-6 dB of peak headroom for delivery to mastering before creating a takehome reference mix with limiting or clipping. This way you get the best of both worlds... one 16 bit version with limiting for listening and checking overall balances, and one 24 bit unlimited version to take to mastering.

 

Compression on the mix is another area where CD mastering can improve the final version for CD replication. It's usually best to use the minimum amount of mix buss compression, and to allow the mastering engineer to put the final compression on the mix during mastering. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use compression in your mix (especially if you're an experienced mix engineer), just that one should be careful with how much is applied. If going for a special effect (heavy pumping), then by all means use as much as necessary but realize that this will put a permanent "stamp" on the mix that will definitely make it's way to the final version heard on CD. Only use this type of sound if you are experienced with compression. Vocal sibilance is another common area where CD mastering can improve the mixes. This is a common byproduct from close micing and eq techniques that are commonly used today. Even powerful mastering tools may not be able to reduce vocal sibilance without affecting other elements of the mix. Try to manage it during the mix and the mastering process will be easier. To learn more about the different CD mastering techniques from Elysian Masters, visit www.ElysianMasters.com. If high quality and affordable packages are important to you, then they are your answer for professional results.