TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE11MODELANSWERS

Afterthemasteringprocess,arechangesevermadetothesoundqualityforartisticreasons?

No,masteringisthelaststagewhereartisticdecisionscanbetaken.

Statefivefunctionsofmastering,asgiveninthetext.

Tocompensate,asfaraspossible,foranydeficienciesofthemedium.

Tooptimizethesoundqualityandlevel.
TomatchdifferenttracksintermsofEQandlevelsothattheyfittogetherwell.onanalbum,
particularlyfromonetracktothenext.

Tosetthegapsbetweentracks,and/orapplycrossfades.

Topreparethetracksforthemediumontowhichtheywillbemanufacturedordownloaded.

Afteraseriesofalbumrecordingsessioniscompete,whatotheraudiomaterialisproduced,apartfrom
thetracksthatwilleventuallybereleased?

Songsthatdidn'tworkout.

Mixesotherthanthefinalapprovedmixes.

Possiblytemporary'workinprogress'mixes.

Possiblytheoriginalmultitrackrecordings.

'Benchmark'tracksusedasreferencepointsinthemixingprocess.

Withreferencetotheabove,whyshouldthealbumtracksbestoredseparatelyfromtheothermaterial?
Storingthealbumtrackstogether,preferablyinorder,willpreventerrorsanddelaysinmastering,andsave
timeandthereforemoney.

Describebrieflytwowaysinwhichaclickcanberemovedfromamixedstereotrack.

Thepenciltoolofadigitalaudioworkstationcanbeusedtodrawasmoothwaveforminplaceoftheclick.

Afewtensofmillisecondsaroundtheclickcanbeeditedout.Thegapcanbeclosedandthetwosections
crossfadedtogether.

Vinyl

Statefivelimitationsofvinyl.

Noiseduetosurfaceirregularities,scratches,andrumblefromtheturntable.

Theinertiaofthestyluslimitstheextenttowhichitcanaccelerate.

Thestylusmaymistrack(meaningtolosecontactwiththegroovewalls).

Thedurationpersideislimited.

Therelativespeedbetweenstylusandgrooveishighattheouteredgeofthedisc,lowinthe

Module11ModelAnswers
 center.Thismeansthatthesoundqualityisbetteratthestartofasidethanattheend.

Whydoesavinylcuttinglathehaveanaccelerationlimiter?

Sothatthemovementsofthegroovewallsarenottoosuddenforthestylustofollow.Ifthestylusloses
contactwiththegroovewall,thisiscalledmistracking,whichresultsindistortionanddamagetothe
record.[Notethatthisisnottobeconfusedwithpoortrackingcausedbyashallowgroove,therecord
playernotbeinglevelortheantiskatingforcebeingincorrectlyset.ThecommonDJtrickofputtingacoin
ontheheadshellwillnotwork!]

Whyshouldoutofphasesignalsbeavoidedinvinylcutting?

Outofphasesignals,iftheyarehighinlevel,andparticularlyinthebass,cancausethegroovetobecome
shalloworevendisappearcompletely.Thiscancausetheplaybackstylustocomeoutofthegroove.

Whatistheadvantageofmakingthebassmono,otherthanpreventingpossiblemistracking?

Ifthebasscomesoutofbothloudspeakers,itcanbe6dBlouderthanifitcomesoutofjustone.

Whatisa'productionmaster?

AcopyoftheoriginalwithlevelandEQchangestoblendonetrackwiththenext.Basicallyacopyofthe
albumthatcanbecutstraighttovinylorCDwithoutfurtherattention.

CD

WhatisthebitdepthofCD?

16bit

WhatisthesamplingrateofCD?

44.1kHz

Describetherelevanceof2dBFS,accordingtothetext.

Themastermustpeakhigherthan2dBFSatsomepoint,otherwisethefactorymightrejectit.

WhatisthestandardmaximumdurationofaCD?

74minutes

StatethreeformatsinwhichaCDmastercanbesuppliedtoafactory.

RedBookCDAudio,DDP,Sony1630

Whatisa'RedBook'CD?

ACDthatconformsfullytotheoriginal'RedBook'specificationdevelopedbyPhilipsandSony.

StatebrieflywhatadditionalinformationaCDmaycontainbesidesthemusic.

InternationalStandardRecordingCode(ISRC),barcodedata.

StatetheadvantageoftheCDTextformat.

CDTextcanincludetextmaterialsuchassongtitles,inadditiontotheaudio.

Download

Brieflydescribethemeaningof'lossy'.

Module11ModelAnswers
Alossydatareductionmethodisonewhereinformationisdiscardedandcannotberetrieved.BothMP3
andAACarelossy.

Whichisthebetterformatsubjectively,AACorMP3?

Ofcourse,subjectivityisanindividualmatter.However,mostpeoplewillfindAACmuchclosertothe
originalnoncompressedfilethanMP3.

StatethetypicalbitrateofanAACorMP3file.

128megabit/second

ArtisticAspectsofMastering

Statethethreeartisticaspectsofmastering,accordingtothetext.

OptimizethelevelofeachtracksothatthereisnowastedheadroomontheCD.
MakealltrackscomparableintermsofEQbalanceandsubjectiveloudness,particularlyadjacent
tracks.

Tosetthedurationsofthegapsbetweenthetracks,and/orcreatecrossfades.

Brieflydescribethemeaningof'subjectiveloudness'.
Whenasignalisnormalized,itwillpeakat0dBFS,meaningthatitcannotpossiblybehigherinlevel.
Howeverthereareprocessesthatwillmakeitsoundlouder,evenwithoutbeingabletoincreasethepeak
level.

ThetextdescribesfourstagesofmasteringEQ,compression,EQagainthenlimiting.WhyisthefirstEQ
stagenecessary?

TocorrectanyEQproblemsintheoriginal.

Withreferencetotheabove,whyisthecompressionstagenecessary?

Toincreasesubjectiveloudness.

Withreferencetotheabove,whyisthesecondEQstagenecessary?
Toenhancethebalanceoffrequencies,ortomaketrackscompatiblewitheachotheronanalbumor
compilation.

Withreferencetotheabove,whyisthelimitingstagenecessary?

Tofurtherincreasesubjectiveloudness.

Whatistheproblemwithincreasingthesubjectiveloudnesstoomuch?

Thesoundbecomesharshandtiringtolistento.

Whyisitpossibleto'getawaywith'acertainamountofclipping?

Clippingofveryshortdurationisgenerallyinaudibletomostpeople.However,theymaystillfindaclipped
tracktiringtolistentoafterawhile.

Accordingtothetext,doesAudioMasterclassrecommendclippingasameansofachievingsubjective
loudness?

No.

Module11ModelAnswers
Whatismultibandcompression?

Themultibandcompressortakesthesignalandsplitsitupintoasmanyasfiveseparatebandsof
frequencies.Eachbandisthencompressedseparately.Thismaximizesthelevelseparatelyineachband,so
thatwhenthesignalsaremixedbacktogetheragaintheresultisasignalwhichisashighasitpractically
canbeineverybandoffrequencies.

Whatistheproblemofmultibandcompression?

Itcanchangethefrequencybalance.

Endofmodelanswers.

Module11ModelAnswers