5.1 Introduction
As stated in the Preamble, this Mixing Primer aims to help you to produce great mixes that will be ready for mastering.
Kind: concept (reamix-section) Chapter: 5 Cooking the Mix Source: ReaMix (October 2009)
As stated in the Preamble, this Mixing Primer aims to help you to produce great mixes that will be ready for mastering. It does not take you into the realm of mastering itself. There are a number of reasons for this, including these:
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Not everybody will wish to do their own mastering. Many prefer to make their mixes ready for mastering, then hand the projects on to a mastering professional.
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Of those REAPER users who do prefer to do their own mastering, in all probability most use a separate program such as Sound Forge, Wavelab or CD Architect for this purpose.
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Mastering is a specialist art and science in its own right. The techniques, knowledge and skills required for this are far less REAPER specific than anything covered in this handbook. There is no shortage of good quality books that have been written on the subject of mastering, none better in my opinion than Mastering Audio by Bob Katz. It would be ridiculous of me were I to suggest that I had any wisdom or knowledge to offer that goes beyond that.
What you will see, however, in some of the case studies that follow, are some examples how you can add those finishing touches to your mixes that will make them ready for mastering.