Songs vs. Albums
Posted on | September 1, 2008 |
People say that the era of the album is over. That all anyone wants or needs is a single. This may be true from a marketing perspective but musicians still put out albums so, like it or not, how an album is sequenced still needs to be considered.
One of the things I learned years ago (that I think is still one of the finer points of being a mastering engineer) is the difference between mastering a song and mastering an album. When you master a song, you make that song sound as good as possible…maximizing the strong points and minimizing the problematic issues. When you master an album, you may adjust that same song a bit to make it fit in better with the rest of the songs on that album.
You’ve got to think in the big picture, not just master ten songs and put two seconds between each one. Volumes, equalization, fades: it’s all part of the art of sequencing an album. And as long as people are putting out albums it will be important.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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