The Basics of Audio Mastering What's audio mastering? There's a great deal of opinions on which this means exactly so let us consider the general process music production.
Following the mixdown
Following a track is mixed it's generally sent off and away to a mastering studio to place the finishing touches. Most mixes are available in at under 100% of the potential therefore it is the mastering engineers job to fix any mistakes in addition to 'sweeten' this mixture. Done properly this will provide the track the best balance in frequency content, width, dynamics not to mention in this point in time, loudness.
With respect to the condition from the mixdown the mastering applied could be both corrective and enhancement oriented. Hopefully it is the latter greater than the previous. When correcting should be done there's an account balance that must definitely be made. Any alternation in one part of the mix generally affects another. For example if your vocal isn't obvious enough some eq might be included to take it out. Consequently though this might cause additional factors within the mix to stick out an excessive amount of. In this way there's always a cooperation.
Comparison with other tracks
Another aim to learn would be to make certain the finished song stands facing its peers when performed alongside. This is actually the responsible for the 'loudness war' as each artist feels the necessity to contend with other artists degree of loudness. It has brought for an escalation of loudness levels enough where music is crushed within the quest for greater levels.
Audio Mastering Tools:
Software or hardware?