Mastering Audio free essay sample

Music, in most of its styles and forms that is targeting commercial distribution now undergoes a ? nal process of transformation and quality veri? cation known as Mastering. For those working within the audio industry, this process is an unavoidable step to pass through. The role of the mastering engineer is almost unknown and often unheard of. This status of the mastering process has over the years gathered itself an almost mythical status in the industry. The art itself is quite often misunderstood and in certain cases considered unimportant. Through this essay I hope to explore further into the role of the mastering process and the position it has held over decades with changes in styles, technology and mediums of media distribution. Mastering is the set of activities in the audio chain between the ? nal production of the music on an intermediary format and its transfer to a distribution format. (Dominique Bassal, 2005) ! During the early days, the process of mastering was not a separate discipline that was followed by a different engineer. We will write a custom essay sample on Mastering Audio or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A recording engineer’s pro? le would involve recording onto a disc cutting lather. Before the year 1925, the tools used to cut records was unsophisticated and worked in a fairly mechanical manner without the use of electricity. By the 1930’s the advent of electricity in the audio industry like many other markets changed the way media was recorded, processed and ? nally distributed. The rise of the radio stations, microphones and the ampli? cation of the stylus that was previously driven just by a diaphragm into an acoustical horn has changed the way mastering works. The discs cut onto wax were used as stampers to press 78rpm discs using shellac-composite. This was the method of cutting/producing records before the advent of tape. Mastering/cutting Engineer ! Post the second world war, the recording of tape and micro groove LP were ? rst introduced. The introduction of tape recording changed the norm of master recordings almost always being cut direct to disc. This was the beginning of a separate engineer being in charge of using the session tapes to cut master discs. This person was not initially known as a mastering engineer but a â€Å"dubbing engineer† or rather â€Å"transfer engineer†. â€Å"mastering was a black art practiced by technical curmudgeons who mysteriously made the transfer from the electronic medium of magnetic audio tape to the physical medium of vinyl. † (Owsnski, 2007) Tejas Nair 106552 205. 1 BAP250. 1 Mastering Essay ! This change brought about the industrial belief that the process of cutting the master discs from recording session tapes was not a very different technical skill than the vinyl pressing operation. ! The biggest problem as such with vinyl has been to safeguard the largest possible part of the audio ? delity of the master tape, by troubleshooting and working around the numerous downfalls and obstacles brought about by the medium itself. The technology of cutting vinyl from tape came with its own set of limitations to a huge degree. To explain the groove on the record, the thickness of the hair carries pitch and tonal information laterally and the amplitude information vertically. ! The problems brought about by this system was that the bass frequencies would drastically affect the total width of the groove. This in turn would affect the determined length of the information being cut onto the vinyl. the thickness of the vinyl similarly affected the dynamic range available for each cut. The recording onto analog tape helped with these ? aws to a certain extent through having a tendency to roll off the distinctly sharp high intensity transients. This tendency was due to the saturation that occurred when hit with too much level, which would result in the stylus jumping out of groove or often burn the disc cutter head itself. ! Around this time larger record companies dealing with pop music were prioritizing the automation of the tape to disk transfer as much as possible in the interest of production ef? ciency. One of the biggest advancements this brought about was the possibility to determine the thickness of the grooves using analog computer circuitry. It eventually brought about the possibility of having record sides of up to, and in some cases beyond, 30 minutes. The equipment being used for the mastering process also had to be speci? cally developed for use in record production. The idea behind this was to protect the companies from the expensive cutter heads blowing up as well as to ensure a more quality consistent product.! The birth of the Mastering Plant ! It was not long before a few engineers in this industry realized that there might me a market out there for mastering that is done with superior care and skill. This brought about the birth of the ? rst independent mastering lab in Los Angeles during the late 60’s. The art of mastering became more about the attention to detail, skillful use of the highest grade equipment available and a devotion to artistic satisfaction. This trend soon grew into a business where a master tape sent to a mastering plant run by a credible engineer such as Bob Ludwig, Doug Sax or Bob Katz would result in a disc that sounded phenomenal. It was during this time that the name of the mastering engineer was listed on to the credits of the albums. Tejas Nair 106552 205. 1 BAP250. 1 Mastering Essay Mastering trivia: ! â€Å"A signi? cant step in this extension of the role of the mastering engineer, even if ephemeral and exclusively linked to a speci? c musical style, was the dance mix fad, today devolved, in a modi? ed form, to the DJ. A rhythmic pop song is delivered to the mastering studio with, along with its of? cial mix, a series of excerpts, sub-mixes of rhythm sections, solo voices, etc. The mastering engineer constructs an extended version of the song, destined for, among others, nightclubs, adding as required supplemental effects and even sounds from other sources. † (Dominique Bassal, 2005) Mastering today ! Mastering is still very much a part of the industry, although most of them no longer cut master discs from analog reel tape. The CD generation has de? nitely caused a huge change in the mastering process. This process is now known as mastering where the recording in its ? nal stage is brought in recorded on to a digital medium and is then sent for pressing. ! In the older days, each record company would have its own in house engineers working to a pre determined standard set by the company itself. These standards were for the calibration of recorders, level and metering standards, interfacing and conversion equipment, etc. A number of engineers would also custom build some of the equipment used in their studio. This time saw that the tapes that were sent to these mastering studios could have a consistency to quality and ? delity. The order of the songs on the record, short pauses between tracks and equalization would have already been dealt with. ! Today the mastering business is a very different market compared to back then. The material for an album made these days could have been sourced from a variety of different places, ranging from large studio rooms to a bedroom studio. The mixing on the record could have been done using just a computer and sometimes by the artist themselves. These changes make it a completely contrasting market to when the big record companies were around. It opens a new realm of artistic space to play with as well. This freedom however also affected the technical aspects of the production. ! It is due to these reasons that mastering engineers began to expect their clients to provide them the recorded and mixed product with certain measures taken into account. The client is requested to not ? nish aspects of the process such as song spacing, fades and ? nal master levels for each song. It is in the bene? t of the client to trust the mastering engineer to take care of such detailed aspects with the necessary skill set and experience. A fundamental point to remember in today’s technological free market is that technical competence cannot be taken for granted. ! Tejas Nair 106552 205. 1 BAP250. 1 Mastering Essay ! Today’s mastering engineers are expected to take a body of work that is recorded, produced and mixed and transform it into a sonic piece that is well balanced and is aurally pleasing to listen to. It involves a meticulous binding, processing and reinforcing of sound to translate the artistic vision onto various forms of playback. Mastering Equipment ! ! The equipment used in the process of mastering is a range of extremely high quality units that perform very speci? c tasks in the overall chain. The most important tool however is and will always be the attention to detail through years of experience and critical listening. ! Equipment used at this stage today is very relative to what is being achieved through the process itself. The aspects that are of prime importance through mastering are the conversion of audio information from analog to digital domains, the consistent but not squashed dynamic range, equalization and balance of the songs with respect to each other and the intricately combined ampli? cation done using consoles, compressors and limiters. Acoustics: ! Mastering is the last and ? nal stage between the product and its dispatch for replication and distribution. This is where the sonic ? delity of the album or any other work is judged technically to suite the various listening conditions and environments that audiences consume music in. Acoustics is amongst the most important tools to achieving a neutral space where the engineer can fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of the pre master. Monitors: ! Reference monitoring systems for mastering plants are very different from the ones used in the mixing and play back stages. Monitoring systems for mastering rooms can be two way or three way systems that divide the frequency ranges to separate drivers so that they are individually emphasized to then pay special attention to. Plants usually run two or three sets of references. Adam audio, Barefoot sound and Earthworks are some of the biggest names in Audio reference monitors for mastering. Ampli? cation: ! Ampli? cation is an important stage in the mastering chain and is integral to driving the sound clean and transparent through and out of the monitors. Another reason for ampli? cation is to have a palette of colors to pass the audio through. There are usually at least two different ampli? cation systems in a mastering plant. Tejas Nair 106552 205. 1 BAP250. 1 Mastering Essay Console: ! The console is the heart of the mastering chain where everything comes together. It is the Hub for the audio that is passing through the outboard equipment, convertors and the DAW. Manley, TK Audio and Maselec are highly renowned mastering console manufacturers. DAW: ! DAWs are the software environments within which the Audio is contained and worked with. There is a wide variety of programs that specialize in different need of the mastering process, For example Pro tools HD, DDP creator pro, Sequoia. EQ’s: ! Equalization is the process of treating speci? c ranges of the audio to strike a smooth balance that will translate the music onto systems that may not always reproduce the entire spectrum from 20Hz to 20KHz such as earphones and car audio systems. Buzz Audio, Prism Sound and GML are amongst the biggest names for EQ’s with regards to mastering. Dynamics processors: ! Dynamic range is an integral part of preparing music and audio to a level of industry standard distribution. These processors are categorized into Compressors, Limiters, Exciters, Expanders and Gates. They are used to gradually make the audio translate with a benchmark RMS and Peak level that varies in ratio across music, ? lm, television and radio broadcast. Manley, Cranesong, API and Tubetech make extremely high grade Hardware Dynamics processors for mastering. Convertors: ! Convertors are arguably the most important tools in the mastering chain today. The amount of media that is generated completely in the digital domain is signi? cantly huge. Converting this information to analog in order to be processed and worked with requires precision based high quality convertor components that can be very expensive. The conversion process also plays a huge factor in converting analog to digital considering the fundamental differences that exist between them such as hardware circuitry and software coding. Lavry Engineering and Apogee is at the forefront of building high quality convertors for mastering. Tejas Nair 106552 205. 1 BAP250. 1 Mastering Essay Digital Processors: ! An integral part of todays Mixing and Mastering is Digital Signal Processing. The tools available for use within a computer are much more cost effective and pretty close to replicating the results of analog gear and circuitry. The biggest names that have been developing the tools of this digital era are Universal Audio, Waves and McDSP, using modern technology and speci? cally designed chipsets to treat audio without losing its ? delity. Conclusion: ! The art of Mastering as a discipline was ? rst considered to be a technical process within the larger process of making a record. Over the decades this art form came to recognition when its artistic impact was noticed by people from the industry such as the artist and producers themselves. This brought about the Mastering Plant Revolution. The skill set and aesthetic value brought into the production process by mastering engineers have grown to be invaluable in this day and age of digital distribution. It is through this evolution across almost ? ve decades that todays mastering studio serves as the last and ? nal stage of technical and artistic quality control for most recorded media.

The Meanings and Connotations of Junior and Senior

The Meanings and Connotations of Junior and Senior The Meanings and Connotations of â€Å"Junior† and â€Å"Senior† The Meanings and Connotations of â€Å"Junior† and â€Å"Senior† By Mark Nichol Aside from their literal meanings, junior and senior have an array of connotations related to hierarchy. Junior, from the Latin term juvenis, from which juvenile is also derived, refers to someone younger than another. It also applies to a young person or, more specifically, a son. Until well into the twentieth century, a boy or a young man might be addressed as Junior (though it was generally considered derogatory or at least condescending when directed at an adult), and the tradition persists of appending the abbreviation Jr. (no intervening comma is necessary) to the name of a male child who shares his father’s exact name. Junior also applies to academic standing; in a four-year collegiate or secondary school system, a junior is someone in the third of four years of study. Schools for students in grades seven through nine (formerly grades seven and eight) in a K–12 system are often labeled â€Å"junior high schools.† The word can also refer to someone of inferior rank (â€Å"lieutenant junior grade,† for example, as opposed to a full lieutenant, or â€Å"junior account executive†) or, in fashion, a clothing category for slender women and girls. As an adjective, junior means â€Å"younger,† â€Å"youthful,† â€Å"more recent† (with a connotation of inferiority or subordination), â€Å"lower in rank,† or â€Å"on a smaller scale.† It also applies to class standing or, as part of the phrase â€Å"junior varsity,† an athletic team subordinate to the varsity, or the primary team. Senior, borrowed directly from Latin and meaning â€Å"older,† is related to senile and senescence but has usually more positive connotations than those cognates. It refers to someone older than another or of higher rank. A senior in college or high school is in the final year of study, and senior might also refer, in an academic context, to a high-ranking fellow at a university. The abbreviation Sr., following a name (again, with no intervening comma), indicates that the man so named has a son with the exact same name. As an adjective, senior designates someone or something as having been born, or established or enrolled, before another, or being of higher rank. (Some military hierarchies have, for example, senior captains, who rank above captains.) Senior has also become a synonym for elderly with what is widely considered a more positive connotation; it’s a truncation of â€Å"senior citizen.† It’s applied in phrases such as â€Å"senior center† and â€Å"senior rights.† Like junior, senior can have a derogatory connotation, though, as in â€Å"senior moment,† a light-hearted reference to forgetfulness as a symptom of aging, it is usually not meant to insult. But take care with using either term to note, respectively, someone’s youth or inexperience or their age. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†Body Parts as Tools of MeasurementDouble Possessive

The History of Life on Earth

The History of Life on Earth The Carboniferous Period is a geologic time period that took place between 360 to 286 million years ago. The Carboniferous Period is named after the rich coal deposits that are present in rock layers from this time period. The Age of Amphibians The Carboniferous Period is also known as the Age of Amphibians. It is the fifth of six geologic periods that together make up the Paleozoic Era. The Carboniferous Period is preceded by the Devonian Period and followed by the Permian Period. The climate of the Carboniferous Period was quite uniform (there were no distinct seasons) and it was more humid and tropical than our present-day climate. The plant life of the Carboniferous Period resembled modern tropical plants. The Carboniferous Period was a time when the first of many animal groups evolved: the first true bony fishes, the first sharks, the first amphibians, and the first amniotes. The appearance of the amniotes is evolutionarily significant because of the amniotic egg, the defining characteristic of amniotes, enabled the ancestors of modern reptiles, birds, and mammals to reproduce on land and colonize terrestrial habitats that were previously uninhabited by vertebrates.   Mountain Building The Carboniferous Period was a time of mountain building when the collision of the Laurussian and Gondwanaland land masses formed the supercontinent Pangea. This collision resulted in the uplifting of mountain ranges such as the Appalachian Mountains, the Hercynian Mountains, and the Ural Mountains. During the Carboniferous Period, the vast oceans that covered the earth often flooded the continents, creating warm, shallow seas. It was during this time that the armored fish that had been abundant in the Devonian Period became extinct and were replaced by more modern fishes. As the Carboniferous Period progressed, the uplifting of landmasses resulted in an increase in erosion and the building of floodplains and river deltas. The increased freshwater habitat meant that some marine organisms such as corals and crinoids died out. New species that were adapted to the reduced salinity of these waters evolved, such as freshwater clams, gastropods, sharks, and bony fish. Vast Swamp Forests Freshwater wetlands increased and formed vast swamp forests. Fossil remains show that air-breathing insects, arachnids, and myriapods were present during the Late Carboniferous. The seas were dominated by sharks and their relatives and it was during this period that sharks underwent much diversification. Arid Environments   Land snails first appeared and dragonflies and mayflies diversified. As the land habitats dried, animals evolved ways of adapting to the arid environments. The amniotic egg enabled early tetrapods to break free of the bonds to aquatic habitats for reproduction. The earliest known amniote is Hylonomus, a lizard-like creature with a strong jaw and slender limbs. Early tetrapods diversified significantly during the Carboniferous Period. These included the temnospondyls and the anthracosaurs. Finally, the first diapsids and synapsids evolved during the Carboniferous. By the middle the Carboniferous Period, tetrapods were common and quite diverse. The varied in size (some measuring up to 20 feet in length). As the climate grew cooler and drier, the evolution of amphibians slowed and the appearance of amniotes lead to a new evolutionary path.

Netflix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Netflix - Essay Example characteristics of the target market that would become a basis of market segment are demographics which is the physical characteristic of the market, psychographics which is the psycho-cultural characteristic of the market, geographics or the physical and political delineation of the market and purchase behavior or buying patterns of target market. In the case of Netflix, it would be necessary first to define its product and service to effectively segment its market. At present, Netflix is an online video store that caters its customers with a wide array of video collections through video download, online streaming or door to door delivery. In the future, it is envisaged that Netflix will converge from a merely internet base video provider to include a traditional TV broadcasting company. The array of their services will then widened that would include not just video titles but also TV shows. The mobile and handheld movie industry is also expected to be entered into by Netflix. In short, Netflix would be â€Å"becoming like them in doing some originals and they are becoming more like us in creating an on-demand interface like HBO Go" which allows viewers to watch channels on the Web and on mobile and tabulate devices† (Coyle, 2012). Having defined the products and services Netflix today and the future, its target market are those movie viewers which has internet connection and handheld devices. In the future, the TV viewing public will also become their target market. Netflix primary serves the consumer market or those who watch movies (and in the future TV shows) for leisure. In particular, Netflix caters to the movie watching customers by having an extensive movie title collection it can offer to the customers either by video streaming, download or door to door delivery. The manner which Netflix’s products will be delivered to its customers will likely to change as more and more consumers are having internet connection at an increasing speed making

Internal Audit Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Internal Audit - Research Proposal Example The concept of timeliness in internal audit processes means adherence to prescribed deadlines. Internal auditors usually work with a timetable where inception and termination of procedures are definitely stated. Typically, auditing involves interviewing of employees, review of an organization’s operation documents and administration of survey questionnaires to relevant stakeholders. Occasionally, a given procedure like examination of documents in an office may take longer than prescribed (Krishnan, 2013, p. 231). In such cases, employees working inside the office under examination will be restricted from accessing their respective work stations. On the other hand, those restricted employees have duties and responsibilities which need completion before a stipulated deadline. In this context, the hitch of workplace restriction experienced by employees causes substantial inefficiencies that can negatively impact on an organization’s practices. Aside from workplace restriction, undue disruption of work environments manifest in form of safeguarding logistical tools of operation. As acknowledged earlier, the main aim of internal auditors is to examine actual operational practices of an organization. In order to execute this task, auditors must access documents and related files containing information regarding individual workflows. In the case of limited clarity, auditors may be forced to mix up documents from different departments as a means of facilitating reconciliation of ledgers (Kothari & Smith, 2004).

Power and Privilege Displayed in A Woman on a Roof Essay -- Doris Less

Power and Privilege Displayed in A Woman on a Roof  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Doris Lessing’s "A Woman on a Roof," three workmen react differently towards a woman sunbathing on a roof. The men are Harry, who is in his mid-40s, Stanley, who is newly married, and Tom, who is 17. They are engaged in a jovial banter when they spot a woman about fifty yards from where they are standing. She’s on her back, face down on a brown blanket. Stanley is first to comment, "She’s stark naked." Harry agrees, "Looks like it," while Tom cranes his neck so he can see more and replies, "She thinks no one can see." Stanley whistles, but the woman does not look up. She sits, smoking a cigarette (856). This seems to be one of Lessing’s most critically neglected stories. In fact, there are only a few written criticisms about it, and most of these focus on the different reactions of the three workmen. However, the woman, who is not named in the story, is also a very intriguing and interesting character. While many readers see her as an innocent – the sunbather who only wants to be left alone – there is evidence to show that she uses her sexuality through nonverbal communication to show power and privilege. Sociological perspectives suggest that nonverbal communication is of particular importance to women because their socialization to docility and passivity makes them likely targets for social control. Sexuality (masculinity or femininity) is not biologically determined but is part of social learning. In "Womanspeak and Manspeak," Nancy Henley, Mykol Hamilton, and Barrie Thorne have argued that while women’s general bodily demeanor must be restrained and restricted, and that their femininity is gauged by how little (personal) space they take up. In contra... ... Henslin, James. " On Becoming Male." Down to Earth Sociology. Ed. James Henslin. New York: The Free Press, 1991. 126-148. Lessing, Doris. "A Woman on a Roof." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. 856-862. Works Consulted Allen, Orphia Jane. " Structure and Motif in Doris Lessing’s A Man and Two Women." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler.NY: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 199. Fitzgerald, Edward. " Retreat From Home." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 186. Hardin, Nancy. "Doris Lessing and the Sufi Way." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1976. 123. Zak, Michele. "The Grass Is Singing: A Little Novel about the Emotions." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 206.   

Thermodynamics of the Dissolution of Borax

CHEM 212 Laboratory – Dissolution of Borax Formal Lab Report Instructions Title Page: Experiment title, your name and partner name, course and section number, date, Signed honor code statement, and abstract. I (your name here) pledge that this assignment has been completed with accordance to the George Mason University Honor Policy as well as the policy set by the course. This work is my own and bears no resemblance to any other student's work (past or present). x__(Signature)______ Purpose Reference Materials and Chemicals Reaction: Procedure Results: Raw Downloaded Data Calculated Data for each temperature: oles of HCl moles of borax concentration of borax Ksp ?G- using both equations (A and B! ) Sample calculations – calculations of your data alone for all of the items listed above ? Graph lnK vs 1/T Show a trendline and provide the R2 value Determine ? H (kJ/mol) and ? S (J/mol K) from the graph SHOW HOW YOU DO THIS!! Printing Tables: ? Large tables should be printe d in the landscape mode and sometimes it might be necessary to go to â€Å"page setup† and select â€Å"Fit to 1 page† to make the page fit on one page. ? Include column and row headings on the printout so that the instructor can more easily understand equations used.This can be done by going to File > Page Setup > Sheet tab > Select â€Å"Row and Column Headings†. Discussion: In your discussion section address the following questions: ? Why is it unnecessary to precisely measure the amount of solid borax used? (This answer should be greater than 3 sentences in length! ) ? Should Ksp vary with temperature? Does it? Why or why not? ? Does the graph of ln (Ksp) v. 1/T have any deviating values? If so why? What could be the sources for these errors? ? Discuss the logic behind the determination of ? H and ? S.