DIGITAL AUDIO MASTERING MANUAL

The purpose of this manual is to provide concrete and simple help aimed at rapidly obtaining professional-level results, in alignment with the quality standards of the audio production industry, without using analog outboards. - 


The easy application of the criteria suggested below make it suitable for inexperienced operators; but even for audio professionals with few mastering experiences, for integrate and reorganize the knowledge already acquired through practice. - 


Numerous home studios were born, dedicated to recording and processing of sound, some of which are managed by sound engineers of good competence, almost like their professional colleagues. Primarily this book is addressed to them, so that they can organize in a more orderly way the knowledge already acquired. - 


For beginners, the manual would like to provide support to learn correctly and experiment with the principles and procedures of digital audio mixing. - 


INTRODUCTION: Note on the 1st edition, Foreword, Index of the manual - 


CHAPTER 01 * MASTERING PRELIMINARY: ITB and OTB, Purpose of mastering, What you need, Analog and Digital, Mix analysis, Logbook, Dynamic Analysis, impressions listening, Stereo-mono compatibility, Tonal Verification, Dynamic Verification, Review of the mix, Creating and Parameters of a Session, Your computer's resources, Other Specifications, Comparison, Mastering “on board”, Sound levels - 


CHAPTER 02 * EDITING: Cutting, silencing, fading, Start cutting, Start silencing, Start fading, End cutting, silencing, fading, Middle cutting, insert - 


CHAPTER 03 * NOISE REDUCTION: Click, Crackles, Hiss, Hum, Traffic noise, wind noise and feedback, Conclusion - 


CHAPTER 04 * MS MASTERING: The MS chain, L-R to M/S encoding, M/S processing, M/S to PARTIALURLPLACEHOLDER decoding, How to set the M/S matrix on the Daw, Mastering operations with the M/S matrix, Conclusion - 


CHAPTER 05 * STEREO IMAGE: Phase correlation, Symmetry, Width, Center leveling - 


CHAPTER 06 * STEMS: Stem mastering, Addition and subtraction, What stems, How to export stems correctly - 


CHAPTER 07 * DYNAMICS AND LOUDNESS: Dynamic, I'm listening, Natural Dynamics, Recording Dynamics, Loudness War, Audio Consequences, LUFS, The Revolution of Streaming, Reference Loudness, True Peak Level, The new standards, 


CHAPTER 08 * THE WORKING SESSION: Import mixes and stems, Main Group, Original audio track, Audio track test, Instrument track, Audio Chain, Building a template - 


CHAPTER 09 * TONAL CORRECTION: Acoustic perception, HPF and LPF, What you need, General imbalances, Static Equalization, Dynamic Equalization, Balancing the bass, Spectrum Analyzer, Test of the medium mix, Tonal imbalances in individual sources, Coloured Equalizers, Automation, Quality - 


CHAPTER 10  * DYNAMIC CORRECTION:Treatment of abnormal peaks, Transient Adjustment, De-essing, Levelling Compression, Smoothing Compression, Risks of the dynamic process, Mix too compressed, Comparison and corrections - 


CHAPTER 11 * ENVIRONMENTAL CORRECTION: Ambient sound, Increase body, Sharps bass, Crushed Mix, Width and depth, Effects Installation - 


CHAPTER 12 * OTHER PROCESSES: Enhancement, Exciter, Analog Tape Saturator, Inflator - 


CHAPTER 13 - FINALISATION: Enhancement of bass, Cosmetic Equalization, Verification of loudness, Finalizer Limiter, Oversampling, Algorithm selector, Lookahead+Attack and release, Channel Links, Ceiling and Output, LUFS Meters, True Peak, Gain, Listening and Comparing, Dithering and Noise Shaping, Mastering for vinyl, Export, Duplication on Audio Cd, Encoding, Automatic mastering - 


APPENDIX: Monitoring Warning, Conclusion, Author's Biography, Copyright, Contacts.