Aspects of Their Work
Most mastering engineer accolades are given for their ability to make a mix consistent with respect to subjective factors based on the perception of listeners, regardless of their playback systems and the environment. This is a difficult task due to the varieties of systems now available and the effect it has on the apparent qualitative attributes of the recording. For instance, a recording that sounds great on one speaker/amplifier combination playing CD audio, may sound drastically different on a computer-based system playing back a low-bitrate MP3. Some engineers maintain that the main mastering engineer's task is to improve upon playback systems translations while the position of others is to make a sonic impact.
Prolonged periods of listening to improperly mastered recordings usually leads to hearing fatigue that ultimately takes the pleasure out of the listening experience. A professional mastering engineer renders mixes that have a good harmonic balance. Harmonic balancing can be accomplished by correcting and removing the tonal imbalances that result from problem mixes, thus producing a more naturally pleasing and enjoyable sound to the listening ears, and is another aspect to a mastering engineer's job. This is why mastering is considered an art as well as an "audio engineering" discipline.
See also: Category:Mastering engineersRead more about this topic: Mastering Engineer
Famous quotes containing the words aspects of, aspects and/or work:
“I suppose an entire cabinet of shells would be an expression of the whole human mind; a Flora of the whole globe would be so likewise, or a history of beasts; or a painting of all the aspects of the clouds. Everything is significant.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)
“Perpetual modernness is the measure of merit, in every work of art; since the author of it was not misled by anything short- lived or local, but abode by real and abiding traits.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)