The Mastering Engineer's Handbook: The Audio Mastering Handbook

This completely updated edition of the bestselling Mastering Engineer's Handbook provides a thorough exploration of the mastering process for virtually any kind of audio program, utilizing insights from the world's top mastering engineers. The book is a treasure-trove of knowledge, with an overview of the history, tools, and philosophy behind mastering as well as complete reference information for all audio delivery formats in use today. Peek inside a top-flight mastering house and see how their methods can now be yours. Explore the secrets of making hot masters, the rules of compression and frequency balancing, and how to mix with mastering in mind. Investigate how optical discs, such as CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and beyond, work and how they're made. Discover the trick to making great-sounding MP3s and streaming audio. Examine multichannel surround mastering for film and television. You'll even relive mastering history with a separate chapter about mastering for vinyl and how records are pressed. Throughout the book, legendary mastering engineers share experiences, tips, and tricks with you through every step of the process. The final section of the book features interviews with mastering giants such as Bernie Grundman, Bob Ludwig, Glenn Meadows, Doug Sax, and more.

This completely updated edition of the bestselling Mastering Engineer's Handbook provides a thorough exploration of the mastering process for virtually any kind of audio program, utilizing insights from the world's top mastering engineers. The book is a treasure-trove of knowledge, with an overview of the history, tools, and philosophy behind mastering as well as complete reference information for all audio delivery formats in use today. Peek inside a top-flight mastering house and see how their methods can now be yours. Explore the secrets of making hot masters, the rules of compression and frequency balancing, and how to mix with mastering in mind. Investigate how optical discs, such as CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and beyond, work and how they're made. Discover the trick to making great-sounding MP3s and streaming audio. Examine multichannel surround mastering for film and television. You'll even relive mastering history with a separate chapter about mastering for vinyl and how records are pressed. Throughout the book, legendary mastering engineers share experiences, tips, and tricks with you through every step of the process. The final section of the book features interviews with mastering giants such as Bernie Grundman, Bob Ludwig, Glenn Meadows, Doug Sax, and more.

A longtime veteran of the music industry, Bobby Owsinski has produced and composed for records, DVDs, motion pictures, and television shows. One of the first to delve into surround-sound music mixing, Bobby has worked on more than 200 surround projects and DVD productions for such diverse acts as Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, The Ramones, and Chicago, among many, many others. Currently a principal in the music production house Surround Associates and content creator 2B Media, Bobby has also penned several hundred articles for many popular music and audio trade publications and has authored books that are now staples in audio-recording programs in colleges around the world. A frequent moderator, panelist, and program director of a variety of music and professional audio industry conferences, Bobby has served as the longtime producer of the annual Surround Music Awards and is currently an executive producer for the Guitar Universe and Desert Island Music television programs. He is also a partner in the popular Asia Los Feliz restaurant in Los Angeles, and he serves on the board of directors of the Media Entertainment Technology Alliance.