Those words I would certainly never use in your case! You may be one of the most intelligent people I have the pleasure of reading posts from!
Kanadie, too kind. I do have a question about what I was told....
Someone I know at Sony said specifically that were told the album was close to done and "they were mastering tracks." I have no idea who "they" are but clearly not Adam. Is it possible they are mastering some tracks when they are not finished mixing or even recording some of the album tracks?
This came from someone who is not working directly with Adam so could easily be mistaken. But he does know the RCA release dates and project status. I am still trying to confirm the specific release dates which usually are not state secrets.
Well "they" could be mastering some individual songs for potential first singles. Ted Jensen who is one of the biggest mastering engineers in the business, mastered FYE.
In the case of the complete album, final mastering usually involves all the tracks for the album, in the order they want the album tracks laid out. It is not unlike detailing a car. All the parts have been built and assembled, but someone needs to go in before final delivery, and polish the product from start to finish, so all the overall levels, tonalty, time spacing between tracks, and CD track names/numbers/etc show up properly when your advancing through a disc on your player.
Sorry for this long post, but here is the "process" in a nutshell from wiki!
The source material, ideally at the original resolution, is processed using equalization, compression, limiting, noise reduction and other processes. More tasks, such as editing, pre-gapping, leveling, fading in and out, noise reduction and other signal restoration and enhancement processes can be applied as part of the mastering stage. This step prepares the music for either digital or analog, e.g. vinyl, replication. The source material is put in the proper order, commonly referred to as assembly or (track) sequencing.
If the material is destined for vinyl release, additional processing, such as dynamic range reduction, frequency dependent stereo–to–mono fold-down and equalization, may be applied to compensate for the limitations of that medium. Finally, for compact disc release, Start of Track, End of Track, and Indexes are defined for disc navigation. Subsequently, it is rendered either to a physical medium, such as a CD-R or DVD-R, or to a DDP file set, the standard method of secure delivery for CD and DVD replication masters. The specific medium varies, depending on the intended release format of the final product. For digital audio releases, there is more than one possible master medium, chosen based on replication factory requirements or record label security concerns. Regardless of what delivery method is chosen, the replicator will transfer the audio to a glass master that will generate metal stampers for replication.
The process of audio mastering varies depending on the specific needs of the audio to be processed. Mastering engineers need to examine the types of input media, the expectations of the source producer or recipient, the limitations of the end medium and process the subject accordingly. General rules of thumb can rarely be applied.
Steps of the process typically include but are not limited to the following:
Transferring the recorded audio tracks into the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) (optional).
Sequence the separate songs or tracks (the spaces in between) as they will appear on the final release.
Process or "sweeten" audio to maximize the sound quality for its particular medium (e.g. applying specific EQ for vinyl)
Transfer the audio to the final master format (i.e., CD-ROM, half-inch reel tape, PCM 1630 U-matic tape, etc.).
Examples of possible actions taken during mastering:
Editing minor flaws
Applying noise reduction to eliminate clicks, dropouts, hum and hiss
Adjusting stereo width
Adding ambience
Equalize audio across tracks
Adjust volume
Dynamic range expansion or compression
Peak limit
To finish mastering a CD the track markers must be inserted along with ISRC, PQ codes,[further explanation needed] text and other information necessary to replicate a CD. Vinyl LP and cassettes have their own pre-duplication requirements for a finished master.
