The Process of Surround Mastering

[admin]

Audio mastering is the process of taking audio mixes and preparing them for their best presentation to the world. It is a process that involves tremendous technical knowledge of the audio path and all its possibilities and liabilities. It also is a process that requires an emotional commitment to the audio being serviced. The past twenty years has seen this profession grow tremendously as two-channel audio has been dominated by the CD. As we move toward other formats and surround audio growth, new challenges are facing the mastering houses. This article takes us on a tour of the process of surround sound mastering in a studio, including interesting feedback from world renowned recording engineers Bob Ludwig and Jeff Lipton.


Discuss "The Process of Surround Mastering" here. Read the article.

[autoboy]

I was really hoping he would say he got his speaker cables from Home Depot.

[westcott]

I admire his optimism for the surround sound format in spite of the music industries repeated blunders at providing it.

I hope he is right and that we do see a resurgance of the format, no matter what drives it.

Good article!!

[avaserfi]

I agree, I am hoping as more people get HDTV's they are sold on surround systems (whatever type they are) and then people start getting pointed towards surround music. I think the biggest hurdle will be the fact that this type of music doesn't cater to the on the go iPod crowd.

[gene]

My comments about Bob's endorsement of his Transparent Cables.


Audioholics Editorial Note

Adding a 50 cent RLC zobel network to a speaker cable and charging tens of thousands of dollars for wire is not necessarily a technological breakthrough. It should be noted while we don’t agree with Bob’s endorsement of this product; it is certainly an audiophile’s prerogative on how they choose to tweak out their systems. Sometimes a perceived system improvement is as powerful and/or as effective as an actual measurable and quantifiable one.

[davidtwotrees]

An excellent article and interview[s]. I continue to be impressed by Audioholics wonderful insights into the a/v world. This article was informative and to the point without getting all wrapped up in techspeak.
I was especially enheartened by the comments that sacd and dvda might be fluoundering, but that surround in the form of games and hd content was alive and well and could very well bring the hi rez music back. I sure hope so, sacd and dvda really sing in my system.........

[fresno1232001]

Good article, which I have scanned but not read with total focus. Shame you could not have talked with Mark Waldrep Ph.D, owner and chief engineer at Aix Records. He has loads of experience in making audio disks and now has a fantastic new studio in Santa Monica. Besides making Aix DVD-As, he does lots of other work in the recording industry, apparently. But his Aix disks are his masterpieces. They are the highest quality recorded audio I have ever heard. They are simply stunning. He reveals a little of his technique on his website at www.aixrecords.com. No EQ, no artificial reverb, no heavy digital processing. Every disk is recorded live on hard drives, and no old tapes from the 70s (or any other time) are ever used. I bought about 12 DVD-As before I found Aix, and they all sounded horrible because that is what they were doing. Dr. Waldrep exploits the DVD-A format perfectly. His disks "Nitty Gritty Surround", Surf City Allstars "I Get Surround", and "Brand New Opry" are just breath-taking. Bach's Brandenberg Concerto is too. I very strongly urge all audiophiles to try Aix. His disks are dual-disks too, with DVD-A on one side, if you can play that format, and DTS 5.1 with video on the other side if you can't. I can't hear a difference. Because Dr. Waldrep has B and W speakers in the rear at home, I recently bought a pair of B-W CDM-9NTs for my rear speakers on e-Bay for only $1,975. Probably the Onkyo TX-NR905 is in my future. I have mighty Allison Ones in the front. Try the four disks mentioned above, and you will be grateful to me forever.
I am also surprised that you did not mention that Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio are on the way. The new receivers coming soon will have those codecs, and I think audio-only discs encoded with them will appear before long. Dolby True is the DVD-A standard, using Meridian Lossless Packing, only in 7.1 instead of 5.1 channels. I believe that the appearance of these two new formats in players and receivers heralds a vast new age of surround sound. DVD-A became a niche market (it did not fail and disappear because Aix Records is in business today and Dr. Waldrep keeps producing and selling large numbers of disks) mainly because of the sloth and stupidity of the records companies that a) only thought to throw old tapes from the 70s on DVD-A disks and b) never spent a dime advertising the new format. Aix proves that when done right, DVD-A and the newer surround codecs are just fantastic.

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

I tried an AIX disk once but it was covered in a sticky white substance that rendered it unplayable.

[westcott]

I think the biggest hurdle will be the fact that this type of music doesn't cater to the on the go iPod crowd.

You forgot to say "economically viable" iPod crowd.

[gene]

I tried an AIX disk once but it was covered in a sticky white substance that rendered it unplayable.

Are you sure you didn't accidentally put it back in the wrong DVD case?