I always tell my clients that mastering is the final step in mixing: it's the part where the mix engineer gives the mix to a different engineer in a different s

I always tell my clients that mastering is the final step in mixing: it's the part where the mix engineer gives the mix to a different engineer in a different studio with a different system and different ears and different gear and different opinions to put the final touches on the 2-track mix. The tools are almost always various flavors of EQ and compression, but the most important part is all the "different" stuff. The loudness wars of the late 1990s and continuing somewhat today I believe are a relic of CD (and FM) audio and will pass now that we have ubiquitous volume leveling playback devices. It's well understood in audio (and demonstrable in ABX testing) that "louder sounds better." If your CD is mastered a little louder than the other guys, then when you change it (or when your CD jukebox changes it) then your CD will "pop out" more, be heard better, and sound better. Enter volume leveling. When the playback device matches the playback volume of two songs, the one which is overcompressed will sound quieter and yet be more fatiguing, while the one which has better dynamics will actually feel louder and punchier yet be less fatiguing. Volume leveling actually stands "louder sounds better" on its head: louder will not sound better. In a strange way, iTunes / Replay Gain is helping to bring back audiophile mastering into vogue. And you can tell - mastering has definitely changed for the better in the last five years. There's a lot more attention to dynamics, especially with artists learning about having to master their digital audio for vinyl, and how that changes things. I wrote about the loudness war in 2002 in "Over the Limit"[0] and about the end of the loudness war in 2009 in "Over the Limit 2"[1]. In OtL2 I predicted it would be another decade - until 2019 - before the loudness war finally could be declared over. From what I've seen I think I'm on track to hit my prediction. I'm glad. [0] http://riprowan.com/over-the-limit/ http://riprowan.com/over-the-limit/ [1] http://riprowan.com/over-the-limit-2/ http://riprowan.com/over-the-limit-2/