Vinyl mastering requires a perfect balance between knowledge and critical listening.
It is a chain process ranging from EQing, compressing and applying different levels of distortion. However, unlike digital masters, it has to follow a specific set of rules, so When played on the vinyl medium. It doesn’t become problematic.
 
At spatial mastering, we apply these rules creatively applying the best outcome for your audio masters with experienced engineers at our state of the art studios in London.
Our process follows the quintessential rules of a good mastering such as containing low frequencies, tame problematic frequencies and tones, stereo imaging, and so forth.
Part of the reason for this is that the tools at the mastering engineer’s disposal are in essence the same as those used in the recording and mixing process; i.e. EQ (equalisation) and compression – and yet what the experienced mastering engineer can bring to a project with those tools often goes beyond the expectations of his client.
 
This is why the mastering engineer’s contribution is often described in such ambiguous terms as “that special magic”, “bringing the tracks to life” or “making it sound like a record”.
The difference between a mastered and an unmastered track is often dramatic, or it can be subtle. It’s impossible to generalise about what mastering does because every recording has it’s own unique features; some positive which mastering would seek to enhance, and some negative which mastering would try to remedy. In terms of EQ, there are broad issues of the general tonal content, i.e. whether a track needs more or less bass or treble.

 

At Spatial Mastering, we make sure that your tracks are enhanced to perfection and for great pleasure to the listener and market demands. We work around an optimum loudness, although we avoid falling in the loudness wars. We, however, push the sound to its exponential capacity. We always keep the audio dynamics and characteristics of its best features and use many types and approaches to dynamic processing. We process audio in different ways and approach each work so that it can be used to add punch and fatness or to hold a wayward lead vocal in place on the top of the mix, or to add that bit of “glue” that contains a mix together.

 

We use state of the art analogue and digital processing units to enhance your sound to be sure that they will compete and most importantly, salient in the marketplace.